The Complete Works of

PLINY THE YOUNGER

(61 AD–c.112 AD)

Contents

The Translations

THE LETTERS

DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THE LETTERS

PANEGYRICUS TRAIANI

The Latin Texts

LIST OF LATIN TEXTS

The Dual Text

DUAL LATIN AND ENGLISH TEXT

The Biography

INTRODUCTION TO PLINY THE YOUNGER by J. B. Firth

© Delphi Classics 2014

Version 1

The Complete Works of

GAIUS PLINIUS CAECILIUS SECUNDUS

By Delphi Classics, 2014

The Translations

Como, Northern Italy. Pliny the Younger was born in Novum Comum in 61 AD. He was the nephew of Pliny the Elder, the famous natural philosopher.

Como and Lake Como by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 1834

‘The Younger Pliny Reproved’ by Thomas Burke, c. 1800

THE LETTERS

Translated by John B. Firth (Books I-V) and John Delaware Lewis (Books VI-X)

Offering a unique testimony of Roman administrative history and everyday life in the First Century AD, Pliny the Younger’s Epistulae are a series of personal missives directed to his friends, associates and the Emperor Trajan. Especially noteworthy among the letters are two in which Pliny describes the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in August 79 AD, during which his uncle Pliny the Elder died (VI.16, VI.20) and a letter in which he asks the Emperor for instructions regarding the official policy concerning Christians (X.96). The Epistulae are usually treated as two halves: those in Books 1 to 9, which Pliny prepared for publication, and those in Book 10, all of which contain the two-way correspondence of the Emperor Trajan and Pliny, during the latter’s governorship of Bithynia-Pontus. This final book was not intended for publication and offers a rare insight into the relationship and practices between an Emperor and a trusted governor. Other major literary figures of the late First Century AD appear in the letters, including Pliny’s friends the poet Martial, the historian Tacitus and the biographer Suetonius. However, arguably the most important literary figure to appear in Pliny’s letters is his uncle, Pliny the Elder. Pliny provides details of how his uncle worked tirelessly to finish his magnum opus, the Historia Naturalis (Natural History) and his heroic endeavours during the Vesuvius eruption.

Chronologically, it is believed that Books 1 to 3 were written between 97 and 102 AD, Books 4 to 7 were composed between 103 and 107 and Books 8 and 9 cover the years 108 and 109. The letters vividly bring to life Pliny’s gradual growth as a young noble man, including tributes to notable figures such as Marcus Valerius Martialis, Pliny’s protégé (3.21). Throughout the letters, Pliny gives advice to his friends, while giving invaluable references to the daily routines of Roman life, political support is discussed and Pliny comments on many other aspects of his society, using an established literary style. The letters giving details of Pliny’s life at his country villas are important documents in the history of garden design. They are the world’s oldest sources of the information on how gardens were used in the ancient world and the various considerations that went into their design. However, by the last two books the subject matter is more contemplative.

Pliny’s two famous letters regarding the volcano eruption by Pompeii were written to the historian Tacitus, a close friend, who had requested from Pliny a detailed account of his uncle’s death for inclusion in his own historical work. Pliny’s attention to detail in the letters about Vesuvius is so keen that modern vulcanologists describe that type of eruption as Plinian. In these letters, he relates the first warning of the eruption and then goes on to describe his uncle’s failed attempt to study further the eruption and to save the lives of refugees, using the fleet under his command.

Book 10 contains the correspondence between Pliny the Younger and the Emperor Trajan in its entirety, offering a unique insight into the administrative functions of a Roman province of the time, as well as the machinations of the Roman system of patronage and wider cultural traditions of Rome itself. In addition, the corruption and apathy that occurred at various levels of the provincial system can be seen clearly. The letters also contain the earliest external account of Christian worship and the Romans’ reasons for the execution of Christians (X.96). This important letter provides views that were to become the standard policy toward Christians for the rest of the pagan era. Taken together, Pliny’s letter and Trajan’s response demonstrate a fairly relaxed policy toward the Christians, who were not to be sought out, though executed if brought before a magistrate by a reputable means of accusation and they were to be given the opportunity to recant their religion. Fortunately, Trajan’s replies to Pliny’s questions and requests were also collected for publication, making the anthology even more valuable, giving posterity a telling glimpse of the personality of a Roman Emperor.

A Victorian engraving of Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23 – August 25, AD 79), Pliny the Elder, who was a naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire.

Reconstruction of the Roman garden of the House of the Vettii in Pompeii

CONTENTS

BOOK I.

BOOK II.

BOOK III.

BOOK IV.

BOOK V.

BOOK VI.

BOOK VII.

BOOK VIII.

BOOK IX.

BOOK X. CORRESPONDENCE WITH TRAJAN.

Detailed table of contents listing each letter

‘Eruption of Vesuvius’ by I. C. Dahl, 1826

‘An Eruption of Vesuvius Seen from Portici’ by Joseph Wright, c. 1774

Plaster casts of the casualties of the pumice-fall, whose remains vanished leaving cavities in the pumice

Pompeii, with Vesuvius in the distance

BOOK I.

Detailed table of contents listing each letter

I. — TO SEPTICIUS.

You have constantly urged me to collect and publish the more highly finished of the letters that I may have written. I have made such a collection, but without preserving the order in which they were composed, as I was not writing a historical narrative. So I have taken them as they happened to come to hand. I can only hope that you will not have cause to regret the advice you gave, and that I shall not repent having followed it; for I shall set to work to recover such letters as have up to now been tossed on one side, and I shall not keep back any that I may write in the future. Farewell.

Detailed table of contents listing each letter

II. — TO ARRIANUS.

As I see that your arrival is likely to be later than I expected, I forward you the speech which I promised in an earlier letter. I beg that you will read and revise it as you have done with other compositions of mine, because I think none of my previous works is written in quite the same style. I have tried to imitate, at least in manner and turns of phrase, your old favourite, Demosthenes, and Calvus, to whom I have recently taken a great fancy; for to catch the fire and power of such acknowledged stylists is only given to the heaven-inspired few. I hope you will not think me conceited if I say that the subject- matter was not unworthy of such imitation, for throughout the whole argument I found something that kept rousing me from my sleepy and confirmed indolence, that is to say, as far as a person of my temperament can be roused. Not that I abjured altogether the pigments of our master Cicero; when an opportunity arose for a pleasant little excursion from the main path of my argument I availed myself of it, as my object was to be terse without being unnecessarily dry. Nor must you think that I am apologising for these few passages. For just to make your eye for faults the keener, I will confess that both my friends here and myself have no fear of publishing the speech, if you will but set your mark of approval against the passages that possibly show my folly. I must publish something, and I only hope that the best thing for the purpose may be this volume which is ready finished. That is the prayer of a lazy man, is it not? but there are several reasons why I must publish, and the strongest is that the various copies I have lent out are said to still find readers, though by this time they have lost the charm of novelty. Of course, it may be that the booksellers say this to flatter me. Well, let them flatter, so long as fibs of this kind encourage me to study the harder. Farewell.

Detailed table of contents listing each letter

III. — TO CANINIUS RUFUS.

How is Comum looking, your darling spot and mine? And that most charming villa of yours, what of it, and its portico where it is always spring, its shady clumps of plane trees, its fresh crystal canal, and the lake below that gives such a charming view? How is the exercise ground, so soft yet firm to the foot; how goes the bath that gets the sun’s rays so plentifully as he journeys round it? What too of the big banqueting halls and the little rooms just for a few, and the retiring rooms for night and day? Have they full possession of you, and do they share your company in turn? or are you, as usual, continually being called away to attend to private family business? You are indeed a lucky man if you can spend all your leisure there; if you cannot, your case is that of most of us. But really it is time that you passed on your unimportant and petty duties for others to look after, and buried yourself among your books in that secluded yet beautiful retreat. Make this at once the business and the leisure of your life, your occupation and your rest; let your waking hours be spent among your books, and your hours of sleep as well. Mould something, hammer out something that shall be known as yours for all time. Your other property will find a succession of heirs when you are gone; what I speak of will continue yours for ever — if once it begins to be. I know the capacity and inventive wit that I am spurring on. You have only to think of yourself as the able man others will think you when you have realised your ability. Farewell.

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IV. — TO POMPEIA CELERINA.

What treasures you have in your villas at Ocriculum, at Narnia, at Carsola and Perusia! Even a bathing place at Narnia! My letters — for now there is no need for you to write — will have shown you how pleased I am, or rather the short letter will which I wrote long ago. The fact is, that some of my own property is scarcely so completely mine as is some of yours; the only difference being that I get more thoroughly and attentively looked after by your servants than I do by my own. You will very likely find the same thing yourself when you come to stay in one of my villas. I hope you will, in the first place that you may get as much pleasure out of what belongs to me as I have from what belongs to you, and in the second that my people may be roused a little to a sense of their duties. I find them rather remiss in their behaviour and almost careless. But that is their way; if they have a considerate master, their fear of him grows less and less as they get to know him, while a new face sharpens their attention and they study to gain their master’s good opinion, not by looking after his wants but those of his guests. Farewell.

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V. — TO VOCONIUS ROMANUS.

Did you ever see a man more abject and fawning than Marcus Regulus has been since the death of Domitian? His misdeeds were better concealed during that prince’s reign, but they were every bit as bad as they were in the time of Nero. He began to be afraid that I was angry with him and he was not mistaken, for I certainly was annoyed. After doing what he could to help those who were compassing the ruin of Rusticus Arulenus, he had openly exulted at his death, and went so far as to publicly read and then publish a pamphlet in which he violently attacks Rusticus and even calls him “the Stoics’ ape,” adding that “he is marked with the brand of Vitellius.” You recognise, of course, the Regulian style! He tears to pieces Herennius Senecio so savagely that Metius Carus said to him, “What have you to do with my dead men? Did I ever worry your Crassus or Camerinus?” — these being some of Regulus’s victims in the days of Nero. Regulus thought I bore him malice for this, and so he did not invite me when he read his pamphlet. Besides, he remembered that he once mortally attacked me in the Court of the Centumviri.

I was a witness on behalf of Arionilla, the wife of Timon, at the request of Rusticus Arulenus, and Regulus was conducting the prosecution. We on our side were relying for part of the defence on a decision of Metius Modestus, an excellent man who had been banished by Domitian and was at that moment in exile. This was Regulus’s opportunity. “Tell me, Secundus,” said he, “what you think of Modestus.” You see in what peril I should have placed myself if I had answered that I thought highly of him, and how disgraceful it would have been if I had said that I thought ill of him. I fancy it must have been the gods who came to my rescue. “I will tell you what I think of him,” I said, “when the Court has to give a decision on the point.” He returned to the charge: “My question is, what do you think of Modestus?” Again I replied: “Witnesses used to be interrogated about persons in the dock, not about those who are already convicted.” A third time he asked: “Well, I won’t ask you now what you think of Modestus, but what you think of his loyalty.” “You ask me,” said I, “for my opinion. But I do not think it is in order for you to ask an opinion on what the Court has already passed judgment.” He was silenced, while I was congratulated and praised for not having smirched my reputation by giving an answer that might have been discreet but would certainly have been dishonest, and for not having entangled myself in the meshes of such a crafty question.

Well, now the fellow is conscience-stricken, and buttonholes first Caecilius Celer and then implores Fabius Justsus to reconcile me to him. Not content with that, he makes his way in to see Spurinna, and begs and prays of him — you know what an abject coward he is when he is frightened — as follows. “Do go,” says he, “and call on Pliny in the morning — early in the morning, for my suspense is unbearable — and do what you can to remove his anger against me.” I was early awake that day, when a message came from Spurinna, “I am coming to see you.” I sent back word, “I will come and see you.” We met at the portico of Livia, just as we were each of us on the way to see the other. He explained his commission from Regulus and added his own entreaties, but did not press the point too strongly, as became a worthy gentleman asking a favour for a worthless acquaintance. This was my answer: “Well, you must see for yourself what message you think best to take back to Regulus; I should not like you to be under any misapprehension. I am waiting till Mauricus returns” — he had not yet returned from exile- -”and so I cannot give you an answer either way, for I shall do just what he thinks best. It is he who is principally interested in this matter, I am only secondarily concerned.” A few days afterwards Regulus himself met me when I was paying my respects to the new praetor. He followed me thither and asked for a private conversation. He said he was afraid that something he once said in the Court of the Centumviri rankled in my memory, when, in replying to Satrius Rufus and myself, he remarked, “Satrius Rufus, who is quite content with the eloquence of our days, and does not seek to rival Cicero.” I told him that as I had his own confession for it I could now see that the remark was a spiteful one, but that it was quite possible to put a complimentary construction upon it. “For,” said I, “I do try to rival Cicero, and I am not content with the eloquence of our own time. I think it is very stupid not to take as models the very best masters. But how is it that you remember this case and forget the other one in which you asked me what I thought of the loyalty of Metius Modestus?” As you know, he is always pale, but he grew perceptibly paler at this thrust. Then he stammered out, “I put the question not to damage you but Modestus.” Observe the man’s malignant nature who does not mind acknowledging that he wished to do an injury to an exile. Then he went on to make this fine excuse; “He wrote in a letter which was read aloud in Domitian’s presence, ‘Regulus is the vilest creature that walks on two legs.’” Modestus never wrote a truer word.

That practically closed the conversation. I did not wish it to go any further, so that I might not commit myself until Mauricus arrived. Moreover, I am quite aware that Regulus is a difficult bird to net. He is rich, he is a shrewd intriguer, he has no inconsiderable body of followers and a still larger circle of those who fear him, and fear is often a more powerful factor than affection. But, after all, these are bonds that may be shattered and weakened, for a bad man’s influence is as little to be relied upon as is the man himself. Moreover, let me repeat that I am waiting for Mauricus. He is a man of sound judgment and sagacity, which he has learned by experience, and he can gauge what is likely to happen in the future from what has occurred in the past. I shall be guided by him, and either strike a blow or put by my weapons just as he thinks best. I have written you this letter because it is only right, considering our regard for one another, that you should be acquainted not only with what I have said and done, but also with my plans for the future. Farewell.

Detailed table of contents listing each letter

VI. — TO CORNELIUS TACITUS.

You will laugh, and I give you leave to. You know what sort of sportsman I am, but I, even I, have bagged three boars, each one of them a perfect beauty. “What!” you will say, “YOU!” Yes, I, and that too without any violent departure from my usual lazy ways. I was sitting by the nets; I had by my side not a hunting spear and a dart, but my pen and writing tablets. I was engaged in some composition and jotting down notes, so that I might have full tablets to take home with me, even though my hands were empty. You need not shrug your shoulders at study under such conditions. It is really surprising how the mind is stimulated by bodily movement and exercise. I find the most powerful incentive to thought in having the woods all about me, in the solitude and the silence which is observed in hunting. So when next you go hunting, take my advice and carry your writing tablets with you as well as your luncheon basket and your flask. You will find that Minerva loves to wander on the mountains quite as much as Diana. Farewell.

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VII. — TO OCTAVIUS RUFUS.

See on what a pinnacle you have placed me by giving me the same power and royal will that Homer attributed to Jupiter, Best and Greatest:— “One half his prayer the Father granted, the other half he refused.” For I too can answer your request by just nodding a yes or no. It is open to me, especially as you press me to do so, to decline to act on behalf of the Barbici against a single individual; but I should be violating the good faith and constancy that you admire in me, if I were to accept a brief against a province to which I am bound by many friendly ties, and by the work and dangers I have often undertaken in its behalf. So I will take a middle course, and of the alternative favours you ask I will choose the one which will commend itself both to your interest and your judgment. For what I have to consider is not so much what will meet your wishes of the moment, but how to do that which will win the steady approval of a man of your high character. I hope to be in Rome about the Ides of October and then join my credit with yours, and convince Gallus in person of the wisdom of my resolve, though even now you may assure him of my good intentions. “He spake, and Kronios nodded his dark brows.” Homer again, but why should I not go on plying you with Homeric lines? You will not let me ply you with verses of your own, though I love them so well that I think your permission to quote them would be the one bribe that would induce me to appear against the Barbici. I have almost made a shocking omission, and forgotten to thank you for the dates you sent me. They are very fine, and are likely to prove strong rivals of my figs and mushrooms. Farewell.

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VIII. — TO POMPEIUS SATURNINUS.

Your letter, asking me to send you one of my compositions, came at an opportune moment, for I had just made up my mind to do so. So you were spurring a willing horse, and you have not only spoiled your only chance of making excuses for declining, but have enabled me to press work upon you without feeling ashamed at asking the favour. For it would be equally unbecoming for me to hesitate about accepting your offer as for you who made it to look upon it as a bore. However, you must not expect anything of an original kind from a lazy man like me. I shall only ask you to find time to again look through the speech which I made to my townsfolk at the dedication of the public library. I remember that you have already criticised a few points therein, but merely in a general way, and I now beg that you will not only criticise it as a whole, but will ply your pencil on particular passages as well, in your severest manner. For even after a thorough revision it will still be open to us to publish or suppress it as we think fit. Very likely the revision will help us out of our hesitation and enable us to decide one way or the other. By looking through it again and again we shall either find that it is not worth publication or we shall render it worthy by the way we revise it.

What makes me doubtful is rather the subject-matter than the actual composition. It is perhaps a shade too laudatory and ostentatious. And this will be more than our modesty can carry, however plain and unassuming the style in which it is written, especially as I have to enlarge on the munificence of my relatives as well as on my own. It is a ticklish and dangerous subject, even when one can flatter one’s self that there was no way of avoiding it. For if people grow impatient at hearing the praises of others, how much more difficult must it be to prevent a speech becoming tedious when we sing our own praises or those of our family? We look askance even at unpretentious honesty, and do so all the more when its fame is trumpeted abroad. In short, it is only the good action that is done by stealth and passes unapplauded which protects the doer from the carping criticism of the world. For this reason I have often debated whether I ought to have composed the speech, such as it is, simply to suit my own feelings, or whether I should have looked beyond myself to the public. I am inclined to the former alternative by the thought that many actions which are necessary to the performance of an object lose their point and appositeness when that object is attained. I will not weary you with examples further than to ask whether anything could have been more appropriate than my gracing in writing the reasons which prompted my generosity. By so doing, the result was that I grew familiar with generous sentiments; the more I discussed the virtue the more I saw its beauties, and above all I saved myself from the reaction that often follows a sudden fit of open- handedness. From all this there gradually grew up within me the habit of despising money, and whereas nature seems to have tied men down to their money bags to guard them, I was enabled to throw off the prevailing shackles of avarice by my long and carefully reasoned love of generosity. Consequently my munificence appeared to me to be all the more worthy of praise, inasmuch as I was drawn to it by reason and not by any sudden impulse.

Again, I also felt that I was promising not mere games or gladiatorial shows, but an annual subscription for the upbringing of freeborn youths. The pleasures of the eye and ear never lack eulogists; on the contrary, they need rather to be put in the background than in the foreground by speakers: but to obtain volunteers who will undertake the fatigue and hard work of self-culture, we have not only to offer rewards but to encourage them with the choicest addresses. For if doctors have to coax their patients into adopting an insipid but yet wholesome diet, how much the more ought the man who is giving his fellows good advice to use all the allurements of oratory to make his hearers adopt a course which, though most useful, is not generally popular? Especially is this the case when we have to try and convince men who have no children of the value of the boon which is bestowed on those who have, and to induce all the rest to wait patiently till their turn comes to receive the benefit now given to a few, and in the meantime show themselves fit recipients for it. But just as then, when we wished to explain the meaning and bearing of our bounty, we were studying the common good and not seeking an opportunity for self-boasting, so now in the matter of publication we are afraid lest people should think that we have had an eye not so much to the benefit of others as to our own glorification. Besides, we do not forget how much better it is to seek the reward of a good action in the testimony of one’s conscience than in fame. For glory ought to follow of its own accord, and not to be consciously sought for; nor, again, is a good deed any the less beautiful because owing to some chance or other no glory attends it. Those who boast of their own good deeds are credited not so much with boasting for having done them, but with having done them in order to be able to boast of them. Consequently what would have been considered a noble action if told of by a stranger, loses its striking qualities when recounted by the actual doer. For when men find that the deed itself is inassailable they attack the boastfulness of the doer, and hence if you commit anything to be ashamed of, the deed itself is blamed, while if you perform anything deserving of praise, you are blamed for not having kept silence upon it.

Beyond all this, however, there is a special obstacle in the way of publishing the speech. I delivered it not before the people but before the municipal corporation, not in public but in the Council Chamber. So I am afraid that it may look inconsistent if, after avoiding the applause and cheers of the crowd when I delivered the speech, I now seek for that applause by publishing it, and if, after getting the common people, whose interests I was seeking, removed from the threshold and the walls of the Chamber — to prevent the appearance of courting popularity — I should now seem to deliberately seek the acclamations of those who are only interested in my munificence to the extent of having a good example shown them. Well, I have told you the grounds of my hesitation, but I shall follow the advice you give me, for its weight will be reason sufficient for me. Farewell.

Detailed table of contents listing each letter

IX. — TO MINUTIUS FUNDANUS.

It is surprising how if you take each day singly here in the city you pass or seem to pass your time reasonably enough when you take stock thereof, but how, when you put the days together, you are dissatisfied with yourself. If you ask any one, “What have you been doing to-day?” he will say, “Oh, I have been attending a coming-of-age function; I was at a betrothal or a wedding; so-and-so asked me to witness the signing of a will; I have been acting as witness to A, or I have been in consultation with B.” All these occupations appear of paramount importance on the day in question, but if you remember that you repeat the round day after day, they seem a sheer waste of time, especially when you have got away from them into the country; for then the thought occurs to you, “What a number of days I have frittered away in these chilly formalities!” That is how I feel when I am at my Laurentine Villa and busy reading or writing, or even when I am giving my body a thorough rest and so repairing the pillars of my mind. I hear nothing and say nothing to give me vexation; no one comes backbiting a third party, and I myself have no fault to find with any one except it be with myself when my pen does not run to my liking. I have no hopes and fears to worry me, no rumours to disturb my rest. I hold converse with myself and with my books. ’Tis a genuine and honest life; such leisure is delicious and honourable, and one might say that it is much more attractive than any business. The sea, the shore, these are the true secret haunts of the Muses, and how many inspirations they give me, how they prompt my musings! Do, I beg of you, as soon as ever you can, turn your back on the din, the idle chatter, and the frivolous occupations of Rome, and give yourself up to study or recreation. It is better, as our friend Attilius once very wittily and very truly said, to have no occupation than to be occupied with nothingness. Farewell.

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X. — TO ATTIUS CLEMENS.

If ever there was a time when this Rome of ours was devoted to learning, it is now. There are many shining lights, of whom it will be enough to mention but one. I refer to Euphrates the philosopher. I saw a great deal of him, even in the privacy of his home life, during my young soldiering days in Syria, and I did my best to win his affection, though that was not a hard task, for he is ever easy of access, frank, and full of the humanities that he teaches. I only wish that I had been as successful in fulfilling the hopes he then formed of me as he has been increasing his large stock of virtues, though possibly it is I who now admire them the more because I can appreciate them the better. Even now my appreciation is not as complete as it might be. It is only an artist who can thoroughly judge another painter, sculptor, or image-maker, and so too it needs a philosopher to estimate another philosopher at his full merit. But so far as I can judge, Euphrates has many qualities so conspicuously brilliant that they arrest the eyes and attention even of those who have but modest pretensions to learning. His reasoning is acute, weighty, and elegant, often attaining to the breadth and loftiness that we find in Plato. His conversation flows in a copious yet varied stream, strikingly pleasant to the ear, and with a charm that seizes and carries away even the reluctant hearer. Add to this a tall, commanding presence, a handsome face, long flowing hair, a streaming white beard — all of which may be thought accidental adjuncts and without significance, but they do wonderfully increase the veneration he inspires. There is no studied negligence in his dress, it is severely plain but not austere; when you meet him you revere him without shrinking away in awe. His life is purity itself, but he is just as genial; his lash is not for men but for their vices; for the erring he has gentle words of correction rather than sharp rebuke. When he gives advice you cannot help listening in rapt attention, and you hope he will go on persuading you even when the persuasion is complete. He has three children, two of them sons, whom he has brought up with the strictest care. His father-in-law is Pompeius Julianus, a man of great distinction, but whose chief title to fame is that though, as ruler of a province, he might have chosen a son-in-law of the highest social rank, he preferred one who was distinguished not for social dignities but for wisdom.

Yet why describe at greater length a man whose society I can no longer enjoy? Is it to make myself feel my loss the more? For my time is all taken up by the duties of an office — important, no doubt, but tedious in the extreme. I sit at my magisterial desk; I countersign petitions, I make out the public accounts; I write hosts of letters, but what illiterary productions they are! Sometimes — but how seldom I get the opportunity — I complain to Euphrates about these uncongenial duties. He consoles me and even assures me that there is no more noble part in the whole of philosophy than to be a public official, to hear cases, pass judgment, explain the laws and administer justice, and so practise in short what the philosophers do but teach. But he never can persuade me of this, that it is better to be busy as I am than to spend whole days in listening to and acquiring knowledge from him. That makes me the readier to urge you, whose time is your own, to let him put a finish and polish upon you when you come to town, and I hope you will come all the sooner on that account. I am not one of those — and there are many of them — who grudge to others the happiness they are debarred from themselves; on the contrary, I feel a very lively sense of pleasure in seeing my friends abounding in joys that are denied to me. Farewell.

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XI. — TO FABIUS JUSTUS.

It is quite a long time since I had a letter from you. “Oh,” you say, “there has been nothing to write about.” But at least you might write and say just that, or you might send me the line with which our grandfathers used to begin their letters: “All is well if you are well, for I am well.” I should be quite satisfied with so much; for, after all, it is the heart of a letter. Do you think I am joking? I am perfectly serious. Pray, let me know of your doings. It makes me feel downright uneasy to be kept in ignorance. Farewell.

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XII. — TO CALESTRIUS TIRO.

I have suffered a most grievous loss, if loss is a word that can be applied to my being bereft of so distinguished a man. Corellius Rufus is dead, and what makes my grief the more poignant is that he died by his own act. Such a death is always most lamentable, since neither natural causes nor Fate can be held responsible for it. When people die of disease there is a great consolation in the thought that no one could have prevented it; when they lay violent hands on themselves we feel a pang which nothing can assuage in the thought that they might have lived longer. Corellius, it is true, felt driven to take his own life by Reason — and Reason is always tantamount to Necessity with philosophers — and yet there were abundant inducements for him to live. His conscience was stainless, his reputation beyond reproach; he stood high in men’s esteem. Moreover, he had a daughter, a wife, a grandson, and sisters, and, besides all these relations, many genuine friends. But his battle against ill-health had been so long and hopeless that all these splendid rewards of living were outweighed by the reasons that urged him to die.

I have heard him say that he was first attacked by gout in the feet when he was thirty-three years of age. He had inherited the complaint, for it often happens that a tendency to disease is handed down like other qualities in a sort of succession. While he was in the prime of life he overcame his malady and kept it well in check by abstemious and pure living, and when it became sharper in its attacks as he grew old he bore up against it with great fortitude of mind. Even when he suffered incredible torture and the most horrible agony — for the pain was no longer confined, as before, to the feet, but had begun to spread over all his limbs — I went to see him in the time of Domitian when he was staying at his country house. His attendants withdrew from his chamber, as they always did whenever one of his more intimate friends entered the room. Even his wife, a lady who might have been trusted to keep any secret, also used to retire. Looking round the room, he said: “Why do you think I endure pain like this so long? It is that I may outlive that tyrant, even if only by a single day.” Could you but have given him a frame fit to support his resolution, he would have achieved the object of his desire. However, some god heard his prayer and granted it, and then feeling that he could die without anxiety and as a free man ought, he snapped the bonds that bound him to life. Though they were many, he preferred death.

His malady had become worse, though he tried to moderate it by his careful diet, and then, as it still continued to grow, he escaped from it by a fixed resolve. Two, three, four days passed and he refused all food. Then his wife Hispulla sent our mutual friend Caius Geminius to tell me the sad news that Corellius had determined to die, that he was not moved by the entreaties of his wife and daughter, and that I was the only one left who might possibly recall him to life. I flew to see him, and had almost reached the house when Hispulla sent me another message by Julius Atticus, saying that now even I could do nothing, for his resolve had become more and more fixed. When the doctor offered him nourishment he said, “My mind is made up,” and the word has awakened within me not only a sense of loss, but of admiration. I keep thinking what a friend, what a manly friend is now lost to me. He was at the end of his seventy-sixth year, an age long enough even for the stoutest of us. True. He has escaped a lifelong illness; he has died leaving children to survive him, and knowing that the State, which was dearer to him than everything else beside, was prospering well. Yes, yes, I know all this. And yet I grieve at his death as I should at the death of a young man in the full vigour of life; I grieve — you may think me weak for so doing — on my own account too. For I have lost, lost for ever, the guide, philosopher, and friend of my life. In short, I will say again what I said to my friend Calvisius, when my grief was fresh: “I am afraid I shall not live so well ordered a life now.” Send me a word of sympathy, but do not say, “He was an old man, or he was infirm.” These are hackneyed words; send me some that are new, that are potent to ease my trouble, that I cannot find in books or hear from my friends. For all that I have heard and read occur to me naturally, but they are powerless in the presence of my excessive sorrow. Farewell.

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XIII. — TO SOSIUS SENECIO.

This year has brought us a fine crop of poets: right through April hardly a day passed without some recital or other. I am delighted that literature is so flourishing and that men are giving such open proofs of brains, even though audiences are found so slow in coming together. People as a rule lounge in the squares and waste the time in gossip when they should be listening to the recital. They get some one to come and tell them whether the reciter has entered the hall yet, whether he has got through his introduction, or whether he has nearly reached the end of his reading. Not until then do they enter the room, and even then they come in slowly and languidly. Nor do they sit it out; no, before the close of the recital they slip away, some sidling out so as not to attract attention, others rising openly and walking out boldly. And yet, by Hercules, our fathers tell a story of how Claudius Caesar one day, while walking up and down in the palace, happened to hear some clapping of hands, and on inquiring the cause and being told that Nonianus was giving a reading, he suddenly joined the company to every one’s surprise. But nowadays even those who have most time on their hands, after receiving early notices and frequent reminders, either fail to put in an appearance, or if they do come they complain that they have wasted a day just because they have not wasted it. All the more praise and credit, therefore, is due to those who do not allow their love of writing and reciting to be damped either by the laziness or the fastidiousness of their audiences. For my own part, I have hardly ever failed to attend. True, the authors are mostly my friends, for almost all the literary people are also friends of mine, and for this reason I have spent more time in Rome than I had intended. But now I can betake myself to my country retreat and compose something, though not for a public recital, lest those whose readings I attended should think I went not so much to hear their works as to get a claim on them to come and hear mine. As in everything else, if you lend a man your ears, all the grace of the act vanishes if you ask for his in return. Farewell.

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XIV. — TO JUNIUS MAURICUS.

You ask me to look out for a husband for your brother’s daughter, and you do well to select me for such a commission. For you know how I looked up to him, and what an affection I had for his splendid qualities; you know, too, what good advice he gave me in my salad days, and how by his warm praises he actually made it appear that I deserved them. You could not have given me a more important commission or one that I should be better pleased to undertake, and there is no charge that I could possibly accept as a greater compliment to myself than that of being set to choose a young man worthy of being the father of grandchildren to Arulenus Rusticus. I should have had to look carefully and long, had it not been that Minucius Acilianus was ready to hand, — one might almost say that Providence had prepared him for the purpose. He has for me the close and affectionate regard of one young man for another — for he is only a few years younger than myself — yet at the same time he pays me the deference due to a man of years, for he is as anxious that I should mould and form his character as I used to be that you and your son should mould mine. His native place is Brixia, a part of that Italy of ours which still retains and preserves much of the old- fashioned courtesy, frugality and even rusticity. His father, Minucius Macrinus, was one of the leaders of the Equestrian order, because he did not wish to attain higher rank; he was admitted by the divine Vespasian to Praetorian rank, and to the end of his days preferred this modest and honourable distinction to the — what shall I say? — ambitions or dignities for which we strive. His grandmother on his mother’s side was Serrana Procula, who belonged to the township of Patavia. You know the character of that place — well, Serrana was a model of austere living even to the people of Patavia. His uncle was Publius Acilius, a man of almost unique weight, judgment, and honour. In short, you will find nothing in the whole of his family which will fail to please you as much as if the family were your own.

As for Acilianus himself, he is an energetic and untiring worker, and the very pink of courtesy. He has already acquitted himself with great credit in the quaestorship, tribunate, and praetorship, and so he has thus spared you the trouble of having to canvass in his behalf. He has a frank, open countenance, fresh-coloured and blooming; a handsome, well-made figure, and an air that would become a senator. These are points which, in my opinion, are not to be neglected, for I regard them as meet rewards to a girl for her chastity. I don’t know whether I should add that his father is a well-to-do man, for when I think of you and your brother for whom we are looking out for a son-in-law, I feel disinclined to speak of money. On the other hand, when I consider the prevailing tendencies of the day and the laws of the state which lay such prominent stress upon the matter of income, I think it right not to overlook the point. Moreover, when I remember the possible issue of the marriage, I feel that in choosing a bridegroom one must take his income into account. Perhaps you will imagine that I have let my affection run away with me, and that I have exaggerated my friend’s merits beyond their due. But I pledge you my word of honour that you will find his virtues to be far in excess of my description of them. I have the most intense affection for the young man, and he deserves my love, but it is one of the proofs of a lover that you do not overburden the object of your regard with praise. Farewell.

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XV. — TO SEPTICIUS CLARUS.

What a fellow you are! You promise to come to dinner and then fail to turn up! Well, here is my magisterial sentence upon you. You must pay the money I am out of pocket to the last farthing, and you will find the sum no small one. I had provided for each guest one lettuce, three snails, two eggs, spelt mixed with honey and snow (you will please reckon up the cost of the latter as among the costly of all, since it melts away in the dish), olives from Baetica, cucumbers, onions, and a thousand other equally expensive dainties. You would have listened to a comedian, or a reciter, or a harp-player, or perhaps to all, as I am such a lavish host. But you preferred to dine elsewhere, — where I know not — off oysters, sow’s matrices, sea-urchins, and to watch Spanish dancing girls! You will be paid out for it, though how I decline to say. You have done violence to yourself. You have grudged, possibly yourself, but certainly me, a fine treat. Yes, yourself! For how we should have enjoyed ourselves, how we should have laughed together, how we should have applied ourselves! You can dine at many houses in better style than at mine, but nowhere will you have a better time, or such a simple and free and easy entertainment. In short, give me a trial, and if afterwards you do not prefer to excuse yourself to others rather than to me, why then I give you leave to decline my invitations always. Farewell.

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XVI. — TO ERUCIUS.

I used to be very fond of Pompeius Saturninus — our Saturninus, as I may call him — and to admire his intellectual powers, even before I knew him; they were so varied, so supple, so many-sided; but now I am devoted to him body and soul. I have heard him pleading in the Courts, always keen and empassioned, and his addresses are as polished and graceful when they are impromptu as when they have been carefully prepared. He has a never-failing flow of apt sentiment; his style is weighty and dignified, his language is of the sonorous, classical school. All these qualities charm me immensely when they come pouring forth in a streaming rush of eloquence, and they charm me too when I read them in book form. You will experience the same pleasure as I do when you take them up, and you will at once compare them with some one of the old masters whose rival indeed he is. You will find even greater charm in the style of his historical compositions, in its terseness, its lucidity, smoothness, brilliancy and stateliness, for there is the same vigour in the historical harangues as there is in his own orations, only rather more compressed, restricted, and epigrammatic.

Moreover, he writes verses that Catullus or Calvus might have composed. They are positively brimming over with grace, sweetness, irony and love. He occasionally, and of set design, interpolates among these smooth and easy-flowing verses others cast in a more rugged mould, and here again he is like Catullus and Calvus. A little while ago he read me some letters which he declared had been written by his wife. I thought, on hearing them, that they were either Plautus or Terence in prose, and whether they were composed, as he said, by his wife or by himself, as he denies, his credit is the same. It belongs to him either as the actual author of the letters or as the teacher who has made such a polished and learned lady of his wife — whom he married when she was a girl. So I pass the whole day in the company of Saturninus. I read him before I set pen to paper; I read him again after finishing my writing, and again when I am at leisure. He is always the same but never seems the same. Let me urge and beg of you to do likewise, for the fact that the author is still alive ought not to be of any detriment to his works. If he had been a contemporary of those on whom we have never set eyes, we should not only be seeking to procure copies of his books but also asking for busts of him. Why then, as he is still amongst us, should his credit and popularity dwindle, as though we were tired of him? Surely it is discreditable and scandalous that we should not give a man the due he richly deserves, simply because we can see him with our own eyes, speak to him, hear him, embrace him, and not only praise but love him. Farewell.

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XVII. — TO CORNELIUS TITIANUS.

Faith and loyalty are not yet extinct among men: there are still those to be found who keep friendly remembrances even of the dead. Titinius Capito has obtained permission from our Emperor to erect a statue of Lucius Silanus in the Forum. It is a graceful and entirely praiseworthy act to turn one’s friendship with a sovereign to such a purpose, and to use all the influence one possesses to obtain honours for others. But Capito is a devoted hero-worshipper; it is remarkable how religiously and enthusiastically he regards the busts of the Bruti, the Cassii, and the Catos in his own house, where he may do as he pleases in this matter. He even composes splendid lyrics on the lives of all the most famous men of the past. Surely a man who is such an intense admirer of the virtue of others must know how to exemplify a crowd of virtues in his own person. Lucius Silanus quite deserved the honour that has been paid to him, and Capito in seeking to immortalise his memory has immortalised his own quite as much. For it is not more honourable and distinguished to have a statue of one’s own in the Forum of the Roman People than to be the author of some one else’s statue being placed there. Farewell.

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XVIII. — TO SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS.

You say in your letter that you have been troubled by a dream, and are afraid lest your suit should go against you. So you ask me to try and get it postponed, and that I will have to put it off for a few days, or at least for one day. It is not an easy matter, but I will do my best, for, as Homer says, “A dream comes from Zeus.” However, it makes all the difference whether your dreams usually signify the course of future events or their opposite. When I think over a certain dream I once had, what causes you fear seems to me to promise a splendid termination to your case. I had undertaken a brief for Julius Pastor, when there appeared to me in my sleep a vision of my mother-in-law, who threw herself on her knees before me and begged that I would not plead. I was quite a young man at the time of the action, which was to be heard in the Fourfold Court, and I was appearing against the most powerful men of the State, including some of the Friends of Caesar. All these things or any one of them might well have shattered my resolution after such an ominous dream. Nevertheless, I went on with the case, remembering the well-known line of Homer: “But one omen is best, to fight on behalf of one’s country.” For in my case the keeping of my word seemed to me as important as fighting on behalf of my country or as any other still more pressing consideration — if any consideration more pressing can be imagined. Well, the action went off successfully, and it was the way that I conducted that case which got me a hearing with men and opened the door to fame. So I advise you to see whether you too cannot turn your dream, as I did mine, to a prosperous issue, or if you think that it is safer to follow the well-known proverb: “Never do anything if you feel the least hesitation,” write and tell me so. I will invent some excuse or other, and will so arrange matters that you can have your suit brought on when you like. For, after all, your position is not the same as mine was; a trial before the Centumvir’s Court cannot be postponed on any consideration, but an action like yours can be, although it is rather difficult to arrange. Farewell.

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XIX. — TO ROMANUS FIRMUS.

You and I were born in the same township, we went to school together, and shared quarters from an early age; your father was on terms of friendship with my mother and my uncle, and with me — as far as the disparity in our years allowed. These are overwhelming reasons why I ought to advance you as far as I can along the path of dignities. The fact of your being a decurio in our town shows that you have an income of a hundred thousand sesterces, and so, that we may have the pleasure of enjoying your society not only as a decurio, but as a Roman knight, I offer you 300,000 numm., to make up the equestrian qualification. The length of our friendship is sufficient guarantee that you will not forget this favour, and I do not even urge you to enjoy with modesty the dignity which I thus enable you to attain, as perhaps I ought, just because I know you will do so without any urging from without. People ought to guard an honour all the more carefully, when, in so doing, they are taking care of a gift bestowed by the kindness of a friend. Farewell.

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XX. — TO CORNELIUS TACITUS.

I am constantly having arguments with a friend of mine who is a learned and practised speaker, but who admires in pleading nothing so much as brevity. I allow that brevity ought to be observed, if the case permits of it; but sometimes it is an act of collusion to pass over matters that ought to be mentioned, and it is even an act of collusion to run briefly and rapidly over points which ought to be dwelt upon, to be thoroughly driven home, and to be taken up and dealt with more than once. For very often an argument acquires strength and weight by being handled at some length, and a speech ought to be impressed on the mind, not by a short, sharp shock, but by measured blows, just as a sword should be used in dealing with the body of an opponent. Thereupon he plies me with authorities, and flourishes before me the speeches of Lysias among the Greeks, and those of the Gracchi and Cato from among Roman orators. The majority of these are certainly characterised by conciseness and brevity, but I quote against Lysias the examples of Demosthenes, Aeschines, Hyperides, and a multitude of others, while against the Gracchi and Cato I set Pollio, Caesar, Caelius, and, above all, Marcus Tullius, whose longest speech is generally considered to be his best. And upon my word, as with all other good things, the more there is of a good book, the better it is. You know how it is with statues, images, pictures, and the outlines of many animals and even trees, that if they are at all graceful nothing gives them a greater charm than size. It is just the same with speeches, — even the mere volumes themselves acquire a certain additional dignity and beauty from mere bulk.

These are but a few of the many arguments I usually employ to establish my point; but there is no pinning my friend down in an argument. He is such a slippery fellow that he wriggles off the pin and declares that these same orators, whose speeches I instance, spoke at less length than their published addresses seem to show. I hold the contrary to be the case, and there are many speeches of many orators in favour of my opinion, as, for example, the Pro Murena and the Pro Vareno of Cicero, in which he indicates by side-heads alone, and quite barely and briefly, how he dealt with certain charges against his clients. From these it is clear that he actually spoke at much greater length and left out a considerable number of passages when he published the addresses. Cicero indeed says that in his defence of Cluentius “he had simply followed the ancient custom and compressed his whole case into a peroration,” and that in defending Caius Cornelius “he had pleaded for four days.” Hence it cannot be questioned that after speaking somewhat discursively for several days, as he was bound to do, he subsequently trimmed and revised his oration and compressed it into a single book — a long one, it is true, but yet a single book.

But, argues my friend, a good indictment is a different thing from a good speech. I know some people hold that view, but I — of course I may be wrong — feel persuaded that though it is possible to have a good indictment without a good speech, it is not possible for a good speech not to be a good indictment. For a speech is the exemplar of an indictment — one might even call it its archetype. Hence in every first- class oration we find a thousand extempore figures of speech, even in those which we know to have been carefully edited. For example, in the Speech against Verres:—” — some artist. What was his name? Yes, you are quite right. My friends here tell me it was Polycletus.” It follows, therefore, that the most perfect indictment is that which most resembles a spoken speech, provided only that sufficiently adequate time is allowed for its delivery. If it is not, then the orator is not at fault, but the presiding magistrate is very much to blame. My opinion receives support from the laws, which are lavish in the amount of time they place at a pleader’s disposal. They do not inculcate brevity among counsel, but exhaustiveness — that is to say, they give them time for a painstaking statement of their case, and this is quite incompatible with brevity, except the most unimportant actions. I will add also what experience has taught me, and experience is the finest master. I have constantly acted as counsel, as presiding magistrate, and as one of the consulting bench. Different people are influenced by different things, and it often happens that unimportant details have important consequences. Men do not think alike, nor have they the same inclinations, and hence it comes about that though people have listened together to the same case being tried, they often form different opinions about it, and sometimes, though arriving at the same conclusion, they have been influenced by very different motives. Moreover, each one has a bias in favour of his own interpretation, and thus, when a second party enunciates an opinion which he himself has arrived at, he takes it for gospel and holds to it firmly. Consequently, a pleader should give each member of the jury something that he may get hold of and recognise as his own opinion.

Regulus once said to me when we were in Court together: “You think you ought to follow up every single point in the case: I lose no time in getting a view of my opponent’s throat, and consider only the easiest way of cutting it.” (I must admit that he does cut it when he gets hold of it, but often in trying to get a hold he makes a mistake.) Here was my answer to him: “Yes, but sometimes what you think is the throat is only the knee, or the shin bone or the ankle. As for myself, I may not be quick at getting a clear view of my enemy’s throat, but I keep feeling for a grip and try him at every point. In short, as the Greeks say, ‘I leave no stone unturned.’” I am like a husbandman, I look carefully after not only my vineyards but my orchards, not only my orchards but my meadows, while in the meadows I set seed for barley, beans, and other vegetables, as well as for spelt and the best white wheat. So when I plead in the Courts I scatter my arguments like seeds with a lavish hand, and reap the crop that they produce. For the minds of judges are as obscure, as little to be relied upon, and as deceptive as the dispositions of storms and soils.

Nor do I forget that in his eulogy of that consummate orator, Pericles, the comedy-writer Eupolis used the following language:— “But besides his keenness, Persuasion sate upon his lips. So he charmed all ears and, alone of all our orators, left his thrill behind him in his hearer’s minds.” But even Pericles would not have possessed the persuasion and charm of which Eupolis speaks merely owing to his conciseness or to his keenness, or to both (for they are different attributes), unless he had also possessed consummate oratorical power. In order to delight and carry conviction an orator must have ample time and room allowed him, for he alone can leave a thrill in his hearers’ minds who plants his weapon besides merely puncturing the skin. Again, see what another comic poet writes of the same Pericles: “He lightened, he thundered, he turned Hellas upside down.” Such metaphors as thunder, lightning, and chaos and confusion could not be used of abbreviated and compressed oratory, but only of oratory on a sweeping scale, pitched in a lofty and exalted key.

But, you say, the mean is the best. Quite so, but the mean is as much neglected by those who fail to do justice to their subject as by those who overdo it, by those who wear a bearing rein as by those who give themselves their heads. And so you often hear the criticism that a speech was “frigid and weak,” just as you hear that another was “overloaded and a mass of repetition.” The one speaker is said to have over-elaborated his subject, the other not to have risen to the occasion. Both are at fault; one through weakness, the other through too much strength, and the latter, though he may not show the more refined intellect, certainly shows the more robust mind. When I say this it must not be supposed that I am approving Homer’s Thersites — the man who was a torrent of words — but rather his Ulysses, whose “words were like snow-flakes in winter,” though at the same time I admire his Menelaus, who spoke “Few words, but well to the point.” Yet, if I had to choose, I should prefer the speech that is like the winter snow- storm — viz. fluent, flowing, and of generous width; and not only that, but divine and celestial. It may, I know, be said that many people prefer a short pleading. No doubt, but they are lazy creatures, and it is ridiculous to consult the tastes of such sloths as though they were critics. For if you take their opinion as worth anything, you will find that they not only prefer a short pleading, but no pleading at all.

Well, I have told you what I think. I shall change my opinion if you do not agree with me, but in that case I beg of you to give me clear reasons for your disagreement; for although I feel bound to bow to a man of your judgment, yet in a point of such importance, I consider that I ought to give way rather to a reasoned statement than to an ipse dixit. But even if you think I am right, still write and tell me so, and make the letter as short as you like — for you will thus confirm my judgment. If I am wrong, see that you write me a very long letter. I feel sure I have not estimated you wrongly in thus asking you for a short note if you agree with me, while laying on you the obligation of writing at length if you disagree. Farewell.

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XXI. — TO PLINIUS PATERNUS.

Let me acknowledge not only the keenness of your judgment but the sharpness of your eyesight, not because you are full of wisdom — no, don’t plume yourself on that — but because you are just as wise as I am, and that is saying a great deal. Yet, joking apart, I think the slaves which I bought on your recommendation are a tidy-looking lot. It now remains to be seen whether they are honest; because in judging the value of a slave, it is better to trust one’s ears than one’s eyes. Farewell.

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XXII. — TO CATILIUS SEVERUS.

Here am I still in Rome, and a good deal surprised to find myself here. But I am troubled at the long illness of Titus Aristo, which he cannot shake off. He is a man for whom I feel an extraordinary admiration and affection: search where you will, he is second to none in character, uprightness, and learning — so much so that I hardly look upon his illness as that of a mere individual being in danger. It is rather as if literature and all good arts were personified in him, and through him were in grievous peril. What a knowledge he has of private and public rights and the laws relating to them! What a mastery he has of things in general, what experience, what an acquaintance with the past! There is nothing you may wish to learn that he cannot teach you; to me, certainly, he is a perfect mine of learning whenever I am requiring any out-of-the-way information. Then again, how convincing his conversation is, how strongly it impresses you, how modest and becoming is his hesitation! What is there that he does not know straight away? And yet, often enough, he shows hesitation and doubt, from the very diversity of the reasons that come crowding into his mind, and upon these he brings to bear his keen and mighty intellect, and, going back to their fountain-head, reviews them, tests them, and weighs them in the balance. Again, how sparing he is in his manner of life, how unassuming in his dress! I often look at his bedroom and the bed itself, as though they were models of old-fashioned economy. However, they are adorned by his splendid mind, which has not a thought for ostentation, but refers everything to his conscience. He seeks his reward for a good deed not in the praise of the world, but in the deed itself. In short, you will not find it easy to discover any one, even among those who prefer to study wisdom rather than take heed to their bodily pleasures, worthy to be compared with him. He does not haunt the training grounds and the public porticos, nor does he charm the idle moments of others and his own by indulging in long talks; no, he is always in his toga and always at work; his services are at the disposal of many in the Courts, and he helps numbers more by his advice. Yet in chastity of life, in piety, in justice, in courage even, there is no one of all his acquaintance to whom he need give place.

You would marvel, if you were by his side, at the patience with which he endures his illness, how he fights against his suffering, how he resists his thirst, how, without moving and without throwing off his bed- clothes, he endures the dreadful burning heats of his fever. Just recently he sent for me and a few others of his especial friends with me, and begged us to consult his doctors and ask them about the termination of his illness, so that if there were no hope for him he might voluntarily give up his life, but might fight against it and hold out if the illness only threatened to be difficult and long. He owed it, he said, to the prayers of his wife, the tears of his daughter, and the regard of us who were his friends, not to cheat our hopes by a voluntary death, providing those hopes were not altogether futile. I think that such an acknowledgment as that must be especially difficult to make, and worthy of the highest praise; for many people are quite capable of hastening to death under the impulse of a sudden instinct, but only a truly noble mind can weigh up the pros and cons of the matter, and resolve to live or die according to the dictates of Reason. However, the doctors give us reassuring promises, and it now remains for the Deity to confirm and fulfil them, and so at length release me from my anxiety. The moment my mind is easy, I shall be off to my Laurentine Villa — that is to say, to my books and tablets, and to my studious ease. For now as I sit by my friend’s bedside I can neither read nor write, and I am so anxious that I have no inclination for such study.

Well, I have told you my fears, my hopes, and my future plans; it is your turn now to write and tell me what you have been doing, what you are doing now, and what your plans are, and I hope your letter will be a more cheerful one than mine. If you have nothing to complain about, it will be no small consolation to me in my general upset. Farewell.

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XXIII. — TO POMPEIUS FALCO.

You ask me whether I think you ought to practise in the courts while you are tribune. The answer entirely depends on the conception you have of the tribuneship, whether you think it is a mere empty honour, a name with no real dignity, or an office of the highest sanctity, and one that no one, not even the holder himself, ought to slight in the least degree. When I was tribune, I may have been wrong for thinking that I was somebody, but I acted as if I were, and I abstained from practising in the courts. In the first place, I thought it below my dignity that I, at whose entrance every one ought to rise and give way, should stand to plead while all others were sitting; or that I, who could impose silence on all and sundry, should be ordered to be silent by a water- clock; that I, whom it was a crime to interrupt, should be subjected even to abuse, and that I should make people think I was a spiritless fellow if I let an insult pass unnoticed, or proud and puffed up if I resented and avenged it. Again, there was this embarrassing thought always before me. Supposing appeal was made to me as tribune either by my client or by the other party to the suit, what should I do? Lend him aid, or keep silence and say not a word, and thus forswear my magistracy and reduce myself to a mere private citizen? Moved by these considerations, I preferred to be at the disposal of all men as a tribune rather than act as an advocate for a few. But, to repeat what I said before, it makes all the difference what conception you happen to have of the office, and what part you essay to play. Providing you carry it through to the end, either will be quite congruous with a man of wisdom. Farewell.

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XXIV. — TO BAEBIUS HISPANUS.

My comrade Tranquillus wishes to buy a bit of land which your friend is said to be offering for sale. I beg that you will see that he purchases it at a fair price, for in that case he will be glad to have bought it. A bad bargain is always annoying, and especially so as it seems to show that the previous owner has played one a scurvy trick. As to the plot in question, if only the price is right, there are many reasons that tempt my friend Tranquillus to buy — the nearness of the city, the convenient road, the modest dimensions of his villa and the extent of the farm, which is just enough to pleasantly disengage his thoughts from other things, but not enough to give him any worry. In fact learned schoolmen, like Tranquillus, on turning land-owners, ought only to have just sufficient land to enable them to get rid of headaches, cure their eyes, walk lazily round their boundary paths, make one beaten track for themselves, get to know all their vines and count their trees. I have gone into these details that you might understand what a regard I have for Tranquillus, and how greatly I shall be indebted to you if he is enabled to purchase the estate which has all these advantages to commend it at such a reasonable price that he will not regret having bought it. Farewell.

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BOOK II.

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I. — TO ROMANUS.

Not for many years have the Roman people seen so striking and even so memorable a spectacle as that provided by the public funeral of Virginius Rufus, one of our noblest and most distinguished citizens, and not less fortunate than distinguished. He lived in a blaze of glory for thirty years. He read poems and histories composed in his honour, and so enjoyed in life the fame that awaited him among posterity. He held the consulship three times, so that he might attain the highest distinction open to a private citizen, as he had declined to lay hands on the sovereign power. He escaped unscathed from the Emperors, who were suspicious of his motives and hated him for his virtues; while the best Emperor of them all, and the one who was his devoted friend, he left behind him safely installed on the throne, as though his life had been preserved for this very reason, that he might be honoured with a public funeral. He was eighty-three years of age when he died, sublimely calm, and respected by all. He enjoyed good health, for though his hands were palsied they gave him no pain: only the closing scenes were rather painful and prolonged, but even in them he won men’s praise. For while he was getting ready a speech, to return thanks to the Emperor during his consulship, he happened to take up a rather heavy book. As he was an old man and standing at the time, its weight caused it to fall from his hands, and while he was stooping to pick it up his foot slipped on the smooth and slippery floor, and he fell and broke his collar-bone. This was not very skilfully set for him, and owing to his old age it did not heal properly. But his funeral was a source of glory to the Emperor, to the age in which he lived, and even to the Roman Forum and the rostra. His panegyric was pronounced by Cornelius Tacitus, and Virginius’s good fortune was crowned by this, that he had the most eloquent man in Rome to speak his praises.

He died full of years, full of honours, full even of the honours he refused. We shall seek his like in vain; we shall lose in him a living example of an earlier age. I shall miss him most of all, for my affection equalled my admiration, not only of his public virtue but of his private life. In the first place, we came from the same district, we belonged to neighbouring municipalities, our estates and property lay alongside, and, moreover, he was left as my guardian and showed me all the affection of a parent. When I was a candidate for office he honoured me with his support; in all my elections he left his private retreat and hastened to escort me in all my entries upon office — though for years he had ceased to show his friends these attentions, — and on the day when the priests are accustomed to nominate those they think to be worthiest of the priesthood he always gave me his nomination. Even in his last illness, when he was afraid lest he should be appointed one of the commission of five who were being appointed on the decree of the Senate to lessen public expenditure, he chose me, young as I am — though he had a number of friends still surviving who were much older than I and men of consular rank — to act as his substitute, and he used these words: “Even if I had a son, I should give this commission to you.” Hence it is that I cannot help but mourn his death on your bosom, as though he had died before his time; if indeed it is right to mourn at all in such a case, or speak of death in connection with such a man, who has rather ceased to be mortal than ceased to live. For he still lives and will do for all time, and he will acquire a broader existence in the memories and conversation of mankind, now that he has gone from our sight.

I wished to write to you on many other subjects, but my whole mind is given up to and fixed on this one subject of thought. I keep thinking of Virginius, I dream of him, and, though my dreams are illusory, they are so vivid that I seem to hear his voice, to speak to him, to embrace him. It may be that we have other citizens like him in his virtues, and shall continue to have them, but there is none to equal with him in glory. Farewell.

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II. — TO PAULINUS.

I am angry with you; whether I ought to be I am not quite sure, but I am angry all the same. You know how affection is often biassed, how it is always liable to make a man unreasonable, and how it causes him to flare up on even small provocation. But I have serious grounds for my anger, whether they are just or not, and so I am assuming that they are as just as they are serious, and am downright cross with you because you have not sent me a line for such a long time. There is only one way that you can obtain forgiveness, and that is by your writing me at once a number of long letters. That will be the only excuse I shall take as genuine; any others you may send I shall regard as false. For I won’t listen to such stuff as “I was away from Rome,” or “I have been fearfully busy.” As for the plea, “I have not been at all well,” I hope Providence has been too kind to let you write that. I am at my country house, enjoying study and idleness in turns, and both of these delights are born of leisure-hours. Farewell.

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III. — TO NEPOS.

Isaeus’s reputation — and it was a great one — had preceded him to Rome, but it was found to fall short of his merits. He has consummate oratorical power, fluency and choice of expression, and though he always speaks extempore his speeches might have been carefully written out long beforehand. He speaks in Greek, and that the purest Attic; his prefatory remarks are polished, neat and agreeable, and occasionally stately and sparkling. He asks to be supplied with a number of subjects for discussion, and allows his audience to choose which they will have and often which side they would like him to take. Then he rises to his feet, wraps his gown round him, and begins. Without losing a moment he has everything at his fingers’ ends, irrespective of the subject selected. Deep thoughts come crowding into his mind and words flow to his lips. And such words — exquisitely choice! Every now and then there come flashes which show how widely he has read and how much he has written. He opens his case to the point; he states his position clearly; his arguments are incisive; his conclusions are forcible; his word-painting is magnificent. In a word, he instructs, delights, and impresses his hearers, so that you can hardly say wherein he most excels. He makes constant use of rhetorical arguments, his syllogisms are crisp and finished — though that is not an easy matter to attain even with a pen. He has a wonderful memory and can repeat, without missing a single word, even his extempore speeches. He has attained this facility by study and constant practice, for he does nothing else day or night: either as a listener or speaker he is for ever discussing. He has passed his sixtieth year and is still only a rhetorician, and there is no more honest and upright class of men living. For we who are always rubbing shoulders with others in the Forum and in the lawsuits of everyday life, cannot help picking up a good deal of roguery, while in the imaginary cases of the lecture hall and the schoolroom it is like fighting with the button on the foil and quite harmless, and is every whit as enjoyable, especially for men of years. For what can be more enjoyable for men in their old age than that which gave them the keenest pleasure in their youth?

Consequently, I look upon Isaeus not only as a wonderfully learned man but as one who possesses a most enviable lot, and you must be made of flint and iron if you do not burn to make his acquaintance. So if there is nothing else to draw you here, if I myself am not a sufficient attraction, do come to hear Isaeus. Have you never read of the man who lived at Gades who was so fired by the name and glory of Titus Livius that he came from the remotest corner of the world to see him, and returned the moment he had set eyes on him? It would stamp a man as an illiterate boor and a lazy idler, it would be disgraceful almost for any one not to think the journey worth the trouble when the reward is a study which is more delightful, more elegant, and has more of the humanities than any other. You will say: “But I have here authors just as learned, whose works I can read.” Granted, but you can always read an author, while you cannot always listen to him. Moreover, as the proverb goes, the spoken word is invariably much more impressive than the written one; for however lively what you read may be, it does not sink so deeply into the mind as what is pressed home by the accent, the expression, and the whole bearing and action of a speaker. This must be admitted unless we think the story of Aeschines untrue, when, after reading a speech of Demosthenes at Rhodes, he is said to have exclaimed to those who expressed their admiration of it: “Yes, but what would you have said if you had heard the beast himself?” And yet Aeschines himself, if we are to believe Demosthenes, had a very striking delivery! None the less he acknowledged that the author of the speech delivered it far better than he had done. All these things point to this, that you should hear Isaeus, if only to enable you to say that you have heard him. Farewell.

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IV. — TO CALVINA.

If your father had owed his other creditors, or any one of them, as much as he owed to me, there would perhaps have been good reason for you to hesitate about entering on the inheritance of an estate which even a man might find burdensome. However, I am now the sole creditor, for as we are relations I thought it my duty to pay off all those who were — I will not say importunate — but were rather more particular about getting their money. When your father was alive, and you were about to be married, I contributed 100,000 sesterces towards your dower, in addition to the sum which your father assigned as your wedding portion, out of my pocket — for it had to be paid out of my money, — so you have ample proof of my leniency towards you in money matters, and you may boldly rely thereon and defend the credit and honour of your dead father. Moreover, to show you that I can be generous with my purse as well as with my advice, I authorise you to enter as paid whatever sum was owing by your father to me. You need not be afraid that my generosity will embarrass my finances. Though my means are modest, though my position is expensive to keep up and my income is equally small and precarious owing to the state of the land market, my unemployed capital is increased by my economical living, and this is the source, as I may call it, from which I gratify my generosity. I have to husband it carefully lest the source should dry up if I draw on it too freely; but such caution is reserved for others. In your case I can easily justify my liberality, even though it be rather larger than usual. Farewell.

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V. — TO LUPERCUS.

I have forwarded to you the speech which you have often asked for, and which I have often promised to send, but not the whole of it. A portion thereof is still undergoing the polishing process. Meanwhile, I thought it would not be out of place to submit to your judgment the parts which seemed to me to be more finished. I hope you will bestow on them the same critical attention that the writer has given them. I have never handled any subject that demanded greater pains from me, for whereas in other speeches I have submitted merely my carefulness and good faith to men’s judgment, in this I submit my patriotism as well. It is out of that that the speech has grown, for it is a pleasure to sing the praises of one’s native place and at the same time to do what I could to help its interests and its fame. But be sure you prune even these passages according to your judgment. For when I think of the fastidiousness of the general reader and the niceties of his taste, I understand that the best way to win praise is to keep within moderate limits.

Yet at the same time, though I ask you to show this strictness, I feel bound to request you to display the opposite quality also and deal indulgently with many of the passages. For we must make certain concessions to our young readers, especially if the subject-matter allows of it. Descriptions of scenery, of which there are more than usual in this speech, should be treated not in a strict historical fashion, but with some approach to poetic licence. However, if any one thinks that I have written more ornately than is warranted by the serious nature of the subject, the remaining portions of the address ought to mollify what one may call the austerity of such a man. I have certainly tried, by varying the character of the style, to get hold of all sorts and conditions of readers, and though I am afraid that each individual reader will not find every single passage to his liking, yet I think I may be pretty confident that the variety of styles will recommend the whole to all classes. For at a banquet, though we each one of us taboo certain dishes, yet we all praise the banquet as a whole, nor do the dishes which our palate declines make those we like any less enjoyable. I want my speech to be taken in the same spirit, not because I think I have succeeded in my aim, but because I have tried to succeed therein, and I believe my efforts will not have been in vain if only you will take pains now with what I enclose in this letter and afterwards with the remaining portions.

You will say that you cannot do this sufficiently carefully until you have gone through the entire speech. That is so; but for the present you will be able to get a thorough acquaintance with what I send you, and there are sure to be certain passages that can be altered in part. For if you were to see the head or any limb of a statue torn from the trunk, though you might not be able to speak definitely of its symmetry and proportion to the rest of the body, you would at least be able to judge whether the part you were looking at was sufficiently well shaped. That is the only reason why authors send round to their friends specimens of their speeches, because any part can be judged to be perfect or not apart from the remainder. The pleasure of speaking with you has led me farther than I intended, but I will conclude for fear of exceeding in a letter the limits which I think ought to be set to a speech. Farewell.

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VI. — TO AVITUS.

It would be a long story — and it is of no importance — to tell you how I came to be dining — for I am no particular friend of his — with a man who thought he combined elegance with economy, but who appeared to me to be both mean and lavish, for he set the best dishes before himself and a few others and treated the rest to cheap and scrappy food. He had apportioned the wine in small decanters of three different kinds, not in order to give his guests their choice but so that they might not refuse. He had one kind for himself and us, another for his less distinguished friends — for he is a man who classifies his acquaintances — and a third for his own freedmen and those of his guests. The man who sat next to me noticed this and asked me if I approved of it. I said no. “Then how do you arrange matters?” he asked. “I set the same before all,” I answered, “for I invite my friends to dine not to grade them one above the other, and those whom I have set at equal places at my board and on my couches I treat as equals in every respect.” What! even the freedmen?” he said. “Yes,” I replied, “for then I regard them as my guests at table, not as freedmen.” He went on: “It must cost you a lot.” “Not at all,” said I. “Then how do you manage it?” “It’s easily done; because my freedmen do not drink the same wine as I do, but I drink the same that they do.” And, by Jove, the fact is that if you keep off gluttony it is not at all ruinously expensive to entertain a number of people to the fare you have yourself. It is this gluttony which is to be put down, to be reduced as it were to the ranks, if you wish to cut down expenses, and you will find it better to consult your own moderate living than to care about the nasty things people may say of you. What then is my point? Just this, that I don’t want you, who are a young man of great promise, to be taken in by the extravagance with which some people load their tables under the guise of economy. Whenever such a concrete instance comes in my way it becomes the affection I bear you to warn you of what you ought to avoid by giving you an example. So remember that there is nothing you should eschew more than this new association of extravagance and meanness; they are abominable qualities when separated and single, and still more so when you get a combination of them. Farewell.

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VII. — TO MACRINUS.

Yesterday, on the motion of the Emperor, a triumphal statue was decreed to Vestricius Spurinna. He is not one of those heroes, of whom there have been many, who have never stood in battle, never seen a camp, and never heard the call of the trumpets except at the public shows: no, he is one of the real heroes who used to win that decoration by the sweat of their brow, by shedding their blood and doing mighty deeds. For Spurinna restored by force of arms the king of the Bructeri to his kingdom, and, after threatening war, subdued that savage race by the terror of his name, which is the noblest kind of victory. That was the reward of his valour, and the fact that his son Cottius, whom he lost while he was away on his duties, was deemed worthy of being honoured with a statue has solaced his grief for his loss. Young men rarely attain such distinction, but his father deserved this additional honour, for it required some considerable solace to heal his bitter wound. Moreover, Cottius himself had given such striking proofs of his splendid character that his short and narrow life ought to be prolonged by the immortality, so to speak, that a statue confers upon him; for his uprightness, his weight of character, his influence were such that his virtues served as a spur even to the older men with whom he has now been placed on an equality by the honour paid to him.

If I understand the matter aright, in conferring that dignity upon him, regard was had not only to the memory of the dead man and the grief of his father, but also to the effect it would have upon others. When such splendid rewards are bestowed upon young men — provided they deserve them — they will serve to sharpen the inclinations of the rising generation to the practice of the honourable arts; they will make our leading men more desirous of bringing up their children, increase the joy they will have in them if they survive, and provide a glorious consolation if they lose them. It is for these reasons that I rejoice on public grounds that a statue has been decreed to Cottius, and on personal grounds I am equally delighted. My affection for that most accomplished youth was as strong as is my ungovernable sorrow at his loss. So I shall find it soothing from time to time to gaze upon his statue, to look back upon it, to stand beneath it, and to walk past it. For if the busts of the dead that we set up in our private houses assuage our grief, how much more soothing should be the statues of our dead friends erected in the most frequented spots, which recall to us not only the form and face of our lost ones, but also their dignities and glory? Farewell.

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VIII. — TO CANINIUS.

Are you at your books, or are you fishing, or hunting, or doing all three together? For the latter is possible in the neighbourhood of our Larian lake. The lake supplies fish in plenty, the woods that girdle its shores are full of game, and their secluded recesses inspire one to study. But whether you combine the three at once, or occupy yourself with either one of them, I cannot say “I grudge you your happiness,” though I feel annoyed to think that I am debarred from pleasures which I long for as ardently as an invalid longs for wine, and the baths, and the fountains. If I cannot unloose the close meshes of the net that enfolds me, shall I never snap them asunder? Never, I am afraid, for new business keeps piling up on top of the old, and that without even the old being got rid of. Every day the entangling chain of my engagements seems to lengthen by acquiring additional links. Farewell.

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IX. — TO APOLLINARIS.

I am worried and anxious about the candidature of my friend Sextus Erucius. I am quite careworn, and feel for my second self, as it were, a solicitude that I did not feel on my own account. Besides, my honour, my reputation, my position are all at stake: for it was I who obtained from our Emperor for Sextus the right to wear the latus clavis, it was I who secured for him the quaestorship; it was owing to my interest that he was advanced to the right of standing for the tribunate, and unless he is elected by the Senate, I am afraid that it will look as if I had deceived the Emperor. Consequently, I have to do my best to induce all the senators to take the same favourable view of him that the Emperor did on my recommendation. If this were not reason sufficient to rouse my zeal in his behalf, yet I should like to see a young man helped on, who is of such sterling character, who is of such weight and learning, and is fully worthy of any and every praise, as indeed are all the members of his family.

His father, Erucius Clarus, is a man of probity of the old-fashioned sort, full of learning and an experienced counsel, conducting his cases with splendid honesty, perseverance, and modesty as well. His uncle is Caius Septicius, than whom I never met any one more sterling, simple, frank, and trustworthy. They all see who can shower most affection upon me, though they all love me equally, and now I can repay the love of all in the person of young Erucius. So I am button-holing all my friends, begging them for their support, going round to see them and haunting their houses and favourite resorts, and I am putting both my position and influence to the test by my entreaties. I beg of you to think it worth your while to relieve me of some part of my burden. I will do the same for you whenever you ask the return favour; nay I will do so even if you do not ask me. You are a favourite with many, people seek your society, and you have a wide circle of friends. Do you but give a hint that you have a wish, and there will be plenty who will make your wish their desire. Farewell.

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X. — TO OCTAVIUS.

What an indolent fellow you are, or perhaps I should say how hard- hearted you are and almost cruel to keep back so long such splendid volumes of verse! How long will you deprive yourself of the chorus of praise that awaits you, and us of the pleasure of reading them? Do let them be borne on the lips of men and circulate through all the wide regions where the Roman tongue is spoken. People have long been eagerly looking forward to your publishing them, and you really ought not to cheat and disappoint them any longer. Some of your verses have become known, and — no thanks to you — have broken down the barriers you set round them, and unless you rescue them and include them in the main body of your work they will one day, like vagrant slaves, find some one else to claim the ownership of them. Don’t lose sight of the fact that you are but mortal, and that you can only defend yourself from being forgotten by such a monument as this: all other titles to fame are fragile and perishable, and come to a sudden end as soon as the breath is out of your body. You will say, as usual, “Oh! my friends must see to that for me.” Well, I hope you have friends loyal enough, learned enough, painstaking enough, to be capable and desirous of undertaking such a responsible task, but I would have you consider whether it is altogether prudent to expect from other people the toil which you will not undergo for yourself. However, as to publishing, do as you please, but at least give some public readings, in order to stir you on to publishing, and that you may at length see how pleased people will be to hear you, as I have for a long time been bold enough to anticipate on your account. For I picture to myself what a run there will be to hear you, how they will admire your work, what applause is in store for you, and what a hush of attention. Personally, when I speak or recite I like a hush quite as much as loud applause, provided that the people are quiet, because they are keenly interested and eager to hear more. With such a reward before you so absolutely certain, do not go on chilling our enthusiasm by that never-ending hesitation of yours, for if it once gets over a certain line, there is a danger of people giving it another name and saying you are idle, slothful, or even nervous. Farewell.

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XI. — TO ARRIANUS.

I know you are always delighted when the Senate behaves in a way befitting its rank, for though your love of peace and quiet has caused you to withdraw from Rome, your anxiety that public life should be kept at a high level is as strong as it ever was. So let me tell you what has been going on during the last few days. The proceedings are memorable owing to the commanding position of the person most concerned; they will have a healthy influence because of the sharp lesson that has been administered; and the importance of the case will make them famous for all time.

Marius Priscus, on being accused by the people of Africa, whom he had governed as proconsul, declined to defend himself before the Senate and asked to have judges assigned to hear the case. Cornelius Tacitus and myself were instructed to appear for the provincials, and we came to the conclusion that we were bound in honesty to our clients to notify the Senate that the charges of inhumanity and cruelty brought against Priscus were too serious to be heard by a panel of judges, inasmuch as he was accused of having received bribes to condemn and even put to death innocent persons. Fronto Catius spoke in reply, and urged that the prosecution should be confined within the law dealing with extortion: he is wonderfully skilled at drawing tears, and throughout his speech he filled his sails with a breeze of pathos. Then a hubbub arose, and there were loud exclamations of applause and dissent; some held that a trial of the case by the Senate was barred by law; others declared that the Senate was quite competent and entitled to deal with it, and argued that the law should punish the whole guilt of the defendant. At length Julius Ferox, the consul-designate, a man of honour and probity, gave it as his opinion that judges should be assigned for the time being, and that those who were said to have bribed Priscus to punish innocent persons should be summoned to Rome. This proposal not only carried the day, but it was the only one that was numerously supported in spite of the previous fierce dissension, for it has often been remarked that though partisanship and pity lead men to make very keen and heated attacks in the first instance, they gradually sober down under the influence of further consideration and reason. Hence it comes about that no one cares to make the point, when the other people are sitting still, which a number of persons may be anxious to make if an uproar is going on all round them; for when you get away from the throng a quiet consideration of the subject at issue makes clear all the points that were lost sight of in the throng of speakers.

Well, the witnesses who were summoned came to Rome, viz., Vitellius Honoratus and Flavius Martianus. Honoratus was charged with having bribed Priscus to the tune of three hundred thousand sesterces to exile a Roman knight and put seven of his friends to death; Martianus was accused of having given Priscus seven hundred thousand sesterces to sentence a single Roman knight to still more grievous punishment, for he was beaten with rods, condemned to the mines, and then strangled in prison. Honoratus — luckily for him — escaped the investigation of the Senate by dying; Martianus was brought before them when Priscus was not present. Consequently Tuccius Cerealis, a man of consular rank, pleaded senatorial privileges and demanded that Priscus should be informed of the attendance of Martianus, either because he thought that Priscus by being present would have a better chance of awakening the compassion of the Senate or to increase the feeling against him, or possibly, and I think this was his real motive, because strict justice demanded that both should defend themselves against a charge that affected them both, and that both should be punished if they could not rebut the accusation.

The subject was postponed to the next meeting of the Senate, and a very august assembly it was. The Emperor presided in his capacity as consul; besides, the month of January brings crowds of people to Rome and especially senators, and moreover the importance of the case, the great notoriety it had obtained, which had been increased by the delays that had taken place, and the ingrained curiosity of all men to get to know all the details of an unusually important matter, had made everybody flock to Rome from all quarters. You can imagine how nervous and anxious we were in having to speak in such a gathering and in the presence of the Emperor on such an important case. It was not the first time that I had pleaded in the Senate, and there is nowhere where I get a more sympathetic hearing, but then the novelty of the whole position seemed to afflict me with a feeling of nervousness I had never felt before. For in addition to all that I have mentioned above I kept thinking of the difficulties of the case and was oppressed by the feeling that Priscus, the defendant, had once held consular rank and been one of the seven regulators of the sacred feasts, and was now deprived of both these dignities. So I found it a very trying task to accuse a man on whom sentence had already been passed, for though the shocking offences with which he was charged weighed heavily against him, he yet was protected to a certain extent by the commiseration felt for a man already condemned to punishment that one might have thought final.

However, as soon as I had pulled myself together and collected my thoughts, I began my address, and though I was nervous I was on the best of terms with my audience. I spoke for nearly five hours, for, in addition to the twelve water-clocks — the largest I could get — which had been assigned to me, I obtained four others. And, as matters turned out, everything that I thought before speaking would have proved an obstacle in the way of a good speech really helped me during my address. As for the Emperor, he showed me such kind attention and consideration — for it would be too much to call it anxiety on my behalf — that he frequently nodded to my freedman, who was standing just behind me, to give me a hint not to overtax my voice and lungs, when he thought that I was throwing myself too ardently into my pleading and imposing too great a burden on my slender frame. Claudius Marcellinus answered me on behalf of Martianus, and then the Senate was dismissed and met again on the following day. For there was no time to begin a fresh speech, as it would have had to be broken off by the fall of night. On the following day, Salvius Liberalis, a man of shrewd wit, careful in the arrangement of his speeches, with a pointed style and a fund of learning, spoke for Marius, and in his speech he certainly brought out all he knew. Cornelius Tacitus replied to him in a wonderfully eloquent address, characterised by that lofty dignity which is the chief charm of his oratory. Then Fronto Catius made another excellent speech on Marius’s behalf, and he spent more time in appeals for mercy than in rebutting evidence, as befitted the part of the case that he had then to deal with. The fall of night terminated his speech but did not break it off altogether, and so the proceedings lasted over into the third day. This was quite fine and just like it used to be for the Senate to be interrupted by nightfall, and for the members to be called and sit for three days running.

Cornutus Tertullus, the consul-designate, a man of high character and a devoted champion of justice, gave as his opinion that the seven hundred thousand sesterces which Marius had received should be confiscated to the Treasury, that Marius should be banished from Rome and Italy, and that Martianus should be banished from Rome, Italy, and Africa. Towards the conclusion of his speech he added the remark that the Senate considered that, since Tacitus and myself, who had been summoned to plead for the provincials, had fulfilled our duties with diligence and fearlessness, we had acted in a manner worthy of the commission entrusted to us. The consuls-designate agreed, and all the consulars did likewise, until it was Pompeius Collega’s turn to speak. He proposed that the seven hundred thousand sesterces received by Marius should be confiscated to the Treasury, that Martianus should be banished for five years, and that Marius should suffer no further penalty than that for extortion — which had already been passed upon him. Opinion was largely divided, and there was possibly a majority in favour of the latter proposal, which was the more lenient or less severe of the two, for even some of those who appeared to have supported Cornutus changed sides and were ready to vote for Collega, who had spoken after them. But when the House divided, those who stood near the seats of the consuls began to cross over to the side of Cornutus. Then those who were allowing themselves to be counted as supporters of Collega also crossed over, and Collega was left with a mere handful. He complained bitterly afterwards of those who had led him to make the proposal he did, especially of Regulus, who had failed to support him in the proposal that he himself had suggested. But Regulus is a fickle fellow, rash to a degree, yet a great coward as well.

Such was the close of this most important investigation; but there is still another bit of public business on hand of some consequence, for Hostilius Firminus, the lieutenant of Marius Priscus, who was implicated in the matter, had received a very rough handling. It was proved by the accounts of Martianus and a speech he made in the Council of the Town of Leptis that he had engaged with Priscus in a very shady transaction, that he had bargained to receive from Martianus 50,000 denarii and had received in addition ten million sesterces under the head of perfume money — a most disgraceful thing for a soldier, but one which was not at all inconsistent with his character as a man with well-trimmed hair and polished skin. It was agreed on the motion of Cornutus that the case should be investigated at the next meeting of the Senate, but at that meeting he did not put in an appearance, either from some accidental reason or because he knew he was guilty.

Well, I have told you the news of Rome, you must write and tell me the news of the country. How are your shrubs getting on, your vines and your crops, and those dainty sheep of yours? In short, unless you send me as long a letter I am sending you, you mustn’t expect anything more than the scrappiest note from me in the future. Farewell.

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XII. — TO ARRIANUS.

As for the bit of public business which, as I told you in my last letter, arose out of the case of Marius Priscus, I don’t know whether it has been thoroughly pruned, but it certainly has been trimmed. When Firminus was called before the Senate he replied to the charges brought against him. What they were you know. The two consuls-designate thereupon expressed their opinions as to the sentence and disagreed with one another. Cornutus Tertullus proposed that he should be degraded from his rank as senator; Acutius Nerva urged that when the provinces were allotted Firminus’s claim should not be allowed, and his suggestion, as being the least severe, carried the day, though on the whole I think it is the harsher and more vindictive of the two. For what could be more wretched than to be cut off and debarred from all the privileges of senatorship, and yet not to be freed from its toil and trouble? What position can be more trying for a man with such a stain on his name than not to be allowed to hide himself from public view, but to have to show himself in a position of eminence to the gaze and pointing fingers of the world? Moreover, can you imagine anything, from the point of view of the public interest, less congruous or becoming than that a member of the Senate who has been branded by that body should keep his seat among them, that he should retain equal rank with the very persons who branded him, that after being debarred from holding a governorship for disgraceful conduct as one of an embassy he should sit in judgment on other governors, and that after being found guilty of peculation he should pronounce the condemnation or acquittal of others? However, the majority approved this proposal, for votes are merely counted and are not weighed according to merit, and there is no other way possible in a public council. Yet in such cases this presumed equality of opinions is really most unequal, for all are equal in the right to vote though the judgment of the voters is a very unequal quantity. I have fulfilled my promise and made good my word contained in the earlier letter I sent you, which I reckon you will by this time have received, for I entrusted it to a fleet and conscientious messenger who must have reached you unless he has been hindered on the road. It now rests with you to recompense me for both these epistles with the very fullest letter that can be sent from where you are staying. Farewell.

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XIII. — TO PRISCUS.

I know you are only too pleased to seize an opportunity for doing me a service, and for my own part I would rather be in your debt than in that of any one else. So, for both these reasons, I have decided to choose you of all people as the one from whom to ask a favour which I am very anxious to have granted me. You are in command of a magnificent army, which gives you abundant material for conferring favours, and, moreover, has provided you with ample time during which you have advanced the interests of your own friends. Now give my friends a turn, please. There are not many of them, though you doubtless wish there were. But I am too modest to ask favours for more than one or two. Indeed there is only one, and that is Voconius Romanus. His father held a distinguished position in the equestrian order; his stepfather, or rather his second father, an even more distinguished place, for Voconius took the name of the latter out of his regard for him, while his mother belonged to one of the leading families of Hither Spain. You know how sound and weighty the opinion of that province is — well, Voconius was quite recently its flamen. When we were students he and I were close and intimate friends; we spent our days together in Rome and in the country; he was my companion both in moments of work and play. You could not imagine a more trusty friend or a more delightful companion. He has wonderful conversational powers, and a remarkably sweet face and expression, and besides this he possesses a lofty intellect and is shrewd, pleasant, ready, and a clever advocate. The letters he writes are so good as to make you think the Muses speak Latin. I have the greatest affection for him, and he has the same for me. When we were both young I did all that I possibly could as a young man to advance him, and just lately I induced our excellent Emperor to grant him the privileges attached to the parentage of three children. That is a favour he bestows but sparingly and after careful choice, yet he acceded to my request as though the choice were his own. There is no better way by which I may keep up my services to him than by adding to their number, especially as he, the recipient, shows himself so grateful to me that by accepting former favours he earns others to come. I have told you what kind of a man he is, how thoroughly I esteem him and how dear he is to me, and I now ask you to use your wits and splendid opportunities for his advancement. Above all, give him your regard, for though you shower upon him your richest dignities you can give him nothing more valuable than your friendship. It was to assure you that he is worthy of even your closest intimacy that I have briefly set before you his tastes, his character and his whole life. I would spin out my request to greater length, but I know that you would rather I did not press you further and the whole of this letter is nothing but a request. For the best way of asking a favour is to give good reason for asking it. Farewell.

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XIV. — TO MAXIMUS.

Yes, you are quite right; my time is fully taken up by cases in the Centumviral Court, but they give me more worry than pleasure, for most of them are of a minor and unimportant character. Only rarely does a case crop up that can be described as a cause celebre, owing either to the distinguished position of the persons in the suit or to the magnitude of the interests involved. Add to this that there are very few with whom I care to plead; all the other advocates are bumptious, and for the most part young men of no standing, who come over here to do their declamations with such utter want of respect and modesty that I think our friend Atilius just hit the nail on the head when he said that mere boys begin their forensic career with cases in the Centumviral Court, just as they begin with Homer in the schools. For here as there they make their first beginnings on the hardest subjects. Yet, by Heaven, before my time — to use an old man’s phrase — not even the highest-born youths had any standing here, unless they were introduced by a man of consular rank.

Such was the respect with which this noble profession was regarded, but now modesty and respect are thrown to the winds and one man is as good as another. So far from being introduced, they burst their way in. Their audiences follow them as if they were actors, bought and paid to do so; the agent is there to meet them in the middle of the basilica, where the doles of money are handed over as openly as the doles of food at a banquet; and they are ready to pass from one court to another for a similar bribe. So these hirelings have been rather wittily dubbed Zophokleis — from their readiness to call bravo, — and they have also been given the Latin name of Laudicaeni — from their eagerness to applaud for the sake of getting a dinner. Yet this disgraceful practice gets worse from day to day, in spite of the terms of opprobrium applied to it in both languages. Yesterday two of my own nomenclators — young men, I admit, about the age of those who have just assumed the toga — were enticed off to join the claque for three denarii apiece. Such is the outlay you must make to get a reputation for eloquence! At that price you can fill the benches, however many there are, you can collect a great throng of bystanders and obtain thunders of applause as soon as the conductor gives the signal. For a signal is absolutely necessary for people who do not understand and do not even listen to the speeches, and many of these fellows do not listen at all, though they applaud as heartily as any. If you happen to be crossing through the basilica and wish to know how any one is speaking, there is no need for you to mount to the Bench or listen. It is perfectly safe to guess on the principle that he is speaking worst who gets the most applause.

Largius Licinius was the first to introduce this new fashion of procuring an audience, but he went no further than asking people to go and hear him. At least I remember that Quintilian, my old tutor, used to tell me so. He told the story thus: “I was in attendance on Domitius Afer when he was pleading in the Centumviral Court in the deliberate and measured style with which he conducted all his cases. He happened to hear from a neighbouring court the sound of extravagant and unusual applause. Wondering what it could mean, he stopped, and then resumed where he had broken off as soon as quiet was restored. Again the shouts came, again he stopped, and after a short period of quiet it began again for the third time. In the end he inquired who was speaking, and was told that it was Licinius. At that he discontinued his case, exclaiming: ‘Centumvirs, this is death to our profession.’” Indeed, it was beginning to go to the bad in other ways when Afer thought that it had already gone to the bad, but it is now practically ruined and destroyed, root and branch. I am ashamed to tell you what an affected delivery these people have and with what unnatural cheering their speeches are greeted. Their sing-song style only wants clapping of hands, or rather cymbals and drums, to make them like the priests of Cybele, for as for howlings — there is no other word to express the unseemly applause in the theatres — they have enough and to spare. It is only a desire to save my friends and my age that has induced me to go on practising so long, for I am afraid people would think that if I retired my object was not to shun these indecent scenes but to escape hard work. Yet I am making fewer appearances than usual, and that is the beginning of gradually ceasing to attend altogether. Farewell.

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XV. — TO VALERIANUS.

How does your old Marsian property treat you? And your new purchase? Do you like the estate now that it is your own? It is rarely one does, for we never find things as nice when we have obtained them as when we wished to obtain them. My mother’s property is giving me considerable trouble, but I like it because it was my mother’s, and besides, I have put up with so much that I am now hardened. If people go on complaining long enough, they end in being ashamed to complain further. Farewell.

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XVI. — TO ANNIANUS.

You, with your usual watchfulness on my behalf, advise me that the codicils of Acilianus, who left me heir to half his estate, may be treated as though they were non-existent, because they are not confirmed by the will. I was quite aware of the law on the subject, for even those who know nothing else know as much as that. But I have made a law of my own for such cases, which leads me to treat as valid the wishes of a dead man, even though they are not legally binding upon me. It is beyond question that the codicils in question were drawn up by Acilianus in his own hand. So, even though they are not confirmed by the will, I shall carefully carry out their intentions as though they were, especially as there is no loophole for an informer to meddle in the matter. For if there were any reason to be afraid of the money I have given being confiscated, I ought to act with perhaps greater hesitation and caution; but since an heir is at perfect liberty to give away what has reverted to him under an inheritance, there is no reason why I should not abide by my own law, which does not clash with the regulations of the State. Farewell.

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XVII. — TO GALLUS.

You are surprised, you say, at my infatuation for my Laurentine estate, or Laurentian if you prefer it so. You will cease to wonder when you are told the charms of the villa, the handiness of its site, and the stretch of shore it commands. It is seventeen miles distant from Rome, so that after getting through all your business, and without loss or curtailment of your working hours, you can go and stay there. It can be reached by more than one route, for the roads to Laurentium and Ostia both lead in the same direction, but you must branch off on the former at the fourth, and on the latter at the fourteenth milestone. From both of these points onward the road is for the most part rather sandy, which makes it a tedious and lengthy journey if you drive, but if you ride it is easy going and quickly covered. The scenery on either hand is full of variety. At places the path is a narrow one with woods running down to it on both sides, at other points it passes through spreading meadows and is wide and open. You will see abundant flocks of sheep and many herds of cattle and horses, which are driven down from the high ground in the winter and grow sleek in a pasturage and a temperature like those of spring.

The villa is large enough for all requirements, and is not expensive to keep in repair. At its entrance there is a modest but by no means mean- looking hall; then come the cloisters, which are rounded into the likeness of the letter D, and these enclose a smallish but handsome courtyard. They make a fine place of refuge in a storm, for they are protected by glazed windows and deep overhanging eaves. Facing the middle of the cloisters is a cheerful inner court, then comes a dining- room running down towards the shore, which is handsome enough for any one, and when the sea is disturbed by the south-west wind the room is just flecked by the spray of the spent waves. There are folding doors on all sides of it, or windows that are quite as large as such doors, and so from the two sides and the front it commands a prospect as it were of three seas, while at the back one can see through the inner court, the cloisters, the courtyard, then more cloisters and the hall, and through them the woods and the distant hills. A little farther back, on the left-hand side, is a spacious chamber; then a smaller one which admits the rising sun by one window and by another enjoys his last lingering rays as he sets, and this room also commands a view of the sea that lies beneath it, at a longer but more secure distance. An angle is formed by this chamber and the dining-room, which catches and concentrates the purest rays of the sun. This forms the winter apartments and exercise ground for my household. No wind penetrates thither except those which bring up rain-clouds and only prevent the place being used when they take away the fine weather. Adjoining this angle is a chamber with one wall rounded like a bay, which catches the sun on all its windows as he moves through the heavens. In the wall of this room I have had shelves placed like a library, which contains the volumes which I not only read, but read over and over again. Next to it is a sleeping chamber, through a passage supported by pillars and fitted with pipes which catch the hot air and circulate it from place to place, keeping the rooms at a healthy temperature. The remaining part of this side of the villa is appropriated to the use of my slaves and freedmen, most of the rooms being sufficiently well furnished for the reception of guests.

On the other side of the building there is a nicely decorated chamber, then another room which would serve either as a large bed-chamber or a moderate sized dining-room, as it enjoys plenty of sunshine and an extensive sea-view. Behind this is an apartment with an ante-room, suitable for summer use because of its height, and for winter use owing to it sheltered position, for it is out of reach of all winds. Another room with an ante-room is joined to this by a common wall. Next to it is the cold bath room, a spacious and wide chamber, with two curved swimming baths thrown out as it were from opposite sides of the room and facing one another. They hold plenty of water if you consider how close the sea is. Adjoining this room is the anointing room, then the sweating room, and then the heating room, from which you pass to two chambers of graceful rather than sumptuous proportions. Attached to these is a warm swimming bath which everybody admires, and from it those who are taking a swim can command a view of the sea. Close by is the tennis court, which receives the warmest rays of the afternoon sun; on one side a tower has been built with two sitting rooms on the ground floor, two more on the first floor, and above them a dining-room commanding a wide expanse of sea, a long stretch of shore, and the pleasantest villas of the neighbourhood. There is also a second tower, containing a bedroom which gets the sun morning and evening, and a spacious wine cellar and store-room at the back of it. On the floor beneath is a sitting-room where, even when the sea is stormy, you hear the roar and thunder only in subdued and dying murmurs. It looks out upon the exercise ground, which runs round the garden.

This exercise ground has a border of boxwood, or rosemary where the box does not grow well — for box thrives admirably when it is sheltered by buildings, but where it is fully exposed to wind and weather and to the spray of the sea, though it stands at a great distance therefrom, it is apt to shrivel. On the inside ring of the exercise ground is a pretty and shady alley of vines, which is soft and yielding even to the bare foot. The garden itself is clad with a number of mulberry and fig- trees, the soil being specially suitable for the former trees, though it is not so kindly to the others. On this side, the dining-room away from the sea commands as fine a view as that of the sea itself. It is closed in behind by two day-rooms, from the windows of which can be seen the entrance to the villa from the road and another garden as rich as the first one but not so ornamental.

Along its side stretches a covered portico, almost long enough for a public building. It has windows on both sides, most of them facing the sea; those looking on the garden are single ones, and less numerous than those on the other side, as every alternate window was left out. All these are kept open when it is a fine day and there is no wind; when the wind is high, the windows only on the sheltered side are opened and no harm is done. In front of the portico is a terrace walk that is fragrant with violets. The portico increases the warmth of the sun by radiation, and retains the heat just as it keeps off and breaks the force of the north wind. Hence it is as warm in front as it is cool behind. In the same way it checks the south-west winds, and similarly with all winds from whatever quarter they blow — it tempers them and stops them dead. This is its charm in winter, but in summer it is even greater, for in the mornings its shade tempers the heat of the terrace walk, and in the afternoon the heat of the exercise ground and the nearest part of the garden, the shadows falling longer and shorter on the two sides respectively as the sun rises to his meridian and sinks to his setting. Indeed, the portico has least sunshine when the sun is blazing down upon its roof. Consequently it receives the west winds through its open windows and circulates them through the building, and so never becomes oppressive through the stuffy air remaining within it.

At the head of the terrace and portico successively is a garden suite of rooms, my favourite spot and well worthy of being so. I had them built myself. In this is a sunny chamber which commands the terrace on one side, the sea on another, and the sun on both; besides an apartment which looks on the portico through folding doors and on the sea through a window. In the middle of the wall is a neat recess, which by means of glazed windows and curtains can either be thrown into the adjoining room or be cut off from it. It holds a couch and two easy-chairs, and as you lie on the couch you have the sea at your feet, the villa at your back, and the woods at your head, and all these views may be looked at separately from each window or blended into one prospect. Adjoining is a chamber for passing the night in or taking a nap, and unless the windows are open, you do not hear a sound either of your slaves talking, or the murmur of the sea, or the raging of the storms; nor do you see the flashes of the lightning or know that it is day. This deep seclusion and remoteness is due to the fact that an intervening passage separates the wall of the chamber from that of the garden, and so all the sound is dissipated in the empty space between. A very small heating apparatus has been fitted to the room, which, by means of a narrow trap-door, either diffuses or retains the hot air as may be required. Adjoining it is an ante-room and a chamber projected towards the sun, which the latter room catches immediately upon his rising, and retains his rays beyond mid-day though they fall aslant upon it. When I betake myself into this sitting-room, I seem to be quite away even from my villa, and I find it delightful to sit there, especially during the Saturnalia, when all the rest of the house rings with the merry riot and shouts of the festival-makers; for then I do not interfere with their amusements, and they do not distract me from my studies.

The convenience and charm of the situation of my villa have one drawback in that it contains no running water, but I draw my supply from wells or rather fountains, for they are situated at a high level. Indeed, it is one of the curious characteristics of the shore here that wherever you dig you find moisture ready to hand, and the water is quite fresh and not even brackish in the slightest degree, though the sea is so close by. The neighbouring woods furnish us with abundance of fuel, and other supplies we get from a colony of Ostia. The village, which is separated only by one residence from my own, supplies my modest wants; it boasts of three public baths, which are a great convenience, when you do not feel inclined to heat your own bath at home, if you arrive unexpectedly or wish to save time. The shore is beautified by a most pleasing variety of villa buildings, some of which are close together, while others have great intervals between them. They give the appearance of a number of cities, whether you view them from the sea or from the shore itself, and the sands of the latter are sometimes loosened by a long spell of quiet weather, or — as more often happens — are hardened by the constant beating of the waves. The sea does not indeed abound with fish of any value, but it yields excellent soles and prawns. Yet our villa provides us with plenty of inland produce and especially milk, for the herds come down to us from the pastures whenever they seek water or shade.

Well, do you think that I have just reasons for living here, for passing my time here, and for loving a retreat for which your mouth must be watering, unless you are a confirmed town-bird? I wish that your mouth did water! If it did, the many great charms of my little villa would be enhanced in the highest degree by your company. Farewell.

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XVIII. — TO MAURICUS.

No, you could not have given me a pleasanter commission than to find a teacher of rhetoric for your brother’s children. For, thanks to you, I go to school again, and, as it were, enjoy once more the happiest days of my life. I sit among young people, as I used to do, and I can judge what authority I have among them owing to my literary pursuits. Just recently in a full class-room, before a number of members of our order, the boys were joking among themselves quite loudly; the moment I entered they were quiet as mice. I should not mention the incident except that it redounded more to their credit than to mine, and that I wish you to feel sure that your brother’s sons can attend the lectures to their advantage. Moreover, when I have heard all the lectures, I will write and tell you what I think about each one of them, and so — as far as I can by a letter — I will make you think that you have heard them all yourself. I owe this to you, and I owe it to the memory of your brother to deal loyally by him and take this interest, especially on such an important subject. For what can touch you more closely than that these children — I should say your children, but that you love them more than if they were your own — should be found worthy of such a father and such an uncle as yourself. Even if you had not asked me to look after them, I should have done so on my own account. I do not forget that in choosing a public teacher one is apt to give offence, but on behalf of your brother’s sons I must risk giving offence and even incurring animosity with as little compunction as a parent would in looking after his own children. Farewell.

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XIX. — TO CERIALIS.

You urge me to recite my speech before a company of my friends. I will do so, because you ask me to, but I am exceedingly doubtful of the wisdom of the step. For I cannot help remembering that speeches which are recited lose all their spirit and passion and almost the right to the name of speeches — which are properly enhanced and fired by the bench of judges, the crowds of supporters, the waiting for the verdict, the reputation of the various counsel, and the divided partisanship of the audience. Besides all this, there are the gestures of the pleader, his moving to and fro, even his hurried strides, and every movement of his body which corresponds to some thought passing through his mind. Hence it is that those who plead sitting down, although they have practically the same environment as those who plead standing, are not so impressive and telling just because they happen to be seated. But when a man recites a speech, his eyes and hands — which are the most important aids to expression — are otherwise occupied, and so it is no wonder that the attention of the audience becomes languid, when there are no external graces to charm them and no thrills to stimulate them. Moreover, the address I am talking about is a fighting speech and full of contentious matter, and Nature has so ordained it that we think, if a subject has given us trouble to write, it will give an audience trouble to listen to it. How few conscientious listeners there are who prefer a stiff, closely-reasoned argument to honeyed and sonorous eloquence! It is wrong, I know, that there should be a difference of taste between judge and listener, but there is such a difference and it constantly crops up. The audience want one thing and the judges another, whereas, on the contrary, a listener ought to be impressed just by those points which would make most impression on him if he were judge. However, it is possible that in spite of these difficulties the speech may be recommended by a certain novelty — a novelty that is quite Roman, — for though the Greeks have a custom which does bear a remote resemblance to it, it is really quite different. For just as it was their practice, in showing that a law was opposed to earlier laws, to prove that it was so by comparing it with the others, so I had to show that my accusation was covered by the law against extortion by comparing it with other laws as well as by proving it from the law itself. Such a subject, though far from having any charm for the ears of the man in the street, ought to be as interesting to the learned as it is uninteresting to the unlearned. But if I make up my mind to recite the speech, I shall invite all the learned people to hear it. However, please think it over by all means and tell me whether you still consider that I ought to recite it; place on either side all the considerations I have raised, and choose the conclusion which has the weight of argument in its favour. It is from you, not from me, that a reason will be required; my apology will be that I did as I was told. Farewell.

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XX. — TO CALVISIUS.

Get ready your penny and I will tell you a golden story, nay, more than one, for the new one has reminded me of some old tales, and it does not matter with which I begin. Verania, the wife of Piso, was lying very ill — I mean the Piso who was adopted by Galba. Regulus paid her a visit. First mark the impudence of the man in coming to see the invalid, for he had been her husband’s bitter enemy and she loathed and detested him. However, that might pass if he had only called, but he actually sat down beside her on the couch and asked her on what day and at what hour she had been born. On being told he puts on a grave look, fixes his eyes hard, moves his lips, works his fingers and makes his reckoning, but says nothing. Then after keeping the poor lady on the tenter-hooks, wondering what he would say, he exclaims: “You are passing through a critical time, but you will pull through. Still, just to reassure you, I will go and consult a soothsayer with whom I have often had dealings.” He goes off at once; offers the sacrifice and swears that the appearance of the entrails corresponds with the warning of the stars. She, with all the credulity of an invalid, calls for her tablets and writes down a legacy for Regulus; subsequently she grows worse and exclaims as she dies, “What a rascal, what a lying and worse than perjured wretch, thus to have sworn falsely on the head of his son!”

That is Regulus’s trick, and he has recourse to the scandalous device constantly, for he calls down the anger of the gods, whom he daily outrages, upon the head of his luckless son. Velleius Blaesus, the rich Consular, was stricken with the illness which carried him off, and was desirous of changing his will. Regulus, who was capable of hoping for anything from an alteration of the will because he had lately begun to haunt him on the chance of a legacy, begged and prayed of the doctors to prolong Blaesus’s life by hook or by crook. But when the will was signed he took quite a different line. He changed his tone and said to the same doctors: “How long do you intend to torture the poor man? Why do you grudge him an easy death when you cannot give him life?” Blaesus dies, and, as though he had heard every word, he leaves Regulus not a brass farthing. Two stories are quite enough. Or do you ask for a third, on the rhetoricians’ principle? Well, I have one for you. When Aurelia, a lady of great means, was about to make her will, she put on for the occasion her most handsome tunics. When Regulus came to witness the signing he said, “I beg you to leave me these.” Aurelia thought the man was joking, but he was serious and pressed the matter. Well, to cut the story short, he compelled the poor woman to open the tablets and leave to him the tunics she was wearing at the time. He watched her as she wrote, and looked to see whether she had written it rightly. Aurelia still lives, but he forced her to make that legacy as if she had been on the point of death. Yet this is the fellow who receives inheritances and legacies as though he deserved them.

But why do I worry myself when I live in a country where villainy and rascality have long been getting not less but far more handsome rewards than modesty and virtue? Look at Regulus, for example, who, from being a pauper and without a shilling, has now become such a rich man by sheer villainy that he once told me that, when he was consulting the omens as to how soon he would be worth sixty millions of sesterces, he found double sets of entrails, which were a token that he would be worth 120 millions. So he will too, if only he goes on, as he has begun, dictating wills which are not their own to the very people who are making their wills, which is about the most disgraceful kind of forgery imaginable. Farewell.

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BOOK III.

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I. — TO CALVISIUS.

I don’t think I ever spent a more delightful time than during my recent visit at Spurinna’s house; indeed, I enjoyed myself so much that, if it is my fortune to grow old, there is no one whom I should prefer to take as my model in old age, as there is nothing more methodical than that time of life. Personally, I like to see men map out their lives with the regularity of the fixed courses of the stars, and especially old men. For while one is young a little disorder and rush, so to speak, is not unbecoming; but for old folks, whose days of exertion are past and in whom personal ambition is disgraceful, a placid and well-ordered life is highly suitable. That is the principle upon which Spurinna acts most religiously; even trifles, or what would be trifles were they not of daily occurrence, he goes through in fixed order and, as it were, orbit.

In the morning he keeps his couch; at the second hour he calls for his shoes and walks three miles, exercising mind as well as body. If he has friends with him the time is passed in conversation on the noblest of themes, otherwise a book is read aloud, and sometimes this is done even when his friends are present, but never in such a way as to bore them. Then he sits down, and there is more reading aloud or more talk for preference; afterwards he enters his carriage, taking with him either his wife, who is a pattern lady, or one of his friends, a distinction I recently enjoyed. How delightful, how charming that privacy is! What glimpses of old times one gets! What noble deeds and noble men he tells you of! What lessons you drink in! Yet at the same time it is his custom so to blend his learning with modesty that he never seems to be playing the schoolmaster. After riding seven miles he walks another mile, then he again resumes his seat or betakes himself to his room and his pen. For he composes, both in Latin and Greek, the most scholarly lyrics. They have a wonderful grace, wonderful sweetness, and wonderful humour, and the chastity of the writer enhances its charm. When he is told that the bathing hour has come — which is the ninth hour in winter and the eighth in summer — he takes a walk naked in the sun, if there is no wind. Then he plays at ball for a long spell, throwing himself heartily into the game, for it is by means of this kind of active exercise that he battles with old age. After his bath he lies down and waits a little while before taking food, listening in the meantime to the reading of some light and pleasant book. All this time his friends are at perfect liberty to imitate his example or do anything else they prefer. Then dinner is served, the table being as bright as it is modest, and the silver plain and old-fashioned; he also has some Corinthian vases in use, for which he has a taste though not a mania. The dinner is often relieved by actors of comedy, so that the pleasures of the table may have a seasoning of letters. Even in the summer the meal lasts well into the night, but no one finds it long, for it is kept up with such good humour and charm. The consequence is that, though he has passed his seventy-seventh year, his hearing and eyesight are as good as ever, his body is still active and alert, and the only symptom of his age is his wisdom.

This is the sort of life that I have vowed and determined to forestall, and I shall enter upon it with zest as soon as my age justifies me in beating a retreat. Meanwhile, I am distracted with a thousand things to attend to, and my only solace therein is the example of Spurinna again, for he undertook official duties, held magistracies, and governed provinces as long as it became him to do so, and earned his present leisure by abundant toil. That is why I set myself the same race to run and the same goal to attain, and I now register the vow and place it in your hands, so that, if ever you see me being carried beyond the mark, you may bring me to book, quote this letter of mine against me and order me to take my ease, so soon as I shall have made it impossible for people to charge me with laziness. Farewell.

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II. — TO MAXIMUS.

I think I am justified in asking you to grant to one of my friends a favour which I should certainly have offered to friends of yours, had I the same opportunity for conferring them as you have. Arrianus Maturus is the leading man in Altinum; and when I say that, I mean not that he is the richest man there — though he possesses considerable property — but I refer to his character, to his chastity, justice, weight, and wisdom. I turn to him in business for advice, and for criticism in literary matters, for he is wonderfully loyal, straightforward, and shrewd. He has the same regard for me as you have, and I cannot conceive a more ardent affection than that. He is by no means an ambitious man, and for that reason, though he might easily have attained the highest rank in the state, he has been content to remain in the equestrian order. Yet I feel that I must do something to add to his honours and give him some token of my regard. And so I am very anxious to heap some dignity upon him, though he does not expect it, knows nothing about it, and perhaps even would rather I did not — but it must be a real distinction and one that involves no troublesome responsibilities. So I ask you to confer upon him such a favour at your earliest opportunity, and I shall be profoundly obliged to you. And he will be also, for though he does not run after honours, he welcomes them as thankfully as if his heart were set upon them. Farewell.

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III. — TO CORELLIA HISPULLA.

I know not whether I regarded your father, who was a man of consummate judgment and rectitude of life, with greater love or reverence, and as I have a very special regard for you for his sake and also for your own, I feel bound to desire and even to do all that lies in my power to help your son to turn out like his grandfather. For choice, I should prefer him to be like his grandfather on his mother’s side, though his paternal grandfather was also a man of distinction and eminence, and his father and his uncle won conspicuous laurels. I feel sure that the only way to secure his growing up to be like them in all their good qualities is for him to drink deeply of the honourable arts, and the choice of a teacher from whom he may learn them is a matter of the highest importance. So far, his tender years have naturally kept him close by your side; he has had tutors at home, where there is little or no chance of his going wrong. But now his studies must take him out of doors, and we must look out for a Latin rhetorician with a good reputation for school discipline, for modesty, and above all, for good morals. For our young friend has been endowed, in addition to his other gifts of nature and fortune, with striking physical beauty, and at his slippery age we must find him not only a teacher but a guardian who will keep him straight.

Well, I fancy I can recommend to you Julius Genitor. I have a regard for him, and my affection, which was based on judgment, does not blind my judgment of him. He is without faults, a man of real character, perhaps a little over-rugged and austere for this libertine age. You can learn from others what an accomplished speaker he is, for ability to speak is an open gift and is recognised at once when the power is displayed, but a man’s private life is full of deep recesses and obscure mazes. For the latter in Genitor’s case you may hold me as guarantor. From a man like him your son will hear nothing but what will be to his profit; he will learn nothing of which he had better have remained in ignorance, and Genitor will remind him, as often as you or I would, of the special obligations in his case of “noblesse oblige” and the dignity of the names he has to worthily uphold. So bid him God-speed and entrust him to a tutor who will teach him morals first and eloquence afterwards, for it is but a poor thing to learn the latter without the former. Farewell.

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IV. — TO MACRINUS.

Although my course of action was approved in general estimation and by the friends who were with me at the time, I am anxious to know what you think of it. I should have liked to have had your opinion before finally deciding, so now that the matter is over I am exceedingly keen to hear your judgment. I had run down to my Tuscan estate to lay the foundations of a public building at my own expense, after obtaining leave of absence as Praefect of the Treasury, when a deputation from the province of Baetica, who were about to lodge complaints against the governorship of Caecilius Classicus, petitioned the Senate to appoint me to conduct their case for them. My colleagues, who are the best of fellows and devoted to my interests, pleaded the engagements and duties of the office we hold, and tried to get me off and make excuses for me. The Senate passed a handsome resolution, saying that I should be allowed to champion the cause of the provincials if they succeeded in persuading me to take up the brief. Then the deputation was again introduced, when I was in my place in the Senate, and asked my assistance, appealing to my loyalty, of which they had previous experience in the action against Massa Baebius, and adducing their legal right to a patronus. The Senate responded to the appeal with the loud applause which usually precedes a decree of that body.

Then I rose and said: “Conscript Fathers, I beg to withdraw my plea to be excused as inadequate,” and the House approved the modesty of the remark and the reason. However, I was drawn to act as I did not only by the applause of the Senate, though that had great weight with me, but by a variety of other reasons, less in themselves, but all telling in the account. I remembered that our forefathers used to voluntarily undertake the championship of individual private friends who had been wronged, and so I thought that it would be shameful for me to neglect the claims of an entire people who were my friends. Moreover, when I recollected what hazards I had run for the same people of Baetica in my earlier championship of them, I thought I had better preserve their gratitude for the old favour by granting them a new one. For it is a law of nature that people soon forget an old benefit, unless you keep on renewing it by later ones, for however often you oblige them, if you refuse them one request, they only remember the refusal. Another motive was that Classicus was dead, and so there was no fear of the odium of endangering a senator, which in these cases is usually the most serious objection. I saw, therefore, that if I undertook the case I should obtain just as much kudos as if he were alive, and yet escape all odium. In short, I reckoned that if I consented to appear a third time in a brief of this kind, I should have an easier task to excuse myself if a case turned up in which I felt I ought not to play the part of accuser. For as there is a limit to the granting of all favours, the best method of paving the way to obtain a right of refusal is by consenting to previous requests. I have now told you my reasons for acting as I did, and it is open to you to agree or dissent, but let me assure you that frank dissent will be no less agreeable to me than the sanction of your approval. Farewell.

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V. — TO BAEBIUS MACER.

I was delighted to find that you are so zealous a student of my uncle’s books that you would like to possess copies of them all, and that you ask me to give you a complete list of them. I will play the part of an index for you, and tell you, moreover, the order in which they were written, for this is a point that students are interested to know. “Throwing the Javelin from Horseback,” one volume; this was composed, with considerable ingenuity and research, when he was on active service as a cavalry lieutenant. “The Life of Pomponius Secundus,” two volumes; — Pomponius was remarkably attached to my uncle, who, so to speak, composed this book to his friend’s memory in payment of his debt of gratitude. “The German Wars,” twenty volumes; — this comprises an account of all the wars we have waged with the German races. He commenced it, while on service in Germany, in obedience to the warning of a dream, for, while he was asleep, the shade of Drusus Nero, who had won sweeping victories in that country and died there, appeared to him and kept on entrusting his fame to my uncle, beseeching him to rescue his name from ill-deserved oblivion. “The Student,” three volumes, afterwards split up into six on account of their length; — in this he showed the proper training and equipment of an orator from his cradle up. “Ambiguity in Language,” in eight volumes, was written in the last years of Nero’s reign when tyranny had made it dangerous to write any book, no matter the subject, in anything like a free and candid style. “A Continuation of the History of Aufidius Bassus,” in thirty-one books, and a “Natural History,” in thirty-seven books; — the latter is a comprehensive and learned work, covering as wide a field as Nature herself.

Does it surprise you that a busy man found time to finish so many volumes, many of which deal with such minute details? You will wonder the more when I tell you that he for many years pleaded in the law courts, that he died in his fifty-seventh year, and that in the interval his time was taken up and his studies were hindered by the important offices he held and the duties arising out of his friendship with the Emperors. But he possessed a keen intellect; he had a marvellous capacity for work, and his powers of application were enormous. He used to begin to study at night on the Festival of Vulcan, not for luck but from his love of study, long before dawn; in winter he would commence at the seventh hour or at the eighth at the very latest, and often at the sixth. He could sleep at call, and it would come upon him and leave him in the middle of his work. Before daybreak he would go to Vespasian — for he too was a night-worker — and then set about his official duties. On his return home he would again give to study any time that he had free. Often in summer after taking a meal, which with him, as in the old days, was always a simple and light one, he would lie in the sun if he had any time to spare, and a book would be read aloud, from which he would take notes and extracts. For he never read without taking extracts, and used to say that there never was a book so bad that it was not good in some passage or another. After his sun bath he usually bathed in cold water, then he took a snack and a brief nap, and subsequently, as though another day had begun, he would study till dinner-time. After dinner a book would be read aloud, and he would take notes in a cursory way. I remember that one of his friends, when the reader pronounced a word wrongly, checked him and made him read it again, and my uncle said to him, “Did you not catch the meaning?” When his friend said “yes,” he remarked, “Why then did you make him turn back? We have lost more than ten lines through your interruption.” So jealous was he of every moment lost.

In summer he used to rise from the dinner-table while it was still light; in winter always before the first hour had passed, as though there was a law obliging him to do so. Such was his method of living when up to the eyes in work and amid the bustle of Rome. When he was in the country the only time snatched from his work was when he took his bath, and when I say bath I refer to the actual bathing, for while he was being scraped with the strigil or rubbed down, he used to listen to a reader or dictate. When he was travelling he cut himself aloof from every other thought and gave himself up to study alone. At his side he kept a shorthand writer with a book and tablets, who wore mittens on his hands in winter, so that not even the sharpness of the weather should rob him of a moment, and for the same reason, when in Rome, he used to be carried in a litter. I remember that once he rebuked me for walking, saying, “If you were a student, you could not waste your hours like that,” for he considered that all time was wasted which was not devoted to study.

Such was the application which enabled him to compile all those volumes I have enumerated, and he left me one hundred and sixty commonplace books, written on both sides of the scrolls, and in a very small handwriting, which really makes the number of the volumes considerably more. He used to say that when he was procurator in Spain he could have sold these commonplace books to Largius Licinus for four hundred thousand sestertia, and at that time they were much fewer in number. Do you not feel when you think of his voluminous writing and reading that he cannot have had any public duties to attend to, and that he cannot have been an intimate friend of the Emperors? Again, when you hear what an amount of work he put into his studies, does it not seem that he neither wrote nor read as much as he might? For his other duties might surely have prevented him from studying altogether, and a man with his application might have accomplished even more than he did. So I often smile when some of my friends call me a book-worm, for if I compare myself with him I am but a shocking idler. Yet am I quite as bad as that, considering the way I am distracted by my public and private duties? Who is there of all those who devote their whole life to literature, who, if compared with him, would not blush for himself as a sleepy-head and a lazy fellow? I have let my pen run on, though I had intended simply to answer your question and give you a list of my uncle’s works; but I trust that even my letter may give you as much pleasure as his books, and that it will spur you on not only to read them, but also to compose something worthy to be compared with them. Farewell.

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VI. — TO ANNIUS SEVERUS.

Out of a legacy which I have come in for I have just bought a Corinthian bronze, small it is true, but a charming and sharply-cut piece of work, so far as I have any knowledge of art, and that, as in everything else perhaps, is very slight. But as for the statue in question even I can appreciate its merits. For it is a nude, and neither conceals its faults, if there are any, nor hides at all its strong points. It represents an old man in a standing posture; the bones, muscles, nerves, veins, and even the wrinkles appear quite life-like; the hair is thin and scanty on the forehead; the brow is broad; the face wizened; the neck thin; the shoulders are bowed; the breast is flat, and the belly hollow. The back too gives the same impression of age, as far as a back view can. The bronze itself, judging by the genuine colour, is old and of great antiquity. In fact, in every respect it is a work calculated to catch the eye of a connoisseur and to delight the eye of an amateur, and this is what tempted me to purchase it, although I am the merest novice. But I bought it not to keep it at home — for as yet I have no Corinthian art work in my house — but that I might put it up in my native country in some frequented place, and I specially had in mind the Temple of Jupiter. For the statue seems to me to be worthy of the temple, and the gift to be worthy of the god. So I hope that you will show me your usual kindness when I give you a commission, and that you will undertake the following for me. Will you order a pedestal to be made, of any marble you like, to be inscribed with my name and titles, if you think the latter ought to be mentioned? I will send you the statue as soon as I can find any one who is not overburdened with luggage, or I will bring myself along with it, as I dare say you would prefer me to do. For, if only my duties allow me, I am intending to run down thither. You are glad that I promise to come, but you will frown when I add that I can only stay a few days. For the business which hitherto has kept me from getting away will not allow of my being absent any longer. Farewell.

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VII. — TO CANINIUS RUFUS.

News has just come that Silius Italicus has starved himself to death at his villa near Naples. Ill-health was the cause assigned. He had an incurable corn, which made him weary of life and resolved him to face death with a determination that nothing could shake, yet to his last day he was prosperous and happy, save that he lost the younger of his two children. The elder and the better of the two still survives him in prosperous circumstances and of consular rank. During Nero’s reign Silius had injured his reputation, for it was thought that he voluntarily informed against people, but he had conducted himself with prudence and courtesy as one of the friends of Vitellius; he had returned from his governorship of Asia covered with glory, and he had succeeded in obliterating the stains on his character, caused by his activity in his young days, by the admirable use he made of his retirement. He ranked among the leading men of the State, though he held no official position and excited no man’s envy. People paid their respects to him and courted his society, and, though he spent much of his time on his couch, his room was always full of company who were no mere chance callers, and he passed his days in learned and scholarly conversation, when he was not busy composing. He wrote verses which show abundant pains rather than genius, and sometimes he submitted them to general criticism by having them read in public.

At last he retired from the city, prompted thereto by his great age, and settled in Campania, nor did he stir from the spot, even at the accession of the new Emperor. A Caesar deserves great credit for allowing a subject such liberty, and Italicus deserves the same for venturing to avail himself of it. He was such a keen virtuoso that he got the reputation of always itching to buy new things. He owned a number of villas in the same neighbourhood, and used to neglect his old ones through his passion for his recent purchases. In each he had any quantity of books, statues and busts, which he not only kept by him but even treated with a sort of veneration, especially the busts of Virgil, whose birthday he kept up far more scrupulously than he did his own, principally at Naples, where he used to approach the poet’s monument as though it were a temple. In these peaceful surroundings he completed his seventy-fifth year, his health being delicate rather than weak, and just as he was the last consul appointed by Nero, so too in him died the sole survivor of all the consuls appointed by that Emperor. It is also a curious fact that, besides his being the last of Nero’s consuls, it was in his term of office that Nero perished. When I think of this, I feel a sort of compassion for the frailty of humanity. For what is so circumscribed and so short as even the longest human life? Does it not seem to you as if Nero were alive only the other day? Yet of all those who held the consulship during his reign not one survives at the present moment.

But, after all, what is there remarkable in that? Not so long ago Lucius Piso, the father of the Piso who was must shamefully put to death in Africa by Valerius Festus, used to say that he did not see a single soul in the Senate of all those whom he had called upon to speak during his consulship. Within such narrow limits are the powers of living of even the mightiest throng confined that it seems to me the royal tears are not only excusable but even praiseworthy. For the story goes that when Xerxes cast his eyes over his enormous host, he wept to think of the fate that in such brief space would lay so many thousands low. But that is all the more reason why we should apply all the fleeting, rushing moments at our disposal, if not to great achievements — for these may be destined for other hands than ours — at least to study, and why, as long life is denied us, we should leave behind us some memorial that we have lived. I know that you need no spurring on, yet the affection I have for you prompts me even to spur a willing horse, just as you do with me. Well, it is a noble contention when friends exhort one another to work and sharpen one another’s desires to win an immortal name. Farewell.

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VIII. — TO SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS.

It is just like your usual respectful regard for me that you beg me so earnestly to transfer the tribuneship, which I obtained for you from that noble man Neratius Marcellus, to your relative Caesennius Silvanus. I should have been delighted to see you as tribune, but I shall be equally pleased to see another take the post through your generosity, for I do not think it would be becoming in me to grudge a man whom you desire to advance in dignity the fame of family affection, which is a greater distinction than any honorific titles. Besides, as it is a splendid thing both to deserve benefits and to confer them, I see that you will at one and the same time receive credit for both, now that you bestow on another what your own merits have won. Moreover, I quite understand that I too shall come in for some glory when it is known through your generous deed that friends of mine can not only fill the office of tribune, but can bestow it on others. For these reasons I bow to the wishes which do you the greatest credit. No name has yet been placed on the lists, and so we can quite well substitute that of Silvanus for yours. I hope that he will show himself as grateful to you as you have to me. Farewell.

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IX. — TO CORNELIUS MINICIANUS.

I can now give you a full account of the enormous trouble entailed upon me in the public trial brought by the Province of Baetica. It was a complicated suit, and new issues kept constantly cropping up. Why this variety, and why these different pleadings? you well ask. Well, Caecilius Classicus — a low rascal who carries his villainy in his face — had during his proconsulship in Baetica, in the same year that Marius Priscus was Governor of Africa, behaved both with violence and rapacity. Now, Priscus came from Baetica and Classicus from Africa, and so there was a rather good saying among the people of Baetica, for even resentment often inspires wit: “It is give and take between us.” But in the case of Marius only one city publicly impeached him besides several private individuals, while the whole Province pressed the charges home against Classicus. He forestalled their accusation by a sudden death which may or may not have been self-inflicted, for there was some doubt about his dishonourable end. Men thought that though it was quite intelligible that he should have been willing to die as he had no defence to offer, yet they could hardly understand why he had died rather than undergo the shame of being condemned when he was not ashamed to commit the crime which merited the condemnation. None the less, the Province determined to go on with the accusation of the dead man. Provision had been made for such cases by the laws, but the custom had fallen into disuse and it was revived then for the first time after many years. Another argument urged by the Baetici for continuing the suit was that they had impeached not only Classicus, but his intimates and tools, and had demanded leave to prosecute them by name.

I was acting for the Province, assisted by Lucceius Albinus, an eloquent and ornate speaker, and though we have long been on terms of the closest regard for one another, our association in this suit has made me feel vastly more attached to him. As a rule, and especially in oratorical efforts, people do not run well in double harness in their striving for glory, but he and I were not in any sense rivals and there was no jealousy between us, as we both did our level best, not for our own hand, but for the common cause, which was of such a serious character and of such public importance that it seemed to demand from us that we should not over-elaborate each single pleading. We were afraid that time would fail us, and that our voices and lungs would break down if we tied up together so many charges and so many defendants into one bundle. Again, we feared that the attention of the judges would not only be wearied by the introduction of so many names and charges, but that they would be confused thereby, that the sum-total of the influence of each one of the accused might procure for each the strength of all, and finally we were afraid lest the most influential of the accused should make a scapegoat of the meanest among them, and so slip out of the hands of justice at the expense of some one else — for favour and personal interest are strongest when they can skulk behind some pretence of severity. Moreover, we were advised by the well-known story of Sertorius, who set two soldiers — one young and powerful, and the other old and weak — to pull off the tail of a horse. You know how it finishes. And so we too thought that we could get the better of even such a long array of defendants, provided we took them one by one.

Our plan was first to prove the guilt of Classicus himself; then it was a natural transition to his intimates and tools, because the latter could never be condemned unless Classicus were guilty. Consequently, we took two of them and closely connected them with Classicus, Baebius Probus and Fabius Hispanus, both men of some influence, while Hispanus possesses a strong gift of eloquence. To prove the guilt of Classicus was an easy and simple task that did not take us long. He had left in his own handwriting a document showing what profits he had made out of each transaction and case, and he had even despatched a letter couched in a boasting and impudent strain to one of his mistresses containing the words, “Hurrah! hurrah! I am coming back to you with my hands free; for I have already sold the interests of the Baetici to the tune of four million sesterces.” But we had to sweat to get a conviction against Hispanus and Probus. Before I dealt with the charges against them, I thought it necessary to establish the legal point that the execution of an unjust sentence is an indictable offence, for if I had not done this it would have been useless for me to prove that they had been the henchmen of Classicus. Moreover, their line of defence was not a denial. They pleaded that they could not help themselves and therefore were to be pardoned, arguing that they were mere provincials and were frightened into doing anything that a proconsul bade them do. Claudius Restitutus, who replied to me, a practised and watchful speaker who is equal to any emergency however suddenly sprung up upon him, is now going about saying that he never was so dumbfounded and thrown off his balance as when he discovered that the ground on which he placed full reliance for his defence had been cut from under him and stolen away from him.

Well, the outcome of our line of attack was as follows: the Senate decreed that the property owned by Classicus before he went to the Province should be set apart from that which he subsequently acquired, and that his daughter should receive the former and the rest be handed over to the victims of his extortion. It was also decreed that the sums which he had paid over to his creditors should be refunded. Hispanus and Probus were banished for five years. Such was the serious view taken of their conduct, about which at the outset there were doubts whether it was legally criminal at all. A few days afterwards we accused Claudius Fuscus, a son-in-law of Classicus, and Stilonius Priscus, who had acted under him as tribune of a cohort. Here the verdicts differed, for while Priscus was banished from Italy for two years, Fuscus was acquitted.

In the third action, we thought our best course was to lump the defendants together, fearing lest, if the trial were to be spun out to undue length, those who were hearing the case would grow sick and tired of it, and their zeal for strict justice and severity would abate. Besides, the accused persons, who had been designedly kept over till then, were all of comparatively little importance, except the wife of Classicus, and, although suspicion against her was strong, the proofs seemed rather weak. As for the daughter of Classicus, who was also among the defendants, she had cleared herself even of suspicion. Consequently, when I reached her name in the last trial — for there was no fear then as there had been at the beginning that such an admission would weaken the force of the prosecution — I thought the most honourable course was to refrain from pressing the charge against an innocent person, and I frankly said so, repeating the idea in various forms. For example, I asked the deputation of the Baetici whether they had given me definite instructions on any point which they felt confident they could prove against her; I turned to the senators and inquired whether they thought I ought to employ what eloquence I might possess against an innocent person, and hold, as it were, the knife to her throat; and, finally, I concluded the subject with these words: “Some one may say, ‘You are presuming to act as judge.’ No, I reply, I am not presuming to be a judge, but I cannot forget that the judges appointed me to act as counsel.”

Well, the conclusion of this trial, with its crowd of defendants, was that a certain few were acquitted, but the majority were condemned and banished, some for a fixed term of years, and others for life. In the same decree the Senate expressed in most handsome terms its appreciation of our industry, loyalty, and perseverance, and this was the only possible worthy and adequate reward for the trouble we had taken. You can imagine how worn out we were, when you think how often we had to plead, and answer the pleadings of our opponents, and how many witnesses we had to cross-question, encourage, and refute. Besides, you know how trying and vexatious it is to say “no” to the friends of the accused when they come pleading with you in private, and to stoutly oppose them when they confront you in open court. I will tell you one of the things I said. When one of those who were acting as judges interrupted me on behalf of one of the accused in whom he took a special interest, I replied: “He will be none the less innocent, if he be innocent, when I have had my full say.” You can guess from this sample what opposition we had to face, and how we could not avoid giving offence, — but that only lasted a short time, for though at the moment a loyal conduct of a case may offend those whom one is opposing, in the end it wins even their admiration and respect.

I have brought you up to date as well as I could. You will say, “It was not worth while, for what have I to do with such a long letter?” If you do, don’t ask again what is going on at Rome, and bear in mind that you cannot call a letter long which covers so many days, so many trials, and so many defendants and pleadings. I think I have dealt with all these subjects as briefly as I am sure they are exactly dealt with. But no, I was rash to say “exactly”; I remember a point which I had omitted, and I will tell you about it even now, though it is out of its proper place. Homer does this, and many other authors have followed his example — with very good effect too — though that is not my reason for so doing. One of the witnesses, annoyed at being summoned to appear, or bribed by some one of the defendants in order to weaken the prosecution, laid an accusation against Norbanus Licinianus, a member of the deputation, who had been instructed to get up the case, and charged him with having acted in collusion with the other side in relation to Casta, the wife of Classicus. It is a legal rule in such instances that the trial of the accused must be finished before inquiry is made into a charge of collusion, on the ground that one can best form an opinion on the bona fides of the prosecution by noticing how the case has been carried through. However, Norbanus reaped no advantage from this point of law, nor did his position as member of the deputation, nor his duties as one of those getting up the action stand him in good stead. A storm of prejudice broke out against him, and there is no denying that his hands were crime-stained, that he, like many others, had taken advantage of the evil times of Domitian, and that he had been selected by the provincials to get up the case, not as a man of probity and honour, but because he had been a personal enemy of Classicus, by whom, indeed, he had been banished.

He demanded that a day should be fixed for his trial, and that the charge against him should be published; both were refused, and he was obliged to answer on the spot. He did so, and though the thorough badness and depravity of the fellow make me hesitate to say whether he showed more impudence or resolution, he certainly replied with great readiness. There were sundry things brought against him which did him much greater damage than the charge of collusion, and two men of consular rank, Pomponius Rufus and Libo Frugi, severely damaged him by giving evidence to the effect that during the reign of Domitian he had assisted the prosecution of Salvius Liberalis before the judge. He was convicted and banished to an island. Consequently, when I was accusing Casta, I specially pressed the point that her accuser had been found guilty of collusion. But I did so in vain, and we had the novel and inconsistent result that the accused was acquitted though her accuser was found guilty of collusion with her. You may ask what we were about while this was going on. We told the Senate that we had received all our instructions for this public trial from Norbanus, and that the case ought to be tried afresh if he were proved guilty of collusion, and so, while his trial was proceeding, we sat still. Subsequently Norbanus was present every day the trial lasted, and showed right up to the end the same resolute or impudent front.

I wonder if I have forgotten anything else. Well, I almost did. On the last day Salvius Liberalis bitterly assailed the rest of the deputation on the ground that they had not brought accusations against all whom they were commissioned to accuse by the province. He is a powerful and able speaker, and he put them in some danger. However, I went to the protection of those excellent and most grateful men, and they declare that they owe it entirely to me that they safely weathered that storm. This is the end, positively the end of my letter: I will not add another syllable, even if I discover that I have still omitted to tell you something. Farewell.

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X. — TO VESTRICIUS SPURINNA AND HIS WIFE COTTIA.

When I was last at your house I did not tell you that I had composed some verses about your son. I refrained from so doing, first, because I had not written them simply for the sake of reciting them, but in order to relieve my feelings of love and sorrow; and, in the second place, Spurinna, I thought that when you were told that I had given a recitation — as you mentioned to me — you had also heard its subject. Moreover, I was afraid of troubling you in your happiness by recalling to your remembrance your bitter sorrow. Even now I have been hesitating somewhat as to whether I should send you at your request only the verses that I actually read, or whether I should also send those which I am thinking of reserving for another volume. For my love for him was such that I find it impossible to do justice to the memory of one who was so dear and precious to me in a single volume, and his fame will be best consulted if it is husbanded and carefully expressed. But though, as I say, I am doubtful whether to show you all that I have composed on the subject, or whether I should still keep back a part, it has seemed to me that frankness and our friendship demand that I should let you have the whole, especially as you promise that you will keep them strictly entre nous until I decide to publish them. The only other request I make is that you will be equally candid with me and tell me if you think any additions, alterations, or omissions should be made. It is difficult to focus the mind on such subjects when one is in trouble, but in spite of that I want you to deal with me as you would with a sculptor or a painter who was making a model or portrait of your son. In such a case, you would advise him as to the points he should bring out and alter, and similarly I hope you will guide and direct me, for I am essaying a likeness, neither frail nor perishable, but one, as you think, which will last for ever. It will be the more durable, according to its trueness to life and correctness of detail. Farewell.

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XI. — TO JULIUS GENITOR.

Our friend Artemidorus has so much goodness of heart that he always exaggerates the services his friends render him, and hence, in my case, though it is true that I have done him a good turn, he speaks of it in far too glowing language. When the philosophers were banished from the city I was staying with him in his suburban residence, and the visit was the more talked about and the more dangerous to me, because I was praetor at the time. Moreover, as he stood in need of a considerable sum of money to discharge some debts which he had incurred for the most honourable of reasons, I borrowed the sum and gave it to him as a free gift, when certain of his powerful and rich friends held aloof. I did so in spite of the fact that seven of my friends had been put to death or banished; Senecio, Rusticus, and Helvidius having suffered the former, and Mauricus, Gratilla, Arria, and Fannia the latter punishment. With all these thunderbolts falling round me, I felt scorched, and there were certain clear indications that a like fate was hanging over my head, but I do not on that account think I deserve the splendid credit which Artemidorus assigns me — I only claim to have avoided the disgrace of deserting my friends. For I loved and admired his father-in-law, Caius Musonius, as far as the difference in our ages would permit, while as for Artemidorus himself, even when I was on active service as tribune in Syria, I was on terms of close intimacy with him, and the first sign I gave of possessing any brains at all was that I appeared to appreciate a man who was either the absolute sage, or the nearest possible approximation to such a character. For, of all those who nowadays call themselves philosophers, you will hardly find another to match him in the qualities of sincerity and truth. I say nothing of the physical fortitude with which he bears the extremes both of summer and winter, or of the way in which he never shrinks from work, never indulges himself in the pleasures of eating and drinking, and keeps constant restraint over his appetites and desires. In another man these would appear great virtues, but in Artemidorus they appear mere trifles compared with his other noble qualities, which obtained for him the distinction of being chosen by Caius Musonius as his son-in-law amid a crowd of disciples belonging to all ranks of society. As I think of all these things it is pleasant to know that he sings my praises so loudly, not only to others but also to you, but I am afraid he overdoes them, for — to go back again to the point whence I started — he is so good-hearted that he is given to exaggeration. It is one of his faults — an honourable one, no doubt, but still a fault — that, though he is otherwise most level-headed, he entertains a higher opinion of his friends than they deserve. Farewell.

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XII. — TO CATILIUS SEVERUS.

Yes, I will come to dinner, but even now I must stipulate that the meal be short and frugal, and brimming over only with Socratic talk. Nay, even in this respect there must be a limit fixed, for there will be crowds of people going to make calls before day breaks, and even Cato did not escape when he fell in with them, though Caius Caesar, in telling the story, blames him in such a way that it redounds to his praise. For he says that when those who met him drunk uncovered his head and saw who it was, they blushed at the sight, and he adds: “You would think it was not they who had caught Cato, but Cato who had caught them.” What greater testimony could there be to Cato’s character than that men respected him even when he was in liquor? But for our dinner let us agree not only to have a modest and inexpensive feast but to break up in good time, for we are not Catos that our enemies cannot censure us without praising us in the same breath. Farewell.

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XII. — TO VOCONIUS ROMANUS.

I am sending you, at your request, the speech in which I lately thanked our best of emperors for my nomination as Consul, and I should have sent it to you even though you had not asked for it. I hope you will take into consideration both the beauty and the difficulty of the theme. For in other speeches the attention of the reader is kept fixed by the novelty of the subject, but in this case every detail is familiar, a matter of common knowledge, and has been said before. Consequently the reader will be lazy and careless and will only pay attention to the diction, and when merely the diction is attended to, it is not easy to give satisfaction. I wish that people would pay equal regard to the arrangement of the speech, to its transitions, and the figures of speech employed. For even the unlearned sometimes manage to get a noble inspiration and express it in powerful language, but skilful arrangement and variety of metaphor are only attained by the scholarly. Besides, one must not for ever keep at the same high and lofty level. For, just as in painting there is nothing like shadow to bring out the effect of light, so in a speech it is as important on occasions to reduce the treatment to an ordinary level as to raise it to a high one. But why do I talk of first principles to a man of your accomplishments? What I do wish to insist upon is to ask you to mark the passages which you think should be corrected. For I shall think that you are all the better pleased with the remainder if I find that there are certain portions that you do not like. Farewell.

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XIV. — TO ACILIUS.

A shocking affair, worthy of more publicity than a letter can bestow, has befallen Largius Macedo, a man of praetorian rank, at the hands of his own slaves. He was known to be an overbearing and cruel master, and one who forgot — or rather remembered to keenly — that his own father had been a slave. He was bathing at his villa near Formiae, when he was suddenly surrounded by his slaves. One seized him by the throat, another struck him on the forehead, and others smote him in the chest, belly, and even — I am shocked to say — in the private parts. When they thought the breath had left his body they flung him on to the hot tiled floor to see if he was still alive. Whether he was insensible, or merely pretended to be so, he certainly did not move, and lying there at full length, he made them think that he was actually dead. At length they carried him out as though he had been overcome by the heat and handed him over to his more trusty servants, while his mistresses ran shrieking and wailing to his side. Aroused by their cries and restored by the coolness of the room where he lay, he opened his eyes and moved his limbs, betraying thereby that he was still alive, as it was then safe to do so. His slaves took to flight; most of them have been captured, but some are still being hunted for. Thanks to the attentions he received, Macedo was kept alive for a few days and had the satisfaction of full vengeance before he died, for he exacted the same punishment while he still lived as is usually taken when the victim of a murder dies. You see the dangers, the affronts and insults we are exposed to, and no one can feel at all secure because he is an easy and mild-tempered master, for villainy not deliberation murders masters.

But enough of that subject! Have I any other news to tell you? Let me see! No, there is nothing. If there were, I would tell you, for I have room enough on this sheet, and, as to-day is a holiday, I should have plenty of time to write more. But I will just add an incident which I chance to recall that happened to the same Macedo. When he was in one of the public baths in Rome, a curious and — the event has shown — an ominous accident happened to him. Macedo’s servant lightly tapped a Roman knight with his hand to induce him to make room for them to pass, and the knight turned round and struck, not the slave who had touched him but Macedo himself, such a heavy blow with his fist that he almost felled him. So one may say that the bath has been by certain stages the scene first of humiliation to him and then of death. Farewell.

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XV. — TO SILIUS PROCULUS.

You ask me to read your poems while I am in the country, and see whether I think they are worth publishing; you even add entreaties, and quote an authority for the request; for you beg me to take a few holiday hours from my own studies and spend them on your efforts, and you say that Marcus Tullius showed wonderful good nature in encouraging the talent of poets. Well, there was no need to beg and pray of me to do such a thing, for I have the most profound regard for the poetic art and I have a very strong affection for you, so I will comply with your request and give them a careful and willing reading. But even now I think I am justified in writing and telling you that your work is charming and should on no account be kept from publication, as far as I could judge from the pieces that you read aloud in my hearing — unless, indeed, your delivery took me in, for you read with great charm and skill. But I feel pretty sure that I am not so completely led away by the mere pleasures of the ear that my critical powers are wholly disarmed by the pleasure of listening — they might be blunted possibly and have their edge turned somewhat, but they certainly could not be subverted or destroyed. Consequently, I am not rash in pronouncing a general verdict on the whole even now, but in order to judge of them in detail, I must read them through. Farewell.

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XVI. — TO NEPOS.

I have often observed that the greatest words and deeds, both of men and women, are not always the most famous, and my opinion has been confirmed by a talk I had with Fannia yesterday. She is a granddaughter of the Arria who comforted her husband in his dying moments and showed him how to die. She told me many stories of her grandmother, just as heroic but not so well known as the manner of her death, and I think they will seem to you as you read them quite as remarkable as they did to me as I listened to them.

Her husband, Caecina Paetus, was lying ill, and so too was their son, both, it was thought, without chance of recovery. The son died. He was a strikingly handsome lad, modest as he was handsome, and endeared to his parents for his other virtues quite as much as because he was their son. Arria made all the arrangements for the funeral and attended it in person, without her husband knowing anything of it. When she entered his room she pretended that the boy was still alive and even much better, and when her husband constantly asked how the lad was getting on, she replied: “He has had a good sleep, and has taken food with a good appetite.” Then when the tears, which she had long forced back, overcame her and burst their way out, she would leave the room, and not till then give grief its course, returning when the flood of tears was over, with dry eyes and composed look, as though she had left her bereavement at the door of the chamber. It was indeed a splendid deed of hers to unsheath the sword, to plunge it into her breast, then to draw it out and offer it to her husband, with the words which will live for ever and seem to have been more than mortal, “Paetus, it does not hurt.” But at that moment, while speaking and acting thus, there was fame and immortality before her eyes, and I think it an even nobler deed for her without looking for any reward of glory or immortality to force back her tears, to hide her grief, and, even when her son was lost to her, to continue to act a mother’s part.

When Scribonianus had started a rebellion in Illyricum against Claudius, Paetus joined his party, and, on the death of Scribonianus, he was brought prisoner to Rome. As he was about to embark, Arria implored the soldiers to take her on board with him. “For,” she pleaded, “as he is of consular rank, you will assign him some servants to serve his meals, to valet him and put on his shoes. I will perform all these offices for him.” When they refused her, she hired a fishing-boat and in that tiny vessel followed the big ship. Again, in the presence of Claudius she said to the wife of Scribonianus, when that woman was voluntarily giving evidence of the rebellion, “What, shall I listen to you in whose bosom Scribonianus was killed and yet you still live?” Those words showed that her resolve to die gloriously was due to no sudden impulse. Moreover, when her son-in-law Thrasea sought to dissuade her from carrying out her purpose, and urged among his other entreaties the following argument: “If I had to die, would you wish your daughter to die with me?” she replied, “If she had lived as long and as happily with you as I have lived with Paetus, yes.” This answer increased the anxiety of her friends, and she was watched with greater care. Noticing this, she said, “Your endeavours are vain. You can make me die hard, but you cannot prevent me from dying.” As she spoke she jumped from her chair and dashed her head with great force against the wall of the chamber, and fell to the ground. When she came to herself again, she said, “I told you that I should find a difficult way of dying if you denied me an easy one.”

Do not sentences like these seem to you more noble than the “Paetus, it does not hurt,” to which they gradually led up? Yet, while that saying is famous all over the world, the others are unknown. But they confirm what I said at the outset, that the noblest words and deeds are not always the most famous. Farewell.

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XVII. — TO JULIUS SERVIANUS.

Is everything quite well with you, that I have not had a letter from you for so long? Or if all is well, are you busy? Or if you are not busy, is it that you rarely get a chance of writing, or never a chance at all? Relieve my anxiety, which is altogether too much for me, and do so even if you have to send a special messenger. I will pay the travelling expenses and give him a present for himself, provided only he brings me the news I wish to hear. I am in good health if being in good health is to live in a state of constant anxiety, expecting and fearing every hour to hear that my dearest friend has met with any one of the dreadful accidents to which men are liable. Farewell.

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XVIII. — TO CURIUS SEVERUS.

As Consul, it naturally devolved upon me to thank the Emperor in the name of the State. After doing so in the Senate in the usual way and in a speech befitting the place and the occasion, I thought that it would highly become me, as a good citizen, to cover the same ground in greater detail and much more fully in a book. In the first place, I desired that the Emperor might be encouraged by well-deserved praise of his virtues; and, secondly, that future Emperors might be shown how best to attain similar glory by having such an example before them, rather than by any precepts of a teacher. For though it is a very proper thing to point out to an Emperor the virtues he ought to display, it involves a heavy responsibility to do so and it has rather a presumptuous look, whereas to eulogise an excellent ruler and so hold up a beacon to his successors by which they may steer their path, is not only an act of public service but involves no assumption of superiority.

But I have been more than a little pleased to find that when I proposed to give a public reading of this speech, my friends, whom I invited not by letters and personal notes, but in general terms, such as “if you find it convenient,” or “if you have plenty of time” — for no one has ever plenty of time at Rome, nor is it ever convenient to listen to a recital — attended two days running, in spite of shockingly bad weather, and when my modesty would have brought the recital to an end, they forced me to continue it for another day. Am I to take this as a compliment to myself or to learning? I should prefer to think to the latter, for learning, after having almost drooped to death, is now reviving a little. Yet consider the subject which occasioned all this enthusiasm! Why, in the Senate, when we had to listen to these panegyrics we used to be bored to death after the first moment; yet now there are people to be found who are willing to read and listen to the readings for three days, not because the subject is dealt with more eloquently than before, but because it is treated with greater freedom, and therefore the work is more willingly undertaken. This will be another feather in the cap of our Emperor, that those speeches which used to be as odious as they were unreal are now as popular as they are true to facts.

But I especially noticed with pleasure both the attention and the critical faculties of the audience, for I remarked that they seemed most pleased with the passages which were least adorned. I do not forget that I have read only to a few what I have written for all the reading public, yet none the less I take for granted that the multitude will pass a similar judgment, and I am delighted with their taste for simple passages. Just as the audience in the theatres made the musicians cultivate a false taste in playing, so now I am encouraged to hope that they will encourage the players to cultivate a good taste. For all who write to please will write in the style which they see is popular. As for myself, I hope that with such a subject a luxuriant style may pass muster, inasmuch as the passages which are closely reasoned and stripped of all ornament are more likely to seem forced and far-fetched than those treated in a more buoyant and, as it were, more exultant strain. Nevertheless, I am just as anxious for the day to come (I hope it has come already!) when mere charming and honeyed words, however justly applied, shall give way to a chaste simplicity. Well, I have told you all about my three days’ work; when you read it I hope that, though you were absent at the time, you may be as pleased at the compliment paid to learning and to me as you would have been if you had been there. Farewell.

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XIX. — TO CALVISIUS RUFUS.

I want to ask your advice, as I have often done, on a matter of private business. Some land adjoining my own, and even running into mine, is for sale, and while there are many considerations tempting me to buy it, there are equally weighty reasons to dissuade me. I feel tempted to purchase, first, because the estate will look well if rounded off, and, secondly, because the conveniences resulting therefrom would be as great as the pleasures it would give me. The same work could be carried on at both places, they could be visited at the same cost of travelling, they could be put under one steward and practically one set of managers, and, while one villa was kept up in style, the other house might be just kept in repair. Moreover, one must take into account the cost of furniture and head-servants, besides gardeners, smiths, and even the gamekeepers, and it makes a great difference whether you have all these in one place or have them distributed in several. Yet, on the other hand, I am afraid it may be rash to risk so much of one’s property to the same storms and the same accidents, and it seems safer to meet the caprices of Fortune by not putting all one’s eggs into the same basket. Again, there is something exceedingly pleasant in changing one’s air and place, and in the travelling from one estate to another.

However, the chief reason why I hesitate is as follows: — The land in question is fertile, rich and well-watered; it consists of meadows, vineyards and woods, which are productive and guarantee an income, not large, it is true, but yet sure. But the fertility of the land is overtaxed by the lack of capital of the tenants. For the last proprietor constantly sold the whole stock, and, though he reduced the arrears of the tenants for the time, he weakened their efficiency for the future, and as their capital failed them their arrears once more began to mount up. I must therefore set them up again, and it will cost me the more because I must provide them with honest slaves, for I have no slaves working in chains in my possession, nor has any landowner in that part of the country. Now, let me tell you the price at which I think I can purchase the property. It is three million sesterces, though at one time the price was five, but owing to the lack of capital of the tenants and the general badness of the times the rents have fallen off and the price has therefore dropped also. Perhaps you will ask whether I can raise these three millions without difficulty. Well, nearly all my capital is invested in land, but I have some money out at interest and I can borrow without any trouble. I can get money from my mother-in-law, whose purse I use as freely as if it were my own. So don’t let this consideration trouble you, if the other objections can be got over, and I hope you will give these your most careful attention. For, as in everything else, so too in the matter of investments, your experience and shrewdness are unexceptionable. Farewell.

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XX. — TO MESSIUS MAXIMUS.

Do you remember that you often read of the fierce controversies excited by the Ballot Act, and the praises and denunciations that it brought upon the head of the man who introduced it? Yet, nowadays in the Senate its merits are universally acknowledged, and on the last election day all the candidates demanded the ballot. For when the voting was open and members publicly recorded their votes, the confusion was worse than that which prevails at public meetings. No one paid any heed to the time allotted to speeches; there was no respectful silence, and members did not even remember their dignity and keep their seats. On all sides there was tumult and uproar; all were running to and fro with their candidates; they clustered in knots and rings on the floor of the house, and there was the most unseemly disorder. To such an extent had we degenerated from the customs of our forefathers, who observed in all things order, moderation, and quiet, and never forgot the dignity of the place and the attitude proper to it.

There are still old men living who tell me that elections in their time were conducted as follows: — When a candidate’s name was read out the deepest silence was observed. Then he addressed the House in his own interest, gave an account of his life, and produced witnesses to speak in his favour. He would call upon the general under whom he had served, or the governor to whom he had been quaestor, or both if possible, and then he mentioned certain of his supporters, who would speak for him in a few weighty sentences. These had far more effect than entreaties. Sometimes a candidate would lay objections to the pedigree, age, or character of a rival, and the Senate would listen with gravity befitting a censor. Consequently, merit told as a rule more than influence. But when this laudable practice was spoilt by excessive partisanship the House had recourse to the silence of the ballot-box in order to cure the evil, and for a time it did act as a remedy, owing to the novelty of the sudden change. But I am afraid that as time goes on abuses will arise even out of this remedy, for there is a danger that the ballot may be invaded by shameless partiality. How few there are who are as careful of acting honourably in secret as in public! While many people are afraid of what others will say, few are afraid of their own conscience. But it is too early yet to speak of the future, and in the meantime, thanks to the ballot, we shall have as magistrates men who pre-eminently deserve the honour. For in this election we have proved honest judges, like those who are hastily empanelled to serve in the Court of the Recuperators — where the decision is so speedy that those who try the case have no time to be bribed.

I have written this letter, firstly to tell you the news, and secondly to say a word on the general political outlook, and, as opportunities for discussing the latter are much less frequent than they were in the old days, we should seize those which present themselves all the more eagerly. Besides, how long shall we go on using the hackneyed phrases, “How do you spend your time?” and “Are you quite well?” Let us in our correspondence rise above the ordinary poor level and petty details confined to our private affairs. It is true that all political power lies in the hands of one person, who for the common good has taken upon himself the cares and labours of the whole State, yet, thanks to his beneficent moderation, some rills from that bounteous source flow down even to us, and these we may draw for ourselves and serve up, as it were, to our absent friends in letters. Farewell.

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XXI. — TO CORNELIUS PRISCUS.

I hear that Valerius Martial is dead, and I am much troubled at the news. He was a man of genius, witty and caustic, yet one who in his writings showed as much candour as he did biting wit and ability to sting. When he left Rome I made him a present to help to defray his travelling expenses, as a tribute to the friendship I bore him and to the verses he had composed about me. It was the custom in the old days to reward with offices of distinction or money grants those who had composed eulogies of private individuals or cities, but in our day this custom, like many other honourable and excellent practices, was one of the first to fall into disuse. For when we cease to do deeds worthy of praise, we think it is folly to be praised. Do you ask what the verses are which excited my gratitude? I would refer you to the volume itself, but that I have some by heart, and if you like these, you may look out the others for yourself in the book. He addresses the Muse and bids her seek my house on the Esquiline and approach it with great respect:— “But take care that you do not knock at his learned door at a time when you should not. He devotes whole days together to crabbed Minerva, while he prepares for the ears of the Court of the Hundred speeches which posterity and the ages to come may compare even with the pages of Arpinum’s Cicero. “Twill be better if you go late in the day, when the evening lamps are lit; that is YOUR hour, when the Wine God is at his revels, when the rose is Queen of the feast, when men’s locks drip perfume. At such an hour even unbending Catos may read my poems.” Was I not right to take a most friendly farewell of a man who wrote a poem like that about me, and do I do wrong if I now bewail his death as that of a bosom-friend? For he gave me the best he could, and would have given me more if he had had it in his power. And yet what more can be given to a man than glory and praise and immortality? But you may say that Martial’s poems will not live for ever. Well, perhaps not, yet at least he wrote them in the hope that they would. Farewell.

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BOOK IV.

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I. — TO FABATUS.

You say you wish to see your granddaughter again, and me with her, after not having seen us for so long. Both of us are charmed to hear you say so, and, believe me, we are equally anxious to see you. For I cannot tell you how we long to see you, and we shall no longer delay our visit. To that end we are even now getting our luggage together, and we shall push on as fast as the state of the roads will permit. There will be one delay, but it will not detain us long. We shall branch off to see my Tuscan estate — not to inspect the farms and go into accounts, as that can be postponed — but merely to perform a necessary duty. There is a village near my property called Tifernum Tiberinum, which selected me as its patron when I was still almost a boy, and showed, by so doing, more affection than judgment. The people there flock to meet me when I approach, are distressed when I leave them, and rejoice at my preferment. In this village, as a return for their kindness — for it would never do to be outdone in affection — I have, at my own expense, built a temple, and now that it is completed it would be hardly respectful to the gods to put off its dedication any longer. So we shall be present on the dedication day, which I have arranged to celebrate with a banquet. We may possibly stay there for the following day as well, but, if we do, we shall get over the ground with increased speed to make up for lost time. I only hope that we shall find you and your daughter in good health, for I know we shall find you in good spirits if we arrive in safety. Farewell.

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II. — TO ATTIUS CLEMENS.

Regulus has lost his son — the only misfortune he did not deserve, because I doubt whether he considers it as such. He was a sharp-witted youth, whatever use he might have made of his talents, though he might have followed honourable courses if he did not take after his father. Regulus freed him from his parental control in order that he might succeed to his mother’s property, but after freeing him — and those who knew the character of the man spoke of it as a release from slavery — he endeavoured to win his affections by treating him with a pretended indulgence which was as disgraceful as it was unusual in a father. It seems incredible, but remember that it was Regulus. Yet now that his son is dead, he is mad with grief at his loss. The boy had a number of ponies, some in harness and others not broken in, dogs both great and small, nightingales, parrots and blackbirds — all these Regulus slaughtered at his pyre. Yet an act like that was no token of grief; it was but a mere parade of it. It is strange how people are flocking to call upon him. Every one detests and hates him, yet they run to visit him in shoals as though they both admired and loved him. To put in a nutshell what I mean, people in paying court to Regulus are copying the example he set. He does not move from his gardens across the Tiber, where he has covered an immense quantity of ground with colossal porticos and littered the river bank with his statues, for, though he is the meanest of misers, he flings his money broadcast, and though his name is a byword, he is for ever vaunting his glories. Consequently, in this the most sickly season of the year, he is upsetting every one’s arrangements, and thinks it soothes his grief to inconvenience everybody. He says he is desirous of taking a wife, and here again, as in other matters, he shows the perversity of his nature. You will hear soon that the mourner is married, that the old man has taken a wife, displaying unseemly haste as the former and undue delay as the latter. If you ask what makes me think he will take this step, I reply that it is not because he says he will — for there is no greater liar than he — but because it is quite certain that Regulus will do what he ought not to do. Farewell.

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III. — TO ANTONIUS.

That you, like your ancestors of old, have been twice consul, that you have been proconsul of Asia with a record such as not more than one or two of your predecessors and successors have enjoyed — for your modesty is such that I do not like to say that no one has equalled you — that in purity of life, influence and age, you are the principal man of the State, — all these things inspire respect and give distinction, and yet I admire you even more in your retirement. For to season, as you do, all your strict uprightness with charm of manner equally striking, and to be such an agreeable companion as well as such a man of weight, that is no less difficult than it is desirable. Yet you succeed in so doing with wonderful sweetness both in your conversation and above all, when you set pen to paper. For when you talk, all the honey of Homer’s old man eloquent seems to flow from your tongue, and when you write, the bees seem to be busy pouring into every line their choicest essences and charging them with sweetness. That certainly was my impression when I recently read your Greek epigrams and iambics. What breadth of feeling they contain, what choice expressions, how graceful they are, how musical, how exact! I thought I was holding in my hands Callimachus or Herodes, or even a greater poet than these, if greater there be, yet neither of these two poets attempted or excelled in both these forms of verse. Is it possible for a Roman to write such Greek? I do not believe that even Athens has so pure an Attic touch. But why go on? I am jealous of the Greeks that you should have elected to write in their language, for it is easy to guess what choice work you could turn out in your mother-tongue, when you have produced such splendid results with an exotic language which has been transplanted into our midst. Farewell.

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IV. — TO SOSIUS SENECIO.

I have the greatest regard for Varisidius Nepos; he is hardworking, upright, and a scholar — a point which with me outweighs almost any other. He is a near relative and, in fact, a son of the sister of Caius Calvisius, my old companion and a friend too of yours. I beg that you will give him a tribuneship for six months and so advance him in dignity, both for his own and for his uncle’s sake. By so doing you will confer a favour on me, on our friend Calvisius, and on Varisidius himself, who is quite as worthy to be under an obligation to you as we are. You have showered kindnesses on numbers of people, and I will venture to say that you have never bestowed one that was better deserved, and have but rarely granted one that was deserved so well. Farewell.

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V. — TO SPARSUS.

There is a story that Aeschines was once asked by the Rhodians to read them one of his speeches, that he afterwards read them one of Demosthenes’ as well, and that both were received with great applause. I cannot wonder that the orations of such distinguished men were applauded, when I think that just recently the most learned men in Rome listened for two days together to a speech of mine, with such earnestness, applause, and concentration of attention, though there was nothing to stir their blood, no other speech with which to compare mine, and not a trace of the acharnement of debate. While the Rhodians had not only the beauties of the two speeches to kindle them but also the charm of comparison, my speech was approved though it lacked the advantages of being controversial. Whether it deserved its reception you will be able to judge when you have read it, and its bulk does not allow of my making a longer preface. For I ought certainly to be brief here where brevity is possible, so that I may be the more readily excused for the length of the speech itself, though it is not longer than the subject required. Farewell.

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VI. — TO JULIUS NASO.

My Tuscan farms have been lashed by hail; from my property in the Transpadane region I get news that the crops are very heavy but the prices rule equally low, and it is only my Laurentian estate that makes me any return. It is true that all my belongings there consist of but a house and a garden, yet it is the only property which brings me in any revenue. For while I am there I write hard and I till — not fields, for I have none — but my own wits, and so I can show you there a full granary of MSS., as elsewhere I can show you full barns of wheat. Hence if you are anxious for sure and fruitful farms, you too should sow your grain on the same kind of shore. Farewell.

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VII. — TO CATIUS LEPIDUS.

I am constantly writing to tell you what energy Regulus possesses. It is wonderful the way he carries through anything which he has set his mind upon. It pleased him to mourn for his son — and never man mourned like him; it pleased him to erect a number of statues and busts to his memory, and the result is that he is keeping all the workshops busy; he is having his boy represented in colours, in wax, in bronze, in silver, in gold, ivory, and marble — always his boy. He himself just lately got together a large audience and read a memoir of his life — of the boy’s life; he read it aloud, and yet had a thousand copies written out which he has scattered broadcast over Italy and the provinces. He wrote at large to the decurions and asked them to choose one of their number with the best voice to read the memoir to the people, and it was done. What good he might have effected with this energy of his — or whatever name we should give to such dauntless determination on his part to get his own way — if he had only turned it into a better channel! But then, as you know, good men rarely have this faculty so well developed as bad men; the Greeks say, “Ignorance makes a man bold; calculation gives him pause,” and just in the same way modesty cripples the force of an upright mind, while unblushing confidence is a source of strength to a man without conscience. Regulus is a case in point. He has weak lungs, he never looks you straight in the face, he stammers, he has no imaginative power, absolutely no memory, no quality at all, in short, except a wild, frantic genius, and yet, thanks to his effrontery, and even just to this frenzy of his, he has got people to regard him as an orator. Herennius Senecio very neatly turned against him Cato’s well- known definition of an orator by saying, “An orator is a bad man who knows nothing of the art of speaking,” and I really think that he thereby gave a better definition of Regulus than Cato did of the really true orator.

Have you any equivalent to send me for a letter like this? Yes, indeed, you have, if you will write and say whether any one of my friends in your township, or whether you yourself have read this pitiful production of Regulus in the Forum, like a Cheap Jack, pitching your voice high, as Demosthenes says, shouting with delight, and straining every muscle in your throat. For it is so absurd that it will make you laugh rather than sigh, and you would think it was written not about a boy but by a boy. Farewell.

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VIII. — TO MATURUS ARRIANUS.

You congratulate me on accepting the office of augur. You are right in so doing, first, because it is a proper thing to obey the wishes of an emperor with a character like ours, and, secondly, because the priestly office is in itself an ancient and sacred one, and inspires respect and dignity from the very fact that it is held for life. For other offices, though almost equal in point of dignity to this, may be bestowed one day and taken away the next, while with the augurship the element of chance only enters into the bestowal of it. I think too that I have special reasons for congratulating myself in that I have succeeded Julius Frontinus, one of the leading men of his day, who for many years running used to bring forward my name, whenever the nomination day for the priesthoods came round, as though he wished to coopt me to fill his place. Now events have turned out in such a way that my election does not seem to have been the work of chance. I can only hope that as I have attained to the priesthood and the consulship at a much earlier age than he did, I may, when I am old, at least in some degree acquire his serenity of mind. But all that man can give has fallen to my lot and to many another; the other thing, which can only be bestowed by the gods, is as difficult to attain to as it is presumptuous to hope for it. Farewell.

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IX. — TO CORNELIUS URSUS.

For some days past Julius Bassus has been on his defence. He is a much harassed man whose misfortunes have made him famous. An accusation was lodged against him in Vespasian’s reign by two private individuals; the case was referred to the Senate, and for a long time he has been on the tenter-hooks, but at last he has been acquitted and his character cleared. He was afraid of Titus because he had been a friend of Domitian, yet he had been banished by the latter, was recalled by Nerva, and, after being appointed by lot to the governorship of Bithynia, returned from the province to stand his trial. The case against him was keenly pressed, but he was no less loyally defended.

Pomponius Rufus, a ready and impetuous speaker, opened against him and was followed by Theophanes, one of the deputation from the province, who was the very life and soul of the prosecution, and indeed the originator of it. I replied on Bassus’ behalf, for he had instructed me to lay the foundations of his whole defence, to give an account of his distinctions, which were very considerable — as he was a man of good family, and had been in many tight places — to dilate upon the conspiracy of the informers and the gains they counted upon, and to explain how it was that Bassus had roused the resentment of all the restless spirits of the province, and notably of Theophanes himself. He had expressed a wish that I too should controvert the charge which was damaging him most. For as to the others, though they sounded to be even more serious, he deserved not only acquittal but approbation, and the only thing that troubled him was that, in an unguarded moment and in perfect innocence, he had received certain presents from the provincials as a token of friendship, for he had served in the same province previously as quaestor. His accusers stigmatised these gifts as thefts and plunder: he called them presents, but the law forbids even presents to be accepted by a governor.

In such a case what was I to do, what line of defence was I to take up? If I denied them in toto, I was afraid that people would immediately regard as a theft the presents which I was afraid to confess had been received. Moreover, to deny the obvious truth would have been to aggravate and not lessen the gravity of the charge, especially as the accused himself had cut the ground away from under the feet of his counsel. For he had told many people, and even the Emperor, that he had accepted, but only on his birthday or at the feast of the Saturnalia, some few trifling presents, and had also sent similar gifts to some of his friends. Was I then to acknowledge this and plead for clemency? Had I done so, I should have put a knife to my client’s throat by confessing that he had committed offences and could only be acquitted by an act of clemency. Was I to defend his conduct and justify it? That would have done him no good, and would have stamped me as an unblushing advocate.

In this difficult position I resolved to take a middle course, and I think I succeeded in so doing. Night interrupted my pleading, as it so often interrupts battles. I had been speaking for three hours and a half, and I had another hour and a half still left me. The law allowed the accuser six hours and the defendant nine, and Bassus had arranged the time at his disposal by giving me five hours, and the remainder to the advocate who was to speak after me. The success of my pleading persuaded me to say no more and make an end, for it is rash not to rest content when things are going well. Besides, I was afraid I might break down physically if I went over the ground again, as it is more difficult to pick up the threads of a speech than to go straight on. There was also the risk of the remainer of my speech meeting with a chilly reception, owing to the threads being dropped, or of it boring the judges if I gathered them up anew. For, just as the flame of a torch is kept alight if you wave it continually up and down, but is difficult to resuscitate when it has been allowed to go out, so the warmth of a speaker and the attention of his audience are kept alive if he goes on speaking, but cool off at any interruption which causes interest to flag. But Bassus begged and prayed of me, almost with tears in his eyes, to take my full time. I gave way, and preferred his interests to my own. It turned out well, for I found that the senators were so attentive and so fresh that, instead of having had quite enough of my speech of the day before, it seemed to have only whetted their appetites for more.

Lucceius Albinus followed me and spoke so much to the point that our speeches were considered to have all the diversity of two addresses but the cohesion of one. Herennius Pollio replied with force and dignity, and then Theophanes again rose. He showed his usual effrontery in demanding a more liberal allowance of time than is usually granted — even after two advocates of ability and consular rank had concluded — and he went on speaking until nightfall, an actually continued after that, when lights had been brought into court.

On the following day Titius Homullus and Fronto made a splendid effort on behalf of Bassus, and the hearing of the evidence took up the fourth day. Baebius Macer, the consul-designate, proposed that Bassus should be dealt with under the law relating to extortion, while Caepio Hispo was in favour of appointing judges to hear the case, but urged that Bassus should retain his place in the Senate. Both were in the right. How can that be? you may ask. For this reason, because Macer, looking at the letter of the law, was justified in condemning a man who had broken the law by receiving presents; while Caepio, acting on the assumption that the Senate has the right — which it certainly has — both to mitigate the severity of the laws and to rigorously put them in force, was not unreasonably desirous of excusing an offence which, though illegal, is very often committed. Caepio’s proposal carried the day; indeed, when he rose to speak he was greeted with the applause which is usually reserved for speakers upon resuming their seats. This will enable you to judge how unanimously the motion was received while he was speaking, when it met with such a reception on his rising to put it.

However, just as there was difference of opinion in the Senate, so there is the same with the general public. Those who approved the proposal of Caepio find fault with that of Macer as being vindictive and severe; those who agree with Macer condemn Caepio’s motion as lax and even inconsistent, for they say it is incongruous to allow a man to keep his place in the Senate when judges have been allotted to try him. There was also a third proposal. Valerius Paulinus, who agreed in the main with Caepio, proposed that an inquiry should be instituted into the case of Theophanes, as soon as he had concluded his work on the deputation. It was urged that during his conduct of the prosecution he had committed a number of offences which came within the scope of the law under which he had accused Bassus. However, the consuls did not approve this proposal, though it found great favour with a large proportion of the Senate. None the less, Paulinus gained a reputation thereby for justice and consistency. When the Senate rose, Bassus came in for an ovation; crowds gathered round him and greeted him with a remarkable demonstration of their joy. Public sympathy had been aroused in his favour by the old story of the hazards he had gone through being told over again, by the association of his name with grave perils, by his tall physique and the sadness and poverty of his old age. You must consider this letter as the forerunner of another: you will be looking out for my speech in full and with every detail, and you will have to look out for it for some time to come, because, owing to the importance of the subject, it will require more than a mere brief and cursory revision. Farewell.

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X. — TO STATIUS SABINUS.

You tell me that Sabina, who left us her heirs, never gave any instructions that her slave Modestus was to be granted his freedom, though she left him a legacy in these words: “I give…to Modestus, whom I have ordered to receive his liberty.” You ask me what I think of the matter. I have consulted some eminent lawyers and they all agree that Modestus need not be given his freedom, because it was not expressly granted by Sabina, nor his legacy, because she left it to him as a slave. But the mistake is obvious to me, and so I think that we ought to act as though Sabina had ordered him to be freed in express terms, since she certainly was under the impression that she had ordered it. I am sure that you will be of my way of thinking, for you are most punctilious in carrying out the intentions of a dead person, which are, with honourable heirs, tantamount to legal obligations. For with us honour has as much weight as necessity has with others. So I propose that we should allow Modestus to have his liberty and enjoy his legacy, as if Sabina had taken all proper precautions to ensure that he should. For a lady who has made a good choice of her heirs has surely taken all the precautions necessary. Farewell.

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XI. — TO CORNELIUS MINICIANUS.

Have you heard that Valerius Licinianus is teaching rhetoric in Sicily? I do not think you can have done, for the news is quite fresh. He is of praetorian rank, and he used at one time to be considered one of our most eloquent pleaders at the bar, but now he has fallen so low that he is an exile instead of being a senator, and a mere teacher of rhetoric instead of being a prominent advocate. Consequently in his opening remarks he exclaimed, sorrowfully and solemnly: “O Fortune, what sport you make to amuse yourself! For you turn senators into professors, and professors into senators.” There is so much gall and bitterness in that expression that it seems to me that he became a professor merely to have the opportunity of uttering it. Again, when he entered the hall wearing a Greek pallium — for those who have been banished with the fire-and- water formula are not allowed to wear the toga — he first pulled himself together and then, glancing at his dress, he said, “I shall speak my declamations in Latin.”

You will say that this is all very sad and pitiful, but that a man who defiled his profession of letters by the guilt of incest deserves to suffer. It is true that he confessed his guilt, but it is an open question whether he did so because he was guilty or because he feared an even heavier punishment if he denied it. For Domitian was in a great rage and was boiling over with fury because his witnesses had left him in the lurch. His mind was set upon burying alive Cornelia, the chief of the Vestal Virgins, as he thought to make his age memorable by such an example of severity, and, using his authority as Chief Pontiff, or rather exercising the cruelty of a tyrant and the wanton caprice of a ruler, he summoned the rest of the pontiffs not to the Palace but to his Villa at Alba. There, with a wickedness just as monstrous as the crime which he pretended to be punishing, he declared her guilty of incest, without summoning her before him and giving her a hearing, though he himself had not only committed incest with his brother’s daughter but had even caused her death, for she died of abortion during her widowhood. He immediately despatched some of the pontiffs to see that his victim was buried alive and put to death. Cornelia invoked in turns the aid of Vesta and of the rest of the deities, and amid her many cries this was repeated most frequently: “How can Caesar think me guilty of incest, when he has conquered and triumphed after my hands have performed the sacred rites?” It is not known whether her purpose was to soften Caesar’s heart or to deride him, whether she spoke the words to show her confidence in herself or her contempt of the Emperor. Yet she continued to utter them until she was led to the place of execution, and whether she was innocent or not, she certainly appeared to be so. Nay, even when she was being let down into the dreadful pit and her dress caught as she was being lowered, she turned and readjusted it, and when the executioner offered her his hand she declined it and drew back, as though she put away from her with horror the idea of having her chaste and pure body defiled by his loathsome touch. Thus she preserved her sanctity to the last and displayed all the tokens of a chaste woman, like Hecuba, “taking care that she might fall in seemly wise.”

Moreover, when Celer, the Roman knight who was accused of having intrigued with Cornelia, was being scourged with rods in the Forum, he did nothing but cry out, “What have I done? I have done nothing.” Consequently Domitian’s evil reputation for cruelty and injustice blazed up on all hands. He fastened upon Licinianus for hiding a freedwoman of Cornelia on one of his farms. Licinianus was advised by his friends who interested themselves on his behalf to take refuge in making a confession and beg for pardon, if he wished to escape being flogged in the Forum, and he did so. Herennius Senecio spoke for him in his absence very much in the words of Homer, “Patroclus is fallen,” for he said, “Instead of being an advocate, I am the bearer of news: Licinianus has removed himself.” This so pleased Domitian that he allowed his gratification to betray him into exclaiming, “Licinianus has cleared us.” He even went on to say that it would not do to press a man who admitted his fault too hard, and gave him permission to get together what he could of his belongings before his goods were confiscated, and granted him a pleasant place of exile as a reward for his consideration. Subsequently, by the clemency of the Emperor Nerva, he was removed to Sicily, where he now is a Professor of Rhetoric and takes his revenge upon Fortune in his prefatory remarks.

You see how careful I am to obey your wishes, as I not only give you the news of the town, but news from abroad, and minutely trace a story from its very beginning. I took for granted that, as you were away from Rome at the time, all you heard of Licinianus was that he had been banished for incest. For rumour only gives one the gist of the matter, not the various stages through which it passes. Surely I deserve that you should return the compliment and write and tell me what is going on in your town and neighbourhood, for something worthy of note is always happening. But say what you will, provided you give me the news in as long a letter as I have written to you. I shall count up not only the pages, but the lines and the syllables. Farewell.

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XII. — TO MATURUS ARRIANUS.

You have a regard for Egnatius Marcellinus and you often commend him to my notice; you will love him and commend him the more when you hear what he has recently done. After setting out as quaestor for his province, he lost by death a secretary, who was allotted to him, before the day when the man’s salary fell due, and he made up his mind and resolved that he ought not to keep the money which had been paid over to him to give to the secretary. So when he returned he consulted first Caesar and then the Senate, on Caesar’s recommendation, as to what was to be done with the money. It was a trifling question, but, after all, it was a question. The secretary’s heirs claimed it should pass to them; the prefects of the treasury claimed it for the people. The case was heard, and counsel for the heirs and for the people pleaded in turn, and both spoke well to the point. Caecilius Strabo proposed that it should be paid over to the treasury; Baebius Macer that it should be given to the man’s heirs; Strabo carried the day. I hope you will praise Marcellinus for his conduct, as I did on the spot, for, although he thinks it more than enough to have been congratulated by the Emperor and the Senate, he will be glad to have your commendation as well. All who are anxious for glory and reputation are wonderfully pleased with the approbation and praise even of men of no particular account, while Marcellinus has such regard for you that he attaches the greatest importance to your opinion. Besides, if he knows that the fame of his action has penetrated so far, he cannot but be pleased at the ground his praises have covered and the rapidity and distance they have travelled. For it somehow happens that men prefer a wide even to a well-grounded reputation. Farewell.

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XIII. — TO TACITUS.

I am delighted that you have returned to Rome, for though your arrival is always welcome, it is especially so to me at the present moment. I shall be spending a few more days at my Tusculan villa in order to finish a small work which I have in hand, for I am afraid that if I do not carry it right through now that it is nearly completed I shall find it irksome to start on it again. In the meanwhile, that I may lose no time, I am sending this letter as a sort of forerunner to make a request which, when I am in town, I shall ask you to grant.

But first of all, let me tell you my reasons for asking it. When I was last in my native district a son of a fellow townsman of mine, a youth under age, came to pay his respects to me. I said to him, “Do you keep up your studies?” “Yes,” said he. “Where?” I asked. “At Mediolanum,” he replied. “But why not here?” I queried. Then the lad’s father, who was with him, and indeed had brought him, replied, “Because we have no teachers here.” “How is that?” I asked. “It is a matter of urgent importance to you who are fathers” — and it so happened, luckily, that a number of fathers were listening to me— “that your children should get their schooling here on the spot. For where can they pass the time so pleasantly as in their native place; where can they be brought up so virtuously as under their parents’ eyes; where so inexpensively as at home? If you put your money together you could hire teachers at a trifling cost, and you could add to their stipends the sums you now spend upon your sons’ lodgings and travelling money, which are no light amounts. I have no children of my own, but still, in the interest of the State, which I may consider as my child or my parent, I am prepared to contribute a third part of the amount which you may decide to club together. I would even promise the whole sum, if I were not afraid that if I did so my generosity would be corrupted to serve private interests, as I see is the case in many places where teachers are employed at the public charge. There is but one way of preventing this evil, and that is by leaving the right of employing the teachers to the parents alone, who will be careful to make a right choice if they are required to find the money. For those who perhaps would be careless in dealing with other people’s money will assuredly be careful in spending their own, and they will take care that the teacher who gets my money will be worth his salt when he will also get money from them as well. So put your heads together, make up your minds, and let my example inspire you, for I can assure you that the greater the contribution you lay upon me the better I shall be pleased. You cannot make your children a more handsome present than this, nor can you do your native place a better turn. Let those who are born here be brought up here, and from their earliest days accustom them to love and know every foot of their native soil. I hope you may be able to attract such distinguished teachers that boys will be sent here to study from the towns round about, and that, as now your children flock to other places, so in the future other people’s children may flock hither.”

I thought it best to repeat this conversation in detail and from the very beginning, to convince you how glad I shall be if you will undertake my commission. As the subject is one of such importance, I beg and implore you to look out for some teachers from among the throng of learned people who gather round you in admiration of your genius, whom we can sound on the matter, but in such a way that we do not pledge ourselves to employ any one of them. For I wish to give the parents a perfectly free hand. They must judge and choose for themselves; my responsibilities go no further than a sympathetic interest and the payment of my share of the cost. So if you find any one who is confident in his own abilities, let him go to Comum, but on the express understanding that he builds upon no certainty beyond his own confidence in himself. Farewell.

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XIV. — TO PATERNUS.

Perhaps you are asking and looking out for a speech of mine, as you usually do, but I am sending you some wares of another sort, exotic trifles, the fruit of my playtime. You will receive with this letter some hendecasyllabics of mine with which I pass my leisure hours pleasantly when driving, or in the bath, or at dinner. They contain my jests, my sportive fancies, my loves, sorrows, displeasures and wrath, described sometimes in a humble, sometimes in a lofty strain. My object has been to please different tastes by this variety of treatment, and I hope that certain pieces will be liked by every one. Some of them will possibly strike you as being rather wanton, but a man of your scholarship will bear in mind that the very greatest and gravest authors who have handled such subjects have not only dealt with lascivious themes, but have treated them in the plainest language. I have not done that, not because I have greater austerity than they — by no means, but because I am not quite so daring. Otherwise, I am aware that Catullus has laid down the best and truest regulations governing this style of poetry in his lines: “For it becomes a pious bard to be chaste himself, though there is no need for his verses to be so. Nay, if they are to have wit and charm, they must be voluptuous and not too modest.”

You may guess from this what store I set on your critical judgment when I say that I prefer you should weigh the whole in the balance rather than pick out a few for your special praise. Yet pieces, perfect in themselves, cease to appear so the moment they are all on a dead level of perfection. Besides, a reader of judgment and acumen ought not to compare different pieces with one another, but to weigh each on its own merits and not to think one inferior to another, if it is perfect of its kind. But why say more? What more foolish than to excuse or commend mere trifles with a long preface? Still there is one thing of which I think I should advise you, and it is that I am thinking of calling these trifles “Hendecasyllables,” a title which simply refers to the single metre employed. So, whether you prefer to call them epigrams, or idylls, or eclogues, or little poems, as many do, or any other name, remember that I only offer you “Hendecasyllables.” I appeal to your candour to speak to me frankly about my tiny volume as you would to a third person, and this is no hard request. For if this trifling work of mind were my chef d’oeuvre, or my one solitary composition, it might perhaps seem harsh to say, “Seek out some other employment for your talent,” but it is perfectly gentle and kindly criticism to say, “You have another sphere in which you show to greater advantage.” Farewell.

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XV. — TO FUNDANUS.

If I have ever been guided by judgment, it has been in the strength of regard I have for Asinius Rufus. He is one of a thousand, and a devoted admirer of all good men among whom why may I not include myself? He is on the very closest of terms of friendship with Cornelius Tacitus, and you know what an honourable man Tacitus is. So if you have any high opinion of both Tacitus and myself, you must also think as highly of Rufus as you do of us, since similarity of character is perhaps the strongest bond for cementing friendships. Rufus has a number of children. Even in this respect he has acted the part of a good citizen, in that he was willing to freely undertake the responsibilities entailed upon him by the fruitfulness of his wife, in an age when the advantages of being childless are such that many people consider even one son to be a burden. He has scorned all those advantages, and has also become a grandfather. For a grandfather he is, thanks to Saturius Firmus, whom you will love as I do when you know him as intimately.

I mention these particulars to show you what a large and numerous household you can oblige by a single favour, and I am induced to ask it from you, in the first place, because I wish to do so, and in the second, owing to a good omen. For we hope and prophesy that next year you will be consul, and we are led to make that forecast by your own good qualities, and by the opinion that the Emperor has of you. But it also happens that Asinius Bassus, the eldest son of Rufus, will be quaestor in the same year, and he is a young man even more worthy than his father, though I don’t know whether I ought to mention such a fact, which the modesty of the young fellow would deny, but which his father desires me to think and openly declare. Though you always repose confidence in what I say, it is difficult, I know, for you to credit my account of an absent man when I say that he possesses splendid industry, probity, learning, wit, application, and powers of memory, as you will discover for yourself when you have tried him. I only wish that our age was so productive of men of high character that there were others to whom you ought to give preference over Bassus; if it did, I should be the first to advise and exhort you to take a good look round, and consider long and carefully on whom your choice should fall. But as it is — yet no, I do not wish to boast about my friend, I will merely say that he is a young man well deserving of adoption by you as a son in the old-fashioned way. For prudent men, like yourself, ought to receive as children from the State children such as we are accustomed to hope that Nature will bestow upon us. When you are consul it will become you to have as quaestor a man whose father was praetor, and whose relatives are of consular rank, especially as he, although still young, is in his turn already in their judgment an honour to them and their family. So I hope you will grant my request and take my advice.

Above all, pardon me if you think I am acting prematurely, first, because in a State where to get a thing done depends on the earliness of the application, those who wait for the proper time find the fruit not only ripe but plucked, and, secondly, when one is anxious to get a favour it is very pleasant to enjoy in advance the certainty of obtaining it. Give Bassus the opportunity of respecting you even now as consul, and do you entertain a friendly regard for him as your quaestor, and let us who are devoted to both of you have the enjoyment of this double satisfaction. For while our regard for you and Bassus is such that we shall use all our resources, energy, and influence to obtain the advancement of Bassus, no matter to what consul he is assigned as quaestor — as well as the advancement of any quaestor that may be allotted to you — it would be immensely gratifying to us if we could at one and the same time prove our friendship and advance your interests as consul by helping the cause of our young friend, and if you of all people, whose wishes the Senate is so ready to gratify, and in whose recommendations they place such implicit trust, were to stand forth as the seconder of my desires. Farewell.

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XVI. — TO VALERIUS PAULINUS.

Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, on my account, on your own, and on that of the public. The student still has his meed of recompense. Just recently, when I had to speak in the Court of the Hundred, I could find no way in except by crossing the tribunal and passing through the judges, all the other places were so crowded and thronged. Moreover, a certain young man of fashion who had his tunic torn to pieces — as often happens in a crowd — kept his ground for seven long hours with only his toga thrown round him. For my speech lasted all that time; and though it cost me a great effort, the results were more than worth it. Let us therefore prosecute our studies, and not allow the idleness of other people to be an excuse for laziness on our part. We can still find an audience and readers, provided only that our compositions are worth hearing, and worth the paper they are written on. Farewell.

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XVII. — TO ASINIUS GALLUS.

You recommend and press me to take up the case of Corellia, in her absence, against Caius Caecilius, the consul-designate. I thank you for the recommendation, but I am a little hurt at your pressing me; it was right of you to recommend me to do so, and so inform me of the case, but I needed no pressing to do what it would have been scandalous for me to leave undone. Am I the man to hesitate a second about protecting the rights of a daughter of Corellius? It is true that I am not only an acquaintance, but also a close friend of him whom you ask me to oppose. Moreover, he is a man of position and the office for which he has been chosen is a great one, one indeed for which I cannot but feel all the greater respect, inasmuch as I recently held it myself. It is natural that a man should desire the dignities to which he has himself attained to be held in the very highest esteem.

However, all those considerations seem unimportant and trifling when I consider that I am about to champion the daughter of Corellius. I picture to myself that worthy gentleman, a man second to none in our age for gravity, uprightness of life, and quickness of judgment. I began to love him because I admired him so much, and the better I learned to know him the more my admiration grew — a result that rarely happens. Yes, and I knew his character thoroughly; he had no secrets from me, I knew him in his sportive and serious moods, in his moments both of sorrow and joy. I was but a young man, yet, young as I was, he held me in honour, and I will make bold to say that he paid me the respect he would have paid to one of his own years. When I sought advancement, it was he who canvassed and spoke for me; when I entered upon an office he introduced me and stood by my side; in all administrative work he gave me counsel and kept me straight; in short, in all my public duties, despite his weakness and his years, he showed himself to have the energy and fire of youth. How he helped to build up my reputation at home and in public, and even with the Emperor himself! For when it so happened that the conversation in the presence of the Emperor Nerva turned upon the subject of the promising young men of the day, and several speakers sang my praises, Corellius kept silence for a little while — a fact which added material weight to his remarks — and then he said in that grave manner you knew so well, “I must be careful how I praise Secundus, for he never does anything without taking my advice.” The words were a tribute such as it would have been unreasonable for me to ask for or expect, for they amounted to this, that I never acted except in the most prudent manner, since I invariably acted on the advice of a man of his consummate prudence.

Nay, even on his deathbed he said to his daughter, as she is never tired of repeating, “I have procured for you a multitude of friends, and, even had I lived longer, I could hardly have got you more, but best of all I have won you the friendship of Secundus and Cornutus.” When I think of those words, I feel that it is my duty to work hard, that I may not seem to have fallen short in any particular of the confidence reposed in me by such an excellent judge of men. So I will take up Corellia’s case without loss of time, nor will I mind giving offence to others by the course I adopt. Yet I think that I shall not only be excused, but receive the praises even of him who, as you say, is bringing this new action against Corellia, possibly because she is a woman, if during the hearing I explain my motives, more fully and amply than I can in the narrow limits of a letter, either in order to justify or even to win approval of my conduct. Farewell.

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XVIII. — TO ARRIUS ANTONINUS.

How can I better prove to you how greatly I admire your Greek epigrams than by the fact that I have tried to imitate some of them and turn them into Latin? I grant they have lost in the translation, and this is due in the first place to the poorness of my wits, and in the second place — and even more — to what Lucretius calls the poverty of our native tongue. But if these verses, writ in Latin and by me, seem to you to possess any grace, you may guess how charming the originals are which were written in Greek and by you. Farewell.

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XIX. — TO CALPURNIA HISPULLA.

As you yourself are a model of the family virtues, as you returned the affection of your brother, who was the best of men and devoted to you, and as you love his daughter as though she were your own child, and show her not only the affection of an aunt but even that of the father she has lost, I feel sure you will be delighted to know that she is proving herself worthy of her father, worthy of you, and worthy of her grandfather. She has a sharp wit, she is wonderfully economical, and she loves me — which is a guarantee of her purity. Moreover, owing to her fondness for me she has developed a taste for study. She collects all my speeches, she reads them, and learns them by heart. When I am about to plead, what anxiety she shows; when the pleading is over, how pleased she is! She has relays of people to bring her news as to the reception I get, the applause I excite, and the verdicts I win from the judges. Whenever I recite, she sits near me screened from the audience by a curtain, and her ears greedily drink in what people say to my credit. She even sings my verses and sets them to music, though she has no master to teach her but love, which is the best instructor of all. Hence I feel perfectly assured that our mutual happiness will be lasting, and will continue to grow day by day. For she loves in me not my youth nor my person — both of which are subject to gradual decay and age — but my reputation. Nor would other feelings become one who had been brought up at your knee, who had been trained by your precepts, who had seen in your house nothing that was not pure and honourable, and, in short, had been taught to love me at your recommendation. For as you loved and venerated my mother as a daughter, so even when I was a boy you used to shape my character, and encourage me, and prophesy that I should develop into the man that my wife now believes me to be. Consequently my wife and I try to see who can thank you best, I because you have given her to me, and she because you gave me to her, as though you chose us the one for the other. Farewell.

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XX. — TO MAXIMUS.

You know my opinion of your volumes singly, for I have written to tell you as I finished each one; now let me give my broad view of the whole work. It is beautifully written, with power, incisiveness, loftiness, and variety of treatment, in elegant, pure language, with plenty of metaphor, while it is comprehensive and covers an amount of ground that does you great credit. You have been carried far by the sweeping sails of your genius and your resentment, both of which have been a great help to you; for your genius has lent a lofty magnificence to your resentment, which in turn has added power and sharpness to your genius. Farewell.

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XXI. — TO VELIUS CEREALIS.

What a terribly sad fate has overtaken those two sisters, the Helvidiae! Both to have given birth to daughters, and both to have died in childbirth! I am very, very sorry, yet I keep my grief within bounds. What seems to me so lamentable is that two honourable ladies should in the very spring-time of life have been carried off at the moment of becoming mothers. I am grieved for the infants who are left motherless at their birth; I am grieved for their excellent husbands, and grieved also on my own account. For even now I retain the warmest affection for their dead father, as I have shown in my pleading and my books. Now but one of his three children is alive, and only one remains to support a house which a little time ago had so many props to sustain it. But my grief will be greatly relieved should Fortune preserve him at least to robust and vigorous health, and make him as good a man as his father and grandfather were before him. I am the more anxious for his health and character now that he is the only one left. You know the tenderness of my mind where my affections are engaged and how nervous I am, so you must not be surprised if I show most anxiety on behalf of those of whom I have formed the greatest hopes. Farewell.

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XXII. — TO SEMPRONIUS RUFUS.

I have been called in by our excellent Emperor to take part and advise upon the following case. Under the will of a certain person, it has been the custom at Vienne to hold a gymnastic contest. Trebonius Rufus, a man of high principle and a personal friend of mine, in his capacity of duumvir, discontinued and abolished the custom, and it was objected that he had no legal authority to do so. He pleaded his case not only with eloquence but to good effect, and what lent force to his pleading was that he spoke with discretion and dignity, as a Roman and a good citizen should, in a matter that concerned himself. When the opinion of the Council was taken, Junius Mauricus, who stands second to none for strength of will and devotion to truth, was against restoring the contest to the people of Vienne, and he added, “I wish the games could be abolished at Rome as well.” That is a bold consistent line, you will say. So it is, but that is no new thing with Mauricus. He spoke just as frankly before the Emperor Nerva. Nerva was dining with a few friends; Veiento was sitting next to him and was leaning on his shoulder — I need say no more after mentioning the man’s name. The conversation turned upon Catullus Messalinus, who was blind, and had that curse to bear in addition to his savage disposition. He was void of fear, shame, and pity, and on that account Domitian often used him as a tool for the destruction of the best men in the State, just as though he were a dart urging on its blind and sightless course. All at table were speaking of this man’s villainy and bloody counsels, when the Emperor himself said: “I wonder what his fate would be if he were alive to-day,” to which Mauricus replied, “He would be dining with us.” I have made a long digression, but willingly. The Council resolved that the contest should be abolished, because it had corrupted the morals of Vienne, just as our contests have corrupted the whole world. For the vices of Vienne go no further than their own walls, but ours spread far and wide. As in the body corporal, so in the body of the State, the most dangerous diseases are those that spread from the head. Farewell.

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XXIII. — TO POMPONIUS BASSUS.

I have been delighted to hear from our mutual friends that you map out and bear your retirement in a way that is worthy of your ripe wisdom, that you live in a charming spot, that you take exercise on both sea and land, that you have plenty of good conversation, that you read a great deal and listen to others reading, and that, though your stock of knowledge is vast, you yet add thereto every day. That is just the way a man should spend his later years after filling the highest magistracies, after commanding armies, and devoting himself wholly to the service of the State for as long as it became him to do so. For we owe our early and middle manhood to our country, our last years are due to ourselves — as indeed the laws direct which enforce retirement when we reach a certain age. When will that appointed time come to me? When shall I attain the age at which I may honourably retire and imitate the example of beautiful and perfect peace that you set me? When shall I be able to enjoy calm retreat without people calling it not peaceful tranquillity but laziness and sloth? Farewell.

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XXIV. — TO FABIUS VALENS.

Just recently, after pleading before the Centumviri in the fourfold Court, I happened to remember that in my younger days I had also pleaded in the same court. My thoughts, as usual, began to take a wider range, and I commenced to recall to my memory those whom I had worked with in this court and in that. I found I was the only one left who had practised in both, so sweeping were the changes effected by the slenderness of human life and the fickleness of fortune. Some of those who used to plead in my young days are dead, others are in exile; age and ill health have convinced others that their speaking days are over; some are enjoying of their own free will the pleasures of retirement, or are in command of armies, or have been withdrawn from civil employments by becoming the personal friends of the Emperor. Even in my own case how many changes I have gone through! I first owed my promotion to my literary studies; then they brought me into danger, and then again won me still further advancement. My friendships with worthy citizens likewise first helped me, then stood in my way, and now again they assist me. If you count the years, the time seems but short; but count the changes and the ups and downs, and it seems an age. This may be taken by us as a lesson never to despair of anything, and never to impose a blind trust in anything, when we see so many vicissitudes brought about by this inconstant world of ours. I deem it a mark of friendship on my part to make you the confidant of my thoughts, and to admonish you by the precepts and examples with which I admonish myself. That is the raison d’etre of this letter. Farewell.

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XXV. — TO MESSIUS MAXIMUS.

I wrote and told you that there was a danger of the ballot leading to abuses. Events have confirmed my view. At the last election a number of flippant jests were written on some of the voting cards and even obscenities, while on one of them were found, not the names of the candidates, but those of the voters. The Senate was furious, and loudly called upon the offended Emperor to punish the writer. But the guilty person was not discovered and lay close, and he possibly was one of those who professed the greatest indignation. Yet what conduct may we not consider him capable of at home when he plays such disgraceful jokes in a matter of such importance and at such a serious moment, and yet in the Senate is an incisive, courteous, and pretty speaker? However, people of no principle are encouraged to act in this shameful way when they feel they can safely say, “Who will find me out?” Such a man asks for a voting card, takes a pen in his hand, bends his head, has no fear of any one, and holds himself cheap. That is the origin of scurrilities only worthy of the stage and the platform. But where can one turn, and where is one to look for a cure? On every hand the evils are more powerful than the remedies. Yet “all these things will be seen to by one above us,” whose daily working hours are lengthened and whose labours are considerably increased by this lumpish, yet unbridled, perversity.

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XXVI. — TO NEPOS.

You ask me to be sure to look over and correct my speeches, which you have taken the greatest pains to get together. I will with pleasure, for what duty is there that I ought to be better pleased to undertake, especially as it is you who ask me? When a man of your weight, scholarship, and learning, and, above all, one who is never idle for a moment, and is about to be governor of an important province, sets such store on having my writings to take with him on his travels, surely I ought to do my best to prevent this part of his luggage from appearing useless in his eyes. So I will do what I can, first, to make those companions of your voyage as agreeable as possible, and, secondly, to enable you to find on your return others that you may like to add to their number. Believe me, the fact that you read what I write is no small incentive to me to produce new works. Farewell.

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XXVII. — TO POMPEIUS FALCO.

This is the third day that I have been attending the recitals of Sentius Augurinus, which I have not only enjoyed immensely, but admired as well. He calls his work “Poetical Pieces.” Many are airy trifles; many deal with noble themes, and they abound in wit, tenderness, sweetness, and sting. Unless it is that my affection for him, or the fact that he has lavished praises upon me, warps my judgment, I must say that for some years past there have been no such finished poems of their class produced. Augurinus took as his theme the fact that I occasionally amuse myself with writing verses. I will enable you to act the critic of my criticism if I can recall the second line of the piece. I remember the others, and now I think I have them all.

“I sing songs in trifling measures, which Catullus, Calvus, and the poets of old have employed before me. But what matters that to me? Pliny alone I count my senior. When he quits the Forum, his taste is for light verses; he seeks an object for his love, and thinks that he is loved in return. What a man is Pliny, worth how many Catos! Go now, you who love, and love no more.”

You see how smart, how apposite, how clear-cut the verses are, and I can promise you that the whole book is equally good. I will send you a copy as soon as it is published. Meanwhile, give the young man your regard and congratulate the age on producing such genius, which he enhances by the beauty of his morals. He passes his time with Spurinna and Antoninus; he is related to the one, and shares the same house with the other. You may guess from this that he is a youth of finished parts, when he is thus loved by men of their years and worth. For the old adage is wonderfully true, “You may tell a man by the company he keeps.” Farewell.

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XXVIII. — TO VIBIUS SEVERUS.

Herennius Severus, a man of great learning, is anxious to place in his library portraits of your fellow-townsmen, Cornelius Nepos and Titus Catius, and he asks me to get them copied and painted if there are any such portraits in their native place, as there probably are. I am laying this commission upon you rather than on any one else, first, because you are always kind enough to grant any favour I ask; secondly, because I know your reverence for literary studies and your love of literary men; and, lastly, because you love and reverence your native place, and entertain the same feelings for those who have helped to make its name famous. So I beg you to find as careful a painter as you can, for while it is hard to paint a portrait from an original, it is far more difficult to make a good imitation of an imitation. Moreover, please do not let the painter you choose make any variations from his copy, even though they are for the better. Farewell.

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XXIX. — TO ROMATIUS FIRMUS.

Do be careful, my dear friend, and the next time there is business afoot, see to it that you come into court, whatever happens. It is no good your putting your confidence in me and so continuing your slumber; if you stay away, you will have to smart for it. For look you, Licinius Nepos, who is making a sharp and resolute praetor, has levied a fine even on a senator. The latter pleaded his cause in the Senate, but he did so in the form of suing for forgiveness. The fine was remitted, yet he had an uneasy time; he had to ask for pardon, and he was obliged to sue for forgiveness. You will say, “Oh, but all praetors are not so strict.” Don’t make any mistake! For though it is only a strict praetor who would make or revive such a precedent, when once it has been made or revived even the most lenient officials can put it into execution. Farewell.

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XXX. — TO LICINIUS SURA.

I have brought you as a present from my native district a problem which is fully worthy even of your profound learning. A spring rises in the mountain-side; it flows down a rocky course, and is caught in a little artificial banqueting house. After the water has been retained there for a time it falls into the Larian lake. There is a wonderful phenomenon connected with it, for thrice every day it rises and falls with fixed regularity of volume. Close by it you may recline and take a meal, and drink from the spring itself, for the water is very cool, and meanwhile it ebbs and flows at regular and stated intervals. If you place a ring or anything else on a dry spot by the edge, the water gradually rises to it and at last covers it, and then just as gradually recedes and leaves it bare; while if you watch it for any length of time, you may see both processes twice or thrice repeated. Is there any unseen air which first distends and then tightens the orifice and mouth of the spring, resisting its onset and yielding at its withdrawal? We observe something of this sort in jars and other similar vessels which have not a direct and free opening, for these, when held either perpendicularly or aslant, pour out their contents with a sort of gulp, as though there were some obstruction to a free passage. Or is this spring like the ocean, and is its volume enlarged and lessened alternately by the same laws that govern the ebb and flow of the tide? Or again, just as rivers on their way to the sea are driven back on themselves by contrary winds and the opposing tide, is there anything that can drive back the outflow of this spring? Or is there some latent reservoir which diminishes and retards the flow while it is gradually collecting the water that has been drained off, and increases and quickens the flow when the process of collection is complete? Or is there some curiously hidden and unseen balance which, when emptied, raises and thrusts forth the spring, and, when filled, checks and stifles its flow? Please investigate the causes which bring about this wonderful result, for you have the ability to do so; it is more than enough for me if I have described the phenomenon with accuracy. Farewell.

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BOOK V.

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I. — TO ANNIUS SEVERUS.

I have come in for a legacy, inconsiderable in amount, yet more gratifying than even the handsomest one could be. Why so? I will tell you. Pomponia Galla, who had disinherited her son Asudius Curianus, had left me her heir and had given me as co-heirs Sertorius Severus, a man of praetorian rank, and other Roman knights of distinction. Curianus begged me to make my portion over to him, and so strengthen his position with the court by declaring in his favour beforehand, promising at the same time to make the amount good to me by a secret compact. My answer was that my character did not allow me to act in one way before the world and in another in private, and I further urged that it would not be a proper thing to make over sums of money to a wealthy and childless man. In short, my argument was that I should not benefit him by making over the amount, but that I should benefit him if I renounced my legacy, and that this I was perfectly willing to do, if he could satisfy me that he had been unjustly disinherited. His reply to this was to ask me to investigate the case judicially. After some hesitation I said, “I will, for I do not see why I should appear less honourable in my own eyes than I do in yours. But remember even now that I shall not hesitate to pronounce in favour of your mother if I feel honourably bound to do so.” “Do as you will,” he replied, “for what you will is sure to be just and right.”

I called in to assist me two of the most thoroughly honourable men that the State could boast of possessing, Corellius and Frontinus. With these by my side I sat in my private room. Curianus then laid his case before us; I replied briefly, for there was no one else present to defend the motives of the deceased. Then I withdrew, and, in accordance with the views of Corellius and Frontinus, I said, “Curianus, we think that your mother had just grounds for resentment against you.” Subsequently, he lodged an appeal before the centumvirs against the other heirs but not against me. The day for the hearing approached, and my co-heirs were disposed to agree to a compromise and come to terms, not because they doubted their legal position, but owing to the troubled state of the times. They were afraid that what had happened to many others might happen to them, and that they might leave the Centumvirs’ Court with some capital charge against them. Moreover, there were some among their number who were open to the charge of having been friends of Gratilla and Rusticus, so they begged me to speak with Curianus. We met in the Temple of Concord, and I addressed him there in the following terms: “If your mother had left you heir to a fourth of her estate, could you complain? But what if she had left you heir to the whole, and yet had so encumbered it with legacies that not more than a fourth of the whole remained? I think you ought to be satisfied if, after being disinherited by your mother, you receive a fourth from her heirs, and this sum I will myself increase. You know that you did not lodge any appeal against me, that two years have passed, and that I have established my title to my share. But in order that my co-heirs may find you more tractable, and that you may lose nothing by the consideration you have shown me, I offer you of my own free will the amount that I have received.”

I have reaped the reward not only of my scrupulously fair dealing, but also of my reputation. Curianus left me a legacy, and, unless I flatter myself unduly, he has given signal distinction to the honest course of action I pursued. I have written to tell you this because it is my custom to discuss with you any matters which give me pain or pleasure, as freely as though I were talking to myself. Besides, I thought it would be unkind to defraud you, who have such a great regard for me, of the pleasure which I have received therefrom. For I am not such a perfect philosopher as to think it makes no difference whether I receive or not the approbation of others — which is itself a kind of reward — when I think that I have acted in an honourable manner. Farewell.

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II. — TO CALPURNIUS FLACCUS.

I received the very fine sea-carp which you sent me. The weather is so stormy that I cannot return you like for like, either from the market here at Laurentinum or from the sea. So all you will get is a barren letter, which frankly makes no return and does not even imitate Diomede’s clever device in exchanging gifts. But your kindness is such that you will excuse me all the more readily because I confess in my letter that I do not deserve it. Farewell.

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III. — TO TITIUS ARISTO.

While I gratefully acknowledge your many acts of kindness to me, I must especially thank you for not concealing from me the fact that my verses have formed the subject of many long discussions at your house, that such discussions have been lengthened owing to the different views expressed, and that some people, while finding no fault with the writings themselves, blamed me in a perfectly friendly and candid way for having written on such themes and for having read them in public. Well, in order to aggravate my misdeeds, here is my reply to them: “Yes, I do occasionally compose verses which are far from being couched in a serious vein. I don’t deny it. I also listen to comedies, and attend the performances of mimes. I read lyrics, and I understand the poems of Sotades. Moreover, I now and then laugh, jest, and amuse myself; in short, to sum up in a word every kind of harmless recreation, I may say ‘I am a man.’”

Nor does it annoy me that people should form such opinions about my character, when it is plain that those who are surprised that I should compose such poems are unaware that the most learned of men and the gravest and purest livers have regularly done the same thing. But I feel sure that I shall easily obtain permission from those who know the character and calibre of the authors in whose footsteps I am treading, to stray in company with men whom it is an honour to follow, not only in their serious but in their lightest moods. I will not mention the names of those still living for fear of seeming to flatter, but is a person like myself to be afraid that it will be unbecoming for him to do what well became Marcus Tullius, Caius Calvus, Asinius Pollio, Marcus Messalla, Quintus Hortensius, M. Brutus, Lucius Sulla, Quintus Catulus, Quintus Scaevola, Servius Sulpicius, Varro, Torquatus — or rather the Torquati, — Caius Memmius, Lentulus, Gaetulicus, Annaeus Seneca, Lucan, and, last of all, Verginius Rufus? If the names of these private individuals are not enough, I may add those of the divine Julius, Augustus and Nerva, and that of Tiberius Caesar. I pass by the name of Nero, though I am aware that a practice does not become any the worse because it is sometimes followed by men of bad character, while a practice usually followed by men of good character retains its honesty. Among the latter class of men one must give a pre-eminent place to Publius Vergilius, Cornelius Nepos, and to Attius and Ennius, who should perhaps come first. These men were not senators, but purity of character is the same in all ranks.

But, you say, I recite my compositions and I cannot be sure that they did. Granted, but they may have been content with their own judgment, whereas I am too modest to think that any composition of mine is sufficiently perfect when it has no other approbation but my own.

Consequently, these are the reasons why I recite in public, first, because a man who recites becomes a keener critic of his own writings out of deference to his audience, and, secondly, because, where he is in doubt, he can decide by referring the point to his auditors. Moreover, he constantly meets with criticism from many quarters, and even if it is not openly expressed, he can tell what each person thinks by watching the expression and eyes of his hearers, or by a nod, a motion of the hand, a murmur, or dead silence. All these things are tolerably clear indications which enable one to distinguish judgment from complaisance. And so, if any one who was present at my reading takes the trouble to look through the same compositions, he will find that I have either altered or omitted certain passages, in compliance perhaps with his judgment, though he never uttered a word to me. But I am arguing on this point as though I invited the whole populace to my reading room and not merely a few friends to my private chamber, while the possession of a large circle of friends has been a source of pride to many men and a reproach to none. Farewell.

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IV. — TO JULIUS VALERIANUS.

The incident is trifling in itself, but it is leading up to important consequences. Sollers, a man of praetorian rank, asked permission of the Senate to establish a market on his property. The delegates of the people of Vicetia opposed it: Tuscilius Nominatus appeared as their counsel, and the hearing was postponed. At a later meeting of the Senate, the Vicetini entered without their counsel and said that they had been tricked, — I cannot say whether it was merely a hasty expression, or whether they really thought they had been. When they were asked by the praetor Nepos whom they had instructed to appear for them, they said, “We have the same counsel as before.” To the question whether on the previous occasion he had appeared for them gratuitously, they said they had given him 6000 sesterces, and on being asked whether they paid him a further fee, they replied, “Yes, a thousand denarii.” Nepos demanded that Nominatus should be called, and matters went no further on that day. But, I fancy, the case has gone to much greater lengths than that, for it often happens that a mere touch is sufficient to set things in commotion, and then they spread far and wide. I have made you prick up your ears, so now you will have to ask in your very nicest manner for me to tell you the rest of the story, unless you decide to come to Rome for the sequel, and prefer to see it for yourself rather than read about it. Farewell.

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V. — TO NONIUS MAXIMUS.

I have been told that Caius Fannius is dead, and the news has greatly upset me, in the first place, because I loved him for his taste and learning, and, secondly, because I used to avail myself of his judgment. He was naturally keen-witted; experience had sharpened his acumen, and he could detect the truth without hesitation. I am troubled, too, owing to the circumstances in which he died, for he has died without revoking an old will which contains no mention of those for whom he had the greatest affection, and is in favour of those with whom he has been on bad terms. However, this might have been got over — what is most serious is that he has left unfinished his finest work. Although his time was taken up with his profession as a pleader, he was engaged in writing the lives of those who were put to death or banished by Nero. He had already finished three books, in an unadorned, accurate style and in the Latin language. They are something between narrative and history, and the eagerness which people displayed to read them made him all the more desirous to finish the remaining volumes.

It always seems to me hard and untimely when people die who are engaged upon some immortal work. For those who are devoted to their pleasures and live a sort of day-to-day existence exhaust every day the reasons why they should go on living, whereas when people think of posterity and keep alive their memory by their works, their death, come as it may, is always sudden, inasmuch as it cuts short something that is still unfinished. However, Caius Fannius had had for a long time a presentiment of what was to befall him. He dreamt in the quiet of the night that he was lying on his bed dressed for study and that he had a writing desk before him, as was his wont. Then he thought that Nero came to him, sat down on the couch, and after producing the first volume which Fannius had written about his crimes, turned over the pages to the end. He did the same with the second and third volumes, and then departed. Fannius was much alarmed, and interpreted the dream to mean that he would leave off writing just where Nero had left off reading, and so the event proved.

When I think of it I feel grieved to think how many wakeful hours and how much labour Fannius toiled through in vain. I see before me my own mortality and my own writings. Nor do I doubt that you have the same thought and anxiety for the work which is still on your hands. Let us do our best, therefore, while life lasts, that death may find as few works of ours as possible for him to destroy. Farewell.

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VI. — TO DOMITIUS APOLLINARIS.

I was charmed with the kind consideration which led you, when you heard that I was about to visit my Tuscan villa in the summer, to advise me not to do so during the season that you consider the district unhealthy. Undoubtedly, the region along the coast of Tuscany is trying and dangerous to the health, but my property lies well back from the sea; indeed, it is just under the Apennines, which are the healthiest of our mountain ranges. However, that you may not have the slightest anxiety on my account, let me tell you all about the climatic conditions, the lie of the land, and the charms of my villa. It will be as pleasant reading for you as it is pleasant writing for me.

In winter the air is cold and frosty: myrtles, olives and all other trees which require constant warmth for them to do well, the climate rejects and spurns, though it allows laurel to grow, and even brings it to a luxuriant leaf. Occasionally, however, it kills it, but that does not happen more frequently than in the neighbourhood of Rome. In summer, the heat is marvellously tempered: there is always a breath of air stirring, and breezes are more common than winds. Hence the number of old people to be found there: you find the grandfathers and great- grandfathers of the young people still living; you are constantly hearing old stories and tales of the past, so that, when you set foot there, you may fancy that you have been born in another century.

The contour of the district is most beautiful. Picture to yourself an immense amphitheatre, such as only Nature can create, with a wide- spreading plain ringed with hills, and the summits of the hills themselves covered with tall and ancient forests. There is plentiful and varied hunting to be had. Down the mountain slopes there are stretches of underwoods, and among these are rich, deep-soiled hillocks- -where if you look for a stone you will have hard work to find one — which are just as fertile as the most level plains, and ripen just as rich harvests, though later in the season. Below these, along the whole hillsides, stretch the vineyards which present an unbroken line far and wide, on the borders and lowest level of which comes a fringe of trees. Then you reach the meadows and the fields — fields which only the most powerful oxen and the stoutest ploughs can turn. The soil is so tough and composed of such thick clods that when it is first broken up it has to be furrowed nine times before it is subdued. The meadows are jewelled with flowers, and produce trefoil and other herbs, always tender and soft, and looking as though they were always fresh. For all parts are well nourished by never-failing streams, and even where there is most water there are no swamps, for the declivity of the land drains off into the Tiber all the moisture that it receives and cannot itself absorb.

The Tiber runs through the middle of the plain; it is navigable for ships, and all the grain is carried down stream to the city, at least in winter and spring. In summer the volume of water dwindles away, leaving but the name of a great river to the dried-up bed, but in the autumn it recovers its flood. You would be delighted if you could obtain a view of the district from the mountain height, for you would think you were looking not so much at earth and fields as at a beautiful landscape picture of wonderful loveliness. Such is the variety, such the arrangement of the scene, that wherever the eyes fall they are sure to be refreshed.

My villa, though it lies at the foot of the hill, enjoys as fine a prospect as though it stood on the summit; the ascent is so gentle and easy, and the gradient so unnoticeable, that you find yourself at the top without feeling that you are ascending. The Apennines lie behind it, but at a considerable distance, and even on a cloudless and still day it gets a breeze from this range, never boisterous and rough, for its strength is broken and lost in the distance it has to travel. Most of the house faces south; in summer it gets the sun from the sixth hour, and in winter considerably earlier, inviting it as it were into the portico, which is broad and long to correspond, and contains a number of apartments and an old-fashioned hall. In front, there is a terrace laid out in different patterns and bounded with an edging of box; then comes a sloping ridge with figures of animals on both sides cut out of the box-trees, while on the level ground stands an acanthus-tree, with leaves so soft that I might almost call them liquid. Round this is a walk bordered by evergreens pressed and trimmed into various shapes; then comes an exercise ground, round like a circus, which surrounds the box-trees that are cut into different forms, and the dwarf shrubs that are kept clipped. Everything is protected by an enclosure, which is hidden and withdrawn from sight by the tiers of box-trees. Beyond is a meadow, as well worth seeing for its natural charm as the features just described are for their artificial beauty, and beyond that there stretches an expanse of fields and a number of other meadows and thickets.

At the head of the portico there runs out the dining-room, from the doors of which can be seen the end of the terrace with the meadow and a good expanse of country beyond it, while from the windows the view on the one hand commands one side of the terrace and the part of the villa which juts out, and on the other the grove and foliage of the adjoining riding-school. Almost opposite to the middle of the portico is a summer-house standing back a little, with a small open space in the middle shaded by four plane-trees. Among them is a marble fountain, from which the water plays upon and lightly sprinkles the roots of the plane-trees and the grass plot beneath them. In this summer-house there is a bed-chamber which excludes all light, noise, and sound, and adjoining it is a dining-room for my friends, which faces upon the small court and the other portico, and commands the view enjoyed by the latter. There is another bed-chamber, which is leafy and shaded by the nearest plane-tree and built of marble up to the balcony; above is a picture of a tree with birds perched in the branches equally beautiful with the marble. Here there is a small fountain with a basin around the latter, and the water runs into it from a number of small pipes, which produce a most agreeable sound. In the corner of the portico is a spacious bed-chamber leading out of the dining-room, some of its windows looking out upon the terrace, others upon the meadow, while the windows in front face the fish-pond which lies just beneath them, and is pleasant both to eye and ear, as the water falls from a considerable elevation and glistens white as it is caught in the marble basin. This bed-chamber is beautifully warm even in winter, for it is flooded with an abundance of sunshine.

The heating chamber for the bath adjoins it, and on a cloudy day we turn in steam to take the place of the sun’s warmth. Next comes a roomy and cheerful undressing room for the bath, from which you pass into a cool chamber containing a large and shady swimming bath. If you prefer more room or warmer water to swim in, there is a pond in the court with a well adjoining it, from which you can make the water colder when you are tired of the warm. Adjoining the cold bath is one of medium warmth, for the sun shines lavishly upon it, but not so much as upon the hot bath which is built farther out. There are three sets of steps leading to it, two exposed to the sun, and the third out of the sun though quite as light. Above the dressing-room is a ball court where various kinds of exercise can be taken, and a number of games can be played at once. Not far from the bath-room is a staircase leading to a covered passage, at the head of which are three rooms, one looking out upon the courtyard with the four plane-trees, the second upon the meadow, and the third upon the vineyards, so each therefore enjoys a different view. At the end of the passage is a bed-chamber constructed out of the passage itself, which looks out upon the riding-course, the vineyards, and the mountains. Connected with it is another bed-chamber open to the sun, and especially so in winter time. Leading out of this is an apartment which adjoins the riding-course of the villa.

Such is the appearance and the use to which the front of my house is put. At the side is a raised covered gallery, which seems not so much to look out upon the vineyards as to touch them; in the middle is a dining-room which gets the invigorating breezes from the valleys of the Apennines, while at the other side, through the spacious windows and the folding doors, you seem to be close upon the vineyards again with the gallery between. On the side of the room where there are no windows is a private winding staircase by which the servants bring up the requisites for a meal. At the end of the gallery is a bed-chamber, and the gallery itself affords as pleasant a prospect therefrom as the vineyards. Underneath runs a sort of subterranean gallery, which in summer time remains perfectly cool, and as it has sufficient air within it, it neither admits any from without nor needs any. Next to both these galleries the portico commences where the dining-room ends, and this is cold before mid-day, and summery when the sun has reached his zenith. This gives the approach to two apartments, one of which contains four beds and the other three, and they are bathed in sunshine or steeped in shadow, according to the position of the sun.

But though the arrangements of the house itself are charming, they are far and away surpassed by the riding-course. It is quite open in the centre, and the moment you enter your eye ranges over the whole of it. Around its borders are plane-trees clothed with ivy, and so while the foliage at the top belongs to the trees themselves, that on the lower parts belongs to the ivy, which creeps along the trunk and branches, and spreading across to the neighbouring trees, joins them together. Between the plane-trees are box shrubs, and on the farther side of the shrubs is a ring of laurels which mingle their shade with that of the plane-trees. At the far end, the straight boundary of the riding-course is curved into semicircular form, which quite changes its appearance. It is enclosed and covered with cypress-trees, the deeper shade of which makes it darker and gloomier than at the sides, but the inner circles — for there are more than one — are quite open to the sunshine. Even roses grow there, and the warmth of the sun is delightful as a change from the cool of the shade. When you come to the end of these various winding alleys, the boundary again runs straight, or should I say boundaries, for there are a number of paths with box shrubs between them. In places there are grass plots intervening, in others box shrubs, which are trimmed to a great variety of patterns, some of them being cut into letters forming my name as owner and that of the gardener. Here and there are small pyramids and apple-trees, and now and then in the midst of all this graceful artificial work you suddenly come upon what looks like a real bit of the country planted there. The intervening space is beautified on both sides with dwarf plane-trees; beyond these is the acanthus-tree that is supple and flexible to the hand, and there are more boxwood figures and names.

At the upper end is a couch of white marble covered with a vine, the latter being supported by four small pillars of Carystian marble. Jets of water flow from the couch through small pipes and look as if they were forced out by the weight of persons reclining thereon, and the water is caught in a stone cistern and then retained in a graceful marble basin, regulated by pipes out of sight, so that the basin, while always full, never overflows. The heavier dishes and plates are placed at the side of the basin when I dine there, but the lighter ones, formed into the shapes of little boats and birds, float on the surface and travel round and round. Facing this is a fountain which receives back the water it expels, for the water is thrown up to a considerable height and then falls down again, and the pipes that perform the two processes are connected. Directly opposite the couch is a bed-chamber, and each lends a grace to the other. It is formed of glistening marble, and through the projecting folding doors you pass at once among the foliage, while both from the upper and lower windows you look out upon the same green picture. Within is a little cabinet which seems to belong at once to the same and yet another bed-chamber. This contains a bed and it has windows on every side, yet the shade is so thick without that but little light enters, for a wonderfully luxuriant vine has climbed up to the roof and covers the whole building. You can fancy you are in a grove as you lie there, only that you do not feel the rain as you do among trees. Here too a fountain rises and immediately loses itself underground. There are a number of marble chairs placed up and down, which are as restful for persons tired with walking as the bed-chamber itself. Near these chairs are little fountains, and throughout the whole riding- course you hear the murmur of tiny streams carried through pipes, which run wherever you please to direct them. These are used to water the shrubs, sometimes in one part, sometimes in another, and at other times all are watered together.

I should long since have been afraid of boring you, had I not set out in this letter to take you with me round every corner of my estate. For I am not at all apprehensive that you will find it tedious to read about a place which certainly would not tire you to look at, especially as you can get a little rest whenever you desire, and can sit down, so to speak, by laying down the letter. Moreover, I have been indulging my affection for the place, for I am greatly attached to anything that is mainly the work of my own hands or that some one else has begun and I have taken up. In short — for there is no reason is there? why I should not be frank with you, whether my judgments are sound or unsound — I consider that it is the first duty of a writer to select the title of his work and constantly ask himself what he has begun to write about. He may be sure that so long as he keeps to his subject-matter he will not be tedious, but that he will bore his readers to distraction if he starts dragging in extraneous matter to make weight. Observe the length with which Homer describes the arms of Achilles, and Virgil the arms of Aeneas — yet in both cases the description seems short, because the author only carries out what he intended to. Observe how Aratus hunts up and brings together even the tiniest stars — yet he does not exceed due limits. For his description is not an excursus, but the end and aim of the whole work. It is the same with myself, if I may compare my lowly efforts with their great ones. I have been trying to give you a bird’s eye view of the whole of my villa, and if I have introduced no extraneous matter and have never wandered off my subject, it is not the letter containing the description which is to be considered of excessive size, but rather the villa which has been described.

However, let me get back to the point I started from, lest I give you an opportunity of justly condemning me by my own law, by not pursuing this digression any farther. I have explained to you why I prefer my Tuscan house to my other places at Tusculum, Tibur and Praeneste. For in addition to all the beauties I have described above, my repose here is more profound and more comfortable, and therefore all the freer from anxiety. There is no necessity to don the toga, no neighbour ever calls to drag me out; everything is placid and quiet; and this peace adds to the healthiness of the place, by giving it, so to speak, a purer sky and a more liquid air. I enjoy better health both in mind and body here than anywhere else, for I exercise the former by study and the latter by hunting. Besides, there is no place where my household keep in better trim, and up to the present I have not lost a single one of all whom I brought with me. I hope Heaven will forgive the boast, and that the gods will continue my happiness to me and preserve this place in all its beauty. Farewell.

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VII. — TO CALVISIUS.

It is beyond question that a community cannot be appointed heir and cannot take a share of an inheritance before the general distribution of the estate. None the less, Saturninus, who left us his heirs, bequeathed a fourth share to our community of Comum, and then, in lieu of that fourth share, assigned them permission to take 400,000 sesterces before the division of the estate. As a matter of strict law, this is null and void, but if you only look at the intentions of the deceased, it is quite sound and valid. I don’t know what the lawyers will think of what I am going to say, but to me the wishes of the deceased seem worthy of more consideration than the letter of the law, especially as regards the sum which he wished to go to our common birthplace. Moreover, I, who gave 1,600,000 sesterces our of my own money to my native place, am not the man to refuse it a little more than a third part of 400,000 sesterces which have come to me by a lucky windfall. I know that you too will not refuse to fall in with my views, as your affection for the same community is that of a thoroughly loyal citizen. I shall be glad, therefore, if at the next meeting of the decurions, you will lay before them the state of the law, and I hope you will do so briefly and modestly. Then add that we make them an offer of the 400,000 sesterces, in accordance with the wishes of Saturninus. But be sure to point out that the munificence and generosity are his, and that all we are doing is to obey his wishes. I have refrained from writing in a public manner on this business, firstly, because I knew very well that our friendship was such, and that your judgment was so ripe, that you could and ought to act for me as well as for yourself, and then again I was afraid that I might not preserve in a letter that exact mean which you will have no difficulty in preserving in a speech. For a man’s expression, his gestures, and even the tones of his voice help to indicate the precise meaning of his words, while a letter, which is deprived of all these advantages, is exposed to the malignity of those who put upon it what interpretation they choose. Farewell.

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VIII. — TO TITINIUS CAPITO.

You urge me to write history, nor are you the first to do so. Many others have often given me the same advice, and I am quite willing to follow it, not because I feel confident that I should succeed in so doing — for it would be presumption to think so until one had tried — but because it seems to me a very proper thing not to let people be forgotten whose fame ought never to die, and to perpetuate the glories of others together with one’s own. Personally, I confess that there is nothing on which I have set my heart so much as to win a lasting reputation, and the ambition is a worthy one for any man, especially for one who is not conscious of having committed any wrong and has no cause to fear being remembered by posterity. Hence it is that both day and night I scheme to find a way “to raise myself above the ordinary dull level”: my ambition goes no farther than that, for it is quite beyond my dreams “that my victorious name should pass from mouth to mouth.” “And yet — !” — but I am quite satisfied with the fame which history alone seems to promise me. For one reaps but a small reward from oratory and poetry, unless our eloquence is really first-class, while history seems to charm people in whatever style it is written. For men are naturally curious; they are delighted even by the baldest relation of facts, and so we see them carried away even by little stories and anecdotes.

Again, there is a precedent in my own family which impels me towards writing history. My uncle, who was also my father by adoption, was a historian of the most scrupulous type, and I find all wise men agree that one can do nothing better than follow in the footsteps of one’s ancestors, provided that they have gone in the right path themselves. Why, then, do I hesitate? For this reason, that I have delivered a number of pleadings of serious importance, and it is my intention to revise them carefully — though my hopes of fame from them are only slight — lest, in spite of all the trouble they have given me, they should perish with me, just for want of receiving the last polishing and additional touches. For if you have a view to what posterity will say, all that is not absolutely finished must be classed as incomplete matter. You will say: “Yes, but you can touch up your pleadings and compose history at the same time.” I wish I could, but each is so great a task that I should think I had done very well to have finished either.

I began to plead in the Forum in my nineteenth year, and it is only just now that I begin to see darkly what an orator ought to be. What would happen if I were to take on a new task in addition to this one? Oratory and history have many things in common, but they also differ greatly in the points that seem common to both. There is narrative in both, but of a different type; the humblest, meanest and most common-place subjects suit the one; the other requires research, splendour, and dignity. In the one you may describe the bones, muscles, and nerves of the body, in the other brawny parts and flowing manes. In oratory one wants force, invective, sustained attack; in history the charm is obtained by copiousness and agreeableness, even by sweetness of style. Lastly, the words used, the forms of speech, and the construction of the sentences are different. For, as Thucydides remarks, it makes all the difference whether the composition is to be a possession for all time or a declamation for the moment; oratory has to do with the latter, history with the former.

Hence it is that I do not feel tempted to hopelessly jumble together two dissimilar styles which differ from one another just because of their great importance, and I am afraid I should become bewildered by such a terrible medley and write in the one style just where I ought to be employing the other. For the meantime, therefore, to use the language of the courts, I ask your gracious permission to go on with my pleading. However, do you be good enough even now to consider the period which it would be best for me to tackle. Shall it be a period of ancient history which others have dealt with before me? If so, the materials are all ready to hand, but the putting them together would be a heavy task. On the other hand, if I choose a modern period which has not been dealt with, I shall get but small thanks and am bound to give serious offence. For, besides the fact that the general standard of morality is so lax that there is much more to censure than to praise, you are sure to be called niggardly if you praise and too censorious if you censure, though you may have been lavish of appreciation and scrupulously guarded in reproach. However, these considerations do not stay me, for I have the courage of my convictions. I only beg of you to prepare the way for me in the direction you urge me to take, and choose a subject for me, so that, when I am at length ready to take pen in hand, no other overpowering reason may crop up to make me hesitate and delay my purpose. Farewell.

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IX. — TO RUFUS.

I had gone down to the basilica of Julius to listen to the speeches of the counsel to whom I had to reply from the last postponement. The judges were in their places; the decemvirs had arrived; the advocates were moving to and fro, and then came a long silence, broken at last by a message from the praetor. The centumvirs were dismissed and the hearing was put off, at which I was glad, for I am never so well prepared that I am not pleased at having extra time given me. The postponement was due to Nepos, the praetor-designate, who hears cases with the most scrupulous attention to legal forms. He had issued a short edict warning both plaintiffs and defendants that he would strictly carry out the decree of the Senate. Attached to the edict was a copy of the decree, which provided “that all persons engaged in any lawsuit are hereby ordered to take an oath before their cases are heard, that they have neither given nor promised any sum to their advocates, nor have entered into any contract to pay them for their advocacy.” In these words and other long sentences as well, advocates were forbidden to sell their services and litigants to buy them, although, when a suit is over, the latter are allowed to offer their counsel a sum not exceeding ten thousand sesterces. The praetor, who was presiding over the Court of the Centumviri, was embarrassed by this decree of Nepos and gave us an unexpected holiday, while he made up his mind whether or not he should follow the example set him. Meanwhile, the whole town is discussing the edict of Nepos, some favourably, others adversely. Many people are saying: “Well, we have found a man to set the crooked straight. But have there been no praetors before Nepos, and who is Nepos that he should mend our public morals?” On the other hand, a number of people argue: “He has acted quite rightly. He has mastered the laws before entering office, he has read the decrees of the Senate, he is putting a stop to a disgraceful system of bargaining, and he will not allow a most honourable profession to be bought and sold in a scandalous way.” That is how people are talking everywhere, and there will be no majority for one side or the other till it is known how the matter will end. It is very deplorable, but it is the accepted rule that good or bad counsels are approved or condemned according to whether they turn out well or badly. The result is that we find the self-same deed ascribed sometimes to zeal, sometimes to vanity, and even to love of liberty and downright madness. Farewell.

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X. — TO SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS.

Do, I beg of you, fulfil the promise I made in my verses when I pledged my word that our common friends should see your compositions. People are asking for them every day, clamouring for them even, and, if you are not careful, you may find yourself served with a writ to publish them. I myself am very slow to make up my mind to publish, but you are far more of a slow-coach than even I am. So either decide at once, or take care that I do not drag those books of yours from you by the lash of my satire, as I have failed to coax them out by my hendecasyllabics. The work is absolutely finished, and if you polish it any more you will only impair it without making it shine the more brightly. Do let me see your name on the title page; do let me hear that the volumes of my friend Tranquillus are being copied, read, and sold. It is only fair, considering the strength of our attachment, that you should afford me the same gratification that I have afforded you. Farewell.

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XI. — TO CALPURNIUS FABATUS.

I have received your letter, from which I gather that you have dedicated a most beautiful portico in the joint names of yourself and your son, and that on the following day you promised a sum of money for the decoration of the gates, so as to signalise the completion of your earlier act of generosity by immediately beginning a new one. I am delighted to hear it, in the first place, on account of the reputation you will secure, of which some part will extend to me, owing to the closeness of our friendship; secondly, because I see that the name of my father-in-law will be perpetuated by these choice works; and, lastly, because our country is in such a flourishing state. Pleasant as it is to see her honoured by any one, it is trebly gratifying when the honour is paid by yourself. It only remains for me to pray Heaven to confirm you in this habit of mind, and bestow upon you long length of years. For I venture to prophesy that, when your latest promise is complete, you will set about something else. When once a man’s generosity has been aroused it knows not where to stop, for the more it is practised the more beautiful it becomes in the eyes of the generous. Farewell.

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XII. — TO TERENTIUS SCAURUS.

Before giving a recital of a little speech which I had some thoughts of publishing, I called a few friends to hear it, so as to put me on my mettle, but not many, so that I might get candid criticism. For there are two reasons why I give these recitals, one that I may screw myself up to the proper pitch by their anxiety that I should do myself justice, and the other that they may correct me if I happen to make a mistake and do not notice it because the blunder is my own. I got what I wanted and I found some friends who gave me their advice freely; while I myself noticed certain passages which required correction. I have revised the speech which I am sending you. You will see what the subject is from the title, and the speech itself will explain all other points. It ought now to become so familiar to people as to be understood without any preface. But I trust that you will write and tell me what you think of it as a whole as well as in parts, for I shall be the more careful to suppress it, or the more determined to publish it, according as your critical judgment inclines one way or the other. Farewell.

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XIII. — TO VALERIANUS.

In compliance with your request — and the promise I made to comply in case you asked me — I will write and tell you the upshot of the demand of Nepos in the matter of Tuscilius Nominatus. Nominatus was brought into the Senate, and he pleaded his own case. There was no one to accuse him, for the legates of the Vicetini, so far from making matters difficult for him, smoothed his path. The substance of his defence was that in his conduct of the case he had failed not in loyalty but in resolution, that he had come down with the intention of pleading and had been seen in the Senate-house, but had been discouraged by what his friends told him in conversation, and so had left the chamber. He had been advised, he said, not to oppose, especially in the Senate, a member of that body who was now fighting hard not so much to get leave to establish a market on his estate, as to maintain his influence, reputation, and position, and he was warned that if he did not give way he would come in for greater ill-will than had been recently shown him. It was true that he had been hissed as he left the chamber on the previous hearing, but only by a few people. He spoke in a very appealing way and shed a number of tears, and, throughout his pleading, he used his undoubted abilities as a speaker to make it seem that he was not so much defending his conduct as asking pardon for it, which was certainly the safest and best course for him to adopt.

He was acquitted on the motion of the consul-designate, Afranius Dexter, whose speech may be summarised as follows. He argued that Nominatus would have done much better if he had gone through with the cause of the Vicetini with the same resolution with which he had undertaken it, but that since his conduct, though blameworthy, was not fraudulent, and he had not been convicted of having committed any crime, he had better be acquitted on the understanding that he should return to the Vicetini the fees he had received from them. All present agreed, with the exception of Fabius Aper, who proposed that Nominatus should be disbarred for the term of five years, and he continued firmly in that opinion though he drew no one over to side with him. He even produced the law under which the meeting of the Senate had been convened, and forced Dexter, who had been the first to propose the resolution opposed to his, to swear that his proposal was for the good of the State. Though this demand was perfectly legal, certain members loudly protested against it, on the ground that Aper seemed to be accusing Dexter of showing undue favour to Nominatus. But before any further speeches were made to the motion, Nigrinus, a tribune of the plebs, read out a learned and weighty remonstrance in which he complained that counsel were bought and sold, that they would sell their clients’ cases, that they conspired together to make litigation, and that, instead of being satisfied with fame, they drew large and fixed amounts at the expense of citizens. He recited the heads of various laws, he recalled to their memories certain decrees of the Senate, and at last proposed that, as the laws and the decrees of the Senate were treated as a dead letter, they should petition their excellent Emperor to find a remedy for such a scandal.

A few days elapsed, and then the Emperor issued an edict which was at once moderate and severe. You will be able to read the text of it, for it appears in the official register. Imagine how delighted I am that I have always made a point of refusing for my services as counsel not only to enter into any understanding to receive presents and gifts in any shape, but even friendly acknowledgments! We ought indeed to refrain from doing anything that is not quite honourable, not because it is forbidden, but because we should be ashamed to do it; still it is gratifying to see a custom which you have never allowed yourself to follow publicly forbidden. Very likely — and in fact there is no doubt on the point — I shall reap fewer praises and my reputation will not shine as brightly when all the members of my profession find themselves compelled to behave as I did quite of my own free will. In the meantime I enjoy the pleasure of hearing some of my friends say that I must have foreseen what was coming, while others banter me by declaring that the new edict has been designed to put a stop to my plunder and greed. Farewell.

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XIV. — TO PONTIUS.

I had already retired to my township when the news was brought to me that Cornutus Tertullus had accepted the curatorship of the Aemilian Way. I cannot tell you how delighted I am, both for his own sake and for mine. I am pleased for his sake, because, though he is unquestionably entirely void of all ambitious aspirations, he cannot but be gratified at being offered a post without seeking it; and I am pleased on my own account, because I am all the more satisfied with my own employment now that Cornutus has had a position of equal eminence given to him. For it is just as gratifying to be placed on an equality with worthy citizens as to receive a step up in one’s official position. And where is there a better man than Cornutus, or a man of more noble life? Where will you find one who follows more closely the ancient pattern in all that is praiseworthy? I know his virtues not by hearsay alone, though he enjoys a richly deserved reputation everywhere, but from a personal experience extending over many years.

We both of us entertain an affectionate regard, and have done for years, for all the worthy persons of both sexes whom our age has produced, and this community of friendships has thrown us together into the most intimate relations. Another link in the chain has been the closeness of our public connection. As you know, he was my colleague as prefect of the Treasury — thus realising, so to speak, my dearest wish — and again he was associated with me in the consulship. It was there that I obtained my clearest insight into the character and real greatness of the man, when I followed his judgment as a magistrate and reverenced him as a parent, while my veneration was inspired not so much by the ripeness of his years as by the ripeness of his general character. Hence it is that I congratulate both him and myself, for public reasons quite as much as for personal ones, in that now at last a virtuous life leads a man not to peril, as it used to do, but to public honours.

I should let my pen run on for ever if I were to give my joy a free course, so I will turn back to tell you how I was engaged when the messenger came and found me. I was with my wife’s grandfather and her aunt, and in the company of friends I had long wished to see. I was going the round of the estate, hearing no end of complaints from my tenants, reading over with an unwilling eye and in a cursory fashion the accounts — for I have been consecrating my energies to papers and books of quite a different style — and I had even begun to make preparations for my journey. For I am rather pressed owing to the shortness of my leave, and I am reminded of my own public duties by hearing of those which have been entrusted to Cornutus. I hope that your Campanian villa may spare you about the same time, lest, when I return to town, I should lose a single day of your company. Farewell.

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XV. — TO ARRIUS ANTONINUS.

It is when I try to equal your verses that I most fully appreciate how excellent they are. For just as painters rarely succeed in putting a perfectly beautiful face on their canvas without doing injustice to the original, so, though I slave hard with your verses as my model, I always fall short. Let me urge you then to publish as many as possible, so good that every one will burn to imitate them, and yet no one, or but very few, will succeed in the attempt. Farewell.

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XVI. — TO MARCELLINUS.

I am writing to you in great distress. The younger daughter of your friend Fundanus is dead, and I never saw a girl of a brighter and more lovable disposition, nor one who better deserved length of days or even to live for ever. She had hardly completed her fourteenth year, yet she possessed the prudence of old age and the sedateness of a matron, with the sweetness of a child and the modesty of a maiden. How she used to cling round her father’s neck! How tenderly and modestly she embraced us who were her father’s friends! Her nurses, her teachers and tutors, how well she loved them, each according to his station! With what application and quickness she used to read, while her amusements were never carried to excess and never overstepped the mark. What resignation, patience and fortitude she showed during her last illness! She obeyed her doctor’s orders, she cheered her sister and father, and when her body had lost all its strength, she kept herself alive by the vigour of her mind. This never failed her right up to the end, nor was it broken down by her long illness or by the fear of death, and this has made us miss her all the more severely and made our sorrow all the heavier to bear. What a sad, heart-rending funeral it was! The moment of her death seemed even more cruel than death itself, for she had just been betrothed to a youth of splendid character; the day of the wedding had been decided upon, and we had already been summoned to attend it. Think into what terrible grief our joy was changed! I really cannot tell you in words how acutely I felt it when I heard Fundanus himself, for one sorrow always leads on to other bitter sorrows — giving the order that the money he had intended to lay out upon wedding raiment, pearls and gems, should be spent upon incense, unguents and scents.

He is, it is true, a man of learning and wisdom, who from early years has devoted himself to the deeper studies and the nobler arts, but, at a moment like this, all the philosophy he has ever heard from others or uttered himself is put on one side. All virtues but one are disregarded for the time being — he can only think of parental love. You will forgive and even praise him for this, if you consider the loss he has suffered. For he has lost a daughter who reflected in herself, not only his face and feature, but his character, and one who was the living image of her father in every particular. If you send him a letter in the midst of this rightful grief of his, be careful to use words of solace which will not flay the heart or deal roughly with his sorrow, but which will soothe and ease his pain. The time which has elapsed will make him the more likely to admit your words of consolation, for, just as a raw wound first shrinks from the touch of the doctor’s hand, then bears it without flinching and actually welcomes it, so with mental anguish we reject and fly from consolation when the pain is fresh, then after a time we look for it and find relief in its soothing application. Farewell.

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XVII. — TO SPURINNA.

I know what an interest you take in the liberal arts, and how delighted you are when young men of rank do anything worthy of their ancestry. That is why I am losing no time to tell you that to-day I made one of the audience of Calpurnius Piso. He was reading his poem on the Legends of the Stars, and it was a learned and very excellent composition. It was written in fluent, graceful, and smooth elegiacs, and rose even to lofty heights as occasion demanded. The style was cleverly varied, in some places it soared, in others it was subdued; passing from the grand to the commonplace, from thinness to richness, and from lively to severe, and in each case with consummate skill. The sweetness of his voice lent it an additional charm, and his modesty made even his voice the sweeter, while his blushes and his nervousness, which were very plain to see, still further set off the reading. I don’t know why, but diffidence becomes a man of letters much more than over-confidence. However, to cut the story short, — though I would gladly say more, because such performances are all the more charming when given by a young man, and all the rarer when he is of noble birth, — as soon as the reading was concluded, I embraced the youth with great cordiality, and by showering praises upon him — which are always the best incentive when giving advice — I urged him to go on as he had begun, and hold out to his descendants the light which his own ancestors had held out to him. I congratulated his excellent mother and also his brother, who made one of the audience, and indeed achieved as much reputation for brotherly feeling as his brother Calpurnius did for his eloquence, for while the latter was reading everybody noticed first the nervous look on the brother’s face, and then the expression of joy. I pray Heaven that I may often have such news for you, for I am very partial to the age I live in, and I hope that it may not prove barren and worthless. I am really most anxious that our young men of rank should have some other beautiful objects in their houses besides the busts of their ancestors, and it seems to me that the latter tacitly approve and encourage these two young men, and even recognise them as their true descendants, which is in itself a sufficiently high compliment to both. Farewell.

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XVIII. — TO CALPURNIUS MACER.

As all is well with you, all is well with me. You have your wife with you, and your son; you enjoy your sea-view, your fountains, greenery, estate, and your charming villa. I cannot doubt that the latter is most charming, inasmuch as it was the home of the man who was even happier there than when he became the happiest man on earth. I am staying at my Tuscan house; I hunt and I study, sometimes in turns, sometimes both together, and I cannot as yet tell you whether I find it more difficult to catch anything or to compose anything. Farewell.

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XIX. — TO PAULINUS.

I notice how kindly you treat your servants, so I will be quite frank with you, and tell you with what indulgence I treat mine. I always bear in mind that phrase in Homer, “like a father mild,” and our own Latin phrase, “father of his family.” Even if I had naturally been of a harsher and less genial disposition, the weakness of my freedman Zosimus would melt my harshness, for one has to show him greater kindness just in proportion as he needs it more at his time of life. He is an honest fellow, devoted to his duties and well-educated, but his chief accomplishment and, so to speak, his particular recommendation is his skill in playing comedy, in which he is really admirable. For his delivery is sharp, intelligent, to the point, and even graceful, and he plays the harp much better than is usually expected from a comedian. He is also so clever in reading speeches, history and poetry, that you would fancy he had never studied anything else. I have gone into all this detail to show you how many services this one man can render me, and how pleasant they are. Moreover, I have long entertained a great regard for him, which has been increased by his serious ill-health, for Nature has so arranged it that nothing fires and stimulates our affection so much as the fear of losing the object of it, and I have on more than one occasion been afraid of losing Zosimus.

Some years since, while he was reciting with great earnestness and fire, he spat blood, and I sent him on that account to Egypt, from which country he recently returned with his health restored. Then, after severely taxing his voice for days together, he was warned of his old malady by a slight cough, and once more brought up some blood. So I have decided to send him to the farm which you own at Forum Julii, for I have often heard you say that the air there is healthy, and the milk peculiarly beneficial to complaints of this kind. I should be glad, therefore, if you will write to your people to take him in at the house and give him lodging, and accommodate him with anything he may require at his expense. His needs will be very small, for he is so sparing and abstemious that his frugality leads him to deny himself, not only dainties, but even that which is necessary for his weak health. When he sets out, I will give him sufficient travelling money for one who is going to your part of the country. Farewell.

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XX. — TO URSUS.

Within a short time of their impeaching Julius Bassus the Bithynians brought a second action, this time against Rufus Varenus, their proconsul, the very man whom, in their action against Bassus, they had received permission, at their own request, to retain as their advocate. On being brought into the Senate they applied for a commission to be appointed to investigate their charges, and Varenus sought leave to be allowed to bring witnesses from the province in his defence. To this the Bithynians objected, and the matter came to a debate. I acted on behalf of Varenus, and my pleading was not without good results. I am justified in saying this, as my written speech will show whether I spoke well or badly. For in delivering a speech chance has a controlling influence on success or failure. A speech either gains or loses a good deal according to the memory, voice, and gesture of the speaker, and even the time taken in delivery, to say nothing of the popularity or unpopularity of the accused; whereas a written speech profits nothing from these advantages, loses nothing by these disadvantages, and is subject neither to lucky nor unlucky accidents.

Fonteius Magnus, one of the Bithynians, replied to me at great length, but he made very few points. Like most of the Greeks, he mistakes volubility for fulness of treatment, and they pour forth in a single breath a perfect torrent of long-winded and frigid periods. Julius Candidus rather wittily says apropos of this that eloquence is one thing and loquacity another. For there have been only one or two people who can be described as eloquent — not one indeed if Marcus Antonius is to be believed, — but scores of persons possess what Candidus calls loquacity, and loquacity and impudence usually go together. On the following day, Homullus spoke on behalf of Varenus, and delivered a skilful, powerful, and polished speech, while Nigrinus replied with terseness, dignity, and elegance. Acilius Rufus, the consul-designate, proposed that the Commission of Enquiry asked for by the Bithynians should be allowed, and said not a word about the request of Varenus, which was tantamount to proposing that it should be negatived. Cornelius Priscus, the consular, moved that the requests of both the accusers and the accused should be granted, and he carried a majority with him. The point we asked for was not within the four corners of the law and was not quite covered by precedent, but none the less it was entirely reasonable, though why it was reasonable I shall not tell you in this letter, in order to make you ask for a copy of my pleading. For if it be true, as Homer says, that “men always prize the song the most which rings newest in their ears,” I must beware lest by allowing myself to go chattering on in this letter I destroy all the charm of novelty in that little speech of mine, which is the main thing it has to commend itself to you. Farewell.

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XXI. — TO SATURNINUS.

Your letter has aroused in me conflicting emotions, for part of the news it contained made me glad, and part made me sorrowful. I was glad to hear that you were detained in town, for though you say it was much against your will, it was not against mine, especially as you promise that you will give a reading as soon as I arrive. So I thank you for waiting my coming. The bad news was that Julius Valens is lying seriously ill, although even this should not sadden us, if we only think of what is best for him, for it will be much better for him to obtain as speedy a release as possible from a disease which is past all cure. No, the real sad news, or rather heartrending news is that Julius Avitus died on ship-board while returning from his quaestorship, miles away from the brother who was devoted to him, and from his mother and sisters. Those are circumstances which do not affect him now that he is dead, but they did affect him on his death-bed, and they are a great trouble to his surviving relatives, especially as he was a young man of such promise and would have reached the highest offices in the State if only his qualities had had time to ripen. And now he has been cut down in the very flower of manhood! What a keen and enthusiastic student he was, how well read, and what a number of essays he had made in writing! Yet all have perished with him and left no fruit for posterity to reap. But it is useless for me to indulge my sorrow, for if once one gives it free play, even the slightest occasions for grief are magnified into crushing blows. I will write no more, and so check the tears which this letter has made to flow. Farewell.

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BOOK VI.

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1. — TO TIRO.

So long as I was on the other side of the Po, and you were in the district of Picenum, I missed you less; since I am in town, while you are still in Picenum, I miss you a great deal more; whether it is that the very spots where we are accustomed to be together bring you more keenly to my remembrance; or else that nothing sharpens one’s longing after absent friends so much as vicinity to them, and so, the nearer you come to the hope of enjoying their society, the more impatient are you at being deprived of it. Whatever be the cause, deliver me from this misery. Come to me, or else I shall return to the place whence I rashly hurried, if only for this purpose, in order to learn by experience whether you, when you first find yourself in Rome without me, will write me such a letter as this.

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2. — TO ARRIANUS.

It happens to me not unfrequently, in our law courts, to miss M. Regulus: I would not say, to regret him. Why, then, to miss him? Because he held our profession in honour, and used to be solicitous, and wan with study, and to write out his speeches, though he never could learn them by heart. The very fact that he used to paint round, sometimes his right, sometimes his left eye, the right one if he was going to speak for a plaintiff, and the left if for a defendant; that he used to transfer a white plaster from one eyebrow to another; that he always consulted the soothsayers on the result of his pleadings: all this originated, it is true, in excessive superstition, and yet at the same time in a great regard for the profession. This, to begin with, was particularly pleasant to those who were engaged in the same causes, that he always asked for unlimited time, and got together an audience by invitation; for what can be more pleasant than to speak as long as you like, while the annoyance is laid to another’s charge, and to speak at your ease, yet with an appearance of being surprised by an audience which others have got together. But, however all this may be, Regulus did well to die, and he would have done better if he had died sooner. Now, certainly, he might have lived without injury to the public, under a Prince in whose reign he could have done no mischief. So it is allowable to miss him sometimes. For since his death a custom has extensively and increasingly prevailed of demanding, as well as allotting, two water-clocks per speaker or even one, sometimes as little as half a one; since the bar want to have done with their speeches rather than to speak, and the bench to have finished their business rather than to judge. Such is the negligence, the apathy, and in short the irreverence, with which our profession and its perils are regarded. Pray, are we wiser than our ancestors? Are we more just than the laws themselves, which freely accord so many hours, so many days, so many adjournments? Were those ancestors of ours dullards and beyond measure slow, and do we speak more clearly, understand more rapidly, and decide more conscientiously, because we hurry through our causes with a smaller number of water-clocks than they used to take days to settle them in? O Regulus, you used to obtain from all the judges by your artifices that which extremely few of them accord to integrity! I at all events, whenever I sit as judge (which is my place even more often than at the bar), allow as much water as any one asks for; inasmuch as I deem it an act of temerity to predict the length of a cause still unheard, and to place a limit of time on a matter whose proportions are unknown, particularly since the first thing which a judge owes to the faithful discharge of his duty is patience, which indeed is a large ingredient in justice. But a good deal that is superfluous is spoken! Be it so: yet it is better that even this should be spoken, than that what is essential should be unspoken. Besides you cannot possibly know whether it is superfluous or not, till you have heard what it is. However it will be better to talk of this, and of many other public abuses, when we meet. For you too, with your regard for the common interests, are in general desirous that matters which it would now be difficult to set straight may be at any rate amended.

Now, let us cast a glance at our households. Pray, is all well in yours? In mine, there is nothing new; and for me, the blessings I enjoy are rendered more grateful by their continuance, while incommodities are lightened by habit.

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3. — TO VERUS.

I thank you for undertaking the cultivation of the farm given by me to my nurse. It was worth a hundred thousand sesterces when I gave it her. Subsequently, the returns diminishing, its value fell with them; but now under your management it will recover itself. Only please to bear in mind that I am entrusting to you not trees and soil merely — though I do entrust these as well — but my small present. And that this should be as productive as possible is not of greater interest to her who received than to me who bestowed it.

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4. — TO CULPURNIA, HIS WIFE.

I never complained more than now of my occupations, which did not suffer me either to accompany you when you started for Campania for your health’s sake, or to follow close after your departure. For at this time particularly I desired to be with you, in order to judge with my own eyes how far you are recruiting your strength and your dear little body, and, in short, whether you have passed through that delightful retreat and rich country without receiving any hurt. Indeed, if you were quite strong, my longing after you would not be unmingled with anxiety: for to be sometimes without news of an ardently beloved object is fraught with suspense and uneasiness. Now, however, the consideration of your delicate health, as well as your absence, torments me with vague disquietudes of various kinds. I apprehend everything, conjure up everything, and, as the nature of frightened people is, the things which of all others I deprecate are precisely those which I picture to myself. Wherefore, I the more urgently beseech you to have regard for my fears by writing me one, or even two letters a day. For I shall be more comfortable while reading them, and shall straightway fall to fear again, as soon as they are read.

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5. — TO URSUS.

I wrote you word that Varenus had obtained leave to compel the attendance of witnesses on his behalf; which seemed to most to be fair, though some were obstinate in thinking it unjust, particularly Licinius Nepos, who, at the next meeting of the Senate, when other matters were before it, discussed the recent decree, thus reopening a cause which had been disposed of. He went so far as to add that the Consuls should be asked to submit a motion (after the precedent of the Bribery Laws) on the subject of that against extortion. “Was it their pleasure that, for the future, an addition should be made to that law to the effect that, as the law in question gave power to accusers to collect materials and to enforce the attendance of witnesses, so a similar power should be given to the accused?” There were some who were displeased by this speech of his, as coming too late, out of season, and in the wrong place; inasmuch as the proper time for speaking against the decree had been neglected, and now fault was found with that which had been settled and which might have been opposed. Indeed Juventius Celsus, the Prætor, reproved him at length and with vigour for setting himself up as a corrector of the Senate. Nepos replied, and Celsus retorted; and neither of them refrained from insults. I don’t choose to record words which I was vexed to hear them utter, so as to make me all the more indignant at some of our order, who were running backwards and forwards from Celsus to Nepos, according as one or the other was speaking, from curiosity to hear; and who by way of egging them on and inflaming them at one time, of reconciling and making it up between them at another, invoked “the approval of Cæsar,” generally on behalf of each singly, but at times in favour of both, as at some spectacle for the public amusement! What to my mind was a most painful feature in all this, was that each had got information of what the other was preparing for him; for Celsus replied to Nepos from a written paper, and Nepos to Celsus from his note-book. Such was the loquacity of their friends that these men, on the point of wrangling, had a mutual knowledge of the event, just as though it had been arranged between them.

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6. — TO FUNDANUS.

Now, if ever, I could wish you were in Rome, and I beg that you will he. I have need of one to share my aspirations, my labours, my anxiety. Julius Naso is a candidate for office; he is standing with many competitors and good ones too, whom it will be glorious to beat and correspondingly difficult. So I am in a state of suspense, and am exercised by hope as well as troubled by fear, no longer feeling like one who has himself served the office of Consul; but once more imagining myself a candidate for each of the posts successively filled by me.

He merits this anxiety by his long affection for me. My friendship for him is not, to be sure, derived from any I had for his father — for in consequence of my age that could not be — however, when I was barely a stripling, his father used to be held out to me as a man of great reputation. He was deeply attached, not to learning only, but also to learned men, and was in the habit of coming almost daily to hear those whom I frequented at that time, Quintilian and Nicetes Sacerdos. He was in other respects a distinguished and authoritative personage, whose memory ought to be of service to his son. But now there are many in the Senate to whom he was unknown, and though there are many to whom he was known, yet these honour none but the living; so that my friend, putting aside the glory of his father — which, though a great illustration, is but a feeble recommendation to him — must all the more vigorously exert himself and go to work in person. And this to be sure he has always carefully done, as if foreseeing the present occasion. He has procured friends for himself, and those whom he has procured he has cultivated; me, certainly, as soon as he permitted himself to form a judgment, he selected as the object of his affection and imitation. He stands watchful by me when speaking in public; he sits by me when I recite; he interests himself in my literary trifles from their very inception and from the moment of their birth; alone now, formerly in company with his brother, whose part (for he is lately dead) I ought to undertake, whose place I ought to fill. I grieve indeed that the one should have been so cruelly torn from us by a premature death, and the other deprived of his brother’s assistance and left to the help of his friends alone.

For these reasons I implore you to come and join your suffrages to mine. It is of great importance to me to be able to produce you and go about with you. The weight you carry is so great as to make me think I could canvass even my own friends more successfully in your company. Break short anything that detains you. My critical situation, my honour, my dignity even, demand this of you. I have taken in hand a candidate, and it is known that I have taken him in hand. The canvass is mine, the danger is mine. In short, if Naso gets what he asks, his will be the honour; if he fails, the defeat will be mine.

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7. — TO CALPURNIA, HIS WIFE.

You write that you are not a little affected by my absence, and that you have but one solace — in possessing my books instead of me, and even in often laying them beside you in bed, in my place. I am glad that you miss me, glad that you are soothed by such lenitives as these. In return, I keep reading your letters, and ever and anon take them into my hands as if they were just received, yet all the more am I inflamed with a longing for you. For when your letters are so agreeable, what must be the charm of your conversation! However, do you write as often as you can, though your doing so delights me in such a way as to torment me at the same time.

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8. — TO PRISCUS.

You both know and have a regard for Atilius Crescens. Indeed, what man of any mark either does not know him or has not a regard for him? He is one whom I cherish, not after the vulgar fashion, but with my whole heart. Our native towns are separated by one day’s journey only. Our love for each other began — and this is the most fervent kind of love — when we were mere striplings. It endured to after years, and far from being cooled, was strengthened by our mature judgment. Those who are most intimately acquainted with either of us know this. For, not only does he widely proclaim and circulate his friendship for me, but I too make no secret of the interest I feel in his modest life, his repose, and his security. Moreover, when he apprehended the insolence of a certain individual who was about to enter on the Tribuneship of the Plebs, and had informed me of the fact, I replied, “Not during my lifetime!”

Why do I tell you all this? That you may know that Atilius shall not suffer an injury while I am in existence. Again you will say, “Why all this?” Why, because Valerius Varus owed him a sum of money. Now the heir of this Varus is our friend Maximus, whom I myself have a great regard for, but you a still closer one. I pray you then, and indeed demand of you by right of our friendship, to see that my good Atilius has not only the principal but also several years’ interest secured to him. He is a man most scrupulous as to encroaching on other people’s property, and careful of his own; he does not live by any business, and has no income but what results from his economy. For, the literary pursuits, in which he so greatly excels, he follows only for his own pleasure and glory. The smallest loss is a hard matter for him, it being so very hard to make good what is lost. Believe him and relieve me from this difficulty: suffer me to enjoy to the full his amiable and sprightly character; for indeed I can’t bear to see one sad whose cheerfulness will not allow me to be sad. In short, you know the quaint humour of the man, and I pray you take care that injustice does not turn it to bile and bitterness. What will be the strength of his resentment you may judge by that of his affection. His lofty and independent spirit will not brook a loss accompanied by an affront. And though he should brook it, I shall esteem the loss and the affront my own; only I shall be much more indignant than if it were my own. However, why employ denunciations and what may seem threats? Bather, as I began, so I beg and pray you to see to it that he does not think himself neglected by me (which I most strongly fear), or I think the same of you. And you will see to it, if the latter consideration weighs as much with you as the former does with me.

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9. — TO TACITUS.

You commend Julius Naso to my favour as a candidate. Naso to me! What if you commended my own self! However, I bear with it and forgive you. For I should have commended this very Naso to you, if you had been staying in Rome and I had been absent. There is this about anxiety that it will leave no stone unturned. However, I vote that you canvass other people; I will act as agent, assistant, and partner in your applications.

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10. — TO ALBINUS.

On my arrival at my mother-in-law’s house near Alsium, which was once the property of Rufus Verginius, the sight of the place itself painfully renewed my regrets for that admirable and illustrious man. For this was the retreat where he commonly resided, calling it indeed “the dear little nest of his old age.” Turn where I would, my soul, my eyes, looked for him. I was desirous of seeing his monument as well, and repented having seen it. For it is still unfinished; nor is this owing to any difficulty in the undertaking (which is of moderate, or rather small, dimensions), but to the apathy of the person on whom the duty was enjoined. A sense of indignation mingled with pity steals over me to think that ten years after his death there should be lying without an epitaph, without a name over them, the ashes of one the glory of whose memory pervades the world. Yet he had enjoined and provided that that divine and immortal exploit of his should be inscribed in verse.

“Here Rufus lies, who Vindex overcame,

Not for his own, but for his country’s fame.”

So rare is fidelity in friendship, so easy is it to forget the dead, that we ought to raise for ourselves even our own sepulchres and to anticipate all the duties of our heirs. For who has not cause to fear what we see to have happened in the case of Verginius? Only in his case his celebrity makes the wrong done him, as it is the more undeserved, so also the more widely known.

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11. — TO MAXIMUS.

O joyful day! Summoned to assist the Præfect of the city, I have heard two young men of the greatest promise and the highest qualities pleading against each other, Fuscus Salinator and Ummidius Quadratus, an admirable pair, destined to be ornaments not only of our age, but of learning itself. Both of them exhibited remarkable modesty, yet with resolution unimpaired. Their deportment was noble, their language pure Latin, their voices manly, their memories tenacious, and their great natural faculties were equalled by their judgment. Each of these things singly was a pleasure, and, together with them this, that the young men directed their glances at me as their guide and teacher, and seemed to those who heard them to be imitating me and treading in my footsteps. O day (for I must repeat it) most joyful, and to be marked by me with the whitest of stones! What, indeed, can be more joyful, in a public point of view, than that young men of the highest rank should be seeking a name and fame from intellectual pursuits; or more desirable for me personally than that I should be set up as a kind of model to such as have noble aims? I pray the gods to make me the constant recipient of such delight as this; and I beg of these same gods (taking you to witness) that all those who shall think it worth their while to imitate me may desire to be better than me.

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12. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

You, assuredly, ought not to hold your hand in recommending to me those persons whom you think worthy of support. For, not only is it becoming in you to render services to many, but it becomes me also to undertake whatever pertains to your wishes. Consequently I will do all in my power for Vettius Priscus, particularly in my own arena — that is, in the Centumviral Court. You bid me forget those letters which you wrote me, as you term it, with your heart laid open. But there are no letters which I more desire to bear in mind. For by these I am particularly made sensible of the strength of your affection for me, since you dealt with me as you were used to deal with your own son. Nor can I conceal from you that they were rendered all the more agreeable to me by the fact that I had a good case, since I had attended with the greatest diligence to what you wished attended to. Accordingly I entreat you, again and again, always to convey your reproaches to me in the same straightforward way as often as I shall seem to fall short (I say “seem,” for I never shall really fall short), since I shall understand that they proceed from the strength of your affection, and you will rejoice to find that I do not deserve them.

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13. — TO URSUS.

Have you ever seen any one so troubled and exercised as my friend Varenus? He has had to defend, and as it were make fresh application for, that which he had obtained only after a great struggle. The Bithynians were impudent enough to criticise the decree of the Senate, and even to try and invalidate it, before the Consuls, and actually to incriminate it to the Emperor, who was absent from Rome. On being referred back to the Senate by him, they did not desist from their efforts. Claudius Capito spoke for them, disrespectfully rather than firmly, since he impeached a decree of the Senate in presence of the Senate. Catius Pronto replied with dignity and resolution. The Senate itself was admirable. For even those who had previously been for refusing the application of Varenus were of opinion that, having once been allowed, it should still be allowed, on the ground that though it was permissible for individuals to differ when a matter was undecided, yet when it was fairly settled the vision of the majority should be unanimously upheld.

Only Acilius Rufus and, with him, some seven or eight — seven rather — persisted in their former opinion. In this small number there were some whose temporary fit of severity, or rather affectation of severity, furnished much amusement. You will, however, be able to judge what a struggle awaits us in the fight itself, when the preludes to it and the preliminary skirmishes, so to speak, have aroused such contests.

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14. — TO MAURICUS.

You invite me to your place near Formiæ. I will accept on one condition, that you do not put yourself out in any way; an arrangement by which I bargain for myself as well. For it is not the sea and the seaside that I am going after, but my own ease, and liberty, and you; otherwise it would be preferable to remain in town. It is best that one’s actions should be entirely dependent on the will of others, or else on one’s own: the nature of my taste is certainly such that it will have nothing but what is complete in itself and free from admixture.

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15. — TO ROMANUS.

You were not present at a very curious occurrence, nor was I either; but the story reached me soon after the event. Passennus Paulus, a distinguished Roman knight, and among the first for learning, writes elegiac verse. This runs in his family; he is a townsman of Propertius, and even numbers Propertius among his ancestors. As this Paulus was reciting, he commenced with these words —

“Priscus, thou bids’t me.”

Upon which Javolenus Priscus (who was present in his character of a particular friend of Paulus) cried out, “I don’t bid you, however” You may imagine how the people laughed and jested. To be sure, Priscus is of doubtful sanity, yet he takes part in ceremonial occasions, sits as assessor to the magistrates, and even gives legal opinions publicly, which makes this action of his all the more ridiculous and remarkable. Meanwhile Paulus, through another’s folly, found his audience somewhat chilled. Such particular care should people take beforehand, when they are going to recite, not only to be sane themselves, but also to invite none but sane hearers. —

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16. — TO TACITUS. (Mount Vesuvius Eruption Account I)

You ask me to write you an account of my uncle’s end, in order that you may be able the more faithfully to transmit it to posterity. I thank you, as I see that his death, if commemorated by you, has an imperishable renown offered it. For though he fell amid the destruction of such fair regions, and seems destined to live for ever — like so many peoples and cities — through the memorable character of the disaster; though he himself was the author of many and enduring works; yet the immortality of your writings will add greatly to the uninterrupted continuance of his fame. For my part I deem those blessed to whom, by favour of the gods, it has been granted either to do what is worth writing of, or to write what is worth reading; above measure blessed those on whom both gifts have been conferred. In the latter number will be my uncle, by virtue of his own and of your compositions. Hence, I the more readily undertake, and even lay claim to perform what you request.

He was at Misenum, in personal command of the fleet. The ninth day before the Kalends of September, at about the seventh hour, my mother indicated to him the appearance of a cloud of unusual size and shape. He had sunned himself, and next gone into his cold bath; and after a light meal, which he took reposing, was engaged in study. He called for his sandals, and ascended to a spot from which this portent could best be seen. A cloud was rising — from what mountain was a matter of uncertainty to those who looked at it from a distance: afterwards it was known to be Vesuvius — whose appearance and form would be represented by a pine better than any other tree. For, after towering upwards to a great height with an extremely lofty stem, so to speak, it spread out into a number of branches; because, as I imagine, having been lifted up by a recent breeze, and having lost the support of this as it grew feebler, or merely in consequence of yielding to its own weight, it was passing away laterally. It was at one time white, at another dingy and spotted, according as it carried earth or ashes. To a man of my uncle’s attainments, it seemed a remarkable phenomenon, and one to be observed from a nearer point of view. He ordered his fast-sailing cutter to be got ready, and, in case I wished to accompany him, gave me leave to do so. I replied that I preferred to go on with my studies, and it so happened that he had himself given me something to write out.

He was in the act of leaving the house, when a note was handed him from Rectina. Cæsius Bassus, frightened, together with the people there, at the imminence of the peril (for his villa lay under the mountain, and there was no escape for him except by taking ship), begged my uncle to rescue him from so critical a situation. Upon this he changed his plan, and, having started on his enterprise as a student, proceeded to carry it out in the spirit of a hero. He launched his four-ranked galleys, and embarked in person, in order to carry assistance, not to Rectina only, but to many others, for the charms of the coast caused it to be much peopled. He hastened in the direction whence every one else was flying, holding a direct course, and keeping his helm set straight for the peril, so free from fear that he dictated and caused to be noted down, as fast as he seized them with his eyes, all the shiftings and shapes of the dreadful prodigy. Ashes were already falling on the ships, hotter and thicker the nearer they approached; and even pumice and other stones, black, and scorched, and cracked by the fire. There had been a sudden retreat of the sea, and the debris from the mountain made the shore unapproachable. Having hesitated for a moment whether to turn back, he shortly called out to the helmsman (who was urging him to do so), “Fortune favours the brave! Make in the direction of Pomponianus.” The latter was at Stabiæ, separated from him by the whole width of the bay, for the sea flows in by shores gradually winding and curving inwards. There, in view of the danger which, though it had not yet approached, was nevertheless manifest, and must be upon them as soon as it extended itself, he had got his effects together on board ship, resolved to fly, if only the wind left off blowing from the opposite quarter. My uncle, brought to shore by this same wind, which precisely favoured him, embraced his trembling friend, consoling and exhorting him, and, in order to calm his fears by his own sang froid, bade them conduct him to the bath. After bathing, he took his place at table, and dined gaily, or (which was equally heroic) with an air of gaiety.

Meanwhile, from many points of Mount Vesuvius, vast sheets of flame and tall columns of fire were blazing, the flashes and brightness of which were heightened by the darkness of night. My uncle, to soothe the terrors of those about him, kept telling them that these were fires which the frightened country people had left to burn, and that the deserted houses were blazing away all by them selves. Then he gave himself up to repose, and slept a perfectly genuine sleep, for his snoring (which in consequence of his full habit was heavy and loud) was heard by those in attendance about his door.

However, the courtyard from which this suite of rooms was approached was already so full of ashes mixed with pumice-stones that its surface was rising, and a longer stay in the bedchamber would have cut off all egress. On being aroused, he came forth and rejoined Pomponianus and the others who had kept watching. They consulted together whether to remain under cover or wander about in the open; for the walls nodded under the repeated and tremendous shocks, and seemed, as though dislodged from their foundations, to be swaying to and fro, first in one direction and then in another. On the other hand, in the open air, there was the fall of the pumice-stones (though they were light and burnt out) to be apprehended. However, a comparison of dangers led to the choice of the latter course. With my uncle indeed it was a case of one reason getting the better of another; while in the case of others fear overcame fear. They covered their heads with pillows tied round with cloths: this was their way of protecting themselves against the shower. By this time it was day elsewhere, but there it was night, the blackest and thickest of all nights, which, however, numerous torches and lights of various kinds served to alleviate. It was decided to make for the shore, in order to learn from the nearest point whether the sea was by this time at all available. A huge and angry sea still continued running. Here, reclining on a cloth which had been thrown on the ground, my uncle more than once called for a draught of cold water and swallowed it. Upon this, an outbreak of flame and smell of sulphur, premonitory of further flames, put some to flight and roused him. With the help of two slave-boys he rose from the ground, immediately fell back, owing (as I gather) to the dense vapour obstructing his breath and stopping up the access to his gullet, which with him was weak and narrow and frequently subject to wind. When day returned (the third from that which he had looked upon for the last time ) his body was found whole and uninjured, in the dress he wore; its appearance was that of one asleep rather than dead.

Meanwhile my mother and I at Misenum — however, this has nothing to do with history, nor did you wish to learn anything except what related to his death. So I will make an end. This alone I will add, that everything related by me has been either matter of personal observation or else what I heard on the spot, the time of all others when the truth is told. Do you select what you choose. For a letter is a different matter from a history; it is one thing to write to a friend and another to write for the world.

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17. — TO RESTITUTUS.

I can’t refrain from letting off by letter to you — since it is not my good luck to be able to do it in your presence — the touch of indignation experienced by me at a recitation held by a certain friend of mine. A production of a most finished kind was being read; and this, two or three of the company (learned persons, as they seemed to themselves and a few others) listened to, with the appearance of deaf and dumb people. They never parted their lips, they never moved a hand, they never rose from their seats, if it had been only from the fatigue of remaining seated. Whence all this solemnity and wisdom? Nay rather what dulness, arrogance, perversity, or more properly madness, to employ a whole day with the special object of offending and leaving as an enemy the man to whose house you have come as to a special friend! Are you a more learned man than he? So much the less room for envy, for he who is envious shows his inferiority. In short, whether you are worth more than him, or less than him, or the same as he is, praise him in his capacity of inferior, or superior, or equal; if your superior, because, unless he is worthy of praise, you yourself cannot be; if your inferior or equal, because it concerns your own reputation that the man whom you excel, or even are on a par with, should appear as great as possible. For my part I actually revere and admire all those who accomplish anything in literature. For it is a difficult, arduous, and fastidious pursuit, one which in its turn spurns those who spurn it: unless by chance you entertain a different opinion. And yet what individual has a greater respect for the pursuit than you, or where can there be a kindlier critic? And this is the consideration which has led me to inform you in particular of my indignation, as being the person most sure to share my feelings.

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18. — TO SABINUS.

You ask me to appear for the Firmani, in their State trial; and, though busied with numerous occupations, I will do my best for them. I desire indeed to lay under an obligation not only a most distinguished colony, by undertaking the office of their advocate, but also you yourself by a service which is so agreeable to you. For since, as you are in the habit of proclaiming, the friendship which exists between us is looked upon by you in the light of an advantage and a glory, there is nothing which I ought to deny you, particularly when you ask on behalf of your birth-place. What indeed can be more honourable than prayers prompted by duty, or more efficacious than those which spring from affection? Accordingly, plight my troth to your, or rather now to our, friends, the Firmani. Not only does their own distinction give promise that they are worthy of my efforts and zeal, but also especially this consideration, that those are likely to be men of great worth among whom such a one as you has arisen.

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19. — TO NEPOS.

Are you aware that the price of land has risen, and particularly of land near Rome? The cause of this sudden dearness is a matter which has been the subject of much discussion. At the last Comitia the Senate gave expression to an opinion which did it great honour: “that candidates should not give banquets, nor send presents, nor lodge money for the purpose of bribery,” of which practices the two former were carried on as openly as they were unstintedly, and the third, though done privately, was perfectly ascertained. Upon which my friend Homullus carefully availing himself of this consensus of the Senate when called on to vote, proposed a resolution that the Consuls should make known the universal wish to the Emperor, and should beg him, as he had done in the case of other abuses, to employ his sagacity in counteracting this one. He is counteracting it: by a bribery law he has restrained the former shameful and discreditable expenditure on the part of candidates: and he has ordered them to invest a third part of their fortunes in real estate, deeming it disgraceful, as indeed it was, that those who sought honours should look upon Rome and Italy, not as their country, but as a kind of inn or hostelry, like so many people on their travels. There is consequently a rush of candidates; they are bidding against each other for the purchase of whatever they hear is for sale, and in this way are the means of bringing fresh properties into the market. Accordingly, if you are tired of your farms in Italy, this is the time for selling, as also, by Hercules, for buying in the provinces, since these same candidates are selling there in order to buy here.

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20. — TO TACITUS. (Mount Vesuvius Eruption Account II)

You say that the letter I wrote you, at your request, on the subject of my uncle’s death has made you wish to know what I myself, when left behind at Misenum — for with the mention of this I broke off — had to go through, not merely in the way of alarms, but of actual adventures.

“Though memory shuns the theme, I will ‘begin.’”

After the departure of my uncle, I devoted what time was left to study (it was for that purpose that I remained behind); the bath shortly followed, then dinner, then a short and troubled sleep. There had been heavings of the earth for many days before this, but they produced the less apprehension from being customary in Campania. On that night, however, they so much increased that everything seemed not so much to be in motion as to be turned upside down. My mother rushed into my room; I was similarly getting up with the intention of arousing her in case she were asleep. We sat down in a courtyard attached to the house, which separated by a small space the dwelling from the sea. I do not know whether to style it intrepidity or imprudence on my part, seeing that I was only in my eighteenth year; however, I called for a volume of Livy, and read it as though quite at my ease, and even made extracts from it, as I had begun to do. Upon this, a friend of my uncle’s, who had lately come to him from Spain, when he saw my mother and me seated, and me reading into the bargain, reproved her for her apathy and me for my insensibility to danger. None the less diligently did I devote myself to my book. It was now seven o’clock in the morning, yet still there was but a kind of sickly and doubtful light; now, too, that the surrounding buildings had been shaken, as the place in which we were, though not under cover, was of small dimensions, there was a great and unavoidable risk of our being overwhelmed. Then, at last, we decided on leaving the town. The mass of the inhabitants followed us terror-stricken, and (an effect of panic causing it to resemble prudence) preferring the guidance of others to their own, they pressed on us as we were making off, and impelled us forwards with their crowded ranks. When we had got beyond the buildings we stopped. There we experienced much that was strange, and many terrors. For the vehicles which we had ordered to be brought out, though standing on a perfectly level plain, were rocking from one side to the other, and would not remain still in the same place even when propped under with stones. Moreover, we saw the sea sucked back into itself, and repulsed as it were by the quaking of the earth. The shore had certainly encroached on the sea, and retained a number of marine animals on its dry sands. On the other side of us a black and terrible cloud, broken by the zig-zag and tremulous careerings of the fiery element, was parting asunder in long trains of flame: these were like lightning, but on a larger scale. Then, indeed, the above-mentioned friend from Spain became more urgent and pressing. “If,” said he, “your brother and your uncle is alive, it is his wish that you should be in safety; if he has perished, it was his wish that you should survive him. Why then hesitate to escape?” We replied that we could not so act as, while uncertain of his safety, to provide for our own. Without further delay he rushed off, and got out of reach of danger as fast as he could.

Not long after, the cloud in question descended on the earth and covered the sea. Already it had enveloped and hidden from view Capreæ, and blotted out the promontory of Misenum. Upon this my mother begged and prayed and even ordered me to make my escape as best I could, it being in my power as a young man to do so; as for herself, retarded by her years and her frame, she was well content to die provided she had not been the cause of my death. I, on the other hand, declared that I would not be saved except in her company, and clasping her hand I compelled her to quicken her pace. She obeyed with reluctance, blaming herself for delaying me. And now came a shower of ashes, though as yet but a thin one. I looked back: a dense mist was closing in behind us, and following us like a torrent as it streamed along the ground. “Let us turn aside,” said I, “while we can still see, lest we be thrown down in the road and trampled upon in the darkness by the crowd which accompanies us.” We had scarcely sat down when night came on, not such as it is when there is no moon, or when there are clouds, but the night of a closed place with the lights put out. One could hear the shrieks of the women, the cries for help of the children, the shouts of the men: some were calling for their parents, others for their young ones, others for their partners and recognising them by their voices. Some were lamenting their own case, others that of those dear to them. There were those who, through fear of death, invoked death. Many raised their hands to the gods, but the greater number concluded that there were no longer gods anywhere, and that the last eternal night of story had settled on the world. Nor were there wanting those who by imaginary and false alarms increased the real dangers. Some present announced that such and such a part of Misenum had been overthrown, or such another was in flames; falsely, yet to believing ears. There was a little light again, but this seemed to us not so much day-light as a sign of approaching fire. Accordingly there was fire, but it stayed at a considerable distance from us, then darkness again and a thick and heavy shower of ashes. We got up from time to time and shook these off us; otherwise we should have been covered with them and even crushed by their weight. I might make a boast of not having suffered to escape me either a groan or a word lacking in fortitude, in the midst of such perils, were it not for the fact that I believed myself to be perishing in company with all things, and all things with me, a miserable and yet a mighty consolation in death.

At last, this black mist grew thin, and went off into a kind of smoke or haze; soon came real day, and the sun even shone forth, luridly however, and with the appearance it usually wears under an eclipse. Our yet trembling eyes saw everything changed and covered with deep ashes as with snow. We returned to Misenum, and refreshed our persons as best we might, and there spent a night of suspense alternating between hope and fear. Fear prevailed, for the quaking of the earth continued, and many persons, crazy with terror, were sporting with their own and other’s misfortunes by means of the most appalling predictions. Yet not even then, after experiencing and still expecting perils, did we think of going away till news came of my uncle. All this, which is in no way worthy of history, will be for you to read, not to write about, and you must lay it to your own account (since it was you who called for the communication) if it should seem to you not even worthy of a letter.

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21. — TO CANINIUS.

I am one of those who admire the ancients, yet I do not, like some, disparage the intellects of our own time. For it is not true that nature, as though wearied and effete, no longer produces anything worthy of admiration. And indeed I lately heard Vergilius Rufus reading to a small company a comedy written after the model of the old comedy, and so well written that it may itself serve as a model some day. I do not know whether you are acquainted with the author, though you ought to be; for he is a man of mark owing to his high character, his refined genius, and his versatility as a writer. He has written “Mimiambi” with much delicacy, melody and grace, indeed masterpieces of their kind (for there is no kind of composition which, if carried to perfection, may not be styled a masterpiece); he has written comedies in imitation of Menander and other authors of the same age. You might rank them among the works of Plautus and Terence. Now, for the first time, though not with the air of a beginner, he exhibits himself in the old comedy. Vigour, grandeur, subtlety, pungency, sweetness, humour, none of these are wanting to him; he exalts virtue and lashes vice, employing fictitious names with good taste, and real ones with appropriateness. In my case only he has transgressed the bounds, through excess of complaisance, except for this indeed that poets are licensed to fib. To sum up, I shall squeeze the book out of him and send it to you to read, or rather to be learnt by heart, for I am sure you will not lay it down, if you once take it up.

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22. — TO TIRO.

An affair has taken place, which is of importance to all those who are destined to govern provinces, and of importance too to those who trust implicitly in their friends. Lustricius Bruttianus, having discovered Montanius Atticinus, one of his suite, in many delinquencies, reported him to Cæsar. Atticinus added to his former delinquencies by accusing the man whom he had deceived. An investigation was allowed, and I was among the assessors. Each party pleaded his own case; in a summary way, however, and touching only on the heads, a method by which the truth is at once brought to light. Bruttianus produced his will, which he declared to have been written by the hand of Atticinus; this showed the closeness of their intercourse and the necessity which had driven him to complain of one whom he had loved so dearly. He enumerated certain disgraceful and palpable offences; which charges Atticinus, being unable to impair, retorted in such a way as to prove himself a mean knave by his defence and a scoundrel by his accusations. For by bribing one of the secretaries’ slaves, he had intercepted the Governor’s official minutes and mutilated them, and now with consummate rascality was trying to turn his own crime to account against his friend. Cæsar acted nobly. He called for our verdicts, not on Bruttianus but forthwith on Atticinus. The latter was convicted and banished to an island. Bruttianus received a perfectly merited acknowledgment of his integrity, and, in addition to this, obtained the credit due to his energy; for, after making short work of his own defence, he conducted his accusation with vigour, and showed that he was as spirited as he was good and honest.

This I have written to you by way of warning you beforehand, now that you have had a province allotted to you, to trust to yourself for the most part, and not put entire confidence in any one else. Next, you will learn, that should any one chance to deceive you (which may the gods avert!) satisfaction is provided you. Yet, again and again be careful that there may be no need of this; for it is not so agreeable to be vindicated as it is miserable to be imposed upon.

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23. — TO TRIARIUS.

You beg me urgently to undertake a case in which you are interested, and which, independently of this, is an important one, exciting public attention. I will do so, but not gratuitously. “Can it be,” say you, “that you won’t act gratuitously?” Yes, it can be; for I shall exact a fee more creditable to me than if I held a brief for you gratis. I ask, and indeed stipulate, that Cremutius Ruso shall be with me in the case. This is a practice of mine, and one which I have frequently followed before now in the case of several young men of distinction. For I am excessively anxious to exhibit young men of promise to the Courts, and to introduce them to fame. This service I ought to render to Ruso, if to any one, whether on account of the nobility of his own birth, or else of the extraordinary regard he has for me; and I think it of great consequence that he should be seen and heard in the same cases, and moreover on the same side, as myself. Oblige me then, oblige me, before he speaks; for when he has once spoken, you will express your obligations. I guarantee that he will satisfy your anxieties and my hopes and the importance of the case. He has excellent qualities and will soon be bringing out other people, if meanwhile he be brought out by us. For indeed no man is gifted with a genius so immediately conspicuous as to be able to rise from obscurity, unless the materials, the opportunity — ay, and a patron too and one to recommend him — fall to his lot.

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24. — TO MACER.

What a mighty difference it makes, by whom a thing is done! For deeds of the same character are either exalted to the highest pitch or sunk in the depths of oblivion according to the fame or the obscurity of the actors. I was sailing on our lake Larius, when an elderly friend pointed out to me a villa and moreover a saloon projecting over the lake. “From that spot,” said he, “a townswoman of ours, once upon a time, precipitated herself in company with her husband.” I inquired the reason. The husband had for a long time been an invalid, suffering from putrid ulcers in the groin. His wife insisted on seeing them; no one (she said) could inform him more faithfully than she whether he was capable of being cured. She saw them and despaired. Next she advised him to die, and became herself his companion in death, nay rather his example and leader, the compelling cause of his death; for she tied her husband to her, and jumped into the lake. This exploit was never heard of till recently, even by me her townsman; not because it was smaller than Arria’s celebrated exploit, but because the agent was a smaller person.

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25. — TO HISPANUS.

You write word that Robustus, a distinguished Roman knight, got as far as Ocriculum — to which point their road lay in common — with Atilius Scaurus, a friend of mine, and that nothing further was heard of him. You wish for Scaurus to come and, if it be in his power, to put us on some track for inquiry. He shall come; I fear to no purpose. Indeed I suspect that something or other has befallen Robustus, similar to what once befell Metilius Crispus, a townsman of mine. I had obtained for him his Company, and had further presented him at his departure with forty thousand sesterces for his outfit and equipment; I never, after this, got any letters from him or any news with regard to his end. Whether he was cut off by his slaves, or in company with his slaves, is a matter of doubt; certainly neither he nor any of his slaves subsequently appeared, as indeed none of Robustus’s have. We must use our efforts, however; we must send for Scaurus; we must accord this to your prayers and to those, so highly to be commended, of that excellent youth who is making inquiry for his father with such marvellous affection and marvellous sagacity as well. May the gods be favourable, so that he may discover the object of his search, in the same way as he already discovered the person in whose company he had been.

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26. — TO SERVIANUS.

I am delighted, and congratulate you, that you have betrothed your daughter to Fuscus Salinator. His family is patrician, his father a man of the highest character, and his mother of like repute. He himself is of a studious and literary turn, indeed learned, a boy in candour, a young man in geniality, an elder in seriousness. Nor does my love for him deceive me. I do love him, to be sure, with effusion (his attentions and his respect for me have deserved this), yet I exercise my judgment, and indeed the more stringently the more I love him; and I guarantee to you, as one who have closely investigated him, that you will have a son-in-law than whom your wishes could not have formed a better. All that remains is that he should, as soon as possible, make you the grandfather of young ones like himself. How happy the time, when it will be my good fortune to receive from your arms his children and your grandchildren — just as if they were my own children or grandchildren — and to hold them in mine, as though I had an equal right to them!

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27. — TO SEVERUS.

You ask me to consider what you as Consul Elect should say, when called upon in the Senate, in honour of the Emperor. It is easy to find what to say, but by no means easy to make a selection; so abundant is the material furnished by his virtues. However, I will write or — which I should prefer — will intimate to you my ideas by word of mouth, on condition of first exhibiting to you the causes of my hesitation. I am in doubt whether to advise you to do the same as I did. When Consul Elect, I abstained from all those usual topics which, though not flattery, would have borne the appearance of flattery; not by way of showing my independence and fearlessness, but as understanding our Sovereign, whose greatest commendation I saw to be this, that nothing should be proposed by me in his honour, as though on compulsion. I remembered too that the most numerous honours had been conferred on the worst princes; from whom our present excellent Sovereign could not be distinguished in any better way than by a different mode of speaking of him. This particular point I did not disguise or pass in silence; lest my treatment should haply seem due to forgetfulness instead of being the result of judgment. Such was my conduct on that occasion; but the same course does not find favour with, is not indeed suitable to, all persons. Moreover, the grounds for doing or not doing anything are altered according to the circumstances of the parties themselves, and the matters in hand, and the occasion. For the recent achievements of our illustrious Prince furnish an opportunity of saying in the Senate much that is new and important as well as true. For which reasons, as I before said, I doubt whether to advise you to act now as I did then. This, however, I have no doubt about, that it was my duty to offer for your consideration the course pursued by myself.

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28. — TO PONTIUS.

I know the cause which prevented your arriving in Campania before me. But, albeit absent, you seem to have migrated here with all your possessions, such a plenty of town and country produce has been offered me in your name, all of which, though with great coolness, I have nevertheless accepted. For not only did your servants beg me to do so, but I feared you would be angry with me and with them if I had not done so. For the future, if you don’t put a limit to this, I shall. And already I have announced to your servants that, on their bringing so many things another time, they would have to take them all back again. You will say it behoves me to use what is yours as though it were my own. Certainly; but I am for being just as careful of it as though it were my own.

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29. — TO QUADRATUS.

Avidius Quietus, who regarded me with particular affection and (I am no less glad to say) approval, used to relate many things of Thrasea, whose friend he had been, and among them frequently this. He was in the habit of laying it down that the causes to be undertaken were these: those of friends, those which could find no advocate, and those which pertained to example. The case of friends needs no explanation. Why such as could find no advocate? Because in these the fearlessness as well as the kindliness of him who pleads them would be most strongly shown. Why those pertaining to example? Because it would make a great difference whether a good or a bad one were exhibited. To these categories of causes, though perhaps rather presumptuously, I must yet add such as are distinguished and conspicuous. For it is fair at times to plead the cause of glory and fame — in other words, one’s own cause.

These are the limits which, since you have consulted me, I would impose on your sense of dignity and self-respect. Nor do I forget that practice is both held to be and is the best teacher of the art of speaking; indeed, I see many who, with small parts and no literature, have by dint of pleading attained to pleading well. Yet I also find that saying to be most true which has come to me as Pollio’s, or under the name of Pollio: “Pleading well has been the cause of my pleading often, and pleading often the cause of my pleading less well;” because, in fact, by too constant practice facility rather than a real faculty is acquired, and rashness rather than self-reliance. Nor, indeed, was Isocrates prevented from being held a consummate orator by the fact that the weakness of his voice and his shyness impeded him from speaking in public. Accordingly read, write, and meditate a great deal, that you may be able to speak when you choose: you will speak when you ought so to choose. This is the mean which I myself have commonly preserved. Not unfrequently I have yielded to necessity, which ranks as a reason. For I have pleaded certain causes by order of the Senate, in the number of which, however, were some which come under the above classification of Thrasea, that is to say, were such as to pertain to example. I appeared for the Bætici against Bæbius Massa. The question was whether an investigation should be granted. It was granted. I appeared again on behalf of the same parties when they made plaint against Cæcilius Classicus. The question was as to the propriety of punishing provincials as the associates and subordinate agents of a governor. They suffered punishment. I prosecuted Marius Priscus, who was condemned in virtue of the law on extortion, and who profited by the clemency of that law, for by the enormity of his crimes he had outstripped its heaviest penalties. He was banished. I defended Julius Bassus, who, though too unguarded and incautious, was by no means criminal. Judges were assigned him, and he kept his place in the Senate. I spoke lately on behalf of Varenus, who demanded the right, equally with the other side, to compel the attendance of witnesses. He obtained it. For the future I pray that I may be ordered to plead those causes in particular which it would become me to undertake even of my own free will.

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30. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

We are bound, by Hercules, to celebrate your birthdays in the same manner as our own, since the joy of ours depends on yours, and through your diligence and care we are happy here, and at our ease when with you. The Camillian villa, which you possess in Campania, has certainly suffered from age: everything of value about it, however, either remains intact, or is very slightly injured. I will see then to restorations being made on the most reasonable terms. I seem to have many friends, but of that particular class whom you are in search of and the business demands, scarcely one; for they are all men of the town, engaged in town pursuits: whereas for the management of country properties a rough-and-ready rustic sort of person is required, to whom this particular employment will not seem burdensome, nor the occupation one of petty interests, nor the solitude melancholy. You have a very favourable opinion of Rufus, as having been your son’s friend. What, however, he may be able to do for us there, I am not in a position to say. That he has the best intentions, I believe.

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31. — TO CORNELIANUS.

Summoned by our emperor to act as his assessor at Centum Cellae (that was the name of the place), I experienced the greatest pleasure. What indeed can be more delightful than to enjoy a near view of the prince’s equity, wisdom, and affability, and that too in his retirement, where these qualities best disclose themselves? The subjects of investigation were of various kinds, and such as to test the merits of the judge by the diversity of their character.

Claudius Ariston pleaded his cause, a leading citizen of Ephesus, a munificent man, seeking popularity by innocent means; hence arose envy, and an informer was suborned against him by persons whose character was the opposite of his own. Accordingly he was acquitted, and received satisfaction.

Next day the case of Gallita was heard, who was charged with adultery. This lady, the wife of a military tribune and candidate for office, had stained her own and her husband’s reputation by an amour with a centurion. The husband had written to the consular legate, and he to Cæsar. Cæsar, after sifting the evidence, cashiered the centurion, and banished him into the bargain. There still remained a balance of punishment due to an offence which can only be committed by two persons. But the husband was kept back (not without incurring some censure for his forbearance) by his love for his wife, whom he had indeed kept in his house, even after information had been laid of the adultery, as though satisfied with having removed his rival. Admonished that he must go through with his charge, he did so very unwillingly. However, her condemnation was unavoidable, unwilling as the prosecutor might be. She was convicted, and left to the penalties of the Lex Julia. Cæsar added to his judgment both the name of the centurion and a reference to military practice, that he might not seem to reserve for his own cognisance all cases of this kind.

On the third day an investigation was entered upon, which had been the subject of a great deal of talk and a variety of reports. It related to some codicils of Julius Tiro, part of which were admitted to be genuine, while part were said to be forged. The persons indicted were Sempronius Senecio, a Roman knight, and Eurythmus, Cæsar’s freedman and procurator. The heirs, while Cæsar was in Dacia, had requested him in a joint letter to undertake the investigation. He had consented, and on his return had appointed a day; and when some of the heirs, as if out of regard for Eurythmus, were for abandoning the prosecution, he had said most nobly, “Neither is he Polyclitus, nor am! Nero.” However, he indulged them, at their request, with a delay, the period of which having expired, he now took his seat to hear the case. On the part of the heirs, two in all put in an appearance: they prayed either that the whole of the heirs should be compelled to act, since all had united in lodging the information, or that it might be permitted to them, as well as to the others, to withdraw from the suit. Cæsar expressed himself with great wisdom and at the same time with great moderation; and when the advocate of Senecio and Eurythmus said that the accused would be left exposed to suspicion unless they were heard, “I care not,” said he, ‘whether they are left exposed to suspicions: but I am.” Then, turning to us, “You understand how we ought to act; these people want to make it a ground of complaint that they have been allowed to withdraw from the prosecution.” Then, pursuant to the decision of the Council, he ordered it to be announced to all the heirs that they must either proceed, or else individually make good their reasons for not proceeding, otherwise he should go the length of pronouncing a judgment of false accusation.

You see how well, how seriously, employed were our days; and these were followed by the most agreeable relaxations. We were invited each day to dinner, a modest one considering that it was given by a prince. Sometimes we listened to the performances of artists, at others the evening was spent in the most delightful converse. On the last day, as we were taking our departure (so attentive is Cæsar in his kindness), presents were sent us.

To me, however, not only the important character of our inquiries, the distinction attaching to the Council, and the charm and simplicity with which we were entertained, but also the locality itself, was particularly delightful. The loveliest of villas is surrounded by the most verdant fields: it borders on the shore, in the bight of which a harbour is at this moment being made. The left-hand mole of this is protected by the strongest works; that on the right hand is under construction. In the mouth of the harbour an island is rising, to confront and break the force of the sea carried in by the winds, and to afford an entrance to ships on either side. Its rise, moreover, is worth seeing, from the ingenuity displayed. Huge stones are brought in by ships of the largest burden; these being thrown into the sea, one upon another, remain fixed by their own weight, and are gradually constructed into a kind of rampart. Its stony ridge already appears above the surface, scattering and throwing to a great height the waves which break on it. There is a mighty din there, and the surrounding sea is white with foam. Moles of cement I will be added to the stones, which, as time goes on, will produce an imitation of a natural island. This harbour will bear, indeed already bears, the name of its author, and will be in the highest degree serviceable; for the coast for a very long distance is without any harbour, and will now have the advantage of this place of refuge.

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32. — TO QUINTILIAN.

Though you are personally the most modest of men in your desires, and though you have brought up your daughter as it was proper that your daughter and the grandchild of Tutilius should be brought up, nevertheless, as she is about to be married to a most honourable gentleman, Nonius Celer, who by reason of his public employments has a certain necessity imposed on him of making an appearance, she should be provided with a wardrobe and an establishment suitable to her husband’s station; matters which, though they will not add to her position, will be adornments and proper accompaniments to it. Furthermore, I know that while you are rich in mental endowments, your fortune is but small. According I lay claim to a share of your burden, and in the character of a second father to our dear girl, contribute towards her portion fifty thousand sesterces. I would contribute a larger sum, were it not that it is by the smallness of my present alone that I have the assurance of being able to prevail on your modesty not to refuse it.

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33. — TO ROMANUS.

“‘Throw, throw your tasks aside,’ great Vulcan cried;

‘Off with your works begun.’”

Whether you he reading or writing anything, “throw it aside,”

“off with it,” be the order, and take in hand my speech, divine as were those arms of Vulcan — would it be possible to speak more boastfully? — well, in sober truth, an excellent one for a production of mine, and it is enough for me to compete with myself. This speech is on behalf of Attia Viriola, and is rendered remarkable by the station of the individual, the singularity of the case, and the importance of the decision. For, this lady, of lofty birth, married to a man of Prætorian rank, and disinherited by her octogenarian father within eleven days of the time when, smitten with love, he had brought home a stepmother for her, sought to recover her paternal property by a process instituted before the four courts. One hundred and eighty judges sat (for so many are brought together in the four chambers); there was a vast crowd of assistants on either side, and the benches were thronged; moreover a dense circle of spectators, consisting of many rows, encircled the spacious court. Add to this that the tribune was packed, and even in the galleries of the building women as well as men were hanging over in their eagerness to hear, which was difficult, and to see, which was easy. Great was the expectation of fathers and daughters and even of stepmothers. The results which followed were various: for in two chambers we gained the verdict, in the same number we lost it. Truly a notable and marvellous thing that in the same cause, before the same judges, with the same advocates and on the same occasion, so great a diversity should occur by chance, yet so as not to look like chance. The stepmother was beaten, who had herself been made heir to a sixth part of the fortune, and Suberinus  was beaten, who, after being disinherited by his own father, had with singular impudence claimed the property of another person’s father, though he did not dare to sue for that of his own parent.

I have given you these details, first that you might learn from my letter what you could not have learnt from the speech, and secondly (for I will discover my arts) that you might have the greater pleasure in reading the speech, ]if you seemed to yourself not so much to be reading, as to be present at the trial. And though it be lengthy, I do not despair of its obtaining the same favour as a very short one. For its freshness is preserved by the abundance of the subject-matter, the niceness of the distinctions, by many short narratives and by the variety of the diction. There are many passages in it (I should not dare say this save to you) of an elevated kind, many of an argumentative, and many too of a subtle character. For in the midst of the former powerful and lofty passages, the necessity often interposed itself of dealing with matters of account, and almost of calling for table and counters, so that a Centumviral trial became all of a sudden changed into the form of a private inquiry. I gave full sails to my indignation, to my wrath, to my grief, and in so mighty a cause, as though on a great sea, was carried by many winds. In short, some of our friends generally consider this speech as being the “Pro Ctesiphonte” of my speeches; whether truly, you will most easily judge, who have them all so well in your memory as to be able to compare them with this, while reading this alone.

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34. — TO MAXIMUS.

You have acted rightly in promising a gladiatorial show to our friends at Verona, who have long loved and respected and honoured you. And it was thence you obtained that wife who was so dear to you and so deservedly appreciated; to whose memory either a construction of some kind was due, or else a spectacle, and such a one as this in preference to any other, as being most suited to a death-celebration. Besides, you were entreated with so much unanimity that to refuse would have seemed not so much resolution as obstinacy. In this also you have acted admirably, in being so ready and liberal in furnishing the show; for these are points too in which large-mindness is shown. I could have wished that the panthers, of which you bought such numbers, had come to hand on the day appointed, but though they failed, from being detained by stress of weather, you at any rate deserved to get the credit of what it was no fault of yours that you did not exhibit.

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BOOK VII.

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1. — TO GEMINUS.

THE obstinacy of this illness of yours alarms me, and, though knowing how great is your self-control, I fear it may even affect your temper. Accordingly, I urge you to bear up against it with patience. This is the laudable, the wholesome course, and what I advise is within the power of human nature. For my part, at any rate, when in health, I am in the habit of dealing with my people after this fashion: “It is assuredly my hope that, in case of falling sick, I shall desire nothing to be ashamed of or repented of; yet, should the disease get the better of me, I warn you to give me nothing, except by permission of the doctors; and know that if you do give me anything, I shall punish the act in the same way as others punish a refusal to comply with their wishes.” Moreover, on the occasion of my being burnt up by a raging fever, when, freed at last from the crisis and anointed, I received a drink from the doctor, I held out my pulse and bid him feel it, and thereupon gave back the cup which I had already raised to my lips. Afterwards, on the twentieth day of my illness, when I was being prepared for the bath, and noticed that the doctors were all of a sudden speaking together in an undertone, I inquired the reason. They replied that I might possibly bathe with safety, yet not altogether without some apprehension. “Where,” said I, “is the necessity?” and so placidly and calmly laying aside all hope of the bath, which I had seemed on the point of being conveyed to, I composed my mind and my looks for the privation no less readily than just before for the bath.

All this I have written to you, firstly, that my warning might not he unaccompanied by an example, and next, that for the future I myself might he bound to the same course of self-control, through having engaged myself to it by this letter as by a kind of pledge.

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2. — TO JUSTUS.

How can it be consistent that in one and the same breath you declare you are engrossed by incessant occupations and yet are longing for my productions, which even from idle folks can scarce obtain a moment of their useless time? I will therefore permit your summer to go by, with its cares and its agitations, and not till winter (when it is presumable that in the evenings at any rate you will possibly have some leisure) will I consider which of my trifles had test be sent you. Meanwhile, it is enough if my letters do not prove a nuisance to you — but they must be, so they shall be cut shorter. Adieu.

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3. — TO PRÆSENS.

Still the same persistency on your part in remaining at one time in Lucania, at another in Campania! “Why,” say you, “I myself am a Lucanian and my wife is a Campanian.” Good grounds these for a more protracted absence from town; but not, however, for an uninterrupted one. Why not return then at some time to Rome, where consideration and honour and friendships, distinguished as well as humble, await you. How long will you continue to play the king, waking when you choose and sleeping as long as you choose? How long are your dress-shoes to be nowhere, your toga to have a holiday, your whole day to be free? It is time that you should revisit our worries, if with this object only, that those pleasures of yours may not languish through satiety. Pay your court to others for a brief while, that it may be the more agreeable to you to be courted in turn. Jostle in this crowd of ours, in order to enjoy solitude. But why foolishly retard him whom I am striving to recall? For, perhaps, you will be urged by this very language of mine more and more to wrap yourself up in your ease, which I don’t want to see broken up, but merely intermitted. For, just as if I were giving you a dinner I should intermingle with sweet dishes some that were sharp-flavoured and piquant, that your taste, deadened and cloyed by the former, might receive a fresh stimulus from the latter, so now I exhort you to season your most delectable mode of life now and then with, so to speak, a trifling admixture of acids.

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4. — TO PONTIUS.

You say you have read my hendecasyllables; you would even seek to know how it was that I began to write them, who am, in your estimation, a serious personage, and, as I myself admit, no trifler. I was at no time (to go back a long way) averse from the poetic art; nay more, when fourteen years of age, I wrote a Greek tragedy. “What sort of one?” you ask. I can’t say; it was called a tragedy. Afterwards, when, on my return from military service, I was detained by adverse winds in the island of Icaria, I wrote some Latin elegiacs on the sea there and the island itself. At times I have tried my hand at heroic metre; now for the first time at hendecasyllables, which were originated and first saw the light in this wise. The chapters of Asinius Gallus on the comparison between his father and Cicero were being read to me at my house at Laurentum, when an epigram of Cicero on his favourite Tiro occurred. Afterwards, on retiring for a midday siesta (for it was summer time) when sleep failed to steal over me, I began to ponder how the greatest orators not only esteemed this kind of literary effort as a recreation, but also took credit for it. I applied my mind, and, contrary to my expectation, after such long disuse, in a remarkably short space of time scribbled the following verses on the very subject which had induced me to write: —

“When Gallus I read, who pretends that his sire

Had far more than Tully poetical fire:

The wisest of men, I perceived, held it fit

To temper his wisdom with love and with wit;

For Tully, grave Tully, in amorous strains

Of the frauds of his paramour Tiro complains;

That, faithless to love and to pleasure untrue,

From his promised embrace the arch wanton withdrew;

Then I said to my heart, ‘Why should’st thou conceal

The sweetest of passions, the love which you feel?

Yes, fly, wanton Muse, and proclaim it around,

Thy Pliny has loved and his Tiro has found.’

The coy one so artful, who sweetly denies,

And from the sweet flame, but to heighten it, flies.”

I passed on to elegiacs; these, too, I delivered myself of with no less celerity, and, corrupted by this facility, I added some iambics. Then, on my return to town, I read them to my friends. They approved them. Afterwards I attempted a variety of metres in my leisure moments, and principally when travelling. At last I determined, in accordance with the example set by many, to complete one separate volume of hendecasyllables, nor do I repent having done so. It is read, transcribed, indeed sung, and accompanied — by the Greeks, too, whom their relish for this little book has taught Latin — sometimes on the guitar, at other times on the lyre. But why talk so big? However, poets are privileged to rave. And yet I do not speak from my own but from others’ judgments, who, whether they judge rightly or wrongly, at any rate delight me. I only pray that posterity likewise may judge, whether rightly or wrongly, in the same way.

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5. — TO CALPURNIA, HIS WIFE.

It is incredible what a yearning for you possesses me. The reason of this is first of all my love for you, and next that we have not been accustomed to be separated. Hence it is that I spend a great part of my nights wakeful over your image; hence in the day, at the times when I was in the habit of looking in on you, my feet of their own accord take me — as the phrase runs most truly — to your apartment; hence in the end, sick at heart and sad, as one who has been denied admittance, I retire from the deserted threshold. One time alone is free from these torments, that in which I am worn out in the Forum by the law-suits of my friends. It is for you to judge what my life must be when it finds its repose in labour, its solace in miseries and cares!

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6. — TO MACRINUS.

A strange and remarkable circumstance has happened to Varenus, though it be still of an uncertain character. The Bithynians are reported to have given up his prosecution on the ground of its having been undertaken without consideration. Reported, do I say? The agent of the province is here, and has brought a decree of its council to Cæsar, to many of our leading men, and to us, the advocates of Varenus, into the bargain. Still, that same Magnus holds out; more than this, he worries with the utmost pertinacity the worthy Nigrinus, through whom he made application to the consuls that Varenus should be ordered to produce his accounts. I assisted Varenus, but now only as a friend, having made up my mind to hold my tongue. For nothing could be more disadvantageous than that I, appointed his advocate by the Senate, should defend, as though lying under an accusation, a person to whom it imported that he should appear not to be accused at all. However, when at the close of Nigrinus’s application the consuls turned their eyes towards me, “You will know,” said I, “that I have good reason for my silence when you have heard the real agents of the province.” In answer to this, “To whom have they been sent?” asked Nigrinus. Said I, “To me, as well as to others. I am in possession of the decree of the province.” To which he returned, “You may feel satisfied.” I replied, “If you are satisfied the other way, it is possible that I, too, may be satisfied, and with better reason.” Upon this the provincial agent, Polyænus, set forth the grounds for annulling the prosecution, and demanded that there should be no prejudgment of the matter in view of Cæsar’s cognisance of it. Magnus spoke in reply, and Polyænus a second time. For my part, merely interspersing an occasional and brief remark, I observed in general a profound silence. For I have learnt that there are times when it is no less the part of an orator to hold his tongue than to speak. And I can even remember that in the case of certain persons capitally accused, I have served them still better by my silence than by the most elaborate oratory.

A mother who had lost her son (for what prohibits me, though my reason for writing this letter was a different one, from discussions of a professional kind?) accused to the prince his freedmen, who were also co-heirs with her, of forgery and poisoning, and obtained Julius Servianus for judge. I defended the accused, and that too in a very crowded court; for the case attracted great notice, and, besides, the most celebrated talent was employed on either side. The trial ended by the slaves being put to the question, and the result was in favour of the accused. Subsequently the mother applied to the prince, declaring that she had discovered fresh evidence. Suburanus was directed to hear the case thus decided, reargued, in the event of her producing any new matter. The mother’s counsel was Julius Africanus, a grandson of that orator after hearing whom Passienus Crispus exclaimed, “Finely spoken, by Hercules, finely spoken! But to what end all this fine speaking?” This orator’s grandson, a young man of talent, but not much judgment, after he had talked at great length and filled up the time allotted him, “I beg,” said he, “Suburanus, that you would permit me to add just one word.” Then I, when all were looking to me with the expectation of hearing a long reply, spoke thus, “I should have replied, if Africanus had added just that ‘one word,’ which, I doubt not, would have contained all his new matter.” I cannot readily call to mind having ever obtained so much approval by speaking, as I did then by not speaking. Similarly on the present occasion I was lauded and welcomed for having so far held my tongue on behalf of Varenus. The consuls, in accordance with the application of Polyænus, have kept the whole matter open for the prince, whose decision I await in suspense. For, the day when it is given will either put us at rest and at ease for Varenus, or will force us to resume our interrupted labours with renewed anxiety.

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7. — TO SATURNINUS.

I thanked our friend Priscus lately, and have done so again — since you so bade me — with the greatest pleasure. It is indeed particularly delightful to me that two such excellent men and dear friends of mine should be so knit together as to think yourselves under a reciprocal obligation. For he, too, professes to derive the highest gratification from your intimacy, and engages with you in a truly noble contest of mutual affection, which time itself will increase. I am sorry to hear that you are engrossed by business, for this reason, that you are unable to devote yourself to literature. However, when you have concluded one case before a judge, and (as you tell me) settled the other in person, you will begin, first, to enjoy your leisure where you are, and then, when you have had enough of it, to think of returning to us.

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8. — TO PRISCUS.

I cannot express my delight at our friend Saturninus speaking to me of his deep thankfulness to you in letter after letter. Go on as you have begun, and cherish with all possible affection this excellent man, from whose friendship you will derive great satisfaction, and for no short time either; for abounding as he is in all good qualities, he is principally distinguished for the remarkable constancy of his affections.

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9. — TO FUSCUS.

You ask me after what manner I think you ought to pursue your studies in the retirement which you have now for some time enjoyed. It will be particularly profitable — and so it is laid down by many — to translate either from Greek into Latin, or from Latin into “Greek.  This is a kind of exercise which will furnish you with propriety and brilliancy of expression, a great supply of ornamental turns, force in exposition, and, moreover, by imitation of the best models, a faculty of inventing what will resemble them. At the same time, what might have eluded the notice of a reader cannot escape a translator. By this means taste and judgment are acquired. It will do you no harm if — taking what you have read with sufficient attention to recollect the matter and the argument — you write down the substance in a spirit of rivalry, and then compare it with what you have read, carefully considering what you and what your author have put in a preferable way. Great will be your joy if you have bettered him in some places; great your shame if he has bettered you in everything. It will sometimes be permissible to select the best known parts, and to compete with the choicest passages. This contest, though a daring one, will not be impertinent, because it is carried on in private. Though, for the matter of that, we see many who have undertaken this kind of competition with great credit, and who, by reason of not despairing, have outstripped those whom they thought it sufficient to follow in the wake of. You may also take in hand again what you have written, after you have forgotten it, and then retain much of it, throw out more, insert some things, and rewrite others. This is an irksome and extremely tedious task, but which the difficulty itself renders profitable — to warm to one’s work afresh, and resume one’s swing after it has been enfeebled and has ceased, and, finally, to insert fresh members, so to speak, in a completed framework, yet so as not to disturb what was there before.

I know that just now you have a particular affection for oratory, but I would not on that account advise you always to adopt that contentious, and, if I may so term it, warlike style. For as soils are refreshed by varying and changing the seeds, so are our minds by exercising the thoughts now in one direction, now in another. I should wish you occasionally to take up some historical topic. I should also wish you to write a letter with especial pains. For oftentimes, even in an oration, a necessity occurs, not only for historical, but almost for poetical treatment, and a concise and pure style is acquired by letter-writing. Even poetry is a fitting relaxation. I don’t say long and sustained poems (for such as these can only be elaborated with full leisure), but of that lively and short kind which form a suitable interruption to occupations and business, however important. We call them poetic sports. But these sports sometimes attain to no less fame than serious effusions. Nay, more (for why should I not exhort you to verse-making by verse?): —

As yielding wax the artist’s skill commands,

Submissive shaped beneath his forming hands;

Now dreadful stands in arms a Mars confessed,

Or now with Venus’ softer air impressed;

Now by the mould a wanton Cupid lies, —

Now shines, severely chaste, a Pallas wise;

As not alone to quench the sacred flame

The sacred fountain pours her friendly stream,

But sweetly gliding through the flowery green,

Spreads glad refreshment o’er the smiling scene;

So, formed by science, should the ductile mind

Receive, distinct, each various art refined.

And so the greatest orators, who were at the same time the greatest of men, either exercised or delighted themselves, nay, rather both exercised and delighted themselves. For it is marvellous how, by means of these small compositions, the mind is at once exerted and refreshed. There is room in them for love, hatred, wrath, pity, humour, everything, in short, which has a place in daily life, as well as in the Forum and its trials. There is in these, too, the same advantage as in other kinds of poetry, that, after acquitting ourselves of the necessities imposed by metre, we learn to rejoice in the freedom of prose, and that which comparison shows to be the easier for us we write with all the more pleasure.

You have now got, perhaps, even more than you required. One thing, however, has been omitted, for I have not said what I thought you ought to read, and yet I did say it when telling you what ought to be written. Do you mind and make a careful selection of authors, each of his own kind. For they say that one ought to read much, not many things. Who these authors are is so well-known and established that there is no necessity for pointing them out; and, independently of this, I have so immoderately extended this letter, that, while advising you on the way in which you ought to conduct your studies, I have been robbing you of time for study. Resume, then, your note-books, and either write something in accordance with these suggestions, or go on with the particular work you had begun.

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10. — TO MACRINUS.

As I myself, when I have learnt the beginning of a story, long to tack to it the ending, which has in a manner been forcibly separated from it, so I suppose that you too would like to learn the remainder about Varenus and the Bithynians. The cause was pleaded by Polyænus on one side, and Magnus on the other. At the conclusion of their speeches, “Neither party,” said Cæsar, “shall have to complain of delay; it shall be my care to ascertain the wishes of the province.” Meanwhile Varenus has obtained a good deal. For, indeed, how doubtful it must be whether a man is rightly accused, when it is uncertain whether he be accused at all? All that remains is that the province should not once more approve of what it is said to have condemned, and thus repent of its own repentance.

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11. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

You are surprised that Hermes, my freedman, should have sold to Corellia the five-twelfth share which was left me in an estate (without waiting for the auction, though I had ordered the property to be advertised), at the rate of seven hundred thousand sesterces for the whole. You add that the estate could be sold for nine hundred thousand, and hence you are more particular in inquiring whether I am prepared to stand by what he has done. I certainly do stand by it, for reasons you will now learn, for I am anxious that you should approve, and my co-heirs should excuse, my separating myself from them under the compulsion of a still higher obligation. I have a regard and profound respect for Corellia, first of all as being the sister of Corellius Rufus, whose memory is in the highest degree sacred in my eyes, and next as the bosom friend of my mother. Ties of long standing unite me to her husband also, Minicius Justus, a man of the loftiest character, and very strong ones united me to her son, to such an extent indeed that, during my Prætorship, he presided at the shows which I gave. Corellia, when I was lately in those parts, intimated to me her desire to own some property upon our Larian lake. I offered her, out of my estates, anything she liked, at her own price, always excepting what had come to me from my mother and father, for I could not part with these, even to Corellia. So when this inheritance had fallen to me, containing the lands in question, I wrote to her that they would be offered for sale. Hermes was the bearer of my letter, and on her urgently requesting that he would at once dispose of my portion to her, he complied. You see how completely I must stand to that which has been done by my freedman in compliance with my sentiments. It remains that my co-heirs should bear with a good grace my having sold separately what I was entitled not to sell at all. Nor, indeed, are they compelled to imitate my example, for there are not the same ties between them and Corellia. They can, therefore, look to their own interests; mine were replaced by a sense of friendship.

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12. — TO MINICIUS.

The enclosed small production was composed by me at your request for your, nay, rather our friend (for what is there that is not common between us?), to use if occasion requires. I have sent it you later than I otherwise should, in order that you may have no time for correcting it, that is to say, pulling it to pieces. However, you will find time, whether for correcting it I know not, but certainly for pulling it to pieces. For you “gentlemen of correct taste” cut out all the best bits. Well, if you do this, I will take it in good part. For I shall afterwards, on some occasion or other, use these same bits on my own account, and obtain applause for them by favour of your contemptuous rejection of them — as, for instance, that passage which you will find marked, and the sense set out in a different way, in what I have written above it: for suspecting that it would seem to you turgid, inasmuch as it is high-sounding and elevated, I thought it not inopportune (in order to spare you torture) to append to it forthwith something conciser and simpler, or rather commoner and worse, but which, in your judgment, will be more appropriate. Why, in sooth, should I not take every opportunity of pursuing and railing at your flimsy taste?

So much, that amidst your occupations you might for once have something to laugh at. What follows is serious.

Be sure you repay me the expenses which have come out of my pocket for the special messenger sent herewith. But doubtless, after reading this, you will condemn, not parts of the book only, but the whole book, and, when asked for the price of it, will declare that it is worth no price at all!

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13. — TO FEROX.

One and the same letter of yours intimates to me that you are, and that you are not, engaged in literary studies Do I talk enigmas? So it must be till I express my meaning more clearly. For while it denies that you are studying, it is so elegant that it could only have been written by a student; or else you are the most fortunate of men if you can turn out such compositions as these as the fruits of idleness and leisure.

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14. — TO CORELLIA.

You, for your part, have acted most honourably in begging and insisting with so much earnestness that I would order the purchase-money of the estate to be received from you, not at the rate of seven hundred thousand sesterces — that at which you bought it from my freedman — but at the rate of nine hundred thousand, that at which you compounded for the duty of five per cent, with the farmers of the revenue.  In my turn, I beg and insist you will consider, not only what befits you, but what befits me, and will suffer me, in this one particular, to oppose your wishes in the same spirit as on all other occasions I am wont to exhibit in complying with them.

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15. — TO SATURNINUS.

You ask what I am about. What you know. I am greatly tried by my official duties, and at the beck and call of my friends. Occasionally I study, to be able to do which, not occasionally, but exclusively and uninterruptedly, would be, I dare not say a more proper, but certainly a happier thing. That your occupations are everything but what you could wish would be a subject of regret to me and were it not that those occupations are of so noble a  character. For to administer the affairs of one’s country, and to act as arbitrator for one’s friends, this is in the highest degree glorious. I was sure that the society of our friend Priscus would be a pleasure to you. I was  acquainted with his straightforwardness and agreeable manners, and now learn by experience, what I was less  acquainted with, his grateful disposition, since you write to me that he is so agreeably mindful of our services to him.

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16. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

I have an intimate regard for Calestrius Tiro, who is attached to me both by private and public ties. We served in the army together, and we were Cæsar’s Quæstors together. He preceded me in the tribuneship, in virtue of his having children, but I overtook him in the prætorship — Cæsar having remitted me a year. I have often enjoyed the retirement of his country seats, and he has often recovered his health at my house. He is now, in the capacity of Proconsul, about to go to the province of Bætica, by way of Ticinum. I hope, nay, am confident, that I shall easily prevail on him to turn out of his way and visit you, if it be your wish to liberate in regular form the slaves whom you have recently manumitted in the presence of your friends. You need not be at all afraid that this will inconvenience him, since he would not think a journey round the world too long for my sake. Lay aside, then, that excessive diffidence of yours, and consult your own wishes. It is as agreeable to him to do my bidding as it is to me to do yours.

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17. — TO CELER.

Every one has his own reasons for reciting. Mine, as I have already often said, is this, that in case anything escapes my notice (as certainly things do escape), I may be warned of the fact. And this makes me wonder the more at your writing that there have been some who blamed me for reciting my orations at all — unless, indeed they think that these are the only compositions which’ need no correction. Of these people I should be glad to inquire why they admit (if, however, they do admit) that a history ought to be recited, which is composed, not with a view to display, but to fidelity and truth? Or why a tragedy, which requires, not a recitation chamber, but a stage and actors? Or why lyric poetry, which requires, not a reader, but the chorus and the lyre? “Oh, but the recitation of these kind of things is now a received usage.” Pray, then, is the person to be blamed who originated it? Though, by the way, orations too have often been read aloud both by our countrymen and by the Greeks. “At any rate, it is a work of supererogation to recite what you have already spoken.” Granted, if you recite exactly the same thing, to precisely the same people, without a moment’s delay. If, however, you make many additions and many changes, if you invite to hear you some fresh people, together with some of those who have heard you before (after an interval, however), why should your reasons for reading aloud what you have already spoken be less acceptable than for publishing the same? “But it is difficult for an oration to give satisfaction when recited.”

Well, but this is a point which concerns the pains taken by the reciter, not the reasons for not reciting. Nor, indeed, do I seek approval while reciting, but while being read. Consequently, I neglect no means of improvement.

First of all, I go carefully over what I have written by myself; next I read it to two or three people; then I hand it over to others to make their notes on it, and these notes, when in any doubt, I again ponder in company with one or other of them. Last of all, I recite to a larger audience, and, if you will believe me, then it is that I am keenest at correcting; for the ardour of my application is proportioned to my anxiety. Indeed, respect for one’s audience and a sense of diffidence are the best of critics. Take it in this way: are you not less perturbed if you are going to address some one person, who, however great his culture, is still a single individual, than if you are going to address a number of people, even though they be uncultured? Do you not, on rising to plead, mistrust yourself, particularly at that moment; at that moment desire, not merely that many things, but that everything in your speech could be changed? And that still more strongly if the scene be enlarged and the circle of hearers extended? For we look with apprehension even upon the common folk in their dusky attire. Are you not — if you fancy any part of your opening to be unfavourably received — at once discouraged and prostrated? I presume this is because, in numbers themselves, there is a certain weighty and collective judgment; and while each individual has but a small critical faculty, yet, taken altogether, they have a great deal. Hence Pomponius Secundus — he was a writer of tragedies — if there chanced to be any passage which one of his intimate friends thought of a nature to be left out, while he himself thought it should be retained, used to say, “I appeal to the public!” And accordingly, judging from the silence or the approval of the public, he followed either his own or his friend’s opinion. Such importance did he attach to this same public; rightly or wrongly, does not concern me; for it is not my custom to invite the public, but persons I am sure of and have selected, whom I can look at and trust, whom I can scrutinise singly, and stand in awe of collectively. For M. Cicero’s opinion about the pen I hold with regard to fear. Apprehension is the sharpest corrector. The very fact that we reflect we are about to recite acts as a corrector; our entrance into the audience-room, the act of growing pale, our shivering, our looking about us, all these are so many correctors. Consequently, I am not ashamed of my habit, which experience shows me to be a most useful one, and, so far from being deterred by these people’s tittle-tattle, I will go further, and ask you if you can tell me of anything to be added to all this. Nothing, indeed, will satisfy my precautions; for I reflect what an important matter it is to deliver anything into the hands of men; and I cannot persuade myself that it is not proper to revise often, and in the company of many, that which one desires should give pleasure at all times and to all people.

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18. — TO CANINIUS.

You ask my opinion in what way the money which you have offered to our townsfolk for an annual feast may be secured after your decease. While the inquiry does you honour, the decision is not an easy one. Suppose you pay the amount to the municipality? It is to be feared that it may be squandered. Suppose you give land? Being public land, it will be neglected. For my part, I can find nothing better than what I did myself. In lieu of five hundred thousand sesterces, which I had promised for the maintenance of free boys and girls, I made over to the agent of the public property some lands of mine of much greater value; these I had reconveyed to me on condition of paying thirty thousand sesterces annually as a rent-charge. In this way the capital of the municipality was made safe and the income was assured; the land itself, in consequence of there being a large margin over the rent-charge, will always find an owner to cultivate it. I am aware that this cost me something more than the amount of my nominal donation, as the lien of the rent-charge has diminished the selling price of a very handsome property. But one is bound to prefer public to private interests, those that are enduring to those that are mortal, and to be much more careful in securing one’s benefactions than one’s property.

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19. — TO PRISCUS.

The illness of Fannia torments me. She contracted it while nursing Junia the vestal virgin, originally of her own accord (indeed they are related), and subsequently being further commissioned to do so by the Pontifices; for the virgins, when compelled by violent disease to remove from the court of Vesta’s temple, are handed over to the care and custody of married ladies. While Fannia was carefully discharging the office in question, she became involved in this peril. The attacks of fever stick to her, her cough grows upon her, she is in the highest degree emaciated and enfeebled. Only her great soul and spirit — in every way worthy of her husband Helvidius and her father Thrasea — retain their vigour; all else is breaking up in such a way as to prostrate me not merely with apprehension, but with grief as well. Indeed, I do grieve that such an illustrious woman should be snatched from the gaze of the country, which may perhaps never look upon her like again. Oh, what purity was hers! what holiness of life! what nobility of character! what intrepidity of soul! Twice she followed her husband into exile, and a third time was herself banished on her husband’s account; for when Senecio was accused of having written certain publications on the life of Helvidius, and had said, in the course of his defence, that he had been requested to do so by Fannia, upon Mettius Cams asking her, in a menacing tone, “whether she had so requested him,” she replied, “I did make the request.”

“Had she furnished him with memoranda for the composition?”

“I did furnish him.”

“Was this with the knowledge of her mother?”

“Without her knowledge.” In short, not a word did she utter that quailed before the peril. Moreover, she preserved copies of these very publications after the confiscation of her property (though through the exigencies and the terror of that epoch they had been suppressed by a decree of the Senate), kept them, and carried into her exile the cause of her exile.

At the same time she is so pleasant, she is so friendly, and, in short — the privilege of but few — as lovable as she is venerable. Will there be any woman left whom we may hereafter point out to our wives? Will there be any one from whom we may take an example even of manly fortitude? whom, while we still see her and hear her, we may admire as we do the women one reads about? For my part, it seems to me as though her very house were tottering and about to fall torn from its foundations — and this though she still has descendants. For how great must be their virtues and how great their deeds in order to make it clear that she has not perished the last of her race! And there is this additional cause of affliction and torment for me, that I seem to be losing her mother over again — that mother of such a woman; what more illustrious name can I give her? — whom Fannia, as she resembles and recalls to us, so she will take away with her, afflicting me at one and the same time with a fresh and a re-opened wound. I frequented them both and cherished them both; which of them in a greater degree I know not, nor did they desire that a difference should be made. They had my services in prosperity and they had them in adversity. I was their consoler when they were banished and their avenger when they returned. Yet I did not fully acquit my debt to them, and for this reason am all the more anxious that Fannia should be spared in order that time may be left me for payment. Such are the cares amidst which I have written to you, and if any god shall turn them to joy, I will not complain of my fright.

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20. — TO TACITUS.

I have read your book, and have noted with all possible care what I thought ought to be altered and what left out. For not only is it my habit to tell the truth, but it is also yours to hear it willingly. Indeed, there are none who submit more patiently to correction than those who are most deserving of praise. And now, I am expecting from you my book with your notes. What a delightful and charming interchange! How it rejoices me that, should posterity take any heed of us at all, it will be universally related in what concord, with what sincerity and fidelity to each other, we lived. It will be a rare and memorable thing for two men pretty nearly equals in points of age and station, and not altogether without a name in literature (I am compelled, you see, to speak in somewhat scant terms of you as well, inasmuch as I am speaking of myself at the same time), each to have furthered the studies of the other. For my part, when I was but a stripling, while you were already flourishing in renown and glory, I yearned to follow after you — both to be accounted and to be “second to you, though great the space between.” Yet there were in existence many men of brilliant genius; nevertheless you seemed to me, owing to the similarity of our dispositions, to be the one most capable of being imitated, and most worthy of imitation. I the more rejoice then that, whenever the conversation turns on intellectual pursuits, we are named together, that to people speaking about you my name at once presents itself. Not but what there are some who are preferred to both of us. But it does not matter to me what place is assigned us, provided we are thus conjoined; for in my estimation to come next to you is to be before all the rest. Moreover, you must have noticed that in wills (unless a testator should happen to be especially intimate with one or the other of us) we receive the same bequests, and in each other’s company. All which goes to this, that our mutual affection should be the more ardent when so many are the bonds which constrain us by our studies, our characters, our reputations, and, finally, by the last dispositions of mankind.

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21. — TO CORNUTUS.

I am all obedience, my dearest colleague, and am attending, as you bid me, to the weakness in my eyes. For I came here in a close carriage, shut in on all sides as in a bedroom, and am abstaining here — with difficulty, but still abstaining — not only from the use of my pen, but even from reading, and study only through my ears. By drawing a curtain, I cause my chamber to be shaded without being darkened. The cloister, too, by covering up the lower part of the windows, enjoys as much shade as sun. In this way I am carefully learning by degrees to bear the light. I take baths because they are of service, and wine because it does me no harm — very sparingly, however; so I have habituated myself, and now there is some one by me to watch me.

The present of a fowl, as coming from you, was most acceptable; and though still weak of sight, I had eyes sharp enough to see that it was an extremely plump one.

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22. — TO FALCO.

You will be less surprised at my having been so persistent in begging you to confer a tribuneship upon a friend of mine when you know who and what he is. For now that you have given me your promise, I am able to tell you his name and to describe the personage. Cornelius Minicianus is the man, an ornament to my native district both in position and character. Of illustrious birth and ample fortune, he is as much devoted to study as poor men are wont to be. At the same time he is a most upright judge, a most undaunted advocate, and a most faithful friend. You will think that a favour has been conferred on you when you have made more intimate acquaintance with a man who is at any rate equal (for I do not wish to speak too boastfully of one who is himself so modest) to any honours and to any titles.

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23. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

While I rejoice at your being strong enough to go and meet Tiro at Mediolanum,  yet that you may continue to preserve that strength, I would beg you not to impose on yourself so great a fatigue, which is opposed to the consideration of your time of life. Nay, further, I enjoin on you to wait for him at home, and, what is more, inside your house, and even inside your chamber. For truly, since he is cherished by me as a brother, he ought not to exact from one whom I look up to as a father an attention which he would have excused in the case of his own father.

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24. — TO GEMINUS.

Ummidia Quadratilla is dead, wanting a little of eighty years, hut hale up to the time of her last illness, and with a compactness and vigour of frame surpassing that of matrons in general. She died leaving a will which reflected great credit on her. She made her grandson heir to two-thirds, and her granddaughter to the remaining third of her fortune. The granddaughter I know hut slightly, the grandson I have the strongest regard for — a youth of singular merit, and one who deserved to be loved as a relation by others besides his blood connections. In the first place, though conspicuous for personal beauty, he escaped the gossip of the malevolent, both in boyhood and youth. In his four-and-twentieth year he was a husband, and, had the gods so willed it, would have become a father. In the society of a grandmother addicted to pleasure he lived a life of extreme steadiness, and yet of compliance with her wishes. She had pantomimists in her employ, and interested herself more warmly in them than became a woman of her high rank. Neither at the theatre nor at home did Quadratus witness the performances of these men, and she did not require him to do so. I have heard her say herself, when commending to me her grandson’s studious pursuits, that being a woman, with that want of occupation which is the lot of the sex, she was in the habit of relieving her mind by a game of draughts, or by watching the performances of her pantomimists; but that whenever she was about to do either of these things she always bade her grandson go off to his studies; and she seemed to me to do this from a sense of what was due to the youth as much as from her love for him.

You will be astonished, and so was I. At the last sacerdotal games, a contest of pantomimists having been exhibited, as Quadratus and I were leaving the theatre together, said he to me, “Do you know that to-day is the first time I ever saw a freedman of my grandmothers dancing!” Thus the grandson. But, by Hercules, persons who were in no way connected with her, by way of doing honour to Quadratilla — I am ashamed of having said honour — rather by way of discharging their office of toadies — were coursing about the theatre, and jumping and clapping their hands, and admiring and imitating every gesture for the benefit of their patroness, with an accompaniment of sing-song. And now these persons will receive the tiniest of legacies, as a gratuity for enacting the part of claqueurs, from an heir who was never a spectator of these performances.

I have told you all this, because, when anything fresh turns up, you are in general not indisposed to hear it; next, because it is a pleasure to me to renew any subject of joy by writing about it. And I do joy in the family affection shown by the deceased and in the honour paid to so excellent a young man. I am delighted, too, that the house which formerly belonged to C. Cassius (the man who was the chief and founder of the Cassian school) should be in possession of an owner in no way his inferior. For my friend Quadratus will worthily fill it and become it, and once more restore to it its ancient dignity, celebrity, and glory, since there will issue thence as great an orator as Cassius was a jurisconsult.

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25. — TO RUFUS.

What a number of learned men there are whom their own modesty or the stillness of their lives conceals and withdraws from fame! Yet we, when about to speak or read in public, stand in apprehension of those only who advertise their learning, whereas such as hold their tongues show to advantage by their silent reverence for the noblest of pursuits. What I write is written from experience. Terentius Junior, after serving irreproachably in the army, in Equestrian grades, and also as Procurator of the province of Narbonian Gaul, has retired to his estate, preferring the profoundest retirement to the honours which awaited him. Having been invited to his house, I regarded him as a worthy paterfamilias and a diligent farmer, and was prepared to talk to him on subjects with which I supposed him to be conversant. Indeed, I had begun to do so, when he, with the most learned discourse, recalled me to literature. How neatly he always expresses himself! in what Latin, in what Greek! He is so strong in both languages that he seems chiefly to excel in the one he happens to speak at the moment. How great his reading, how great his memory! You would think he lived at Athens, not in a country-house. In short, he has added to my apprehensions by causing me to be nervous in the presence of these secluded and, so to speak, rough countryfolk no less than in that of those whom I know for men of extensive learning. I advise you to the same effect. For just as in camps, so also in this literary arena of ours, there are a good many persons who, though not in uniform, will be found on a close inspection to be girded and armed, and that too with the sharpest of intellects.

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26. — TO MAXIMUS.

The illness of a certain friend lately reminded me that we are best while we are sick. For what sick man is tempted either by avarice or lust? Such an one is not the slave of his amours, has no appetite for honours, is neglectful of riches, and holds the smallest portion of them for enough, seeing that he is about to part with it. Then he remembers that there are gods and that he is a man; he envies no one, admires no one, despises no one; not even to malicious gossip will he pay attention or find food in it. His dreams are of baths and fountains. These form the sum of his anxieties, the sum of his aspirations; he proposes to himself an easy and comfortable existence for the future, that is, a harmless and a happy one, if he has the luck to escape. What philosophers strive to teach with a multitude of words, and even in a multitude of volumes, I am able, therefore, to lay down for your benefit and my own thus briefly: in health we should continue to be such as, in sickness, we promise that we shall be.

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27. — TO SURA.

Our leisure furnishes me with the opportunity of learning from you, and you with that of instructing me. Accordingly, I particularly wish to know whether you think there exist such things as phantoms, possessing an appearance peculiar to themselves, and a certain supernatural power, or that mere empty delusions receive a shape from our fears. For my part, I am led to believe in their existence, especially by what I hear happened to Curtius Rufus. While still in humble circumstances and obscure, he was a hanger-on in the suite of the governor of Africa. While pacing the colonnade one afternoon, there appeared to him a female form of superhuman size and beauty. She informed the terrified man that she was “Africa,” and had come to foretell future events; for that he would go to Rome, would fill offices of state there, and would even return to that same province with the highest powers, and die in it. All which things were fulfilled. Moreover, as he touched at Carthage, and was disembarking from his ship, the same form is said to have presented itself to him on the shore. It is certain that, being seized with illness, and auguring the future from the past, and misfortune from his previous prosperity, he himself abandoned all hope of life, though none of those about him despaired.

Is not the following story again still more appalling and not less marvellous? I will relate it as it was received by me: —

There was at Athens a mansion, spacious and commodious, but of evil repute and dangerous to health. In the dead of night there was a noise as of iron, and, if you listened more closely, a clanking of chains was heard, first of all from a distance, and afterwards hard by. Presently a spectre used to appear, an ancient man sinking with emaciation and squalor, with a long beard and bristly hair, wearing shackles on his legs and fetters on his hands, and shaking them. Hence the inmates, by reason of their fears, passed miserable and horrible nights in sleeplessness. This want of sleep was followed by disease, and, their terrors increasing, by death. For in the daytime as well, though the apparition had departed, yet a reminiscence of it flitted before their eyes, and their dread outlived its cause. The mansion was accordingly deserted, and, condemned to solitude, was entirely abandoned to the dreadful ghost. However, it was advertised, on the chance of some one, ignorant of the fearful curse attached to it, being willing to buy or to rent it. Athenodorus, the philosopher, came to Athens and read the advertisement. When he had been informed of the terms, which were so low as to appear suspicious, he made inquiries, and learnt the whole of the particulars. Yet none the less on that account, nay, all the more readily, did he rent the house. As evening began to draw on, he ordered a sofa to be set for himself in the front part of the house, and called for his note-books, writing implements, and a light. The whole of his servants he dismissed to the interior apartments, and for himself applied his soul, eyes, and hand to composition, that his mind might not, from want of occupation, picture to itself the phantoms of which he had heard, or any empty terrors. At the commencement there was the universal silence of night. Soon the shaking of irons and the clanking of chains was heard, yet he never raised his eyes nor slackened his pen, hut hardened his soul and deadened his ears by its help. The noise grew and approached: now it seemed to be heard at the door, and next inside the door. He looked round, beheld and recognised the figure he had been told of. It was standing and signalling to him with its finder, as though inviting him. He, in reply, made a sign with his hand that it should wait a moment, and applied himself afresh to his tablets and pen. Upon this the figure kept rattling its chains over his head as he wrote. On looking round again, he saw it making the same signal as before, and without delay took up a light and followed it. It moved with a slow step, as though oppressed by its chains, and, after turning into the courtyard of the house, vanished suddenly and left his company. On being thus left to himself, he marked the spot with some grass and leaves which he plucked. Next day he applied to the magistrates, and urged them to have the spot in question dug up. There were found there some bones attached to and intermingled with fetters; the body to which they had belonged, rotted away by time and the soil, had abandoned them thus naked and corroded to the chains. They were collected and interred at the public expense, and the house was ever afterwards free from the spirit, which had obtained due sepulture.

The above story I believe on the strength of those who affirm it. What follows I am myself in a position to affirm to others. I have a freedman, who is not without some knowledge of letters. A younger brother of his was sleeping with him in the same bed. The latter dreamt he saw some one sitting on the couch, who approached a pair of scissors to his head, and even cut the hair from the crown of it. When day dawned he was found to be cropped round the crown, and his locks were discovered lying about. A very short time afterwards a fresh occurrence of the same kind confirmed the truth of the former one. A lad of mine was sleeping, in company with several others, in the pages’ apartment. There came through the windows (so he tells the story) two figures in white tunics, who cut his hair as he lay, and departed the way they came. In his case, too, daylight exhibited him shorn, and his locks scattered around. Nothing remarkable followed, except, perhaps, this, that I was not brought under accusation, as I should have been, if Domitian (in whose reign these events happened) had lived longer. For in his desk was found an information against me which had been presented by Carus; from which circumstance it may be conjectured — inasmuch as it is the custom of accused persons to let their hair grow — that the cutting off of my slaves’ hair was a sign of the danger which threatened me being averted.

I beg, then, that you will apply your great learning to this subject. The matter is one which deserves long and deep consideration on your part; nor am I, for my part, undeserving of having the fruits of your wisdom imparted to me. You may even argue on both sides (as your way is), provided you argue more forcibly on one side than the other, so as not to dismiss me in suspense and anxiety, when the very cause of my consulting you has been to have my doubts put an end to.

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28. — TO SEPTICIUS.

You say that certain folks have been finding fault with me in your presence, on the ground of my praising my friends immoderately at every opportunity. I plead guilty to the charge, and even hug it to my breast. What indeed can be more to one’s credit than the sin of goodnature? Yet who are these people who know my friends better than I do? However, suppose they do so know them, why grudge me a deception which is the cause of so much happiness to me? For though these friends be not such as they are proclaimed by me, yet I am fortunate in that they seem such to me. Let these persons, then, transfer their mischievous assiduities elsewhere. There is no lack of those who malign their friends under the plea of criticising them. Me they will never persuade to think that my friends are too much loved by me.

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29. — TO MONTANUS.

You will laugh, then you will be indignant, then you will laugh again, when you read what, unless you do read it, you never will believe. There stands on the road to Tibur, this side of the first milestone — I noticed it quite lately — a monument to Pallas, thus inscribed: “To him, the Senate, on account of his faithfulness and loyalty to his patrons, decreed the Prætorian insignia and a sum of fifteen million sesterces. He was contented with the honour merely.” In truth, I have never marvelled to see honours bestowed more frequently by fortune than by discernment; yet this inscription strongly reminded me how farcical and foolish are those which are at times thrown away on such dirt and filth as this; honours which, to crown the matter, this gallows-bird was impudent enough both to accept and to decline, and even, as a sample of modesty, to exhibit to posterity. But why this indignation? It is better to laugh, that these rogues may not fancy they have achieved any mighty result, when their good luck has merely carried them to the point of being subjects for laughter.

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30. — TO GENITOR.

I am much distressed at your having lost, as you write me word, a pupil of the highest promise. That his illness and death have impeded your studies is of course obvious to me, since you are so careful in the discharge of all friendly offices, and love with so much effusion all those who approve themselves to you. As for me, city business pursues me even to this place. For there are not wanting those who constitute me judge or arbitrator in their affairs. To this must be added the complaints of the rustics, who abuse my ears, as they have a right to do after my long absence. Then there is a pressing necessity for letting my farms, and a very disagreeable one, so rare is it to find suitable tenants. For these reasons I study when I can beg time; still I do study; for I both write and read somewhat. Yet, when reading, I am made sensible by the comparison how bad my own writings are; though you put good heart into me when you compare my treatise in vindication of Helvidius to the oration of Demosthenes against Midias. It is true that I had the latter in my hands while engaged in composing the former; not with the view of rivalling it (that would have been impudence, and almost madness); yet, at any rate, with the view of imitating and following it as far as the divergence between the two intellects — between a very great and a very small one — and the different character of my case would permit.

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31. — TO CORNUTUS.

Claudius Pollio desires your affection, and deserves it from the very fact that he desires it, and next because he loves you of his own accord. And, indeed, none commonly claims this kind of sentiment, save he who himself experiences it. He is, besides, a man of virtue and integrity, free from ambition and modest to excess — if, however, any one can carry modesty to excess. “When we served together, I saw what he was made of, and that not merely in the capacity of his comrade in arms. He commanded a squadron of cavalry a thousand strong. I was ordered by the Consular Legate to examine the accounts of the squadrons and cohorts, in the course of which I discovered, not only the extensive and filthy rapacity of certain parties, but also the consummate integrity and scrupulous industry of my friend. Promoted subsequently to the most distinguished charges, he was seduced by no opportunity to deviate from his innate regard for disinterestedness. He was never puffed up by prosperity; never by reason of the variety of offices which he filled did he detract ought from his unvarying reputation for kindliness; and he supported his labours with the same strength of character as that with which he now bears his repose. This repose, however, he has, for a short time, greatly to his credit, broken in upon and laid aside, having been called to assist our friend Corellius, in consequence of the liberality of the Emperor Nerva, in the matter of buying and distributing lands for the public. What a glory, to be sure, to have especially attracted the choice of so distinguished a man, when there was such an ample field for selection. For the regard and the fidelity with which he cherishes his friends, you may trust to the last testamentary dispositions of many among them, and of this number Annius Bassus, a man of the highest respectability. The memory of this Bassus he preserves and prolongs by eulogies, which are, indeed, so full of gratitude, that he has published (for letters too, as well as the other liberal arts, are held in veneration by him) a volume containing his life. A noble thing this, and one to be approved for its very rarity, seeing that most people remember the dead just so far as to complain of them. This man, who, believe me, is so eager for your friendship, I would have you receive with open arms and cling to, ay, and welcome, and so love him as though you were repaying a favour. For in the office of friendship, he who has set the example is not one to be placed under an obligation, but rather to be remunerated.

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32. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

I am delighted that the arrival of my friend Tiro was a source of enjoyment to you; while, as to what you write me word — that the occasion of a Proconsul’s presence having offered itself, a number of persons received their freedom — I rejoice especially. For I desire that our native place should be increased in all things, but principally in the number of its citizens, since this forms the surest embellishment of cities. This, too, pleases me — not that I curry favour — but, at any rate, it does please me, to see you add that both you and I were honoured by the expression of thanks and by praise. For, as Xenophon says, “Praise is the sweetest hearing,” particularly if you think you deserve it.

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33. — TO TACITUS.

I augur, nor does my augury deceive me, that your histories will be immortal, hence all the more (I will candidly confess it) do I desire to find a place in them. For if it is usually a subject of concern to us that our countenances should be represented by the best artists, ought we not to desire that our deeds may he favoured with a writer and eulogist such as you? I will indicate to you, then, a matter which cannot, however, have escaped your diligence, since it is in the public records; I will indicate it, notwithstanding, that you may the more readily believe how agreeable it will be to me if a deed of mine, the credit of which was increased by its danger, should be set off by your genius and your testimony.

The Senate had assigned me, in company with Herennius Senecio, as counsel for the province of Bætica, against Bæbius Massa, and, on the conviction of Massa, had decreed that his property should be in the custody of the state. Senecio, having ascertained that the Consuls would be at liberty to hear applications, came to me and said, “In the same spirit of harmony in which we have carried out the prosecution enjoined on us, let us go to the Consuls, and beg them not to suffer the property to be squandered which they ought to remain in charge of.” I replied, “As we were appointed counsel by the Senate, consider whether our functions have not been discharged, now that the Senate has concluded its investigation.” Said he, “Do you impose any limit on yourself that you choose, since there is no tie between you and the province except your own good service, and that a recent one. As for me, I was both born and have served as a Quæstor in it.” Thereupon I replied, “If this be your fixed determination, I will follow you, that if by chance any odium comes of it, it may not be confined to you.” We went to the Consuls, and Senecio spoke what the matter comported, to which I subjoined a few remarks. We had scarcely finished speaking, when Massa, crying out that Senecio was satisfying, not his engagement as an advocate, but his acrimony as a personal enemy, accused him of treason. All stood aghast. I, however, said, “I am afraid, most noble Consuls, that Massa by his silence must have taunted me with collusion, in that he did not accuse me too of treason.” This saying of mine was immediately taken up and afterwards much noised abroad. The late Emperor Nerva (for even while in a private station he paid attention to exhibitions of uprightness in public affairs), in a very weighty communication which he addressed to me, congratulated not only me, but the age, on being blessed with an example (it was thus that he wrote) of the antique kind.

All this, whatever its value, you will make better known, more celebrated, of greater import, though I do not require you to exaggerate what really took place. For not only is history bound not to depart from truth, but also for worthy deeds the truth is quite sufficient.

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BOOK VIII.

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1. — TO SEPTICIUS.

I HAVE got to the end of my journey comfortably, with this exception, that some of my people have been rendered ill by the scorching heats. Encolpius, indeed, my reader, the delight of my serious as well as my sportive hours, had his throat so irritated by the dust that he spat blood. How sad this will be for himself, and how annoying to me, if one whose whole charm was derived from his literary pursuits, shall become unfitted for those pursuits! Moreover, who will there be to read my small productions as he does, and to take such a pleasure in them as he takes? However, the gods promise better fortune; the spitting of blood has ceased, and the pain has subsided. Add to this that the salubrity of the climate, our country quarters, our retired life, hold out as good a prospect of health as of repose.

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2. — TO CALVISIUS.

Others set out for their estates that they may return thence the richer; I, that I may return the poorer. I had sold my vintages to certain dealers, who had bought them after a competition. They were attracted by the actual, as compared with the prospective price, and their expectations deceived them. The simple course was to make an equal remission all round; but this would have been hardly fair. Now to me it seems in the highest degree excellent, as abroad so at home, as in great things so in small, as in things foreign so in one’s own, to be diligent in the practice of equity. For if our sins be all of equal importance, so must our good deeds be. Accordingly, I remitted an eighth part of the purchase-money, and that to all, “that none should leave without my bounty feeling,” next, I had regard, separately, for those who had invested the largest sums in their purchases, for these had at the same time profited me more, and themselves suffered a greater loss. Hence, in the case of those who had bought for more than ten thousand sesterces, to the above eighth part, which was common to all, and, so to speak, a public gift, I added a tenth part of the amount by which they had exceeded the ten thousand. I am afraid that I have not made myself sufficiently intelligible, and will explain my way of reckoning more clearly. Suppose any persons to have bought for fifteen thousand, these would have got back not only an eighth of fifteen thousand, but a tenth of five thousand. Further, on reflecting that some had paid me a considerable portion of what they owed, others a trifle, others nothing at all, it seemed to me by no means just that those who were not on a level in the discharge of their obligations should be put on a level in regard to the favour of abatement. So, again, I remitted to those who had made payments a tenth part of that which they had paid. For this seemed the most fitting means, with reference to the past, of requiting them singly, in proportion to the deserts of each; and, with reference to the future, of enticing them not only to buy but to make payment. This calculation of mine, or this act of complaisance (whichever it may have been), cost me a large sum, but it was worth the outlay. For, throughout the whole district, both the novelty of this remission, and also its form, are applauded. Even the people themselves, whom I treated, as the saying goes, not with one and the same measuring-rule, but with distinctions and gradations, left me all the more obliged to me, in proportion to the rectitude and probity of each, having experienced that it is not with me that —

“The good and bad an equal honour find.”

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3. — TO SPARSUS.

You intimate that the book I last sent you is of all my works the one which pleases you most. Such is also the opinion of a friend of mine, a man of profound learning. And this is an additional inducement to me to believe that neither of you are mistaken, because it is not credible that both are mistaken, and because, in any case, I am ready to flatter myself. For I desire that my latest performances should always appear the most perfect, and hence, even at this moment, favour — as against the above book — an oration which I have lately published, and which shall be communicated to you so soon as I shall find a careful messenger. I have aroused your expectations, which I fear that the oration, when you have it in hand, will disappoint. Meanwhile, however, expect it as though it would be sure to please you — and perhaps it may please.

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4. — TO CANINIUS.

You do admirably in preparing to write of the Dacian war. For where is the subject at the same time so recent, so abounding in incident, so vast, in short, so poetical, and — though dealing in events of the most real character — so like fable? You will tell of new rivers set flowing over the earth, new bridges thrown over rivers, mountain precipices occupied by camps, of a king who had despaired of nothing driven out of his palace, ay, and driven out of his life; besides this, of triumphs twice celebrated, one having been the first over a hitherto unconquered people, the other, the last.

The single drawback, yet an important one, is, that to equal all this in description must be an immense and arduous task even for your genius, rising though it does to the loftiest heights, and growing in proportion to the vastness of its undertakings. And there must be not a little labour in this too, in preventing barbarous and savage names (among the first, that of the King himself) from showing their repugnance to Greek metre. But there is nothing which skill and attention will not mitigate, even though they may fail to overcome it. Moreover, if it is permitted to Homer to contract, lengthen, and alter names, both soft and Greek, to suit the smoothness of his verse, why should not a similar licence be permitted to you, particularly when it results not from affectation but from necessity? Accordingly, poet-fashion, having invoked the gods — and among them him whose acts and works and counsels you are about to relate — loosen your ropes, spread your sails, and be carried on (if ever you have been) by the full force of your genius! Why indeed may not I too deal poetically with a poet? This much I bargain for at once: you must send me all your first fruits as soon as you have brought them to perfection; nay, rather, even before you have perfected them, just as they are, all fresh and unformed, and still resembling things at their birth. You will reply that what is taken piecemeal cannot please equally with that which is continuous, or what is rudimentary like that which is complete. I know it. And therefore they shall be judged of by me too as things merely begun; they shall be regarded as parts, and shall await your finishing touches in my desk. Suffer me to have this pledge, in addition to the others, of your friendship; that I be made acquainted even with such things as you would wish none to be acquainted with. In short, it may be that I shall admire and praise your writings more highly in proportion as you are slow and cautious about sending them; but I shall love you more highly, and praise you more highly, the greater your speed and the less your caution in doing so.

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5. — TO GEMINUS.

Our friend Macrinus has received a severe blow. He has lost his wife, a model woman, even if she had lived in old times. With her he spent thirty-nine years without a quarrel and without offence. How great the respect she paid her husband, while herself worthy of respect in the highest degree! How numerous, how lofty the virtues, which, gathered from different ages, were assembled and united in her person. Macrinus indeed has one great solace, in that he retained so great a blessing for so long a time; and yet, for this reason, he is all the more embittered by the loss of it. FŸ“ the enjoyment of pleasures increases the pain of being deprived of them. I am therefore in a state of anxiety about my dear friend, till such time as he shall be able to admit of being diverted from his sorrow and allow his wound to heal. And this will be brought about by nothing so much as by necessity itself, by lapse of time, and satiety of grief.

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6. — TO MONTANUS.

You must have learnt by this time from my letter how I lately remarked a monument to Pallas with this inscription on it: “To him the Senate, on account of his faithfulness and loyalty to his patrons, decreed the Prætorian insignia and a sum of fifteen million sesterces. He was contented with the honour merely. Subsequently it seemed to me worth while to hunt up the decree itself. I found it, and it was so verbose and extravagant, that the above extremely fulsome inscription seems modest and even humble by its side. Let — I will not say the Africani and Achaici and Numantini of old — but the men that are near to us, the Marii, Sullas, Pompeys (I will go no further), — let these compare themselves with Pallas, and they will fall short of the praises accorded to him. Am I to suppose the men who thus decreed to have been humourists, or cravens? I would call them humourists if such humour became a Senate. Cravens, then? But no one is in such a craven condition that he can be forced to such acts. “Was the cause, then, ambition and the yearning for advancement? But who so demented as to wish for advancement at the price of his own and the public disgrace, in a society where the advantage to be derived from the loftiest dignity should consist in being able to take the lead in — eulogising Pallas in the Senate? I pass by the circumstance that the Prætorian insignia are offered to Pallas, though a slave, inasmuch as they are offered by slaves. I pass by their decreeing “that he should not only be exhorted, but actually compelled to the use of golden rings;” for it was opposed to the august dignity of the Senate for a man of Prætorian rank to wear iron ones These are trifling matters, which may be passed over. But this is noteworthy, that “on account of Pallas the

Senate” (and the Senate-house was not purified after this!)—” on Pallas’s account the Senate returns thanks to Caesar, in that his highness himself has bestowed the most honourable mention on him, and has also accorded to the Senate the faculty of testifying towards him its good will.” What indeed could be more glorious for the Senate than that it should appear sufficiently grateful to Pallas? This is added: “That Pallas, to whom all of them, to the best of each man’s abilities, confess their obligations, may enjoy, as he so richly deserves to do, the fruits of his matchless integrity and his matchless energy.” You would suppose that the limits of the Empire had been extended, that armies had been rescued for the State. To this is tacked on, “Inasmuch as to the Senate and the people no more agreeable occasion for their liberality could be exhibited than the good fortune of being able to add to the means of so disinterested and faithful a guardian of the prince’s revenues.” This was at that time the aspiration of the Senate, this was the chief delight of the people, this was the most agreeable occasion for liberality: to have the good fortune to add to the means of Pallas by squandering the public revenues! See what follows: “That it had been the wish of the Senate, for its part, to decree to him a gift of fifteen million sesterces out of the treasury, and the more his mind was remote from desires of this kind, the more earnestly did they pray the Father of the State to compel him to yield to the Senate.” This, to be sure, was alone wanting: that Pallas should be dealt with by public authority; that Pallas in person should be entreated to yield to the Senate; that Cæsar himself should be called in to plead against this arrogant self-denial, and to prevent his spurning the fifteen million sesterces. Spurn them he did — the only way in which, after the public offer to him of so vast a sum, he could show his arrogance still more than by accepting it. Yet the Senate, in a tone of complaint, praised even this act in the following words: “But inasmuch as the most excellent Prince and Father of the State, at the request of Pallas, has willed that that portion of the decree which related to the grant to him out of the treasury of fifteen million sesterces should he annulled; the Senate hereby witnessed, that albeit it had of its own good will, and in accordance with his merits, initiated a decree of the above sum, among the other honours, to Pallas on account of his integrity and diligence; yet, as they do not deem it lawful to set themselves against the will of their prince in any matter, so in this matter too they submit themselves to it.”

Picture to yourself Pallas interposing his veto, as it were, on the decree of the Senate, and restricting the honours paid to himself; refusing the fifteen millions as too much, after accepting the Prætorian insignia as of smaller account. Picture to yourself Cæsar complying with the prayers, or rather the commands, of his freedman in presence of the Senate, for the freedman commands his patron when he is able to petition him in the Senate. Picture to yourself the Senate continually witnessing that it had initiated a decree of this sum, among the other honours, to Pallas, in accordance with his merits and its good will, and that it would have persevered in its intention if it had not been for its compliance with the prince’s will, which it was not lawful to set one’s self against in any matter. So then, in order that Pallas should not carry off the fifteen millions from the treasury, his own modesty and the compliance of the Senate were requisite, which latter, in this particular case, would not have complied if they had thought it lawful not to comply in any matter whatever.

Do you think this is the end? Wait a bit and hear something still stronger. “And inasmuch as it is of advantage that the gracious disposition of the prince, ever prompt to honour and reward the deserving, should be everywhere exhibited to view, and chiefly in those places where the persons charged with the administration of his affairs may be stimulated to imitation, and where the highly proved faithfulness and integrity of Pallas may by his example provoke a zeal for laudable emulation; the message read by the most excellent prince before this most honourable house on the tenth day before the Kalends of February last past, together with the decrees passed by the Senate on these matters, shall be inscribed on brass, and the brass in question shall be affixed to the statue in armour of the late Emperor Julius.” It did not seem enough that the Senate-house should witness such disgraceful proceedings; a place of great resort was selected for publishing them, where contemporaries should read them, and posterity as well. It was decided that the brass should be inscribed with all the honours of this haughty slave, both those which he repudiated and those which (as far as those who decreed them were concerned) he had borne. The Prætorian insignia of Pallas were cut and carved on public and enduring monuments, just for all the world like ancient treaties, just like sacred laws! Such was the — how to name the quality I know not — of the prince, of the Senate, of Pallas himself, that they wished to have affixed before the eyes of all, Pallas his impudence, Cæsar his submissiveness, the Senate its baseness. Nor was there any shame felt in veiling this infamy with a show of reason — an exquisite and admirable reason to be sure: — that on the strength of the rewards bestowed on Pallas the others might be provoked to the zeal of emulation! So cheap were honours held, even those which Pallas did not disdain. Yet there were found persons of respectable birth who sought for and desired what they saw given to a freedman and held out to slaves. How glad I am that I did not fall upon those times, of which I am just as much ashamed as if I had lived in them. Nor do I doubt that you will be similarly impressed, for I know you have the soul of an honest man and a freeman. Hence you will he the more ready to think that, though I may have carried my indignation in certain places to a height unsuitable to a letter, yet my complaints are rather below than above the mark.

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7. — TO TACITUS.

Not as one master to another, nor again “as one disciple to another” (for so you write it), but as master to a disciple — for you are the master, I the opposite; more than that, you are recalling me to school, while I am still prolonging my holidays — have you sent your book to me. Come, now, could I have produced a more topsy-turvy sentence than the above? — by this very means proving that I am one who ought not to be called, let alone your master, even your disciple. However, I will take on me the part of master, and exercise on your book the right you have bestowed on me, and all the more freely that I am not going to send you in the meanwhile any writing of mine for you to revenge yourself upon.

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8. — TO ROMANUS.

Have you seen, at any time, the source of the Clitumnus? If you have not as yet — and I fancy you have not, for otherwise you would have told me of it — go and see what I (and I am ashamed of having been so slow about it) lately saw. There rises a hill of moderate size, wooded and shaded by ancient cypresses, at the base of which the spring emerges, forced out through many but unequal channels, and after struggling through a troubled pool of its own formation, opens out to the view with broad expanse, clear and transparent, so that you are able to count the small coins thrown into it and the glistening pebbles. Thence it is impelled, not by the slope of the ground, but by its own very abundance, and, as it were, weight; now but a source, now already a noble river, and one actually capable of bearing ships, which, even when they come in opposite directions, and with contrary effort are holding a different course, it suffers to pass each other, and carries on their way. Such is the strength and rapidity of its current, though over a plane surface, that it is not assisted by oars, and, when it is faced, it is only with extreme difficulty that it can be overcome by oars or punt-poles. It is an agreeable change for those who are afloat for sport and pastime to vary toil by repose or repose by toil, according as they shift their course. The banks are clothed with a quantity of ashes and poplars, which the transparent river reflects in succession by so many green images, just as though they were submerged in it. The coldness of the water might vie with that of snow, and its colour does not yield to that of snow.

Hard by is a temple ancient and venerable. Clitumnus stands there in person, clothed and adorned with the prætexta. Oracular responses indicate the prophetic power in addition to the presence of the divinity.’ Scattered around are a number of chapels and as many gods. Each of these has his own worship and his own name, some of them even their own springs. For besides that spring, which is, as it were, the parent of the rest, there are smaller ones, separated from the fountain-head, but nevertheless flowing into the river, which is spanned by a bridge. This marks the boundary between what is sacred and what is open to ordinary use. Above bridge navigation only is permitted; below, one may bathe as well. The people of Hispellum, to whom the late Emperor Augustus assigned this locality, furnish baths at the public expense, and they also furnish lodgings. Nor is there a lack of villas, which, owing to the attractions of the river, stand on its borders. In short, there will be nothing there from which you may not derive pleasure; you will even be able to study, and will read a variety of productions by a variety of people, inscribed on every column and every wall in honour of the spring and the god. Many of these you will approve of, some you will laugh at — and yet, no; you, with your usual good-nature, will laugh at none of them.

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9. — TO URSUS.

For a long time I have taken neither book nor pen in hand. For a long time I have not known what rest is or repose, or, in short, that state, so idle yet so agreeable, of doing nothing and being nothing. To such a degree do the multitude of my friends’ affairs debar me from seclusion and study. For no studies are of such importance that the office of friendship should be abandoned on their account — indeed, that this office should be most religiously guarded is a matter which is taught us by these very studies.

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10. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

The stronger your desire to see great-grandchildren of yours born of us, the more you will grieve to hear that your granddaughter has had a miscarriage, while, girl like, she did not know that she was with child, and, in consequence, omitted certain things which should be observed by women in that state, and did other things which should have been omitted. She has expiated her mistake at the expense of a great lesson, having been brought into extreme peril. Hence, while you must necessarily be grieved at your old age being deprived of descendants, who had been, so to speak, prepared for you, yet you ought, at the same time, to thank the gods who refuse you great-grandchildren for the present, in such a way as to preserve the life of your granddaughter, and who will yet bestow on you those great-grandchildren, the expectation of whom is made surer by this very fruitfulness of my wife, though, to be sure, it has been ascertained under rather unfavourable circumstances. I am now exhorting, admonishing, and confirming you by the same methods as I employ towards myself. Nor, indeed, can great-grandchildren be desired by you more ardently than are children by me, children to whom I think myself destined to bequeath, on your side and on my own, an easy road to honours, names widely known, and family images which will endure. May they only be born, and turn this sorrow of ours into joy!

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11. — TO HISPULLA.

When I think of your affection for your brother’s daughter, surpassing in tenderness even the indulgence of a mother, I feel that I ought to begin by announcing what ought to come later, in order that joy may take first possession of you and so leave no room for anxiety. And yet I am apprehensive that, even after rejoicing, you will return to your fears; that, while delighted at Calpurnia’s being freed from peril, you will shudder at the same time at her having been imperilled. She is cheerful now, and restored to herself and to me; she begins to regain strength, and by her progress towards recovery to measure the crisis she has passed through. She was, in fact, in the most critical condition (this be said without evil omen!), through no personal fault, rather through some fault due to her age. Hence her miscarriage, and the sad proofs of an unsuspected pregnancy. Accordingly, though it has not been your good fortune to assuage your regret for your lost brother by means of a grandson or granddaughter of his, yet remember that is a blessing which is delayed rather than denied, since she is safe from whom we may hope for it. At the same time excuse to your father a mishap which women are always more prepared to look on with indulgence.

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12. — TO MINICIANUS.

I must beg to be excused for just this one day. Titinius Capito is going to recite, and I hardly know whether it be more my duty or my desire to hear him. He is an excellent man, and one to be numbered among the special illustrations of our age; he cultivates literature, and loves, cherishes, and advances men of letters; he is the port, the harbour, the place of refuge for a number of those who do anything in the way of composition; an example to all; lastly, a restorer and reformer of letters, which are now in their decline. He lends his house to people who recite, and frequents audiences — and that not merely at his own abode — with rare good-nature; me certainly, provided he is in town, he has never failed. Besides, the nobler the incentive to gratitude, the more shabby it would be not to show one’s self grateful. Pray, if I were harassed by legal proceedings, should I consider myself bound to one who appeared to my recognisances; and now, because all my business, all my care is with literature, shall I be less obliged to one who frequents me with so much assiduity, in a matter which, if not the only one, is certainly the most important one which can lay me under an obligation? Yet, if I owed him no return, no mutual good office, so to speak, yet I should be attracted either by the genius of the man, which is so admirable, so grand, so gentle even when most serious, or else by the noble character of his theme. He is writing of the deaths of illustrious men, and among them of some who were very dear to me. I seem, then, to be discharging an office of piety when, in the case of those whose obsequies I could not attend, I am present at what may be termed their funeral eulogies, which, though late in time, are on that account all the more truthful.

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13. — TO GENIALIS.

I approve of your having read my little books in company with your father. It pertains to your advancement to learn from a man of the highest eloquence what deserves praise and what censure, and, at the same time, to be so trained as to learn to speak the truth. You see whom you ought to follow, in whose footsteps you ought to tread. Happy fellow! who have had the luck in one and the same person to meet with a model so excellent and so nearly related to you; who, in short, have him to imitate, above all others, whom nature willed that you should most resemble.

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14. — TO ARISTO.

As you are so deeply versed in civil and constitutional law (of which senatorial law forms a part), I desire to learn from you particularly whether I did or did not make a mistake in the Senate on a recent occasion, that I may be instructed, not with a view to the past (for it would be too late for that), but to the future, should anything of a like kind present itself.

You will say, “Why inquire about what you ought to know?” Because the slavery of past times has introduced a certain oblivion and ignorance, as well of all other excellent sciences, so also of senatorial law. For few have the patience to be willing to learn what they will never have to practise. Add to this, that it is difficult to retain what you have learnt unless you do practise it. Thus it happened that the restoration of liberty surprised us in an untrained and inexperienced condition, and, enflamed by her charms, we are obliged to do certain things before we are masters of them. On the other hand, it was the ancient usage that we should learn from our elders, not only through our ears, but through our eyes as well, what we ourselves should presently have to do, and, by a kind of succession, to hand down to our juniors. Hence striplings were forthwith inured to service in the camps, that they might be habituated to command by obedience, and to act the part of leaders while learning to follow. Hence such as were to be candidates for public offices stationed themselves by the doors of the Senate-house, and were spectators of the national council before becoming members of it. Each had his own father for an instructor, or to him who had no father the oldest and most illustrious citizens stood in the place of one. What are the privileges of those who introduce motions, what the rights of those who pronounce on them, what the power of the magistrates, and the liberty accorded to the remaining Senators, where to yield and where to resist, what is the time for silence and what the limit of speech, how to distinguish between the parts of a conflicting proposition, how those who would add anything to a previous proposal may execute their purpose; in short, the whole practice of the Senate was taught by example, the surest mode of instruction.

Yet we, when youths, were, to be sure, in the camps. Yes, but at a time when prowess was suspected and inactivity was prized; when the leaders were without authority and the soldiers without shame; when the supreme control was nowhere and obedience nowhere; when all things were in a state of solution and confusion, and even inversion; in short, of a character to be forgotten rather than remembered. We also had a view of the Senate, but a cowering and speechless Senate, at a time when it was dangerous to speak according to one’s wishes and vile to speak against them. What could be learnt at such a period? and what could be the advantage of learning? when the Senate was summoned either to fall into a profound sleep or to sanction some atrocious villainy, and, detained now for the purpose of exciting laughter, now for that of inflicting pain, pronounced decisions which were never serious, though oftentimes sad.

These same evils we witnessed and endured for many years after we had ourselves become senators and sharers in them, by which means our intellects were permanently dulled, broken, and bruised. It is but a short time (every time is short in proportion as it is happy) since we have learnt with pleasure what we are, and can practise with pleasure what we know. And this gives me a greater right to ask, first, that you will pardon my mistake, if there be a mistake; next, that you would apply to it your remedial learning, whose care it has always been to investigate constitutional in the same way as civil law, what is ancient in the same way as what is modern, what is rare equally with what is common. And indeed I am of opinion that the kind of point which I am submitting to you was either not very familiar, or else actually unknown in practice to those predecessors of ours whose constant and varied experience left them in ignorance of scarce anything. Hence, not only shall I be the more readily excused if I have chanced to trip, but you will be the more entitled to credit if you can instruct me on a point which it is uncertain to me whether you have studied.

The debate was about the freedmen of Afranius Dexter, the Consul, who had perished either by his own or his servants’ hands, either through their crime or their obedience to his commands, it is uncertain which. As to these persons, one senator (“Who?” you ask. It was I; but this is of no consequence) opined that, having been put to the question, they should be exempted from punishment; a second, that they should be banished to an island; a third, that they should suffer death. So great was the difference between these proposals, that they could only be taken singly. For what is there in common between putting to death and banishing? Nothing more, by Hercules, than between banishing and acquitting. Though, to be sure, a proposal for acquitting is somewhat nearer to one for banishing than would be a proposal for putting to death, since both the former leave life untouched, while the last takes it away. Yet, meanwhile, those who were for the punishment of death and those who were for banishment sat together, and by a temporary simulation deferred the discord which underlay their concord. I demanded that the proper number of these three propositions should be established, and that two of them should not be joined together in a short truce. Hence I insisted that those who were for the infliction of the capital penalty should leave the side of those who were for banishment, and that those who were shortly about to differ among themselves should not in the interim be united in opposition to the party who were for an acquittal; because it was of very little consequence that they disagreed with the same proposal, seeing that they had previously agreed to different ones. This too seemed to me particularly strange, that while he who had pronounced for banishing the freedmen and inflicting the last penalty on the slaves had been compelled to divide his vote, yet he who was for punishing the freedmen with death should he told off among those who were for banishing them. For if it had been right that the proposition of one should be divided, as comprehending two different things, I could not discover in what way the propositions could be joined together of two persons who pronounced themselves so differently. And indeed permit me — in your hearing precisely as there, and though the question is settled precisely as though it were still alive — to give you the reasons for my opinion, and to put together now at my ease what I then threw out disjointedly amidst many stormy interruptions.

Let us suppose three judges in all to have been assigned to this cause, and that the decision of one of these had been that the freedmen should die; of the second, that they should be banished; of the third, that they should be acquitted. Pray, should two of these opinions, by their united strength, destroy the last? Or, taken separately, should not each of them be worth just what the other is, so that the first can no more be connected with the second than the second with the third? It results that, in the Senate as well, votes ought to be reckoned as being opposed to each other, which are given as being different from each other. What if one and the same man were to pronounce for death and banishment? would it be possible for these persons both to die and to be banished in accordance with this single vote? Indeed, could that be considered one vote at all which conjoined things so diverse? How, then, when one pronounces for punishing them with death, and another for banishing them, can that appear to be one vote because it is pronounced by two, which would not appear one vote if it were pronounced by one? What! does not the law clearly teach that the votes for death and those for banishment should be separated, when it orders divisions to be taken in this manner:—” Those who are of this opinion to this side; those who are of any other opinion to the side which accords with your opinion.” Examine these words singly and weigh them. “Those who are of this opinion,” that is to say, who think the men should he banished, “to this side” — that is to say, to the side on which the senator who has made the motion for banishment is sitting. From this it is clear that those who are in favour of putting them to death cannot remain on the same side. “Those who are of any other opinion.” You observe that the law, not content with saying “other,” has added to it “any.” Can there be a doubt, then, that those who put to death hold an entirely different opinion from those who banish? “To that side which accords with your opinion.” Does not the law itself seem to call, to compel, to drive, those who differ to the opposite side? Does not the Consul, even, point out to every one, and that not merely in the customary form of words, but with his hand and by his gestures, the place where he is to remain or to which he is to pass over? “But it will happen that if the votes for death and those for banishment be divided, the vote in favour of acquittal may prevail.” What does this matter to the persons voting? It certainly does not become them to strive by every art and every calculation to prevent a more merciful decision from being carried. “It is proper, in any case, that those who are for the death penalty and those who are for banishment should first be compared with those who acquit, and afterwards with each other. As, for example, at certain of the shows, some individual is separated and reserved by lot to compete with the victor, so in the Senate there are certain first and second trials of strength, and the one of two proposals which comes out victorious is waited on by a third.” Need I say that if the first proposal be carried the remaining ones are put an end to? How, then, can propositions be joined on a common ground for which no place can be found subsequently? To repeat this more clearly, when the motion for banishment is made, if those who are for death do not at once go to the other side, it will be in vain that they will differ at a subsequent stage from those with whom they have voted just before.

But why do I seem to be teaching when I want to learn whether these motions should have been divided, whether they should have been gone into singly? To be sure I obtained what I demanded; none the less, however, do I ask whether I ought to have made the demand. In what way was it obtained? Why, the senator who had moved that the extreme penalty should be inflicted (overpowered, I do not know whether by the legality, but certainly by the equity of my demand), threw up his own motion, and went over to the side of him who was for banishment: fearing, no doubt, that if the motions were taken separately — and, but for his action, it seemed likely that they would be — the one for acquittal would obtain a majority. And, indeed, there were many more of that one party than in either of the other two taken singly. Then those senators, too, who were led by his authority, thus left to themselves after he had gone over, abandoned a proposal which had been forsaken by its own author, and followed in his species of desertion the person whom they followed in his lead. So out of three proposals two resulted, and of these two one prevailed, the third being extinguished, which, as it could not overcome the two others, had to choose by which of the two it would be defeated.

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15. — TO JUNIOR.

I have laid a burden on you by the despatch of so many volumes at once. However, I have burdened you, in the first place, because you had insisted on my doing so, and, in the next place, because you had written to me that the vintage was so slender in your parts as to make me see very clearly that you would have leisure (as the common phrase runs) “to pluck a book.” We have the same announcement from my own small estates. Consequently, on my side too, I shall be able to write something for you to read, if only paper can be bought anywhere. Should it be rough or porous, I shall either have not to write at all, or shall perforce make a smudge of whatever I write, be it good or bad.

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16. — TO PATERNUS.

I am prostrated by the ailments of my servants, by deaths among them, too, and of young ones into the bargain. I have two consolations, by no means on a par with the greatness of my sorrow, still consolations. One is my readiness in setting them free (for I do not seem to have lost quite prematurely such as had already gained their freedom when I lost them); the other is, that I permit even my slaves to make quasi-testamentary dispositions, observing these just as though they were legal documents. They enjoin and request whatever they choose, and I obey as if under orders. They distribute, give, and bequeath — at least, within the limits of the household. For to slaves the household is a kind of state, and stands in the place of a community.

Still, though soothed by these consolations, I am dispirited and broken by reason of the identical humanity of disposition which has prompted me to these same concessions. Yet I would not on that account be made harder, while not ignoring that others style mishaps of this sort a pecuniary loss and nothing more, and hence seem to themselves great and wise men. As for these, whether they be great and wise, I cannot tell; men they are not. For it is the part of a man to be affected by grief, to feel, yet at the same time to bear up and to admit of consolation, not to be in no need of consolation. However, about all this I have said more perhaps than I ought, yet less than I wished. There is, indeed, a certain pleasure even in grief, particularly if you weep into the bosom of a friend who is prepared to bestow on your tears either his approval or his pardon.

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17. — TO MACRINUS.

Is the weather as rough and unsettled with you as it is with us? Here we have constant storms and a succession of inundations. The Tiber has exceeded its channels, and is flowing high over its less elevated banks. Though its force is weakened by an outlet which the Emperor, in his great forethought, has constructed, yet it covers the valleys and pours over the fields, and where the surface is flat it presents itself to the eye in the place of the surface. Hence it forces backwards, as though it went to meet them, the streams which it usually receives and carries down in combination, and by this means covers, with waters not its own, a country which it does not itself touch. The Anio, most charming of rivers, and which on that account had seemed as it were to be invited by and made to slacken its course near the villas on its banks has destroyed and carried off in great part the woods that overshadowed it. It has undermined hills, and, impeded in many places by the mass of falling debris, while seeking its lost way, it has thrown down houses, and risen and swept over their ruins. Those who on loftier ground were not caught by the tempest in question beheld in one place the appliances of wealth and costly furniture; in another, agricultural implements; here, cattle, ploughs, herdsmen; there, the loose herds left to themselves, and among these objects the trunks of trees, or the rafters and roofs of villas, all drifting in wide variety. Nor, indeed, have even those localities to which the river did not ascend been exempted from damage. For, in lieu of the river, there was a continuous downpour, and whirlwinds were precipitated from the clouds, the fences surrounding valuable enclosures were overthrown, public monuments were shaken and even toppled down. Many persons were disabled and overwhelmed and crushed by accidents of this description, and loss of property has been aggravated by mourning.

I am apprehensive that something of the same kind in a proportionate degree may have imperilled you where you are: and I beg you, if there has been nothing of the sort, to have regard to my anxiety with all possible speed. But, if there e’en has been, announce that, just the same. For the difference is but trifling between suffering misfortunes and anticipating them; except, however, that there is a limit to grief, while there is no limit to fear. Our grief is indeed proportioned to what we know to have happened: our fears to what may happen.

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18. — TO RUFINUS.

False, without doubt, is the vulgar belief that the wills made by men reflect their characters, since Domitius Tullus has shown himself a far better man at his death than in his life. For though he had held himself out as a bait to fortune-hunters, he left as his heiress a daughter who was common to himself and his brother, that is to say, she was his brother’s child and he had adopted her. Upon his grandsons he bestowed many very acceptable legacies, and even one on his great-grandson. In short, all his dispositions are replete with just affection, and they seem all the more so in that they were unexpected. Accordingly, various are the comments which are being made all over the city: some speak of him as a hypocrite, without gratitude and without memory, and, while they inveigh against him, betray their own selves by their disgraceful avowals, complaining as they do of a man who was a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, just as though he had been childless: others, on the contrary, laud him in this very particular that he has frustrated the impudent expectations of men whom thus to deceive, in the present state of society, is an act of prudence. They even add that he was not free to leave any other will behind him; for that he did not so much bequeath property to his daughter as restore that by which he had been enriched through the medium of this same daughter. For, Curtilius Mancia, detesting his son-in-law, Domitius Lucanus (the brother of Tullus), constituted the daughter of the latter — his own grandchild — his heiress, subject to the condition of her having been emancipated from the control of her father. Her father had emancipated her, upon which her uncle had adopted her, and the intention of the will having been cheated in this fashion, one brother — they being joint-owners of their estate — got the emancipated daughter back under the parental authority of the other brother, thanks to his fraudulent adoption, and that too with the most extensive property.

In other cases it seemed as it were the fate of these brothers to become rich even against the strongest inclinations of those who had made them so. Indeed, Domitius Afer, who adopted them, left a will declared before witnesses eighteen years previously, and so highly disapproved by him at a subsequent period that he caused their father’s property to be confiscated. Strange, ruthlessness on his part, and strange good fortune on theirs! Faithlessness in him to cut off from the roll of citizens a man who was his partner in such a matter as that of children: good fortune for them to have as successor in the place of father the very man who had taken off their father. But this property derived from Afer, together with everything else which he had acquired in company with his brother, Tullus was bound to transmit to the daughter of his brother, who had constituted him sole heir and preferred him to his daughter, in order to conciliate his favour. The more praiseworthy is this will which affection, good faith, and honour have dictated; in which, finally, all degrees of relationship are acknowledged according to their several obligations, and acknowledgment is made to the testator’s wife as well. She takes some charming country residences and a large sum of money, does this most excellent and long-suffering of wives: ay, and one who deserved all the better of her husband in proportion as she was blamed for marrying him. For this lady, who was of illustrious birth and spotless character, in the decline of life, after a long widowhood, and having aforetime borne children, was thought to have acted with no very good taste in prosecuting a marriage with a rich old man, such a prey to disease that he might well have been an object of disgust even to a wife whom he had wedded in his youth and strength. In fact, he was crippled and powerless in all his limbs, and could enjoy his vast wealth with his eyes alone: nor could he move on his couch even, save by the help of others. Moreover (indelicate as well as pitiable to relate) he had his teeth washed and brushed for him. He was often heard to say himself, when complaining of the miseries forced on him by his infirmities, that he “daily licked the fingers of his slaves.” Yet he lived on, and desired to live, kept up principally by his wife, who, by her steadfastness, had turned her fault in entering on such a marriage into a source of glory.

You have now all the talk of the town, for Tullus constitutes all the talk. The sale of his effects is looked for. Such indeed were his stores, that he has adorned the most extensive gardens, on the same day that he bought them, with statues in great profusion and of great antiquity; he had as many works of the highest art lying neglected in storerooms. In your turn, if there be anything in your parts worth a letter, don’t think it a trouble to write. For not only are men’s ears gladdened by news, but also we are instructed by examples to regulate our lives.

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19. — TO MAXIMUS.

My delight and my solace is in literary pursuits. There is nothing so joyful that it is not made more joyful, nothing so sad that it is not made less sad, through their means. Hence, when disordered by the sickness of my wife and the critical condition of my servants — indeed, by the deaths of some of them — I fled for refuge to my one comfort in sorrow — my studies. These furnish me with a keener sense of misfortunes, but at the same time with the power of bearing them more patiently. Now, it is my habit, when proposing to give anything to the public, to test it previously by the help of my friends’ judgment, and above all of yours. Accordingly, now, if ever, apply yourself to the book which you will receive with this letter; for I fear that I in my sorrowful condition have not sufficiently applied myself to it. I was indeed able to command my grief so far as to write, but not so as to write with a disengaged and cheerful mind. Now, as joy is the profit derived from letters, so do letters in their turn derive a profit from cheerfulness.

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20. — TO GALLUS.

Objects such as we are in the habit of undertaking journeys and traversing the sea to make acquaintance with, we neglect when they are situated under our eyes; whether it has been so provided by nature, that, while careless of what is close to us, we run after what is distant, or because the desire for all objects languishes where the opportunity is easy; or else that we defer, as being sure to see them often, sights which it is given us to enjoy whenever we choose. Whatever be the reason, there are a quantity of things in our city, and the neighbourhood of the city, which we do not even know by hearsay, let alone eyesight. Yet if Achaia, Egypt, Asia, had produced these, or any other land fruitful in marvels, and giving them repute too, we should have heard all about, and read all about and explored them. What, at any rate, I had never heard of or seen, I for my part lately heard of and saw at the same time.

My wife’s grandfather had pressed me to make an inspection of his estate near Ameria, As I was going over it, a lake lying under us was pointed out to me, named Vadimon; at the same time some incredible circumstances connected with it were related. I reached the lake itself. It is rounded into the shape of a horizontal wheel, regular on all sides, without a bay or obliquity of any kind; everything is measured to scale and even, as though hollowed and cut out by the hand of an artist. The colour of the water is lighter than dark blue but deeper than bluish green. It has an odour and a taste of sulphur, and the healing property of mending broken articles. Its size is small, yet such that it can feel the winds and swell into waves. There is no ship on it (for it is sacred), but floating on it are islands, all of them grassy with reeds and rushes, and other herbage which the swampy soil in its productiveness, or the banks of the lake themselves, bring forth. Each of them has its individual shape and dimensions, but all have their outer edges worn, in consequence of frequently striking either against the shore or against each other, and so rubbing and getting rubbed. All of them are of a like elevation and buoyancy, since their roots descend but a little way below the surface, after the fashion of a ship’s keel. These roots can be seen on every side, suspended and at the same time submerged in the water. Occasionally these islands are joined and coupled together, resembling a continent; occasionally they are dispersed by discordant winds; not infrequently, left to themselves, they float in single tranquillity. Often the smaller ones hang on to the larger, like little boats on to ships of burden; often larger and smaller ones take to a trial, as it were, of each other’s speed; then, again, all of them, driven upon the same part of the shore, form, where they have stopped, a promontory, and, sometimes here, sometimes there, conceal or restore to view portions of the lake. It is only when they are in the middle that they do not contract its circumference. It is certain that cattle in pursuit of herbage are in the habit of advancing into these islands, fancying them the edge of the lake, and do not perceive that the soil is moveable till reft from the shore — put on hoard and shipped, so to speak — they see with affright the lake all round them: presently going ashore wherever the wind has carried them, they no more know that they have disembarked than they knew that they had embarked. This same lake discharges itself into a river, which, after presenting itself to the eyes for a short time, loses itself underground, and flows on out of sight. If anything has been thrown into it before its disappearance it will preserve and reproduce the object.

All this I have written to you, believing that it would be no less new and no less agreeable to you than it was to me. For as with me, so with you, too, nothing is so delightful as the works of nature.

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21. — TO ARRIANUS.

Just as in life, so in literature, I deem it the most excellent course, and the one most in accord with human nature, to mingle the grave with the gay, lest the former should degenerate into morbidness and the latter into sauciness. Led by this consideration, I vary my more serious works with sportive and jocular effusions. For the production in public of these latter, I chose the most fitting time as well as place, and — that they might without delay grow accustomed to a hearing from persons with nothing else to do, and at the dinner-table — in the month of July (when, for the most part, there is an interval of rest from the lawsuits), I arranged my friends with seats furnished with desks in front of the dining-couches. It so chanced that, on the morning of that day, I was unexpectedly called to assist a friend in court, and this furnished me with a ground for making some prefatory remarks. For I entreated that no one would charge me with want of respect for the work in hand, because, when intending to recite (even though only to friends, and to a small audience, which means to friends again), I had not refrained from the courts and from business. I added that, even in the matter of my writings, I followed this order of preferring duty to pleasure, the serious to the agreeable, and of writing for my friends first, for myself afterwards.

My book was composed of various little pieces, in various metres; for thus it is that we who have not much confidence in our genius are wont to avoid the risk of surfeiting people. I recited two days. The approval of my audience exacted this of me; and yet, though other readers skip certain parts, and take credit for skipping them, I pass over nothing, and even aver to my audiences that I pass over nothing. Indeed, I read the whole that I may correct the whole; and this cannot be the case with those who recite extracts. But, you will say that the latter course is more modest, and perhaps more respectful. Yes; but the former is the more straightforward and the more friendly. For he is friendly who thinks the friendship felt for him to be such that he is not in dread of being wearisome. Otherwise, what is the use of intimates if they only come together for the sake of their own amusement? He is a mere fop, and resembles a stranger, who would rather hear his friend’s good book than make it a good one.

I do not doubt that, in accordance with your usual affection for me, you will desire to read, as soon as possible, this newly compounded book. You shall read it, but in a revised form, for this was the object of my recitation. Yet you are already acquainted with many parts of it. These, subsequently either improved, or — which occasionally happens through long delay — altered for the worse, you will discover again, in a new form as it were, and rewritten. For where many changes have been made, even what is left seems to have undergone a change likewise.

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22. — TO GEMINUS.

You know them, don’t you, those men who, slaves to every evil passion, are as indignant at the vices of others as though they envied them, and who are for punishing most severely the persons whom they imitate most closely; whereas, even to those who need no one’s indulgence, nothing is more becoming than leniency. More than this, I esteem him the most excellent and the most faultless who so forgives others as though he himself sinned daily, and so abstains from sins as though he forgave no one. Accordingly let us hold to this, in private, in public, in every relation of life; to be implacable to ourselves and easy of entreaty even to those who are unable to make allowances for any but themselves. Let us commit to memory what one of the mildest, and, on that account, among others, one of the greatest of men, Thrasea, used frequently to say “He who hates vices hates mankind.”

You will perhaps ask what has moved me to write thus. A certain person recently — but it will be better to tell you when we meet; and yet, on second thoughts, not even then. For I fear that by inveighing against and censuring and recapitulating what I disapprove, I may be violating the very precepts which I am giving at this moment. Let the man, whoever and whatever he is, be nameless; by making him known, example would profit nothing; by leaving him unknown, good-nature will profit much.

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23. — TO MARCELLINUS.

All literary pursuits, all serious occupations, all amusements, have been banished, driven out, rooted from my mind by the poignant grief which the death of Julius Avitus has caused me. It was at my house that he put on the Latus Clavus. I assisted him with my support when he was a candidate for office; add to this, that he so loved and revered me that he treated me as the moulder of his character — as his master, so to speak. A rare thing this in the case of our young men. For how few of them will yield, as being inferior, either to the age or the authority of another? They are all at once wise; they all at once know everything; they revere no one; they imitate no one, and are indeed themselves their own models. Not so Avitus, whose chief wisdom was in esteeming others wiser than himself, whose chief erudition was in his desire to learn. He was always seeking some advice, either on the subject of his studies or the duties of life, and he always went away with a sense of being made better. And so he was, either from what he had heard, or at any rate from having inquired. What deference he paid to that most accomplished man Servianus, when the latter was Legate and he was military tribune. He so appreciated and at the same time captivated Servianus that in his march across from Germania to Pannonia he followed him, not as being one of his army, but as a companion and personal attendant. Such was his industry, such his unassuming character, than in his capacity of Quæstor he was no less pleasant and agreeable than useful to his Consuls, of whom he served several. How active, how indefatigable he was in his pursuit of this very office of Ædile, from the enjoyment of which he has been prematurely snatched away! And this it is which greatly aggravates my grief. There present themselves to my eyes his vain labours and fruitless applications, and the honour which he succeeded in deserving only. There returns to my mind that Latus Clavus assumed in my house; those first, those last efforts of mine on his behalf; the discourses, the consultations which we held together. I am touched by his own youth; I am touched by the misfortune suffered by his family.

He had a mother of great age, a wife whom he had married in her maidenhood a year before, a daughter not long born to him. So many hopes, so many joys did a single day turn to mourning! Just nominated Ædile, a new-made husband, a new-made father, he has left behind him a dignity never assumed, a childless mother, a widowed wife, an infant daughter who never knew her father. My sorrow is augmented by the fact that it was during my absence from him, and when I was unprepared for the impending misfortune, that I learnt at one and the same time his illness and his decease. Such is my anguish while writing on this subject, and on this subject alone. For indeed just now I can neither think nor speak of anything else.

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24. — TO MAXIMUS.

My affection for you compels me, not to instruct you, for indeed you need no instructor, yet to remind you to bear in memory and practice what you already know, else it were better unknown. Reflect that you are sent to the province of Achaia, that true and genuine Greece, in which civilisation, letters, and even the fruits of the earth, are believed to have been discovered; that you are sent to order the status of free communities — that is, to men who are in the highest sense,. men, to freemen who are in the highest sense free, who have preserved their natural rights by their virtues, their services, their friendship for us, and, lastly, by compacts and religious sanctions. Respect the gods, their founders, and the names of their gods. Respect their ancient glory, and their very age itself, venerable in the case of men, sacred in the case of cities. Let their antiquity, their great deeds, their fables even, find honour with you. Rifle nothing from any man’s dignity or liberty, or even vainglory. Keep before your eyes that this is the land which sent us our legislation, which gave laws, not to the conquered, but to those who asked for them; that this is Athens to which you go; that this is Lacedaemon which you govern: that to rob these of the shadow still left them, and relics of their liberty, would be harsh, cruel, and barbarous. You see that doctors — although in sickness there is no difference between slave and free — yet treat freemen with greater tenderness and consideration. (Bear in mind what each community has been, not (with the view of despising it) what it has ceased to be. Far from you be all arrogance and asperity. Do not be afraid of contempt. Can he be contemned who holds the supreme power and the fasces, unless he be a mean, paltry creature, who begins by contemning himself. Power tries its strength ill by injuring others; veneration is ill acquired by terror; and love is far more efficacious for obtaining one’s ends than fear. For, fear vanishes when you have taken your departure, love remains; and as the former turns to hatred, so does the latter to reverence. You, for your part, ought assuredly again and again (for I will repeat myself) to call to mind the title of your office, and to interpret for your own self what and how great a matter it is “to order the status of free communities.” For what can be more to the interest of the citizens than order of government? Or what more precious than freedom? Again, what a disgrace if order be exchanged for anarchy and freedom for servitude! Add to this, that you have yourself for a rival; you are weighted by the admirable report of your Quæstorship which you brought back from Bithynia; you are weighted by the testimony of the Emperor, by your Tribuneship and your Prætorship, and by this very legation which has been conferred on you as a kind of recompense. Hence you must the more earnestly strive that you be not reputed to have acted with greater courtesy, integrity, and judgment in a distant province than in a nearer one; among those who are our subjects than among freemen; when despatched by lot than when despatched by the result of deliberate choice; when inexperienced and unknown than when tried and approved; since, as you have often heard and read, it is, in a general way, more disgraceful to lose reputation than not to acquire it.

I beg you to believe (as was said at the beginning) that I have written all this by way of reminder and not of instruction. And yet, after all, by way of instruction too. I am not afraid, forsooth, of having exceeded the limits of affection; nor, seeing that affection should be so strong, is there any danger of its being excessive.

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BOOK IX.

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1. — TO MAXIMUS.

I HAVE often recommended you to issue with all speed the productions you have composed whether, in your own defence, or against Plauta — or rather both in your own defence and against him, for so the occasion required — and now, especially, having heard of his death, I strongly urge, as well as recommend you, to the same effect. For, although you have read them and given them to read to many, yet I would not have any person whatever suppose that you have begun only after his decease what in fact you had completed in his life-time. Let your reputation for intrepidity be intact. And so it will be, if it be known to friends and foes that it was not merely after your enemy’s death that the courage to write was born in you, but that you were quite ready for publication and were only forestalled by his death. At the same time you will avoid the reproach

“Unjust are all the insults o’er the dead.” (Homer, Odyssey xxii. 412. —

For that which has been written and read aloud on the subject of a living person, if published, even after his decease, is published, as it were, against a person still living, provided this be done at once. Consequently, if you have anything else in hand, lay it aside for the time. Put the finishing touch to this work, which to me, who have read it formerly, seems long since complete; however, let it now seem so to you too, since not only does the matter itself require no delay on your part, but a consideration of the particular juncture should cut all delay short.

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2. — TO SABINUS.

You are very obliging in pressing me not only for frequent letters, but for very long ones into the bargain. I have been somewhat chary in this matter, partly from a regard for your avocations, partly from my having been myself much engrossed by matters, in general of small interest, which, however, at the same time distract and weary the attention. Besides, I had no materials for writing more. Nor, indeed, is my situation the same as that of M. Tullius, whose example you invite me to follow. For not merely was he gifted with a most prolific genius, but events in great variety and of great importance supplied that genius with abundant material. How narrow are the limits in which I am enclosed, you well know, without my telling you, unless haply I should wish to send you letters of the school-exercise kind, and from the shade of the closet, if I may so express it. But nothing, to my mind, could be less apposite, when I think of your arms, your camps, in fine, your horns and trumpets and sweat and dust and burning suns.

You are now furnished, as I think, with a reasonable excuse, and yet I am not sure that I should wish it to be approved by you. For it is a sign of the highest affection to refuse to make allowance for the shortness of one’s friends’ letters, even although one may know that it can be satisfactorily accounted for.

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3. — TO PAULINUS.

Different men have different ideas on the subject, but I for my part deem that individual the most fortunate who enjoys to the full the foretaste of a noble and enduring fame, and, assured of posthumous reputation, lives in the company of his future glory. And, for me indeed, if the prize of immortality were not before my eyes, the usual snug and sound repose would be my choice. For I suppose it is the duty of all men to think of themselves as either immortal or mortal; in the former case, certainly, to contend and to exert themselves; in the latter, to keep quiet, to repose themselves, and not to fatigue their short existence by fleeting efforts; as I see many do, who, by a wretched and at the same time thankless appearance of activity, only attain in the end to a contempt for themselves. All this, which I say daily to myself, I now say to you, that I may leave off saying it to myself, if you dissent; though to be sure you, in your character of one who is always meditating some great and immortal work, will not dissent.

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4. — TO MACRINUS.

I should be afraid you would think the oration, which you will receive with this letter, of immoderate length, if it were not of such a kind as to seem to have many beginnings and many endings. For under each separate charge is contained as it were a separate cause. So, at whatever point you begin, or at whatever place you leave off, you will be able to read what next follows both in the light of a new commencement and a connected sequel, and so to pronounce me, if extremely long as to the whole, yet extremely short as to the separate parts.

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5. — TO TIRO.

You are acting admirably (I have been enquiring about you, as you see), and pray persevere, in commending your love of justice to the provincials by much kindly consideration; the chief part of which consists in surrounding with your regard all the most respectable citizens, and being so loved by the smaller folk that you may at the same time be approved by the leading people. For many, while they are apprehensive of seeming to give in too much to the interest of the powerful, obtain a reputation for ill-breeding, and even for ill-nature. Of this fault you have kept yourself well clear; I know it. Nevertheless I cannot refrain from bestowing praise on you, under the guise of advice, for maintaining a due mean, so as to preserve the distinctions of ranks and dignities; for, if these are confounded, disordered, and intermingled, nothing can be more unequal than this very equality.

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6. — TO CALVISIUS.

I have been passing all this time between my writing-tablets and my books in the most delicious calm. “However,” you ask, “have you been able to do this in town?” The Circensian games were on, — a species of exhibition which does not attract me even in the faintest degree. There is no novelty, no variety about them, nothing which one is not satisfied with having seen once only. This makes me all the more astonished that so many thousands of persons should have such a childish desire to see, over and over again, horses running, and men standing in chariots. If, at least, they were attracted by the speed of the horses or the skill of the men, there would be some reason in the thing. As it is, it is a bit of cloth that they applaud, a bit of cloth that they love, and if during the race itself and in the very heat of the contest such and such colours were to change wearers, the favour and applause of the public would change over with them, and the very drivers, the very horses whom they know from afar and whose names they shout out, would all at once be deserted. Such is the influence, such the importance, of a contemptible jacket! I say nothing of the vulgar, itself more contemptible than the jacket; but such is the case with certain persons of standing. When I remember that these can settle down so insatiably to what is so inane, insipid, and tedious, I take some pleasure in the fact that I am not taken by this pleasure. So, I employ in literature my idle hours, throughout these days which others waste in the idlest of occupations.

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7. — TO ROMANUS.

You write that you are engaged in building. ’Tis well.

I have found my defence; for I build with reason the moment that I do so in your company. Indeed there is this further resemblance between us, that you are building by the sea-side, and I by the Larian Lake. There are several villas of mine on the shore of this lake, but two of them, while they greatly delight me, exercise me in an equal degree. One of them, placed on the rocks, after the fashion of Baiæ, overlooks the lake; another, similarly after the fashion of Baiæ, is at the edge of the lake. Hence I am in the habit of calling the former “Tragedy,” and the latter “Comedy,” because one is supported as it were by a high buskin, and the other by a low sock. Each of them has its special charm, which their very diversity renders more agreeable to the possessor of both.

One enjoys a nearer, the other a more extended view of the lake; one, with a gentle curve, embraces a small bay, the other, situated on a lofty crag, separates two small bays from each other; there a promenade stretches for a long way, in a straight line, along the shore, here it gently curves in the shape of a spacious terrace-walk; one of them does not feel the waves, and the other breaks them. From the former you can look down on the people fishing, from the latter you can fish yourself, and throw your line from your room, and actually from your sofa almost, just as from a skiff. These are my reasons for adding to each what is wanting, in view of the superabundant advantages already enjoyed by both. But why enter into reasons with you? It will stand for a good reason with you that you are doing the same thing.

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8. — TO AUGURINUS.

If, after you have praised me, I shall begin to praise you, I am apprehensive of seeming to be repaying a favour rather than proffering a judgment. Yet, though it should seem so, I esteem all your writings to be admirable; chiefly, however, those which are about me. This happens owing to one and the same cause; for not only do you write exceedingly well on the subject of your friends, but I too, as I read, find what is written on the subject of myself exceedingly good.

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9. — TO COLONUS.

I particularly applaud you for being so grievously affected by the death of Pomponius Quintianus, that you prolong your regard for the lost one by means of your regrets; not like so many who care only for the living, or rather pretend to care for them, and indeed do not even pretend, except in the case of those whom they see to be prosperous. For they forget the unfortunate, no less than if they were dead. But your faithfulness is unfailing, and your constancy in love such that it can be ended only by your death. And, by Hercules, Quintianus was a man who ought to be cherished on the strength of his own example. He loved the successful, defended the wretched, mourned for the lost. What nobility in his mien to start with! What deliberation in his speech! How evenly balanced his severity and his playfulness! What his love for letters! What his judgment! How dutifully did he live with a father most unlike himself! How the fact of his being the best of sons was no hindrance to his seeming the best of men! But why do I aggravate your grief? Yet you so loved the young man that you would rather have this, than that silence should be kept about him, particularly by me, by whose commendation you think that his life may be illustrated, his memory prolonged, and that very youth, from which he has been snatched, restored to him.

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10. — TO TACITUS.

I am desirous of obeying your precepts, yet such is the scarcity of wild boars that Minerva and Diana (who, according to you, should be worshipped in company) can - cannot be brought together. So Minerva alone must be served; gingerly, however, in a manner suitable to retirement and the summer-time. On my road I worked out a few things — unmistakeable trifles that deserve to be at once blotted out — with the kind of garrulity with which talk is scattered about in carriages. I have made some additions to them at my country house, as I did not choose to write anything else. Hence my poetry — which you think can be most suitably turned out among groves and woods — is dormant. I have retouched one and another of my small orations. Yet this kind of work is ungrateful and displeasing, and resembles rather the labours than the pleasures of the country.

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11. — TO GEMINUS.

I have received yours, which has been most agreeable to me, and especially so from your wishing something to be addressed to you such as might be inserted in the Books of Letters. Material for this will turn up; either precisely that which you indicate, or in preference something else; for in the case of the former there are several objections. Cast your eyes round, and they will occur to you. I did not think there were booksellers at Lyons, and was all the more pleased to learn from your letter that my works have a ready sale there. I am rejoiced that such favour as they have acquired in town, continues to attend them abroad. Indeed, I begin to think that my productions must be tolerably finished, when, in regions so diverse, the judgments of men so widely separated from each other are yet in harmony about them.

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12. — TO JUNIOR.

A certain person was chiding his son for being somewhat too extravagant in his purchases of horses and dogs. Said I to him, when the young man had left us, “Harkee!” have you never done what might have been rebuked by your father? Have done, do I say? Do you not sometimes do that which your son, if he were suddenly turned into your father and you into his son, might reprehend with the like severity? Are not all men led by some error or other? Does not one man indulge himself in one respect, and another in another?” Admonished by this example of excessive severity, I have, in accordance with our mutual affection, thus written to you, lest you too should at any time treat your son too sharply and rudely. Reflect, not only that he is a boy, but that you have been one, and so use this your position of father as to remember that you are both a man and the father of a man.

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13. — TO QUADRATUS.

In proportion to the interest and attention with which you have read the books composed by me, on the subject of the vindication of Helvidius, is the eagerness of your demand that I should write to you in detail on such matters as are not contained in the books, and on such as bear reference to them, in short, as to the whole process of an affair which you were too young to be personally interested in.

After Domitian had been put to death, I deliberated within myself, and resolved that here was a great and noble opportunity for pursuing the guilty, vindicating the unfortunate, and bringing one’s self into notice. Further, among the numerous crimes of numerous people, none seemed more atrocious than that, in the Senate, a Senator should have laid hands on a Senator, a man of prætorian on a man of consular rank, a judge on an accused person. Independently of this, there was a friendship between myself and Helvidius as intimate as there could be with one who, through dread of the times, hid in seclusion his great name, and the great qualities which matched it. I was a friend, too, of Arria and Fannia, one of whom was Helvidius’s stepmother, and the other that stepmother’s parent. But I was not so much incited by private obligations as by public justice, by the disgraceful character of the deed, by a consideration of the example to be made.

Accordingly, during the first few days of restored liberty, every one on his own account had been at once impeaching and crushing his own private enemies (at least the smaller ones) with a confused and turbulent clamour. I, for my part, deemed it a more temperate and also a more courageous course to attack a monstrous criminal, not by means of the popular resentment of the day, but by means of his own individual crime. So, as soon as that first impulse had sufficiently cooled down, and fury growing daily feebler had come back to a sense of justice — though I was at that time particularly sad, having lately lost my wife — I sent to Anteia, the widow of Helvidius, and asked her to come to me, since my still recent bereavement kept me within doors. On her arrival, “It has been decided,” said I, “by me, not to suffer your husband to remain unavenged. Announce this to Arria and Fannia” (they had returned from exile). “Consult yourself, consult them, as to whether you wish to participate in an action in which I need no associate; yet I am not so solicitous about my own glory as to grudge you a share in it.” Anteia conveyed the message, and the ladies did not hesitate. The Senate, very opportunely, was to meet within three days.

I always referred everything to Corellius, knowing him for the most far-seeing and wisest man of our time. On this occasion, however, I was content with my own counsel, fearing that he would put his veto on it for he was inclined to hesitation and caution. But I could not prevail on myself to refrain from intimating to him, the same day, what I was about to do in a matter about which I was not deliberating, having learnt by experience that, where you have made up your mind, it is best not to seek advice from those whose advice you would be bound to obey.

I attended the Senate, begged leave to speak, and spoke for a short time with the greatest approval. When I began to touch on the charge, and to hint at a person to be charged (yet still without naming him), there came reclamations from all sides. Said one, “Let us know who it is that you are accusing out of order!” Another, “Who can be charged before being put in accusation by the Senate?” A third, “Spare us who survive!” I heard them without perturbance or dismay; such strength lies in the goodness of one’s cause; and so great a difference does it make in the way of giving you confidence or frightening you, whether people do not like what you are doing, or do not approve of it. It would be tedious to recount everything that was thrown out from one quarter and another. Last of all the Consul said, “Secundus, when you are called on for your vote, you will be able to speak if you choose.” I replied, “You will have accorded me a permission, which up to this time you have accorded to every one.” I resumed my seat, and other business was transacted.

Meanwhile, one of my friends of consular rank deeming me to have advanced myself with too much daring and rashness, reproved me in some private and anxious words, recalling me, and warning me to stop. He went so far as to add, “You have made yourself a marked man in the eyes of future Princes.”

“So be it,” said I, “provided they are had Princes.” Scarce had he departed, when again another, “What daring is this? Whither are you rushing? What dangers are you throwing yourself in the way of? Why trust to the present state of things, while uncertain as to the future? You are attacking a man who is already Præfect of the Treasury, and who will shortly be Consul; a man, besides, supported by such interest and such connections!” He named a certain person, who at that time commanded a powerful and renowned army in the East — not without strong and suspicious rumours being connected with him. To this I answered, “All I’ve foreseen, and each event have weighed? Nor will I refuse, if fortune shall so bring it to pass, to suffer for a deed of the highest honour, provided I avenge one of the deepest guilt.”

It was now time for pronouncing our opinions. Domitius Apollinaris, Consul-Elect, spoke; there spoke also Rabricius Veiento, Rabius Postumius, and Yettius Proculus, the colleague of Publicius Certus (the person under discussion), who was moreover the stepfather of the wife whom I had lost. After these came Ammius Flaccus. They all of them defended Certus — though he had not yet been named by me — just as though he had been named, and by their defence took up a charge which I had left, so to speak, unattached. What further they said it is not necessary to relate. You have it in the books, for I have gone through the whole, using their own words. Avidius Quietus and Cornutus Tertullus spoke on the other side. Quietus said, “It would be most unjust that the complaints of aggrieved parties should be excluded; that, consequently, the right of presenting their plaints should not be taken from Arria and Fannia; nor was it of any consequence what rank a person belonged to, but what cause he had.” Cornutus said “that the consuls had assigned him as guardian to the daughter of Helvidius, at the request of her mother and stepfather, nor would he now endure to desert the duties of his office; in the discharge of which, however, he would set bounds to his own grief, and would merely convey the extremely temperate sentiments of these admirable ladies. They were content to call the attention of the Senate to the bloodthirsty sycophancy of Publicius Certus, and to beg that, in case punishment for guilt of the clearest kind were remitted, he might at any rate be branded by some mark, like that inflicted by the Censor.” Upon this, Satrius Rufus made a kind of half-and-half ambiguous speech. “I think,” said he, “that injury has been inflicted on Publicius Certus, if he is not acquitted. He has been named by the friends of Arria and Fannia, and he has been named by his own friends. Nor ought we to feel a difficulty about this; for we, the same who now pronounce favourably on the man, will also have to judge him. If he is innocent, as I hope and wish, and, until something be proved against him, believe, you will be able to acquit him.”

So they spoke, in the order in which each was called upon. Then came my turn. I rose and preluded, as in the book, replying to each severally. It was astonishing with what attention, what plaudits, everything that fell from me was received by the very persons who had just before been crying out upon me. Such was the change which ensued, either from the great importance of the affair, or the success of the oration, or the intrepidity of the speaker. I came to an end. Veiento commenced replying, but no one would endure him. There was a great noise and disturbance, so great indeed as to make him say, “I entreat, Conscript Fathers, that you will not compel me to invoke the aid of the Tribune.” Upon which, Murena, the Tribune, immediately exclaimed, “I give you leave to speak, most noble Veiento.” Even then he was shouted at. Meanwhile, the Consul called over the names, got through the division, and dismissed the Senate, leaving Veiento still almost on his legs and trying to speak. He complained loudly of this insult (so he called it), citing Homer’s line —

“Old man, by younger warriors thou’rt oppressed.”

There was scarce any one in the Senate who did not embrace and salute me, and vie in loading me with praises for having reintroduced the practice, so long interrupted, of consulting the public welfare, at the risk of incurring personal animosities; for having, in short, freed the Senate from the odium which was kindled against it among other orders, as being severe against the rest, and, with a kind of reciprocal connivance, indulgent to Senators alone.

All this took place in the absence of Certus; for he was absent, either because he suspected something of the kind, or (as the excuse was made for him) because he was ill. Cæsar, indeed, did not refer to the Senate any communication with regard to him; nevertheless I obtained what I had aimed at. For the colleague of Certus got the Consulship, and Certus himself was superseded, and what I had said at the end of my speech was completely carried out: “Let him give up, under the best, the distinction which he obtained under the worst of Princes.”

Subsequently I put together again my speech, as best I could, and made many additions. It happened by chance (but so as not to appear like chance) that Certus died a victim to disease within a very few days after the publication of my book. I heard people relate how this was the image which flitted before his mind and his eye — he seemed to see me threatening him with a sword. Whether this was true or not I would not venture to say positively; yet it would be to the interest of example that it should be held to be true.

Here you have a letter which, if you consider the limits of a letter, is no shorter than the hook you have read. But you must lay this to your own account, for not having been contented with the hook.

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14. — TO TACITUS.

You are not the man for self-applause; yet there is nothing which I write with more sincerity than what I write about you. Whether posterity will have any care for us I know not, yet we certainly deserve that it should have some: I do not say on account of our genius (that would be arrogance), but on account of our zeal, our labours, our regard for posterity. Let us only pursue the road we have determined on, one which, though it may have conducted but few to sunlight and fame, has yet brought many out of obscurity and oblivion.

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15. — TO FALCO.

I fled for refuge to my Tuscan estate, with the view of acting according to my own fancy in all things; but not even in my Tuscan estate is this possible. I am troubled with such numerous applications on all sides from the farmers, and such grumbling ones; productions which I am rather more unwilling to read than my own writings; for even my own writings I read unwillingly. I am retouching certain short speeches, a work which, after a temporary intermission, is insipid and disagreeable. The estate accounts are neglected, as though I were absent. Occasionally, however, I mount my horse, and act the landlord so far as to ride over some portion of the farms, though merely for exercise. Do you keep up your habit, and write me in full (since you see what sort of a countryman I am) of the doings in town.

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16. — TO MAMILIANUS.

I do not wonder that you have derived the greatest pleasure from such an abundant species of chase, when you write to me, after the manner of historians, that “the numbers could not be counted.” For my part, I have neither leisure nor inclination for hunting; no leisure, because my vintage is on hand; no inclination, because the vintage is small. However, in the place of new wine, I am drawing off some new verses, and, as you are so polite in requiring them, will send them to you as soon as they shall seem to have laid aside their fermentation.

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17. — TO GENITOR.

Your letter is to hand, in which you complain that a dinner of the most sumptuous description bored you, in consequence of buffoons, wantons, and fools strolling about the tables. Pray, smooth those wrinkles of yours a bit! To be sure I keep nothing of the kind, yet I bear with those who do. Why don’t I keep them? Because I derive not the slightest pleasure either in the way of surprise or gaiety from any exhibition of looseness on the part of a wanton, or sauciness on the part of a buffoon, or silliness on the part of a fool. I am stating to you not my reasons, but my taste. And in truth, how many do you suppose there are who in the same way are offended at the things by which you and I are captivated and allured, deeming them to be partly foolish and partly irksome in a high degree! How many there are who, when a reader, or a performer on the lyre, or a comedian is introduced, call for their shoes, or remain at table with no less ennui than that with which you sat out these monstrosities, as you style them! Let us then make allowance for other people’s amusements, that we may obtain allowance for our own.

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18. — TO SABINUS.

How great has been the attention, the interest, the memory, in fine, with which you have read my small productions, is shown by your letter. You are therefore spontaneously cutting out work for yourself by enticing and alluring me to communicate to you as many as possible of my writings. I will do so, yet in parts at a time, and portioned out, so to speak, lest that very memory of yours which I have to thank should be confused by the constant succession and mass of matter, and, weighted and as it were oppressed, should lose its hold on particulars in consequence of their quantity, and on what has preceded in consequence of what follows.

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19. — TO RUSO.

You intimate to me that you have read in a certain letter of mine how Verginius Rufus ordered this epitaph to be placed on his tomb —

“Here Rufus lies, who Vindex overcame,

Not for his own, but for his country’s fame.”

You find fault with him for having ordered this; you go so far as to add that Frontinus acted better and more appropriately in forbidding any monument whatever to be erected to himself; and you end by consulting me as to my opinion in either case. I loved both of them. I had the greater admiration for the one whom you find fault with; such admiration, indeed, as to think that he never could he sufficiently praised, though I have now to undertake his defence. I judge all those who have done anything great and memorable to be in the highest deserving, not only of excuse, but actually of praise, if they pursue with eagerness the immortality which they have merited, and strive to prolong the renown of a name destined to live, even through the medium of sepulchral inscriptions. Nor can I easily find any one besides Verginius whose modesty in setting forth his deeds has equalled his glory in performing them. I, who enjoyed his intimate affection and approval, can personally testify that only on a single occasion in my hearing did he go so far as to relate just this one anecdote on the subject of his own actions, namely, that Cluvius had once addressed him in these terms: “You know, Verginius, the truthfulness which is due to history; accordingly, if you should read anything in my histories different from what you would wish, pray forgive me.” To which he replied, “Are you ignorant, Cluvius, that I did what I did precisely that it might be free to you authors to write what you chose?”

Come, now, let us compare this very Frontinus in the very respect in which he seems to you more modest and restrained. He forbad a monument to be constructed; but in what words? “The expense of a monument is superfluous. My memory will endure if my life deserved it.” Do you think it more modest to give out, to be read over the whole world, that one’s memory will endure, than in one single spot to inscribe what you have done, in a couple of verses? Though, to be sure, it is not my object to find fault with Frontinus, but to defend Verginius; and what can be a juster defence of him, as far as you are concerned, than that which arises from a comparison with him of the person you have preferred? In my judgment, indeed, neither of them is to be blamed, since both strove after glory with equal longing, though by a different road — one by desiring the inscription which was his due, the other by choosing rather the appearance of despising it.

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20. — TO VENATOR.

Your letter, assuredly, was all the more agreeable to me in proportion to its length, particularly as the whole of it was on the subject of my small productions; and I do not wonder at these being a pleasure to you, since you love everything connected with me just as you love me in person. I am, at the present moment, gathering in my vintage, a slender one, to be sure, yet a more plentiful one than I had anticipated — if “gathering in” it can be called to pluck a grape now and then, to visit the press, to taste the new wine out of the vat, to drop in on my servants from town, who are now overlooking the country ones, and who have left me to the company of my secretaries and readers.

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21. — TO SABINIANUS.

Your freedman, whom you told me you were so angry with, came to me and prostrated himself, and clung to my feet as though they had been your own. There were many tears, many prayers, and even much silence on his part; in short, he convinced me of his penitence. I believe him to be truly amended, because he feels that he has sinned. You are angry, I know, and you are rightly angry, that I know too; but it is precisely when there is the most just ground for anger that clemency is entitled to the highest praise. You have loved the man, and I hope you will love him again; meanwhile it will suffice that you permit yourself to be entreated. It will be lawful for you to be angry with him anew if he shall have deserved it; and if you are entreated now, you will do this with a better excuse. Make some allowance in view of the man’s youth, in view of his tears, in view of your own goodness of heart. Do not torment him, and do not torment yourself into the bargain. For you are tormented, you, who are so gentle, when you are angry. I fear that I shall seem not so much to entreat as to compel, should my prayers be joined to his. I will, however, join them, and they are all the stronger and the more profuse in proportion to the sharpness and severity with which I reprimanded him, having strictly threatened him that I would never again make an application to you. So much to him, for it was proper that he should be frightened; I do not say the same to you. For possibly I may again apply to you, and again obtain my object. May it only be such as it will become me to ask for and you to vouchsafe!

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22. — TO SEVERUS.

The illness of Passienus Paullus has caused me great anxiety, and this for many excellent reasons. He is a man of the highest worth and honour, and one who is greatly attached to me; moreover, in literature he rivals, recalls, and reproduces the ancients, particularly Propertius, from whom he is descended, whose genuine offspring he is, and whom he most resembles in the points’ in which the former excelled. If you take his elegiacs in hand, you will read a polished, dainty, charming book, an evident production of the household of Propertius. Recently he has turned to lyrics, in which he presents us with Horace, just as in the former kind of poetry with Propertius. You would suppose, if relationship has any power in letters, that he must be Horace’s kinsman as well. He is full of variety and flexibility. His love passages are those of a genuine lover; he mourns like one who will not be consoled; his praise is of the most benign, and his playfulness of the most humorous character; in short, he bestows the same pains on the tout ensemble as on the several parts. Sick in mind (no less than he was sick in body) on account of such a friend and such a genius, I have at length recovered him and have myself recovered. Congratulate me, congratulate literature itself too, which has encountered as great a risk from his peril as it will obtain glory in consequence of his safety.

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23. — TO MAXIMUS.

Often has it happened to me, when pleading, that the Centumviri, after keeping for a long while to their judicial dignity and gravity, have suddenly — as though vanquished and compelled to the act — risen from their seats in a body and applauded me. Often have I obtained from the Senate the highest glory I had aspired to. Yet never have I received greater pleasure than lately from what was told me by Cornelius Tacitus. He related how a Roman knight was sitting by him at the last Circensian games. After a conversation of a varied and learned character, the gentleman asked him, “Are you from Italy or the provinces?” He replied, “You know me, and from your reading too.” Upon which the other inquired, “Are you Tacitus or Pliny?” I cannot express how delightful it is to me that our names, as though belonging to literature, and not to human beings, are thus connected with literature; that each of us is known by means of his pursuits, even to those to whom he is otherwise unknown.

Another similar occurrence took place a very few days ago. That distinguished man Fabius Rufinus was my neighbour at table, and above him was one of his townsmen, who had come to Rome that day for the first time. Rufinus, pointing me out to him, said, “Do you see this gentleman?” and proceeded to talk at length of my literary pursuits. Said the other, “It must he Pliny.” To acknowledge the truth, I enjoy a great reward from my labours. Why, if Demosthenes was rightly delighted because an old woman of Athens recognised him in these terms, “This is Demosthenes!” ought not I to rejoice in the celebrity of my name? And truly I do rejoice, and own that I rejoice. Nor indeed do I fear to seem too much puffed up, since it is the opinion of others about me, and not my own, that I am putting forward; and especially since this is to you, who not only do not grudge the praises bestowed on any man, but also favour those bestowed on me.

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24. — TO SABINIANUS.

You have done well in taking back to your home and your heart the freedman formerly so dear to you, with my letter for his passport. This will be a satisfaction to you. It is certainly a satisfaction to me: first, because I see you to be so tractable that even in your anger you are capable of being ruled; in the next place, because you make so much account of me as either to yield to my authority or to comply with my prayers. So I praise as well as thank you. At the same time, I admonish you, as to the future, to show yourself placable in regard to the errors of those about you, even though there should be no one by to intercede in their behalf.

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25. — TO MAMILIANUS.

You complain of the mass of business in the camp, and yet, as though you were in entire enjoyment of the most complete repose, you read my sportive effusions and trifles, you delight in them, call for them, and strongly urge me to the composition of others like them. Indeed I begin to seek, not only recreation, but even glory, from this kind of pursuit, after the favourable judgment of a man so learned, so respected, and above all so truthful, as yourself. At present, business in court, though it does not entirely occupy me, still does so to some extent. When it is concluded, I shall despatch some product of these same Muses to that kindliest bosom of yours. You will suffer my little sparrows and doves to fly among your eagles, on condition, however, of their being approved by you as well as by themselves. If the latter only, you will take care and shut them up in their cages or nests.

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26. — TO LUPERCUS.

I once said — aptly, as I think — of a certain orator of our epoch, who, though correct and sensible, was lacking in grandeur and ornamentation, “His only sin is that he does not sin.” Indeed, an orator ought to be excited and elevated, at times even to boil over and be hurried along, and so, often to approach a precipice; for what is high and lofty generally has a chasm adjoining it. The road over a plain is safer, but at the same time humbler and lower; runners meet with more falls than crawlers, but the latter get no credit for not falling, while the former get some, even though they do fall. For, as in the case of certain accomplishments, so in that of eloquence — nothing commends it so much as its hazards. You see what applause dancers on a lofty tight-rope generally elicit when they seem on the point of falling; for we most admire what is most unexpected and dangerous, and, as the Greeks more strongly express it, most “dare-devilish.” Hence the worth of a helmsman is by no means the same when sailing on a quiet as when on a stormy sea. In the former case he enters the harbour without being admired by any one — without praise, without glory. But when the cordage creaks, and the mast bends, and the rudder groans, then what a great man he is, and how near to a sea-god!

Why all this? Because you seem to me to have noted certain passages in my writings as being turgid which I thought elevated, as audacious which I thought bold, as extravagant which I thought full. Now, it makes a great difference whether what you note be reprehensible or merely conspicuous. For every one has his attention attracted by what is prominent and stands out in relief; only, diligent attention is necessary for judging between what is sublime and what exceeds the bounds, what is lofty and what is extravagant. And, to quote Homer for choice, pray who can forget, whichever way they be judged, the words —

“All around

The mighty heaven gave out a trumpet sound;”

and

“His spear upon a cloud reclined;”

and all that passage,

“Nor such the shout of Ocean’s wave.”

But you want a tongued-balance and scales to ascertain whether these expressions are impossible and unmeaning, or on the other hand glorious and divine. Not that I am now supposing myself to have ever uttered or to be capable of uttering anything like this. I am not such a madman. But I only wish this to be understood, that the reins of eloquence should be left loose, and the flights of genius should not be restrained in the narrowest of circles.

But it will be said that the conditions of oratory are one thing and those of poetry another. Just as if M. Tullius were less daring! However, I pass him by, for indeed I do not think the subject admits of doubt. But Demosthenes himself, that pattern and model orator, pray does he contain or restrain himself when he utters those well-known words, “Base, fawning, accursed wretches of men!” or again, “It is not with stones or bricks that I have fortified the city;” and directly afterwards, “Ought not Euboea to have been made to flank Attica on the sea-board?” and elsewhere, “For my part, Athenians, by the Gods, I think that the man is drunk with the magnitude of his own exploits.” What indeed can be more daring than that most exquisite and lengthy digression beginning with “’Tis a terrible malady”? How about this, shorter than the preceding, but equal in boldness, “Then I (yielded not) to Python in his insolence and flowing with his full tide against you”? Of the same stamp is this, “When a man is powerful through rapacity and wickedness, like this one, the first occasion, the smallest stumble, will altogether unseat and destroy him.” A similar expression is “Roped off from all civic rights,” and in the same place, “You, Aristogeiton, have surrendered all the pity that might have been felt for such deeds as these, or rather you have entirely extinguished it. Do not, therefore, come for anchorage to harbours which you have yourself blocked up and filled with piles.” He had previously said, “For I fear lest some may think that you are engaged in training such of the citizens as are desirous of turning out scoundrels.” And afterwards, “I see that none of these topics can offer a passage for this man, nothing but precipices and chasms and yawning pits.” It is not enough to say, “For I do not understand that our ancestors built these courts for you in order that you might plant in them such fellows as these;” he adds, “If he is a dealer and a retailer and a huckster in villainy,” and a thousand things of the same kind, to pass over what Æschines called “monstrosities,” not “expressions.”

I have chanced upon what seems to contradict me. You will say that even Demosthenes is found fault with in these respects; but just see how much greater is the person criticised than the critic himself, and greater actually on account of these very things. For in other points his power, in these his sublimity shines forth. And pray did Æschines himself abstain from what he reproved in Demosthenes? “For the orator and the law should speak in unison; but when the law sends out one voice and the orator another....” Elsewhere, “Since it appears that concerning everything, in the decree... Again elsewhere, “But, sitting and lying in wait for him at the hearing, drive him into lawless language,” which he so much approved as to repeat, “But as in the horse-races, drive him to the same course in the business.” Pray is this more guarded or temperate, “You are irritating the wound,... seizing him as a political pirate sailing through the state,” and the rest of it?

I expect that some things in this very letter, as, for instance, the expression, “The rudder groans,” and “Near to a sea-god,” will be spitted by you with the same marks of disapproval as those about which I write. For I am aware that while apologising for previous passages of mine I have fallen into the very things which you had set your mark to. However, I give you leave to spit them, provided only you at once appoint a day when we may treat in person both of the other passages and of these. For either you shall make me cautious or else I shall make you rash.

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27. — TO PATERNUS.

What power, what dignity, what majesty, what divinity, in short, there is in history! This I have lately, as well as on numerous other occasions, experienced. A gentleman had recited a composition strongly marked by truth, and had reserved a portion of it for another day. Lo and behold the friends of a certain personage begged and entreated him not to recite the remainder. Such is the shame of listening to what they have done, on the part of the very people who are not in the least ashamed of doing what they blush to listen to. As for the writer, he granted their request, a thing which honour permitted him to do. The composition, however, like the deed itself, remains, and will remain, and will always be read, and that all the more because not immediately. For men are stimulated to make acquaintance with what is deferred.

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28. — TO ROMANUS.

After a long interval I have received your letters — three at the same time, however — all of them very choice and friendly compositions, and such as letters coming from you should be, particularly when they are so greatly desired. In one of these you impose on me a most agreeable service, that of forwarding your communications to that august lady Plotina. They shall be forwarded. In the same letter you commend to me Popilius Artemisius. I immediately granted his request. You also intimate to me that you have got in but a moderate vintage. This complaint is common to both of us, though in such widely different parts of the world.

In your second letter you announce that you are at times dictating, and at others writing, a good deal having for its object to bring me before your mind. I thank you, and would thank you still more if you had allowed me to read the actual compositions which you are writing or dictating. And it would be fair that I should be made acquainted with your writings, just as you have been with mine, even although they had related to some other person than myself. At the end, you promise — so soon as you shall have heard anything definite about my arrangements — that you will play the runaway to your belongings and forthwith fly off to me, who am already preparing chains for you such as you will in nowise be able to break through.

The third letter contained news that my oration for Clarius had reached you, and that it had seemed to you fuller than when you heard me speak it. It is fuller; for I subsequently made many additions to it. You add that you sent me another letter more carefully composed, and you ask whether I have received it. I have not received it, and I long to do so. Accordingly, send me a copy on the very first opportunity, with something added to it by way of interest, which I shall compute (can I put it lower?) at twelve per cent.

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29. — TO RUSTICUS.

Just as it is better to excel in any one pursuit than to do a number of things moderately well, so it is better to do a number of things moderately well, if you are unable to excel in any one. Observing this, I try my hand at various kinds of literature, not being sufficiently confident about any of them. So when you read this or that of mine, allow for each single composition as not standing by itself. Pray, in the case of the other arts, is the number of productions an excuse for shortcomings; and is there to be a harder law in the case of literature, in which the execution is so much more difficult? Yet why do I talk of allowance, like an ingrate? For if you receive my newest productions with the same favour as the preceding ones, I have rather to hope for praise than to supplicate allowance. However, the latter will he sufficient for me.

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30. — TO GEMINUS.

You praise your friend Nonius to me — often by word of mouth, and now by letter — for being so generous towards certain people. And so do I praise him, provided he is not so towards these alone. For I will have it that the truly generous man gives to his country, his relations, his connections, his friends; I speak of his ‘poor friends, not like those who choose as the objects of their donations such as can best make a return. I consider these people with their presents — all smeared with bird-lime, and furnished with a hook — to be not so much bringing forth out of their own as clutching at other people’s property. Those are of a like character, who take from one what they give to another, seeking through avarice a reputation for generosity. Now, the principal thing is to be content with one’s own; after that, to support, to cherish, and, as it were, to encompass in a circle of fellowship those whom one knows to be particularly in need. If your friend does all these things, he is thoroughly to be commended; if any one of them, to a smaller degree indeed, yet still to be commended, so rare is the type of even imperfect generosity. Such a passion for getting has seized on men that they seem to be taken possession of rather than to be possessors.

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31. — TO SARDUS.

Since leaving you, I have been no less in your company than when with you. For I have read your book, reperusing ever and anon those parts chiefly (I will not deny the truth) in which you have written about me. In these indeed you have been particularly copious. How many and how varied the things you have said — things which, though about the same person, are not the same, and yet do not contradict each other. Shall I commend you, and thank you at the same time? I can do neither sufficiently, and, even if I could, should fear it might be presumptuous to commend you on account of what I had to thank you for. This only will I add, that everything in your book seemed to me the more commendable in proportion as it was agreeable to me, and the more agreeable in proportion as it was commendable.

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32. — TO TITIANUS.

What are you about? And what are you going to be about? For my part, I am leading the pleasantest, that is, the idlest, of lives. Hence it comes to pass that I don’t like writing long letters, and like reading them — the former in my character of an exquisite, and the latter in that of an idler. For there is nothing more slothful than your exquisite, or more inquisitive than your idler.

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33. — TO CANINIUS.

I have fallen in with a subject which, though true, bears a close resemblance to fiction, and is worthy of your lively and elevated and thoroughly poetical genius. I fell in with it, moreover, among a variety of marvels which were being related by different guests at a dinner party. The authority for it is a man of the highest veracity; though, by the by, what has a poet got to do with veracity? However, this particular authority is such as you might have trusted, even if you had designed to write history.

There is in Africa a colonial town named Hippo, close to the sea. Adjoining it is a navigable lagoon, out of which flows an estuary after the manner of a river, whose waters are alternately carried to the sea or returned to the lagoon, according as they are driven back or impelled by the tide. The inhabitants of every age are strongly addicted to fishing, boating, and likewise swimming; particularly the boys, who are attracted by idleness and sport. In their eyes, it is glory and renown to swim out a long way; the victor is he who has left the shore, as well as his fellows, the furthest distance behind him. In this kind of contest, a certain lad, bolder than the rest, was getting far out to sea. Suddenly a dolphin met him, and at one time went in front of, at another followed, and then swam round him, at last took him on his back, then put him off, then took him on again, next bore the trembling lad seaward, and presently turning back to the shore, restored him to terra firma and his companions.

The report of this crept through the town; all the inhabitants flocked up and contemplated the lad himself as a kind of prodigy, they questioned him, and listened to him, and repeated his story. Next day they took possession of the shore, and gazed upon the sea and everything that looked like sea. The boys swam, and among them the one in question, but with greater caution. Again to time came the dolphin, and again he made for the boy, who fled with his companions. The dolphin, as though inviting and recalling him, leapt out of the water, and dived and twined and untwined himself in a variety of circles. The same thing happened the next day, and a third day, and on several days, till these men, brought up to the sea, began to be ashamed of their fears. They approached and called to him jestingly; they even handled him, and he submitted to be stroked. Their boldness grew by use. But, before all others, the boy who had had the first experience of him, swam by him, jumped on his back, was carried to and fro, and, fancying he was recognised and loved by him, was himself taken with love for the dolphin. Neither of them is afraid, neither is an object of fear, the confidence of the one and the tameness of the other go on increasing. Other boys too, on the right and left, swim with their friend, cheering and exhorting him. What is also marvellous, another dolphin accompanied this one, but only in the character of a spectator and attendant, for he neither performed nor submitted to anything of the same kind; he merely led the other and escorted him back, just as the rest of the boys did with this boy. Though it seems incredible (yet it is just as true as what has preceded), this dolphin, that carried and played with boys, would often leave his element for the land, and after drying himself in the sands, would, as soon as he had grown warm, roll back into the sea. It is ascertained that Octavius Avitus the Pro-consular Legate, led by a vicious superstition, poured ointment on him after he had been attracted to the shore, and that the strangeness of the thing and the smell caused him to escape back into the deep, and that he was not seen for many days afterwards, and then languid and dull; yet soon afterwards he regained his spirits, and resumed his former friskiness and his accustomed offices. There was a confluence of all the officials of the province to see the sight, whose arrival and sojourn were exhausting the modest revenues of the town in unwonted expenses. Finally, the place itself was parting with its repose and retired character. It was decided to put to death privately the object of all this assemblage.

With what tender commiseration, with what exuberance, will you weep over and embellish and exalt this tale! There is, however, no need for your inventing or adding anything fresh to it. It will suffice if what is true suffer no diminution.

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34. — TO TRANQUILLUS.

Relieve me of my difficulty. I hear that I read badly — poetry at least — orations, indeed, well enough, and, on that very account, poetry less well. So being about to have a recitation before some intimate friends, I am thinking of making trial of my freedman. This, too, is a mark of intimacy that I have selected a man who will not read well, though he will read better than me, provided he does not become confused, for he is as unpractised a reader as I am a poet. Now what I myself am to do all the time he is reading I know not. Should I sit wrapt and mute and like a person with nothing in hand? Or, after the fashion of some, should I accompany his delivery with mutterings and motions of the eyes and hands? But I fancy I am as bad at pantomime as at reading. Again, I say, relieve me of my difficulty, and write me back word candidly whether it be better to read execrably than to be either doing or not doing such things as these.

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35. — TO ATRIUS.

I have received the book you sent me, and thank you for it. I am, however, at the present time greatly occupied. Consequently I have not yet read it, though for the rest extremely anxious to do so. But I owe such respect not only to literature itself, but also to your writings, as to deem it impiety to take them in hand save with a mind quite disengaged. I strongly approve your diligence in the revision of your works. Yet there is a certain limit to this; in the first place, because too much care serves to impair rather than to emend; next, because it calls us off from newer attempts, and, while it does not make perfect what went before, prevents us from commencing what ought to come after.

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36. — TO FUSCUS.

You ask how I dispose of my day in summer-time at my place in Tuscany. I wake when I choose, generally about six o’clock, often before that, rarely later. My window’s remain closed; for, thus marvellously withdrawn from all distractions, by means of the silence and the darkness, I am my own master and am left to myself; I make my eyes wait on my mind, not my mind on the eyes; and the eyes will see the same things as the mind, when they have nothing else to see. I ponder whatever I have in hand, ponder it just as if writing it out word for word and correcting it, at one time a shorter, at another a longer portion, according as it has been difficult or easy to compose or to recollect. I call for my amanuensis, and, letting in the daylight, dictate what I have put together; he goes away, is recalled, is dismissed afresh. At ten or eleven o’clock (for the time is not fixed or subject to regulation), according to the weather, I betake myself to the terrace-walk or else to the cloisters, where I meditate and dictate the sequel; then I get into my carriage. There, too, I employ myself in the same way as when walking or lying on my couch; my attention remains constant, being refreshed by the change itself. Next, I go to sleep again for a short time, then walk, and presently read a Greek or Latin oration aloud and with emphasis, not so much for the sake of my voice as my digestion, yet my voice is also strengthened at the same time. Again I walk, am anointed, exercise myself and bathe. At dinner, if taken in company with my wife or a small party, a book is read out. After dinner comes the comedian or a performer on the lyre; shortly afterwards, I take a stroll with my attendants, in the number of whom are some persons of cultivation. In this way the evening is occupied by varied conversation, and the day, however long, is soon brought to an end.

At times some changes are made in the above disposition. For if I have been a long while on my couch, or walking, it is only after a nap and a reading that I take the air, not in a carriage, but — which takes less time, as being more rapid — on horseback. Friends drop in with their visits from the neighbouring villages, engrossing to themselves part of my day; and now and then, when I am wearied with study, these seasonable interruptions are of service to me. Occasionally I hunt, but not without my note-books, so that, if I fail in taking something, I may at any rate have some to bring home. Some time, though not, as they think, enough, is given to my tenants, whose rustic grumblings enhance the pleasures of my literary pursuits, and of those occupations which smack of the city.

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37. — TO PAULINUS.

It is not in your nature to exact customary and, as it were, conventional services from your intimates, against their own convenience; and, moreover, my affection for you is too steadfast to make me fear that you will take it otherwise than I could wish if I fail to attend immediately on the Kalends -to see you made Consul, particularly as I am detained by the necessity of letting my farms, a business which will settle matters for several years, and in connection with which I shall have to make fresh arrangements. For during the last five years, though the tenants have had large remissions made them, their arrears have grown: hence most of them have ceased to take any pains to diminish debts which they despair of being able to pay in full. They even ravage and consume the produce, as though they began to think that if they spared it it would not be for their own benefit. These increasing abuses must consequently be met and remedied. The only plan for remedying them is to let the farms, not at a fixed rent, but for a share of the produce, and then to set some of my servants to supervise the work and guard the crops; and in any case, there is no fairer return than that which the soil, the climate, and the seasons bring in. This plan, it is true, requires great honesty, sharp eyes, and numerous hands. Yet the experiment must be made; and, as in the case of a disease of long standing, we must try and resort to any kind of change. You see it is no fanciful reason which prevents me from attending on the first day of your Consulship, which I shall nevertheless celebrate here, just as if I were there, with prayers and joy and congratulations.

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38. — TO SATURNINUS.

I do praise our friend Rufus, not because you begged me to do so, but because he is most worthy of praise. For I have read his book, so perfect in all points, and my love for the writer added much to its favour with me. Yet I exercised my judgment on it; nor indeed do those only exercise their judgments who read with ill-natured intent.

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39. — TO MUSTIUS.

By the advice of the Haruspices, the temple of Ceres, which stands on my property, will have to be repaired, embellished, and enlarged. It is, to be sure, old and small, though, for all that, it is very crowded on a particular day. FŸR, on the Ides of September, a large assemblage is gathered there from the whole district, much business is transacted, many vows are undertaken, and many are paid, yet there is no refuge near at hand against either the rain or the sun. It seems to me, therefore, that I shall be acting in accordance with the dictates of generosity as well as of religion by constructing the temple in the handsomest style, and adding to it a colonnade — the former for the use of the goddess, the latter for the use of men. Consequently I should be obliged by your buying four columns of marble, of whatever sort you think fit; also by your buying marble for the adornment of the floor and the walls. Moreover, there will have to be either made or bought a statue of the goddess herself, because the old one which is there, and which is of wood, is in some of its parts mutilated through age. As to the colonnade, nothing occurs to me in the interval which seems to be required from your neighbourhood, unless indeed you would draw up a plan in accordance with the locality. It cannot be built round the temple, for the ground on which the temple stands is closed in on one side by a river with extremely steep banks, and on the other by a road. Beyond the road there is an extensive meadow, in which the colonnade might find space conveniently enough, opposite to the temple itself; unless you shall discover anything better, who are accustomed to overcome difficulties of locality by your art.

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40. — TO FUSCUS.

You write that you were much pleased with my letter, from which you learnt how I spend my summer holidays on my Tuscan estate, and you inquire what of all this is changed in winter-time at my Laurentine villa. Nothing, except that my midday siesta is cut off, and a good deal is taken from the night, either before sunrise or after sunset and if there is any pressing necessity for appearing in court (as there often is in winter) there is no longer place for a comedian or a lyrical performer after dinner, but I often go over again what I have dictated, and at the same time my memory is helped by this frequent revision. You now know my habits in summer and in winter. You may add to this, spring and autumn, in which, as being the intermediate seasons between summer and winter, I lose nothing of my working day, and gain a little from the night.

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BOOK X. CORRESPONDENCE WITH TRAJAN.

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1. — TO TRAJAN.

THOUGH your dutiful affection had made you desire, most august Emperor, to succeed your father at as late a period as possible, yet the immortal gods have hastened to advance your great virtues to the helm of the State, of which you had already undertaken the administration. I pray, then, that all prosperity — in other words, all that is worthy of your epoch — may fall to your lot, and, through you, to that of the human race. I offer private as well as public aspirations for your health and spirits, most noble Emperor.

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2. — TO TRAJAN.

I cannot express in words, my Liege, what joy you have conferred on me, in that you have deemed me worthy of the rights belonging to the father of three children; for though you have conceded this to the prayers of Julius Servianus, an admirable man, most devoted to you, yet I understand from your rescript itself that you have granted it all the more willingly, because he was asking on my account. I seem, then, to have attained the summit of my wishes, now that at the commencement of your most auspicious reign you have proved me to be an object of your especial favour. And all the greater is my longing for children, whom I wished to have even in the dismal period that is past, as you may judge from my two marriages. But the gods have decreed better, who reserved things as they were till your kindly reign. They preferred that I should become a father, rather at this time, when I should be destined to be one in security and happiness.

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3 A (20.) — TO TRAJAN.

The moment, sir, I was promoted by your favour, and that of your father, to the post of Prefect of the Treasury of Saturn, I renounced all employment as an advocate (which, independently of this, I had never exercised in a promiscuous fashion), in order to devote my whole attention to the functions delegated to me. For which reason, when the Provincials chose me as their patron against Marius Priscus, I begged to be excused this office, and obtained my wish. But when subsequently the Consul-Elect gave it as his opinion that we, whose excuse had been accepted, should be urged to place ourselves at the disposal of the Senate, and to suffer our names to be thrown with others into the urn, I deemed it most in accord with the even tenor of your reign not to resist the desire, especially such a moderate one, of the most honourable House. I hope that this compliance of mine will be thought by you to be justified, since it is my wish to make all my acts and deeds approved to your most noble disposition.

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3 B (21.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You have discharged the part of a good citizen and a good Senator in yielding that compliance, which was so justly required of you, to the most honourable House. And I have full confidence that you will carry out this part in faithful accord with your undertaking.

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4 (3.) — PLINY TO TRAJAN.

Your kindness, most noble Emperor, which is experienced by me to the full, prompts me to be so bold as to lie under obligation to you on behalf of my friends as well. Among these, Voconius Romanus claims for himself, I would say, even the first place, my schoolfellow and companion from early life; for which reasons I had already asked the deceased Emperor, your father, to promote him to senatorial rank. But this prayer of mine has been reserved for your grace, since the mother of Romanus had not yet completed, with due formalities, the gift of four hundred thousand sesterces, which she had undertaken to bestow on her son in a petition addressed to your father. This she did afterwards on my admonition; for she has made over to him certain estates, and has accomplished the remaining forms which are usually required for completing a transfer. Seeing, then, that what delayed my hopes is now settled, it is not without considerable assurance that I pledge you my credit for the character of my friend Romanus, set off as it is by literary acquirements, and by his remarkable family affection, which has deserved for him this very benefaction from his mother, as well as his immediate entrance on his father’s estate and his adoption by his stepfather. All this is enhanced by the splendour of his birth and of his paternal property, and I have such confidence in your kindness as to believe that these several matters will actually receive much additional recommendation from my prayers. I therefore beg, sir, that you will put me in possession of a much-coveted subject for rejoicing, and will grant to an affection, which is, I hope, an honourable one, the power of glorying in your judgments, not as regards myself only, but my friend as well.

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5 (4.) — TO TRAJAN.

Last year, sir, being tormented by a severe disease, even to the peril of my life, I engaged a doctor on the Iatraliptic system, whose solicitude and zeal I can make an equal return for, only through favour of your kindness. Wherefore I pray you to grant him the Roman citizenship; for his status is that of a foreigner, and he was manumitted by a foreign lady. His own name is Harpocras. His patroness was Thermuthis, the wife of Theon, who is long since dead. At the same time, I would beg you to grant naturalisation to Hedia and Harmeris, the freedwomen of a most distinguished lady, Antonia Maximilla; a request which I make of you at the desire of their patroness.

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6 (22.) — TO TRAJAN.

I thank you, sir, for granting, without delay, naturalisation to the freedwoman of a lady who is a friend of mine, as well as the Roman citizenship to Harpocras, my Iatraliptic doctor.§ But when I had given in the age and fortune of the latter, as you had bidden me to do, I was informed by persons of greater experience that, inasmuch as he was an Egyptian, I ought first to have obtained for him the citizenship of Alexandria, and afterwards that of Rome. For my part, however, owing to my thinking that there was no difference between Egyptians and other foreigners, I was content simply to write to you to the effect that he had been manumitted by a foreign lady, and that his patroness was long since dead. I will not complain of this ignorance of mine, since it has been the cause of my being under more frequent obligations to you on account of the same person. I beg, therefore, in order that your favour may be lawfully enjoyed by me, that you would accord him the citizenship of Alexandria as well as of Rome. His age and fortune (that there may be no fresh delay in the way of your kindness) I have sent in to those freedmen of yours to whom you ordered me to send them.

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7 (23.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I have made it a rule, in accordance with the established custom of the emperors, to be cautious in bestowing the citizenship of Alexandria; but since you have already obtained that of Rome for Harpocras, your Iatraliptic doctor, I cannot bring myself to refuse this further application of yours. You will have to inform me from what district he comes, that I may forward you a letter for my friend Pompeius Planta, the Prefect of Egypt.

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8 (24.) — TO TRAJAN.

Your late imperial father, sir, having exhorted all citizens to the exercise of liberality, as well in an admirable discourse as by his own most noble example, I begged of him that some statues of emperors (which had been handed down to me through several successions, and which I was taking care of, just as I had received them, on some distant estates of mine) might, by his leave, be transferred to the chief town, with the addition of his own statue. This he accorded me, with the most ample expression of his approval, and I at once wrote to the Decurions to assign me a piece of ground on which I might build a temple at my own expense. They, in honour of the work itself, offered me the choice of a situation. But I was prevented first by my own and next by your father’s illness, and subsequently by the cares of the office which you and he imposed on me. Now, it seems to me that I can most conveniently make an excursion to the spot itself; for my month of attendance expires on the Kalends of September, and the following month has many holidays in it. I beg therefore, before all things, that you will permit me to embellish the work I am about to commence, by the addition of your statue; and next, in order that I may do this as soon as possible, that you will grant me a furlough. Yet it is not consistent with my straightforwardness to dissemble from your grace that you will incidentally render a great service to my private interests. For the lettings of the estates in my possession in this very district, besides that they exceed the sum of four hundred thousand sesterces, are so far from being a matter capable of being deferred that the new tenants must immediately prune the vines. Moreover, successive bad seasons compel me to think of making remissions, and I cannot calculate these except on the spot. I shall owe then, sir, to your favour both the acceleration of my pious project and the settlement of my affairs, if on both these accounts you grant me a furlough of thirty days. Indeed I cannot fix beforehand a shorter period, since the town and the estates of which I speak are beyond the hundred and fiftieth milestone from the city.

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9 (25.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You have given me many reasons, public as well as private, for requesting a furlough. As far as I am concerned, however, your simple desire would have sufficed. For I do not doubt that you will return the moment you are able to a post which makes such calls on you as yours does. Though very sparing of honours of this description, yet I permit a statue to be erected to me in the place you wish, lest I should seem to impede the flow of your affection toward me.

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10 (5.) — TO TRAJAN.

I cannot express in words, sir, the joy communicated to me by your letters, from which I learnt that you had granted in addition the citizenship of Alexandria on Harpocras, my Iatraliptic doctor, though you had made it a rule, in accordance with the established custom of the emperors, to be cautious in bestowing it. I must now signify to you that Harpocras is from the district of Memphis, and must ask you therefore, most indulgent Emperor, to send me a letter for your friend Pompeius Planta, the Prefect of Egypt, according to promise. As I am going to meet you, my Liege, in order the sooner to enjoy the delight of your eagerly expected advent, I pray that you will permit me to go as far as possible to your encounter.

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11 (6.) — TO TRAJAN.

My recent illness, sir, has placed me under an obligation to Postumius Marinus, a physician, to whom I can make an equal return by your favour, if you shall comply with my prayers according to the habit of your grace. I beg then that you will confer the citizenship on his relations — Chrysippus, the son of Mithridates, and the wife of Chrysippus, Stratonica, the daughter of Epigonus; also on the sons of the same Chrysippus, Epigonus, and Mithridates, with the proviso of their being subject to their father, and a reservation of their rights as patrons over their freedmen. At the same time I beg you to grant naturalisation to L. Satrius Abascantus, P. Cæsius Phosphorus, and Pancharias Soteris. This I ask of you with the consent of their patrons.

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12 (7.) — TO TRAJAN.

I know, sir, that my prayers are implanted in that memory of yours, so retentive in the matter of kindly actions. Since, however, you have indulged me on this subject as well as on others, I must remind you and at the same time earnestly entreat you to deign to honour Accius Sura with the Prætorship whenever the post is vacant. To this hope, though otherwise a most retiring man, he is exhorted both by the splendour of his birth and the great integrity which he showed in poverty, and, above all, by the felicity of the times which invites and elevates the good consciences of your subjects to the experience of your kindness.

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13 (8.) — TO TRAJAN.

Since I know, sir, that it will pertain to the attestation and approval of my character to be distinguished by the judgment of so excellent a prince, I beg that you will deign to add to the dignity to which your favour has advanced me the post either of Augur or of Septemvir, seeing that they are vacant, that by right of my sacred office I may be able to pray to the gods for you publicly as I now pray to them in my private devotions.

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14 (9.) — TO TRAJAN.

I hail with congratulations, most excellent Emperor, both on your own account and that of the State, this victory of yours, so great, so noble, so worthy of antiquity! And I pray the immortal gods that all your counsels may be followed by a like happy event, that by your lofty virtues the glory of the empire may be renewed as well as increased.

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15 (26.) — TO TRAJAN.

As I am convinced, sir, that the news will be of interest to you, I beg to announce that I have sailed past the promontory of Malea and reached Ephesus, with all my suite, though retarded by contrary winds. Now I propose to make for my province, partly by coasting-boats, partly by land conveyances. For as the excessive heats are an impediment to a land journey, so in like manner the Etesian winds  oppose continuous navigation.

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16 (27.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You were quite right in reporting to me, my dearest Secundus. For I am greatly interested in the way you have taken for reaching your province. Your determination is prudent, too, to use ships at one time and land conveyances at another, as may be recommended by the localities.

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17 A (28.) — TO TRAJAN.

Just as I experienced a very healthy voyage as far as Ephesus, sir, so when I had commenced my land journey from that point, I was troubled with the most scorching heats and even slight attacks of fever, and stopped at Pergamus. Again, on changing into the coasting-boats, I was retarded by contrary winds, and did not arrive in Bithynia till somewhat later than I had hoped, that is to say, on the seventeenth of September. I cannot, however, complain of the delay, since I was fortunate enough to be able to celebrate your birthday in the province, a most auspicious circumstance. Now I am examining into the expenditure, revenues, and debts due to the commonwealth of Prusa, and the inspection itself shows me more and more the necessity of this. For many sums of money are retained, on various pretexts, by private individuals; besides, some are laid out in expenditure that is anything but legitimate.

The above, sir, I wrote directly on my arrival.

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17 B. — TO TRAJAN.

On the seventeenth of September, sir, I came to my province, which I found in that state of submission and loyalty to you which you deserve on the part of mankind. Pray, sir, consider whether you deem it necessary to send here an architect. For it seems that no small amount may be got back from those in charge of the public constructions, if the measurements are faithfully executed. So I certainly foresee, from the accounts of the Prusenses, which I am at this moment examining.

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18 (29.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I wish you could have reached Bithynia without any damage to your slender frame or to your suite, and that your journey from Ephesus had resembled the sea-voyage which you had experienced up to that point. As to the day of your arrival in Bithynia, I was informed of that, dearest Secundus, by your letter. The provincials will, I trust, understand that I have had their interests in view. For you, for your part, will take care to make it plain to them that you have been selected to be sent to them as representing me.

Before all things, however, you should examine the public accounts, for that they are in a state of confusion is quite clear. As for architects, I have scarce enough of them even for the works which are being carried on in Rome and its vicinity. But in every province persons are to be found who can be trusted; so they will not fail you, if only you choose to make diligent search for them.

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19 (30.) — TO TRAJAN.

I beg, sir, you would direct me by your counsel, who am in doubt whether I ought to intrust the custody of prisoners to the public slaves (which has been the custom to this time) or to soldiers. For I fear the public slaves may not guard them with sufficient fidelity, and on the other hand that this occupation may distract no small number of soldiers. Meanwhile, I have added a few soldiers to the public slaves. Yet I see there is a danger that this very arrangement may be a cause of negligence to both parties, each party making sure that they will he able to retort upon the others the neglect common to both of them.

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20 (31.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

There is no need, dearest Secundus, that a number of our fellow-soldiers should be transferred to the guard of prisoners. Let us persevere in the custom, which is that of your province, of guarding them by means of the public slaves. For indeed their doing this faithfully depends on your strictness and vigilance. The great fear certainly is, as you write, that by mixing up soldiers with public slaves, both parties, by trusting in each other, will be made more careless. And besides, let us not forget this, that the smallest possible number of soldiers should be called away from the standards.

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21 (32.) — PLINY TO TRAJAN.

Gavius Bassus, the Prefect of the coast of Pontus, came to me most respectfully and dutifully, sir, and remained with me several days. As far as I could discern, he is an excellent man, and one worthy of your favour. I informed him of your orders, that out of the cohorts which you had been pleased to place me in command of, he must be contented with ten beneficiarii, two horsemen and one centurion. He replied that this number would not suffice him, and that he would write to you to that effect. This was the reason why I did not think it proper at once to recall those he has with him over the number.

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22 (33.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Gavins Bassus has written to me too, that the number of soldiers which I had directed to be assigned to him was insufficient. That you may know my reply, I have ordered it to be appended to this letter. It makes a great difference whether necessity requires, or whether people are merely wanting to extend their commands. For us, the public advantage is alone to be considered, and as far as possible care be taken that the soldiers be not absent from their standards.

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23 (34.) — TO TRAJAN.

The people of Prusa, sir, have public baths which are both mean and old. They desire, therefore, with your kind permission, to restore them. I, however, being of opinion that new ones should be built... it seems to me that you might indulge them in their desire. For there will be money out of which this may be done: first, that which I have already begun to call in and claim from private individuals; secondly, that which they themselves have been in the habit of expending on oil, and are now prepared to contribute towards the building of the baths. This is a work besides, which is demanded both by the importance of the city and the glory of your reign.

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24 (35.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

If the construction of new baths is not likely to burden the resources of the Prusenses, we are able to indulge them in their desire, provided always that in no way are they either to he taxed for this object, or have their means impaired for the future in respect to the necessary expenditure of the State.

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25 (10.) — TO TRAJAN.

Servilius Pudens, my lieutenant, sir, arrived at Nicomedia on the twenty-fourth of November, and freed me from the anxiety of a long expectation.

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26 (11.) — TO TRAJAN.

Rosianus Geminus, sir, has been attached to me with the closest bonds by means of the favour you have conferred on me. For I had him for my Quæstor during my consulship, when I found him a most loyal subordinate. Since my consulship he exhibits the same respect for me, and heaps private services upon the proofs he had given of our public friendship. I beg, then, that in accordance with his worth, and in compliance with my prayers, you will conceive a favourable opinion of one to whom, if you have any confidence in me, you will further exhibit marks of your kindness. He himself will take care, in the discharge of what you shall commit to him, to deserve still greater things. I am rendered more sparing in my praises of him by the hope that his integrity and virtue and industry are particularly known to you, not only from the offices which he has filled in the city under your eyes, but also from the fact of his having served in the army with you. The one thing which, in consequence of my affection for him, I do not seem to myself to have yet done fully enough, I must do again and again; that is, I must beg of you, sir, that it be your pleasure with all speed to cause me to rejoice at the advancement in dignity of my Quæstor, or, in other words, through him of myself.

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27 (36.) — TO TRAJAN.

Maximus, sir, your freedman and provincial agent, assures me that, besides the ten beneficiarii which you commanded me to assign to the worthy Gemellinus, he is himself likewise in want of soldiers... of these in the meanwhile.... I thought that the number I found should be left at his service, particularly as he was going to Paphlagonia to procure corn. Moreover, for the sake of protection, I added, at his desire, two horsemen. I would beg of you to write me word what practice you would have observed for the future.

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28 (37.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

On the present occasion, you have been quite right in furnishing my freedman Maximus with soldiers, as he was setting out to procure corn. For he, as well as they, was discharging an extraordinary office. But when he shall have returned to his pristine functions, he must be content with the two soldiers assigned him by you and the same number by Virdius Gemellinus, my agent, whose assistant he is.

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29 (38.) — TO TRAJAN.

Sempronius Cælianus, a young man of remarkable merit, has sent me two slaves discovered among the recruits. I have deferred their punishment in order to consult you, the restorer and establisher of military discipline, as to the nature of the penalty. My principal hesitation is on this account, that, though they had already pronounced the military oaths, they had not as yet been assigned to any corps. I beg then, sir, you would write me word what course I should follow, particularly as this pertains to example.

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30 (39.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Sempronius Cælianus has acted in accordance with my instructions in sending to you persons concerning whom it will be necessary to make inquiry whether they seem to have merited the extreme penalty. Now it is material whether they offered themselves as volunteers, or were chosen, or again were merely presented as substitutes. If they were chosen, the recruiting officers were in fault: if they were presented as substitutes, the blame is with those who so presented them: if they came spontaneously, with a knowledge of their condition, it will be proper to punish them. Nor is it of much consequence that they have not yet been assigned to a corps. For the very day they were passed, it was their duty to tell the truth about their origin.

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31 (40.) — TO TRAJAN.

Saving your majesty, sir, it behoves you to condescend to my difficulties, seeing that you have given me the right to refer to you in all matters of doubt. In many cities, and particularly Nicomedia and Nicæa, certain persons who had been condemned to the mines, or the arena, and similar kinds of punishment, exercise the office and ministry of public slaves, and even, in the capacity of public slaves, receive annual wages. On hearing this, I hesitated much and long as to what I ought to do. For, on the one hand, to remit to their punishment, after a great lapse of time, men, most of whom are now in years and who are alleged to be leading honest and discreet lives, seemed to me to be too severe: on the other hand, to retain convicts in public employments appeared to me not quite respectable. Again, I judged that for these people to be supported by the commonwealth in idleness would be useless; and that if they were not supported, there would be actual danger. Perforce, therefore, I have left the whole matter in suspense, till I had consulted you. You will perhaps inquire how it came to pass that they were exempted from the punishments to which they had been condemned, and so did I inquire, but could get no positive information to lay before you. For though the decrees, by which they had been condemned, were produced, no documents were forthcoming to prove their having been let off. There were, however, some who said that they had obtained their dismissal by their prayers at the bidding of the Proconsuls or Legates. What imparts credit to this is, that it must be supposed no one would venture on such an act without authority.

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32 (41.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Remember that you were sent to the province in which you now are on this very account, that there was much in it which seemed to need rectifying. Now this will be a matter specially requiring correction, that those who have been condemned to punishments should not only have been released from them, as you write, without authority, but should even be removed into the category of respectable servants. Those, then, who have been condemned within the last ten years and have not been liberated by any competent authority, it will be proper to remit to their punishment: if there shall he found some older and aged persons who have been condemned more than ten years ago, we must distribute them in such offices as are not far from being penal. For persons of this kind are usually assigned to the baths, the cleansing of the latrines, also to working on the roads and in the streets.

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33 (42.) — TO TRAJAN.

While I was making a tour through the opposite side of the province, an immense conflagration at Nicomedia consumed a number of private houses and two public edifices — though separated by a road — the Gerusia and Temple of Isis. It spread the wider first through violence of the wind and next through the apathy of the inhabitants, who, it is quite clear, remained idle and motionless spectators of the sad calamity: and, independently of this, there was nowhere any fire-engine for public use, no water-bucket, in short, no implement for keeping down conflagrations. As for these, indeed, in accordance with my orders already given, they will be provided. Do you, sir, consider whether you think a guild of firemen should be instituted, limited to one hundred and fifty men. I will see to it that no one shall be admitted except he be a fireman, and that they shall not use the rights accorded them for any other purpose. Nor will it be difficult to watch such a small number of men.

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34 (43.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

It has come into your head, I see, in accordance with a common precedent, that a guild of firemen might be constituted among the inhabitants of Nicomedia. But I bear in mind that that province of yours, and particularly those cities, are subject to trouble from associations of this description. Whatever name, for whatever reason, we give to these reunions they will shortly become... and secret societies. It is better, then, to procure what may be of assistance in restraining fires, and to admonish owners of property to be themselves ready to keep them down; moreover, if the circumstances require it, to employ the concourse of spectators for the same object.

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35 (44.) — TO TRAJAN.

We are at the same time, sir, renewing and acquitting our solemn vows for your safety, on which the public prosperity depends, praying the gods to grant that they may be ever thus acquitted and thus attested.

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36 (45.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I have learnt with pleasure, dearest Secundus, from your letter that, in company with the Provincials, you have both acquitted and renewed your vows for my health and safety to the immortal Gods.

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37 (46.) — TO TRAJAN.

The inhabitants of Nicomedia, sir, spent three millions three hundred and twenty-nine thousand sesterces on an aqueduct which was left still unfinished and was even demolished. Two millions of sesterces have been disbursed afresh on another aqueduct. This, too, having been left off, there is need of some further outlay, that those who have mischievously thrown away such large sums may have water at any rate. I have in person found my way to a spring of great purity, from which it seems that the water ought to he conducted to the spot (as was originally attempted) by means of arches, so that it may not reach only to the flat and low-lying parts of the city. A very few arches still remain, and some may further be erected of the squared stones taken from the former construction; some portions, as it seems to me, will have to be made of brickwork, which is both handier and cheaper. But, first of all, it is necessary that a conduit-master or architect should be sent, that what has taken place before may not happen again. All I can say is, that the utility and beauty of the construction will be in all respects worthy of your reign.

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33 (47.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Care must be taken that water be conducted to the city of Nicomedia. I have full confidence that you will address yourself to this work with all due diligence. But, by the God of Truth, it concerns that same diligence of yours to inquire by whose fault the inhabitants of Nicomedia have thrown away so much money up to this time, and whether they have not been playing into each other’s hands in commencing and then abandoning these aqueducts. Accordingly, whatever you discover on this head, bring to my knowledge.

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39 (48.) — TO TRAJAN.

The theatre of Nicæa, sir, which is now in great part constructed, though yet unfinished, has absorbed, as I hear (for the accounts for the building have not yet been gone into), more than ten millions of sesterces, and I fear to no purpose. For it is subsiding and gaping with huge fissures, either by reason of the soil being wet and spongy, or because the stone itself is poor and friable. It certainly deserves consideration whether it ought to be completed, or abandoned, or even demolished, for the props and substructions, by which it is from time to time kept up, seem to me to be sources of expenditure rather than of strength. Many additions are promised to this theatre by private individuals, as, for instance, galleries all round, and porticoes over the spectators’ seats, all of which are now delayed, owing to the stoppage of the work which must first be completed.

These same people of Nicæa have begun to rebuild the gymnasium, which was destroyed by fire before my arrival, with many more parts and on a larger scale than before, and they have already gone to some expense; as the danger is, to small advantage, for it is ill-arranged and scattered. Moreover, an architect, a rival to be sure of the one by whom the work was commenced, affirms that the walls, though two and twenty feet in thickness, are unable to support the weight imposed on them, in consequence of their being stuffed with cement in the middle and not encased in brickwork.

The people of Claudiopolis, too, are excavating, rather than building, huge baths in a low situation, with a hill actually hanging over it; and this, too, out of the moneys which the new members of their Council, added by your favour, have either already paid as their entrance-fees, or are paying in at our demand. Since, then, I fear that, in the one case, the public money, and, in the other, what is of more value than any money, the produce of your favour, may be badly invested, I am compelled to ask you, not only on account of the theatre, but also of these baths, to send an architect. He will judge whether it be more advantageous, after the outlay which has been incurred, to complete the works, in one way or another, as they have been begun, or to rectify what may seem to need improvement, and to transfer operations which may need to be transferred; lest, while we are desirous of not losing what has been spent, we spend badly what will have to be further added.

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40 (49.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

As to what is proper to be done in connection with the theatre, which has been commenced at Nicæa, you who are on the spot will be best able to consider and determine. I shall be satisfied to have intimated to me the opinion at which you arrive. The parts of the work due from private individuals, you will take care to exact from them, then only when the theatre, on account of which they have been promised, is built. These Greeklings are addicted to gymnasia; so perhaps the people of Nicæa have set about building theirs with too much zest; they must, however, be content with one which shall suffice for their necessities.

As to the advice to be given to the people of Claudiopolis, in connection with their baths (which they have commenced in what you describe as an unsuitable spot), it is for you to determine. You cannot be short of architects. There is no province which does not contain experienced and ingenious men of this kind; provided you do not suppose it is shorter to send them from Rome, when they are actually in the habit of coming to us from Greece.

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41 (50.) — TO TRAJAN.

When I contemplate the grandeur of your fortunes and of your mind, it seems to me in the highest degree appropriate to designate to you such works as shall be worthy no less of your immortality than of your glory, as shall be marked by their utility no less than by their excellence. On the borders of the Nicomedian territory there is an extensive lake, by means of which marble, agricultural produce, firewood, and building materials are conveyed, at small cost and labour, in ships to a road, and from that point with much labour, and still more expense, in wagons to the sea.... This work demands many hands, but these, to be sure, are not wanting, for there is a large supply of men in the country parts, and a still larger in the city, and we may confidently expect that all of them will with much alacrity engage in a work which will be of advantage to all. It remains for you, if you shall see fit, to send us a surveyor, or else an architect, who shall carefully examine whether the lake is higher than the sea — the experts in these parts contending that it is higher by forty cubits. I find that a trench was cut in this identical direction by the king; but it is uncertain whether this was done for the purpose of collecting the moisture from the surrounding country, or in order to turn the lake into the river. For it is not completed. And this, too, is doubtful, whether the king was arrested by death, or whether he despaired of carrying through the work. But this very circumstance (for you will suffer me to be ambitious on account of your glory) incites and stimulates me to wish that you may complete that which kings have only commenced.

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42 (51.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

The lake which you mention is such as may possibly induce in us the desire to open it out to the sea. But a careful examination is evidently necessary, lest if its waters be sent down to the sea, they should be entirely drained off, and certainly as to the quantity of its waters and the source whence it derives them. You can ask for a surveyor from Calpurnius Macer, and I will send you from here some person experienced in this kind of work.

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43 (52.) — TO TRAJAN.

On my calling for an account of the expenditure of the community of Byzantium (which has been very great), I learnt, sir, that an envoy is sent to pay his respects to you every year, bearer of a popular decree to that effect, and that twelve thousand sesterces are given him. So, bearing in mind your course of action, I deemed it right to keep back the envoy and to send on the decree, that at the same time the expense might be lightened and a public duty fulfilled. The same city was debited with three thousand sesterces, which, under the head of travelling expenses, were given annually to the envoy who went to pay his respects publicly to the Governor of Mœsia. These sums, I considered, ought for the future to be cut down. I beg, sir, that you would write me word what you think, and so deign either to confirm my judgment or to correct my mistake.

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44 (53.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You have acted admirably, dearest Secundus, in remitting to the inhabitants of Byzantium those twelve thousand sesterces which were spent on an envoy for the purpose of paying me their respects... although the decree alone shall have been sent through you. The Governor of Mœsia, too, will forgive them if they show their regard for him in a less expensive way.

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45 (54.) — TO TRAJAN.

With regard to diplomas, sir, the date of which has expired, I would beg you to write whether you wish them to be regarded at all, and if so for how long? This will free me from doubt. For I fear that through ignorance I may make a mistake one way or the other, and either confirm what is unlawful or obstruct what is necessary.

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46 (55.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Diplomas, the date of which has expired, ought not to be in force. Consequently I make it one of my first rules to send new diplomas to all the provinces before they can possibly be required.

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47 (56.) — TO TRAJAN.

Upon my desiring, sir, to be made acquainted with the debts due to the State of Apamea, and its income and expenditure, I was told in reply that, while every one was anxious that the accounts of the colony should be inspected by me, yet that they never had been inspected by any of the pro-consuls, since they were in possession of a prerogative and a very ancient usage of administering the public affairs at their own discretion. I insisted upon all that they said and recited being included in a memorial, which I have sent to you just as I received it, though perceiving that much of its contents does not relate to the subject of inquiry. I beg you to deign to instruct me as to the course you deem it right for me to follow. For I fear lest I should seem either to have exceeded or not to have duly fulfilled the functions of my office.

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48 (57.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

The memorial of the Apameni, which you have joined to your letter, has freed me from the necessity of carefully examining the reasons on the strength of which they wish it to appear that the Proconsuls who have governed their province have abstained from inspecting their accounts, since they have not opposed your inspecting them. Their probity should therefore be rewarded, and they should at once be told that in inspecting the accounts you will be acting by my orders, without prejudice to the prerogatives they enjoy.

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49 (58.) — TO TRAJAN.

Before my arrival, sir, the inhabitants of Nicomedia had begun to add a new Forum to their old one, in a corner of which is a temple of the great mother of the gods, which must be either rebuilt or removed, particularly as it is much lower than the construction which is at the present moment rising. When I inquired whether the temple had been in any way formally consecrated, I learnt that the mode of dedication here differs from ours. Consider, then, sir, whether you think that a temple which has not been formally consecrated can be removed without prejudice to religion. In other respects, it would be most convenient to do so — if religion is no obstacle.

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50 (59.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You may, dearest Secundus, without religious scruples — if the situation of the place seems to require it — remove the temple of the mother of the gods to one that is better accommodated to it. Nor need you be troubled about finding no form of dedication, since the soil of a foreign city does not admit of the kind of dedication which takes place under our laws.

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51 (12.) — TO TRAJAN.

‘ It is difficult, sir, to express in words the great pleasure which I felt at your consenting, at the request of my mother-in-law and myself, to transfer her relative Cælius Clemens to this province. For hence I thoroughly understand the measure of your kindness, since I experience such full favour, with all my kindred — a favour I dare not attempt to make a like return for, even though I had it entirely in my power. So I fly to prayers, and entreat the gods that I may not be deemed unworthy of those things which you are so assiduous in conferring on me.

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52 (60.) — TO TRAJAN.

We have celebrated, sir, the day on which you saved the Empire by taking it on yourself, with all the joy which you merit: and we prayed the gods to preserve you in life and prosperity to the human race whose safeguard and security depends on your welfare. We set the example to the troops, too, in swearing allegiance in the customary way, which the provincials did in the same form, and with emulous loyalty.

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53 (61.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I have learnt with pleasure from your letter, my dearest Secundus, how religiously and joyfully the troops, together with the provincials, followed you in celebrating the day of my accession.

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54 (62.) — TO TRAJAN.

The public moneys, sir, are, through your forethought and our ministry, either already collected or in the course of collection; and I fear they will lie idle. For there are no opportunities, or else very rare ones, of buying land: nor are persons to be found who are willing to be debtors to the state, particularly at twelve per cent., the rate at which they can borrow from private individuals. Consider then, sir, whether you think that the rate of interest should be lowered, and by these means eligible borrowers be attracted, and if even thus such persons are not to be found, whether the money should be distributed among the Decurions, on condition of their furnishing proper security to the state; which arrangement — though they may not like it, and may be for declining it — would be made less burdensome, in consequence of a lower rate of interest having been fixed.

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55 (63.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I myself can perceive no other remedy, my dearest Secundus, than that the rate of interest should be lowered, in order to facilitate the investment of the public moneys.

You yourself must fix the limit in accordance with the number of those who shall be ready to borrow. To compel persons against their will to take what they themselves may perhaps find no employment for — this is a course which does not accord with the equity of my reign.

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56 (64.) — TO TRAJAN.

I return you, sir, the deepest thanks for deigning, amidst your great occupations, to direct me also as to those matters on which I have consulted you, and I would beg you to do this on the present occasion as well. For a person has come to me and informed me that his adversaries, though banished for three years by that distinguished man Servilius Calvus, still remain in the province. They, on the other hand, have affirmed that they were reinstated by the same governor, and have recited his edict to that effect. For this reason, I have thought it necessary to refer the matter in its entirety to you. For though it was provided in your mandates that I was not to reinstate persons banished by a former governor, or by myself, yet nothing was included in them on the subject of those who had been both banished and reinstated by a former governor. Therefore you, sir, had to be consulted as to what practice you would have me follow, as also, by Hercules, with regard to those who, though banished for life and never reinstated, are caught in the province. For this particular case too has fallen under my cognisance. A person was brought before me who was banished for life by Julius Bassus, the proconsul. Knowing that the acts of Bassus had been rescinded, and that the Senate had given to all those who had been the subjects of any of his decisions the right of trying the matter afresh, that is during a period of two years, I inquired of this person whom Bassus had banished, whether he had gone to the proconsul and instructed him. He said he had not. Hence I was brought to consult you as to whether he should be remitted to his punishment or whether you think that some still heavier penalty, and if so what particular one, should be constituted for him and for those, if such there happen to be, who may be found in a like case. I have appended to this letter the decree of Calvus and the edict, also the decree of Bassus.

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57 (65.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

As to the determination to be arrived at in the case of those persons who, having been banished for three years by P. Servilius Calvus, the proconsul, were soon afterwards reinstated by an edict of the same proconsul, and have remained in the province, I will shortly write you in reply, when I shall have inquired of Calvus himself his reasons for thus acting. The man who was banished for life by Julius Bassus — inasmuch as he had the power of taking action for the space of two years, in case he thought himself unjustly banished, and yet failed to do this, and moreover persisted in tarrying in the province — must be sent a prisoner to my Prætorian prefects. For it is not enough that he should be remitted to his former punishment, after evading it by his contumacy.

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58 (66.) — TO TRAJAN.

On my summoning the judges, sir, when opening my provincial court, Flavius Archippus began to plead excuse on the ground of being a philosopher. It was said by some that instead of being freed from the obligation of acting as judge, he ought to be removed altogether from the judicial list, and remitted to the punishment which he had escaped by breaking his chains. A decision of Velius Paulus, the proconsul, was cited, proving Archippus to have been condemned to the mines on a charge of forgery. He brought forward nothing to show that he had been reinstated: he alleged, however, in favour of his reinstatement, a memorial presented by himself to Domitian, and letters of the latter in which he was honourably mentioned, as also as a decree of the Prusenses. To these he added a letter written to him by yourself too, and an edict and a letter of your father confirming the favours granted by Domitian. Consequently, though such crimes were laid to the charge of this man, I deemed that nothing should be decreed till I had consulted you on a point which seemed worthy of being settled by you. I have added to this letter what was cited on both sides.

THE EPISTLE OF DOMITIAN TO TERENTIUS MAXIMUS.

Flavius Archippus, the philosopher, has begged me to grant him, in the neighbourhood of Prusa, his native place, some land sufficiently productive to maintain his family by its revenue. I will that this be accorded him. The whole sum expended you will charge to my liberality.

OF THE SAME TO L. APPIUS MAXIMUS.

I desire to recommend to you, my dear Maximus, Archippus the philosopher, a worthy man, and one whose conduct answers to his profession; and that you show him the full measure of your kindness in such things as he shall ask of you in moderation.

EDICT OF NERVA.

There are some things, Quirites, without doubt, which the felicity of these times spontaneously enjoins; nor is the goodness of a prince to be tested, in matters in which it is sufficient that it be understood: since the assurance, needing no reminder, of my subjects, is a warrant to them, that I have preferred the general security to my own repose, in order to confer many new favours, as well as to maintain those conceded before my time. In order, however, that no uncertainty may be introduced into the public joy, either through the diffidence of those who have obtained favours or through the recollection of him who granted them, I have deemed it at the same time a necessity and a pleasure, with the view of meeting all suspicions, to announce my kindly intentions. I am unwilling any one should suppose that what he has obtained either privately or publicly from another prince will be annulled by me, though it were only with the view of his owing it to me rather than another. All these things are hereby settled and confirmed: nor are fresh prayers necessary to complete the enjoyment of any one on whom the imperial favour has smiled. Let my subjects suffer me to find leisure for fresh benefits, and let them know that those things only are to be asked for which they do not possess.

LETTER OF THE SAME TO TULLIUS JUSTUS.

Inasmuch as all public ordinances which have received a commencement and completion in former reigns are to be observed, regard must also be paid to the letters of Domitian.

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59 (67.) — TO TRAJAN.

Flavius Archippus has conjured me, “by your health and immortality,” to send you the memorial he has handed to me. I have thought it right to comply with a request so couched, on condition, however, of my informing the prosecutrix that I was going to send it. I got a memorial from her as well, and have appended it to these letters, that having, as it were, heard both sides, you might be in a better condition to judge what you think should be determined.

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60 (68.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Domitian, to be sure, may have been ignorant of the situation of Archippus, when he wrote so much tending to his honour. But it is more in accordance with my nature to suppose that the intervention of the Emperor was actually for the purpose of relieving his situation, especially as such an honour as that of a statue was so often decreed to him by persons who were not ignorant of the sentence passed on him by the Proconsul Paulus. All this, however, my dearest Secundus, must not go so far as to make you think you should be the slower to hear, in case anything in the shape of a fresh charge is brought against him. I have read the memorials of Furia Prima, the prosecutrix, also those of Archippus himself, which you appended to your former letters.

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61 (69.) — TO TRAJAN.

You, sir, to be sure, with your great forethought, are apprehensive that if the lake be made to communicate with the river and so with the sea, it may be dried up. I, however, who am on the spot, fancy I have discovered a way of obviating this danger. The lake may be brought by means of a canal up to the river, and yet not be discharged into it, but be at the same time retained and kept separate from it, by leaving, as it were, a margin between the two. By this means we shall obtain as a result, that while the lake shall not seem to be emptied by being poured into the river, yet it will be as good as poured into it. For over this very small intermediate space it will be easy to transport to the river the cargoes brought to that point by means of the canal. The work will be so executed if necessity compels, though I hope it will not compel. For not only is the lake sufficiently high of itself, but also at the present moment it discharges a river on the opposite side, which may be dammed off from that direction, and diverted as we wish, and so, without any loss to the lake, be made to give all the water which it now carries. Moreover, on the ground along which the canal will have to be made, rivulets occur which, if they are carefully collected, will add to what the lake gives us. If, again, it be decided to prolong the canal, to dig it narrower, and to bring it on a level with the sea, and so to make it communicate not with the river but with the sea itself, the counter-pressure of the sea will preserve and keep back whatever comes from the lake. If the nature of the locality allowed of nothing of this kind, yet it would be easy to check the rapidity of the stream by means of sluices. However, these and other matters will be inquired into and investigated with much more sagacity by the surveyor whom you, sir, ought clearly to send according to promise. For the matter is one worthy of your greatness and your attention. I meanwhile have written to that distinguished man, Calpurnius Macer, at your suggestion, to send me as competent a surveyor as possible.

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62 (70.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

It is clear, my dearest Secundus, that you have been wanting neither in prudence nor in diligence in the matter of the lake of which you speak: since you have provided so many expedients, by means of which not only will there be no danger of its being exhausted, but also it will be made more serviceable to us. Choose, then, whatever the circumstances themselves shall particularly recommend. I take it that Calpurnius Macer will arrange to furnish you with a surveyor, nor are those provinces deficient in professionals of this kind.

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63 (13.) — TO TRAJAN.

Lycormas, your freedman, has written me word, sir, that if any embassy came here from Bosphorus, on its way to Rome, it should be detained till his arrival. Now no embassy has as yet come, at any rate to the city in which I am: but a courier has come from the king of Sarmatia: and availing myself of the opportunity which chance offered, I have thought it right to send him on in company with the courier who preceded Lycormas, that you might be informed at the same time, by the letters of Lycormas and those of the king, of matters which perhaps ought to come to your knowledge at one and the same time.

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64 (14.) — TO TRAJAN.

The king of Sarmatia has written me word that there are some matters on which you ought to be informed as soon as possible. For this reason I have helped to hasten the courier, whom he has sent to you with despatches, by the grant of a passport.

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65 (71.) — TO TRAJAN.

A great question, sir, and one affecting the whole province, is that of the status and keep of those who are called “foundlings.” In this matter, after hearing the constitutions of the Emperors, as I could find nothing in them either of a particular or a general kind applicable to the Bithynians, I have judged it proper to consult you as to the course you would have pursued: nor, indeed, did I think that in a matter demanding your supreme judgment I could possibly be satisfied with a mere precedent. An edict was, however, cited to me, which was said to be one by the Emperor Augustus relating to Annia. Letters were also cited of the Emperor Vespasian to the Lacedæmonians, of the Emperor Titus to the same, and of Domitian to the proconsuls Avidius Nigrinus and Armenius Brocchus, also to the Lacedæmonians. These I have not sent to you, because they seemed to me to be mere rough drafts and some of them of doubtful authenticity, and because I believe the genuine and corrected letters to be among your archives.

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66 (72.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

This question — relating to those who, born free, have been exposed, and have been subsequently taken up by certain parties and reared in servitude — has been often treated of; yet there is nothing to be found in the commentaries of the Emperors who have preceded me, in the shape of a settled rule for all the provinces. There are, to be sure, letters of Domitian to Avidius Nigrinus and Armenius Brocchus, which, perhaps, ought to be had in regard, but between those provinces which are the subjects of his rescript... among which is Bithynia. I think, therefore, that an adjudication of freedom should not be refused to those who claim their liberty on these grounds, and, moreover, that this same liberty does not need to be purchased at the price of their keep.

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67 (15.) — TO TRAJAN.

The ambassador of the king of Sarmatia having, of his own choice, halted a couple of days at Nicæa, where he found me, I judged, sir, that he ought not to be detained longer: first, because it was still uncertain when your freedman Lycormas would come, and next because I was myself starting for the other side of the province where the requirements of my office called me. I have thought these circumstances should be brought to your knowledge, because I recently wrote to you that Lycormas had asked me to detain till his arrival any embassy that might come from Bosphorus. No satisfactory reason occurs to me for doing this any longer, particularly as the letters of Lycormas (which I was unwilling, as I have before told you, to detain) seemed likely to precede this ambassador by some days.

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68 (73.) — TO TRAJAN.

Certain parties have petitioned me to allow them, in accordance with the precedents of former governors, to transfer the ashes of their relations, either on account of the injuries done by time, or the encroachments of the river, or on a variety of other similar grounds. Knowing that at Rome, in cases of this kind, application is wont to be made to the Pontifical College, I have thought it right to consult you, sir, who are Pontifex Maximus, as to what course you would have me follow.

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69 (74.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

It would be hard to inflict on the provincials the necessity of applying to the Pontifices, if they are desirous, on any good grounds, of transferring the ashes of their relatives from the place where these lie to some other. You should, therefore, rather follow the precedents of those who have governed that province: and give the permission, or refuse it in each case, according to the merits.

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70 (75.) — TO TRAJAN.

On my inquiring, sir, whereabouts in Prusa the baths which you have accorded could be built, I pitched upon a spot where there was once, I am told, a fine house, now an unsightly ruin. In this way we shall insure that the extremely filthy aspect of the city will be improved, and even that the city itself will be enlarged, without any buildings being pulled down, but such as are crumbling with age being rebuilt on a larger and improved scale.

The circumstances of this house, however, are as follows. Claudius Polyænus left it by will to Claudius Cæsar, with the injunction that a temple should be raised to him in the peristyle, and the rest of the house should be let. For some time the commonwealth derived a revenue from it: afterwards, by degrees, partly through plunder, partly through neglect, the whole house has tumbled to pieces, peristyle included: and indeed by this time hardly anything of it remains but the ground on which it stood. If you, sir, would either make a present of this ground to the state, or order it to be sold, the act would be received as a great boon, on account of the eligibility of the site. For my part, if you will allow me, I design to place the baths where the open court was, and to enclose the place where the buildings were with a vestibule and colonnades to be dedicated to you, the benefactor to whom will be owing this handsome construction, worthy of your name. I have forwarded you a copy, though it is an imperfect one, of the will. From this you will see that Polyænus left many things for the adornment of this same house, which have disappeared with the house itself. However, I will make as diligent inquiry as possible for them.

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71 (76.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

The inhabitants of Prusa are permitted to use the courtyard with the ruined house, which you tell me is vacant, for the construction of their baths. There is one thing, however, which you have not made sufficiently clear: whether the temple to Claudius was erected in the peristyle. For if it was erected, then, although it may have fallen down, the ground on which it stood is sacred.

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72 (77.) — TO TRAJAN.

Having been applied to by certain parties to take personal cognisance of claims of freedom and the restoration of birthrights, in accordance with the rescript of Domitian written to Minucius Rufus, and the precedents set by proconsuls, I referred to the acts of the Senate pertaining to this kind of cause. It speaks of those provinces only which are governed by proconsuls. Consequently I have deferred the matter as it stands till you, sir, shall have advised what course you would have me follow.

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73 (73.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

When you have sent me the act of the Senate which has caused you to hesitate, I shall judge whether you ought to take cognisance of claims of freedom and the restoration of birthrights.

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74 (16.) — TO TRAJAN.

Appuleius, sir, an officer quartered at Nicomedia, has written to me of a certain person named Callidromus, who having been detained by Maximus and Dionysius, two bakers, in whose service he had engaged himself, fled for refuge to your statue. Being brought before the magistrates, he declared that he had formerly been in the service of Laberius Maximus, that he was made prisoner by Susagus in Mœsia, and sent by Decebalus as a present to Pacorus, the king of Parthia. In his service he remained for a number of years, and subsequently made his escape, and so came to Nicomedia. I had him brought before me, and, on his repeating the same story, have thought it right to send him to you. This I have delayed doing for a short time, while I searched for a gem which he declared had been stolen from him, and which contained the portrait of Pacorus in his insignia. For I wished to send this to you at the same time, if it could have been found, as I have sent a nugget which he says he brought from a mine in Parthia. It is sealed up with my ring, the device of which is a chariot with four horses.

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75 (79.) — TO TRAJAN.

Julius Largus of Pontus, sir, whom I had never seen or even heard of — he must, to be sure, have confided in your judgment — has made me, as it were, the steward and minister of his affection towards you. For he has requested me in his will to enter upon his estate, and after taking for myself a sum of fifty thousand sesterces to bestow the whole of the residue on the cities of Heraclea and Tios; with the proviso that it should be at my option to decide whether buildings should be erected, to be consecrated in honour of you, or quinquennial games should be instituted, to be called the games of Trajan. I have thought it right to bring this to your knowledge, chiefly that you might consider what choice I ought to make.

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76 (80.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Julius Largus has selected you, for your good faith, as though he had known you well. You must yourself, then, consider what may best serve for perpetuating his memory, in accordance with the conditions of each locality: and what you shall deem most suitable, that do.

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77 (81.) — TO TRAJAN.

You have acted most providently, sir, in ordering that distinguished man Calpurnius Macer to send a legionary centurion to Byzantium. Consider whether you are of opinion that a similar privilege might be conferred on the inhabitants of Juliopolis. Their city, being but a very small one, has very great burdens to bear: and is exposed to oppressions which are all the heavier in proportion to its weakness. Moreover, whatever you accord to the people of Juliopolis will be of service to the whole province. For they are at the entrance of Bithynia, and give passage to most of those who resort to it.

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78 (82.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

The condition of the city of Byzantium is such, owing to the great confluence of travellers into it from all parts, that, in accordance with the usage of previous times, I considered it proper to provide for its repute by a Legionary Centurion’s guard. If we shall think fit to assist the people of Juliopolis in the same way, we shall be burdening ourselves with a precedent. A number of others, and all the more so, the weaker they are, will be making the same request. I have such confidence in your diligence as to believe that you will use every exertion to prevent their being exposed to acts of oppression. If, however, any persons shall behave themselves contrary to my injunctions, let them be at once imprisoned: or if their offences are too great to be adequately punished in a summary way; in case they are soldiers, inform their generals of what you have discovered: in case they are coming to Rome, write to me.

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79 (83.) — TO TRAJAN.

It was provided, sir, by a law of Pompey’s given to the Bithynians, that no person should hold a public office, or sit in the Senate, under the age of thirty years. The same law included a provision that those who had been admitted to public offices should sit in the Senate. After this came an edict of the Emperor Augustus, allowing younger men to take office, the limit being two and twenty years. The question is, then, whether a man under thirty years of age, who has held office can be chosen by the Censors as a senator? And if he can, whether such also as have not held it, can, by a like interpretation, be chosen senators from the same age at which it is allowed them to hold an office? a thing which, besides has not only been often done up to the present time, but is even said to be necessary, since it is somewhat better that the sons of men of position should be admitted into the Senate rather than plebeians. Having been asked for my opinion by the Censors elect, I thought that those under thirty years of age who had held office might be chosen senators, in accordance both with the edict of Augustus and the law of Pompey: inasmuch as Augustus had allowed persons under thirty to hold office, and the law enacted that he who had held office should be a senator. As to such as had not held it, although of the same age as those who had been allowed to hold it, I hesitated. Hence I have been brought to consult you, sir, as to what course you would have followed. I have appended to this edict the heads of the law, also the edict of Augustus.

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80 (84.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I agree with you, dearest Secundus, in your interpretation, that Pompey’s law has been amended by the Emperor Augustus’s edict so far as this, that persons can be admitted to public offices, who are not under twenty-two years of age, and that such as had been so admitted should find their way into the Senate of each commonwealth. But, where no office has been entered on, I do not think that those who are under thirty years are capable of being chosen senators in their several localities, on the ground that they are eligible for such offices.

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81 (85.) — TO TRAJAN.

While I was employed in public business in my own apartments at Prusa under Mount Olympus, sir, being about to leave the same day, Asclepiades, a magistrate, announced that an appeal had been lodged with me by Claudius Eumolpus. Coccianus Dion having moved in the Council that a construction which he had had the charge of should be assigned to the city, thereupon Eumolpus, backed by Flavius Archippus, declared that Dion should be required to furnish the accounts relating to the construction before it was handed over to the city, on the ground of his not having acted as he ought to have done. He added, moreover, that in this same construction there were placed, together with your statue, the corpses of interred persons — those of Dion’s wife and son; and he demanded that I should try the matter publicly. Upon my telling him that I would immediately do this, and would adjourn my departure accordingly, he asked me to grant a longer interval for the purpose of getting up the case, and to try it in some other city. I replied that I would hear it at Nicæa. When I had taken my seat there for the purpose of trying it, the same Eumolpus, on the plea of not yet being sufficiently prepared, began by asking for an adjournment: Dion, on the other hand, demanded that it should be heard. A great deal was said on both sides, and on the merits of the case as well. For my part, being of opinion that an adjournment should be granted, and counsel taken of you in a matter likely to form a precedent, I told each side to give in a written statement of their respective demands, for I desired that you should know what was put forward, above all things, in the very words of the parties themselves. Dion said he would give this in, and Eumolpus replied that he would include in a written statement his claims on behalf of the commonwealth; but that as regarded the interred bodies, he was not the accuser, but only the advocate of Flavius Archippus, whose instructions he had obeyed. Archippus, however, who stood by Eumolpus here as at Prusa, said that he would hand in a statement. Such being the case, neither Eumolpus nor Archippus, though waited for for many days, have as yet sent me their statements. Dion has sent his, which I have joined to this letter. I myself went to the spot, and saw that your statue was added to the library. The edifice, however, where the son and wife of Dion are said to be buried is situated in the courtyard, which is enclosed by a colonnade. I pray, sir, that you would deign to direct me, especially in such a kind of investigation as this, as to which, moreover, great interest is felt. Indeed this must be the case in a matter where the charge is at the same time acknowledged and defended by precedents.

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82 (86.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You might have been free from doubt, dearest Secundus, as to the matter on which you have thought it right to consult me, since you perfectly well knew my settled purpose not to attract awe to my name through fear or the terrors of men, or charges of treason. Leaving out of the question, then, an inquiry which I should not entertain even if it were supported by precedents, let the entire accounts of the construction carried out under the supervision of Coccianus Dion be investigated, since this is a course demanded by the interests of the city, and which Dion neither can oppose nor is entitled to oppose.

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83 (87.) — TO TRAJAN.

The Nicæans have publicly entreated me, sir, by what to me both are and ought to be most sacred, that is by your wellbeing and immortal fame, that I would transmit their prayers to you. Not thinking it right to refuse the request, I have appended to this letter a memorial received from them.

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84 (88.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

It will be your duty to entertain the affair of the Nicæans, who affirm that the Emperor Augustus granted their city the right to claim the property of such of its citizens as died intestate. You will have to convoke all persons concerned in this business, summoning to your assistance Virbius Gemellinus and Epimachus, my freedman, the imperial agents, in order that, having likewise duly weighed what is urged on the opposite side, you may together determine as you shall judge best.

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85 (17.) — TO TRAJAN.

Having found Maximus, your freedman and agent, sir, throughout the whole time that we have been together, to be an upright, active, and diligent man, one who is devoted to your interests, and at the same time most observant of discipline, I gladly give my testimony in his favour with that fidelity which I owe you.

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86 A (18.) — TO TRAJAN.

Having found Gavius Bassus, sir, the prefect of the Pontic coast, to be a man of integrity, uprightness, and industry, and with all this most respectful towards myself, I tender my wishes and suffrages on his behalf with that fidelity which I owe you.

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86 B (18.) — TO TRAJAN.

... Trained by having served under your command, to whose schooling he owes it that he is worthy of your favour. Both soldiers and civilians, who have had thorough experience of his impartiality and affability, have vied with each other in conveying to me their testimony, private as well as public, on his behalf. This I bring to your notice with that fidelity which I owe you.

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87 (19.) — TO TRAJAN.

Nymphidius Lupus, sir, a former Primipilus, was my comrade in arms at the time when I myself was Tribune and he was Præfect. From that time I began to cherish him closely. Subsequently my regard for him grew from the very length of our mutual friendship. On the strength of this, I have laid violent hands on his repose, and have forced him to assist me with his counsel in Bithynia. This he has not only already done, but will continue to do in the most friendly way, and laying aside all considerations of ease and age. For these reasons I reckon his belongings among my own, and particularly his son Nymphidius Lupus, a young man of probity and energy, one in every way worthy of his distinguished father, and who will do credit to your indulgent notice of him. This indeed you may learn from the first proofs he has given as Præfect of a cohort, in which capacity he gained the highest character from those eminent men, Julius Ferox and Fuscus Salinator. My joy and self-congratulation will be satisfied by the advancement of the son.

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88 (89.) — TO TRAJAN.

I pray, sir, that you may have the happiest of birthdays, and many others like it, and that in strength and security you may ever be adding by fresh achievements to that glory flourishing with immortal renown, which you derive from your virtues.

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89 (90.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I acknowledge with thanks, dearest Secundus, the prayers you offer that I may have many birthdays, and very happy ones, with our country in a flourishing condition.

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90 (91.) — TO TRAJAN.

The inhabitants of Sinope, sir, are short of water, which it seems might be brought in, of good quality and in abundance, from a distance of sixteen miles. There is, however, close upon the source, that is a little more than a mile off, a suspicious and boggy spot: this I have meanwhile ordered to be examined, at a small expense, to see whether it is capable of receiving and supporting an aqueduct. We shall not want for money, which I have taken care to collect, provided you, sir, accord this kind of construction in view of the salubrity and attractiveness of a very thirsty town.

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91 (92.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

As you have begun, dearest Secundus, so go on carefully to investigate whether the particular spot, which is suspicious to you, can bear such a work as an aqueduct. For I do not doubt that water should be brought into the town of Sinope, provided the town itself can effect this at its own charge only: since such a result would add much both to its salubrity and to its agreeableness.

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92 (93.) — TO TRAJAN.

The free and confederate city of the Amiseni, by favour of your indulgence, enjoys its own laws. A petition was handed to me there relating to “Charitable Collections,” which I have appended to this letter, that you, sir, might judge what things (and how far things of this kind) should be either allowed or prohibited.

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93 (94.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

As to the Amiseni, whose petition you have appended to your letter: if by their laws (which they enjoy in virtue of their confederation with us) it is permitted them to have charitable collections, we cannot prevent their doing so: and all the less, if they employ contributions of this kind, not in assembling crowds and illegal gatherings, but in aiding the needs of the indigent. In the other cities which are bound by our laws, things of this kind must be prohibited.

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94 (95.) — TO TRAJAN.

Suetonius Tranquillus, sir, is a most upright, honourable, and learned man. Having long been attracted by his character and studious pursuits, I have admitted him to my intimacy, and the more closely I have observed him, the more have I begun to cherish him. The rights enjoyed by those who have three children are rendered a necessity to him for two reasons. His deserts often obtain for him a mention in his friends’ wills, and at the same time his marriage has not turned out fruitful. It is from your bounty that he must obtain, through my intercession, what the malignity of Fortune has refused him. I know, sir, how great is the favour which I ask. But it is of you that I am asking it, you whose indulgence I experience in all my requests. You may, moreover, gather how ardent must be my desire in a matter which I should not ask you for, when absent from you, if that desire were merely of an ordinary character.

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95 (96.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

How sparing I am in bestowing such favours as these you must certainly remember, my dearest Secundus, seeing that I often declare in the Senate itself that I have not gone beyond the number of favoured persons which, in the presence of that illustrious assembly, I promised should suffice me. However, I have subscribed to your wishes, and have ordered it to be entered on my registers, that I have accorded to Suetonius Tranquillus the rights of those who have three children, on the usual conditions.

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96 (97.) — TO TRAJAN. (Emperor’s Instructions Regarding Christians)

It is with me, sir, an established custom to refer to you all matters on which I am in doubt. Who, indeed, is better able, either to direct my scruples or to instruct my ignorance?

I have never been present at trials of Christians, and consequently do not know for what reasons, or how far, punishment is usually inflicted or inquiry made in their case. Nor have my hesitations been slight: as to whether any distinction of age should be made, or persons however tender in years should be viewed as differing in no respect from the full-grown: whether pardon should be accorded to repentance, or he who has once been a Christian should gain nothing by having ceased to be one: whether the very profession itself if unattended by crime, or else the crimes necessarily attaching to the profession, should be made the subject of punishment.

Meanwhile, in the case of those who have been brought before me in the character of Christians, my course has been as follows: — I put it to themselves whether they were or were not Christians. To such as professed that they were, I put the inquiry a second and a third time, threatening them with the supreme penalty. Those who persisted, I ordered to execution. For, indeed, I could not doubt, whatever might be the nature of that which they professed, that their pertinacity, at any rate, and inflexible obstinacy, ought to be punished. There were others afflicted with like madness, with regard to whom, as they were Roman citizens, I made a memorandum that they were to be sent for judgment to Rome. Soon, the very handling of this matter causing, as often happens, the area of the charge to spread, many fresh examples occurred. An anonymous paper was put forth containing the names of many persons. Those who denied that they either were or had been Christians, upon their calling on the gods after me, and upon their offering wine and incense before your statue, which for this purpose I had ordered to be introduced in company with the images of the gods, moreover upon their reviling Christ — none of which things it is said can such as are really and truly Christians be compelled to do — these I deemed it proper to dismiss. Others named by the informer admitted that they were Christians, and then shortly afterwards denied it, adding that they had been Christians, but had ceased to be so, some three years, some many years, more than one of them as much as twenty years, before. All these, too, not only honoured your image and the effigies of the gods, but also reviled Christ. They affirmed, however, that this had been the sum, whether of their crime or their delusion; they had been in the habit of meeting together on a stated day, before sunrise, and of offering in turns a form of invocation to Christ, as to a god; also of binding themselves by an oath, not for any guilty purpose, but not to commit thefts, or robberies, or adulteries, not to break their word, not to repudiate deposits when called upon; these ceremonies having been gone through, they had been in the habit of separating, and again meeting together for the purpose of taking food — food, that is, of an ordinary and innocent kind. They had, however, ceased from doing even this, after my edict, in which, following your orders, I had forbidden the existence of Fraternities. This made me think it all the more necessary to inquire, even by torture, of two maid-servants, who were styled deaconesses, what the truth was. I could discover nothing else than a vicious and extravagant superstition: consequently, having adjourned the inquiry, I have had recourse to your counsels. Indeed, the matter seemed to me a proper one for consultation, chiefly on account of the number of persons imperilled. For many of all ages and all ranks, ay, and of both sexes, are being called, and will be called, into danger. Nor are cities only permeated by the contagion of this superstition, but villages and country parts as well; yet it seems possible to stop it and cure it. It is in truth sufficiently evident that the temples, which were almost entirely deserted, have begun to be frequented, that the customary religious rites which had long been interrupted are being resumed, and that there is a sale for the food of sacrificial beasts, for which hitherto very few buyers indeed could be found. From all this it is easy to form an opinion as to the great number of persons who may be reclaimed, if only room be granted for penitence.

Detailed table of contents listing each letter

97 (98.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You have followed the right mode of procedure, my dear Secundus, in investigating the cases of those who had been brought before you as Christians. For, indeed, it is not possible to establish any universal rule, possessing as it were a fixed form. These people should not be searched for; if they are informed against and convicted they should be punished; yet, so that he who shall deny being a Christian, and shall make this plain in action, that is by worshipping our gods, even though suspected on account of his past conduct, shall obtain pardon by his penitence. Anonymous informations, however, ought not to be allowed a standing in any kind of charge; a course which would not only form the worst of precedents, but which is not in accordance with the spirit of our time.

Detailed table of contents listing each letter

98 (99.) — TO TRAJAN.

The city of Amastris, sir, which is handsome and tastefully built, possesses among its finest constructions a very beautiful and at the same time very long boulevard, all along one side of which runs what indeed is called a river, but is in reality a very foul sewer, hideous with its filthy aspect, and equally pestilent from its disgusting odour. For this reason it is a concern of salubrity no less than of appearance, that it should be covered up. This shall be done, with your permission, on our undertaking that money too shall not be wanting for the execution of a work as important as it is necessary.

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99 (100.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

It stands to reason, my dearest Secundus, that the water in question which flows through the city of Amastris should be covered up, if in its uncovered state it is injurious to health. As to money not failing for the work, that I am confident you will see to with your customary diligence.

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100 (101.) — TO TRAJAN.

We have acquitted ourselves, sir, with joy and alacrity of the vows offered up last year, and have taken on ourselves fresh ones, troops and provincials vying with each other in loyal affection. We have prayed the gods to preserve you and the commonwealth in prosperity and safety, with all the favour which — in addition to your other great and numerous virtues — you have merited by your exemplary piety, submission, and godliness.

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101 (102.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I have been pleased to learn from your letter, my dearest Secundus, that troops and provincials have, with most cheerful consent, acquitted themselves of their vows for my safety to the immortal gods, yourself leading the way, and that they have offered fresh vows for the future.

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102 (103.) — TO TRAJAN.

We have celebrated, with due rites, the day on which the guardianship of the human race was transferred to you, by a most happy succession; commending to the gods, the ordainers of your rule, our public vows and our joys.

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103 (104.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I have been pleased to learn from your letter that the day of my accession has been celebrated with due joyfulness and religious rites by the troops and provincials, yourself leading the way.

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104 (105.) — TO TRAJAN.

Valerius Paulinus, sir, has bequeathed to me the patronage of his freedmen, to the exclusion of Paulinus. Of these, I pray you to grant the Roman citizenship to three for the present; for I fear it would be exceeding the bounds to invoke your favour on behalf of all of them at the same time; a favour which it behoves me to be all the more modest in availing myself of, in proportion to the great fulness in which I experience it. These, however, for whom I am applying are, C. Valerius Astræus, C. Valerius Dionysius, and C. Valerius Axer.

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105 (106.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

It is most generous on your part to seek the speedy advantage, through my agency, of those who have been confided to your honour by Valerius Paulinus; accordingly, I have ordered an entry to be made in my registers to the effect that I have granted the Roman citizenship to those, for the present, for whom you have now asked it; and will do the same for others on behalf of whom you shall hereafter ask it.

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106 (107.) — TO TRAJAN.

Having been requested, sir, by P. Accius Aquila, a centurion of the Sixth Cavalry Cohort, to forward you a memorial, in which he implores your favourable consideration of his daughter’s status, I thought it hard to refuse him, knowing as I do the great patience and kindliness which you exhibit towards the prayers of soldiers.

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104 (108.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I have read the memorial of P. Accius Aquila, a centurion in the Sixth Cavalry Cohort, which you forwarded to me, and, moved by his prayers, I have granted the Roman citizenship to his daughter. I have forwarded to you a certificate of the rescript, for you to hand to him.

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105 (109.) — TO TRAJAN.

I should be obliged, sir, by your writing me word as to the rights you would wish the cities of Bithynia and Pontus to enjoy, in respect to calling in moneys owing to them either in the shape of rent, or for sales of property, or for any other reason. For my part, I have found that a preference over other creditors has been accorded them by most of the proconsuls, and has obtained the force of law. I am of opinion, however, that some rule should be established, and ratified by your wisdom, of a kind to conduce to their permanent interests. For as for what has been instituted by others, wise as such grants may have been, yet they are but temporary, and wanting in stability, unless they should enjoy the advantage of your authorisation.

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109 (110.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

As to the rights which the cities of Bithynia and Pontus should enjoy in the matter of moneys which shall he owing, on any account, to the commonwealth, this must be looked to, according to the laws of each city. For in case it possesses a privilege in virtue of which it is preferred to the remaining creditors, then that privilege must be observed; in case it does not possess it, it will not be proper that it should be granted by me, to the detriment of private individuals.

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110 (111.) — TO TRAJAN.

The Syndic of the city of Amisus, sir, has sued Julius Piso before me for a sum of about forty thousand denarii, a public grant made to him twenty years ago, with the consent of the Senate and assembled Commons: citing your ordinances by which donations of this kind are forbidden. Piso, in reply, said that he had contributed large sums, and, indeed, spent nearly the whole of his means, on behalf of the commonwealth. He pleaded further the lapse of time, and begged that he might not be forced to give back, to the ruin of his remaining fortunes, that which he had received in return for many services, and a long while ago. Upon this I have thought it right to adjourn the whole case, in order to consult you, sir, as to the course you would have pursued.

Detailed table of contents listing each letter

111 (112.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Although my ordinances forbid the making of largesses on public account, yet, to prevent the security of many persons from being undermined, when these have been made some time ago, it is not expedient that they should be reconsidered and their invalidity established. Whatever, then, shall have been done not less than twenty years before, in this case, must be passed over. For I desire to have regard for the individuals of each place, no less than the public moneys.

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112 (113.) — TO TRAJAN.

By the law of Pompey, sir, by which the inhabitants of Bithynia and Pontus are governed, such persons as are chosen into the council by the censors are not ordered to pay any fee. Those, however, whom your favour has permitted certain of the cities to add over and above the lawful number, have contributed sometimes a thousand, sometimes two thousand, denarii apiece. Upon this, the proconsul, Anicius Maximus, ordered such likewise as were chosen by the censors (that is to say, in a small number of cities) to pay fees of various amounts. It remains for you yourself to consider whether in all the cities all persons who shall hereafter be chosen councillors ought not to pay some fixed sum as an entrance fee; for it becomes you to make a permanent settlement, whose words and deeds immortality awaits.

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113 (114.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

It is impossible for me to lay down a general rule as to whether all persons who in every city of Bithynia are created councillors should, or should not, furnish an honorarium on their admission to the councilship. think, then — and this is always the safest course — that the law of each city should he followed....

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114 (115.) — TO TRAJAN.

By the law of Pompey, sir, it is permitted to the cities of Bithynia to enroll among their citizens any persons they please, provided they are not of any of the other cities in Bithynia. In the same law are enacted the grounds on which persons may be ejected from the Senate by the censors. Upon this, certain of the censors thought it right to consult me as to whether they ought to eject one who was from another city. Inasmuch as the law, though forbidding the enrolment of one from another city, yet did not order that this should be a ground of ejection from the Senate; moreover, since I was assured that in every city there were a number of councillors from other cities, and that much disturbance would be caused to many individuals and to many cities,... that part of the law which had long since become obsolete through a kind of general consent,... I have thought it necessary to consult you as to what you would have observed. I have appended to this letter the principal clauses of the law.

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115 (116.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

No wonder you were in doubt, dearest Secundus, as to the proper reply for you to make to the censors who consulted you.... For the authority of the law on the one hand, and, on the other, the long usage which has obtained in opposition to the law, might well move you in opposite directions. I have decided upon thus compromising the matter: that we make no change in what is past, but that the citizens who have been naturalised, though illegally, of whatever city they be, shall remain where they arc; for the future, however, that Pompey’s law be observed. If we were for maintaining its provisions retrospectively as well, much disturbance would necessarily follow.

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116 (117.) — TO TRAJAN.

Persons who attain their majority, or contract a marriage, or enter on a public office, or inaugurate a public work, are in the habit of inviting the whole of the council, and even a considerable number of the population, and presenting them with a couple of denarii, and sometimes one, per man. I should be obliged by your writing me word whether you think these celebrations should be permitted, and if so, how far. For my part, although I am of opinion that the right to issue invitations should be conceded, especially on solemn occasions, yet at the same time I fear that those who invite a thousand individuals, and sometimes even more, may seem to exceed the bounds, and to fall into an appearance of distributing largesses.

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117 (118.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

No wonder you are afraid that an invitation “should fall into an appearance of distributing largesses,” which not only exceeds the bounds in point of numbers, but also collects together to a ceremonious dole people in bands, so to speak, not man by man, each one on grounds of personal acquaintance. But I have made choice of your intelligence on this very account, that in forming the manners of that province of yours you should yourself ordain and establish what may be of advantage to the permanent quiet of the province.

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118 (119.) — TO TRAJAN.

The athletes, sir, consider that the rewards which you have established in the case of the Iselastic contests are owing to them from the very day on which they were crowned; for they say it is not at all material at what time they made their public entry into their native place, but at what time they were victors in the contest, by reason of which they were empowered to make such entry. I, on the other hand, observe that they have been given under the name of “Iselastic;” and this makes me strongly inclined to doubt whether it be not rather the time of their making their public entry which must be looked at.

These same persons ask for pensions in the case of a contest, which has been made an Iselastic one by you, though they should have been victors before it was so made. For they say it is only consistent that just as this money is not given them for those contests which have ceased to be Iselastic after their victory, so it should be given to them for those which have begun to be Iselastic after their victory. Here, too, I am in no small doubt whether one can take account of what is past, and whether anything should be given them which was not owing to them at the time when they were victors. I pray you, then, to deign to determine my doubts, that is to say, to interpret your own benefactions.

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119 (120.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

The Iselastic rewards ought, it seems to me, to begin from the time when a man has made his personal entry into his own city. Pensions for those contests which I have been pleased to make Iselastic, in case they were not Iselastic before, are not due retrospectively. Nor can it avail in view of the athletes’ request, that they ceased to receive these monies for those contests which subsequently to their victory I decided should not be Iselastic. For though the character of these contests was changed, nevertheless what these people had previously received is not asked for back again.

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120 (121.) — TO TRAJAN.

Up to this time, sir, I have never accommodated anybody with a passport, or issued one for any other service than your own. A kind of necessity has broken through this constant practice of mine. For my wife having heard of the death of her grandfather, and being desirous of setting off to her aunt’s, I thought it hard to deny her the use of a passport, seeing that the whole grace of such an attention consisted in its expedition, and that I knew I could give good reason for a journey the motive of which was family affection. This I have written to you, because it seemed to me that I should be deficient in gratitude if I concealed the fact of my being indebted to your kindness, among other favours, for this one. I mean, that my confidence in your kindness has caused me not to hesitate in doing, without consulting you, what if I had consulted you, would have been done too late.

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121 (122.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You were right, dearest Secundus, in being confident in my intentions. Nor could you hesitate to do what would have been done too late if you had consulted me as to whether your wife’s journey should be aided by passports such as I have authorised you to issue, particularly as your wife was bound, in the case of her aunt, to enhance the grace of her arrival by her expedition.

THE END

DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THE LETTERS

BOOK I.

I. — TO SEPTICIUS.

II. — TO ARRIANUS.

III. — TO CANINIUS RUFUS.

IV. — TO POMPEIA CELERINA.

V. — TO VOCONIUS ROMANUS.

VI. — TO CORNELIUS TACITUS.

VII. — TO OCTAVIUS RUFUS.

VIII. — TO POMPEIUS SATURNINUS.

IX. — TO MINUTIUS FUNDANUS.

X. — TO ATTIUS CLEMENS.

XI. — TO FABIUS JUSTUS.

XII. — TO CALESTRIUS TIRO.

XIII. — TO SOSIUS SENECIO.

XIV. — TO JUNIUS MAURICUS.

XV. — TO SEPTICIUS CLARUS.

XVI. — TO ERUCIUS.

XVII. — TO CORNELIUS TITIANUS.

XVIII. — TO SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS.

XIX. — TO ROMANUS FIRMUS.

XX. — TO CORNELIUS TACITUS.

XXI. — TO PLINIUS PATERNUS.

XXII. — TO CATILIUS SEVERUS.

XXIII. — TO POMPEIUS FALCO.

XXIV. — TO BAEBIUS HISPANUS.

BOOK II.

I. — TO ROMANUS.

II. — TO PAULINUS.

III. — TO NEPOS.

IV. — TO CALVINA.

V. — TO LUPERCUS.

VI. — TO AVITUS.

VII. — TO MACRINUS.

VIII. — TO CANINIUS.

IX. — TO APOLLINARIS.

X. — TO OCTAVIUS.

XI. — TO ARRIANUS.

XII. — TO ARRIANUS.

XIII. — TO PRISCUS.

XIV. — TO MAXIMUS.

XV. — TO VALERIANUS.

XVI. — TO ANNIANUS.

XVII. — TO GALLUS.

XVIII. — TO MAURICUS.

XIX. — TO CERIALIS.

XX. — TO CALVISIUS.

BOOK III.

I. — TO CALVISIUS.

II. — TO MAXIMUS.

III. — TO CORELLIA HISPULLA.

IV. — TO MACRINUS.

V. — TO BAEBIUS MACER.

VI. — TO ANNIUS SEVERUS.

VII. — TO CANINIUS RUFUS.

VIII. — TO SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS.

IX. — TO CORNELIUS MINICIANUS.

X. — TO VESTRICIUS SPURINNA AND HIS WIFE COTTIA.

XI. — TO JULIUS GENITOR.

XII. — TO CATILIUS SEVERUS.

XII. — TO VOCONIUS ROMANUS.

XIV. — TO ACILIUS.

XV. — TO SILIUS PROCULUS.

XVI. — TO NEPOS.

XVII. — TO JULIUS SERVIANUS.

XVIII. — TO CURIUS SEVERUS.

XIX. — TO CALVISIUS RUFUS.

XX. — TO MESSIUS MAXIMUS.

XXI. — TO CORNELIUS PRISCUS.

BOOK IV.

I. — TO FABATUS.

II. — TO ATTIUS CLEMENS.

III. — TO ANTONIUS.

IV. — TO SOSIUS SENECIO.

V. — TO SPARSUS.

VI. — TO JULIUS NASO.

VII. — TO CATIUS LEPIDUS.

VIII. — TO MATURUS ARRIANUS.

IX. — TO CORNELIUS URSUS.

X. — TO STATIUS SABINUS.

XI. — TO CORNELIUS MINICIANUS.

XII. — TO MATURUS ARRIANUS.

XIII. — TO TACITUS.

XIV. — TO PATERNUS.

XV. — TO FUNDANUS.

XVI. — TO VALERIUS PAULINUS.

XVII. — TO ASINIUS GALLUS.

XVIII. — TO ARRIUS ANTONINUS.

XIX. — TO CALPURNIA HISPULLA.

XX. — TO MAXIMUS.

XXI. — TO VELIUS CEREALIS.

XXII. — TO SEMPRONIUS RUFUS.

XXIII. — TO POMPONIUS BASSUS.

XXIV. — TO FABIUS VALENS.

XXV. — TO MESSIUS MAXIMUS.

XXVI. — TO NEPOS.

XXVII. — TO POMPEIUS FALCO.

XXVIII. — TO VIBIUS SEVERUS.

XXIX. — TO ROMATIUS FIRMUS.

XXX. — TO LICINIUS SURA.

BOOK V.

I. — TO ANNIUS SEVERUS.

II. — TO CALPURNIUS FLACCUS.

III. — TO TITIUS ARISTO.

IV. — TO JULIUS VALERIANUS.

V. — TO NONIUS MAXIMUS.

VI. — TO DOMITIUS APOLLINARIS.

VII. — TO CALVISIUS.

VIII. — TO TITINIUS CAPITO.

IX. — TO RUFUS.

X. — TO SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS.

XI. — TO CALPURNIUS FABATUS.

XII. — TO TERENTIUS SCAURUS.

XIII. — TO VALERIANUS.

XIV. — TO PONTIUS.

XV. — TO ARRIUS ANTONINUS.

XVI. — TO MARCELLINUS.

XVII. — TO SPURINNA.

XVIII. — TO CALPURNIUS MACER.

XIX. — TO PAULINUS.

XX. — TO URSUS.

XXI. — TO SATURNINUS.

BOOK VI.

1. — TO TIRO.

2. — TO ARRIANUS.

3. — TO VERUS.

4. — TO CULPURNIA, HIS WIFE.

5. — TO URSUS.

6. — TO FUNDANUS.

7. — TO CALPURNIA, HIS WIFE.

8. — TO PRISCUS.

9. — TO TACITUS.

10. — TO ALBINUS.

11. — TO MAXIMUS.

12. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

13. — TO URSUS.

14. — TO MAURICUS.

15. — TO ROMANUS.

16. — TO TACITUS. (Mount Vesuvius Eruption Account I)

17. — TO RESTITUTUS.

18. — TO SABINUS.

19. — TO NEPOS.

20. — TO TACITUS. (Mount Vesuvius Eruption Account II)

21. — TO CANINIUS.

22. — TO TIRO.

23. — TO TRIARIUS.

24. — TO MACER.

25. — TO HISPANUS.

26. — TO SERVIANUS.

27. — TO SEVERUS.

28. — TO PONTIUS.

29. — TO QUADRATUS.

30. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

31. — TO CORNELIANUS.

32. — TO QUINTILIAN.

33. — TO ROMANUS.

34. — TO MAXIMUS.

BOOK VII.

1. — TO GEMINUS.

2. — TO JUSTUS.

3. — TO PRÆSENS.

4. — TO PONTIUS.

5. — TO CALPURNIA, HIS WIFE.

6. — TO MACRINUS.

7. — TO SATURNINUS.

8. — TO PRISCUS.

9. — TO FUSCUS.

10. — TO MACRINUS.

11. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

12. — TO MINICIUS.

13. — TO FEROX.

14. — TO CORELLIA.

15. — TO SATURNINUS.

16. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

17. — TO CELER.

18. — TO CANINIUS.

19. — TO PRISCUS.

20. — TO TACITUS.

21. — TO CORNUTUS.

22. — TO FALCO.

23. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

24. — TO GEMINUS.

25. — TO RUFUS.

26. — TO MAXIMUS.

27. — TO SURA.

28. — TO SEPTICIUS.

29. — TO MONTANUS.

30. — TO GENITOR.

31. — TO CORNUTUS.

32. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

33. — TO TACITUS.

BOOK VIII.

1. — TO SEPTICIUS.

2. — TO CALVISIUS.

3. — TO SPARSUS.

4. — TO CANINIUS.

5. — TO GEMINUS.

6. — TO MONTANUS.

7. — TO TACITUS.

8. — TO ROMANUS.

9. — TO URSUS.

10. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

11. — TO HISPULLA.

12. — TO MINICIANUS.

13. — TO GENIALIS.

14. — TO ARISTO.

15. — TO JUNIOR.

16. — TO PATERNUS.

17. — TO MACRINUS.

18. — TO RUFINUS.

19. — TO MAXIMUS.

20. — TO GALLUS.

21. — TO ARRIANUS.

22. — TO GEMINUS.

23. — TO MARCELLINUS.

24. — TO MAXIMUS.

BOOK IX.

1. — TO MAXIMUS.

2. — TO SABINUS.

3. — TO PAULINUS.

4. — TO MACRINUS.

5. — TO TIRO.

6. — TO CALVISIUS.

7. — TO ROMANUS.

8. — TO AUGURINUS.

9. — TO COLONUS.

10. — TO TACITUS.

11. — TO GEMINUS.

12. — TO JUNIOR.

13. — TO QUADRATUS.

14. — TO TACITUS.

15. — TO FALCO.

16. — TO MAMILIANUS.

17. — TO GENITOR.

18. — TO SABINUS.

19. — TO RUSO.

20. — TO VENATOR.

21. — TO SABINIANUS.

22. — TO SEVERUS.

23. — TO MAXIMUS.

24. — TO SABINIANUS.

25. — TO MAMILIANUS.

26. — TO LUPERCUS.

27. — TO PATERNUS.

28. — TO ROMANUS.

29. — TO RUSTICUS.

30. — TO GEMINUS.

31. — TO SARDUS.

32. — TO TITIANUS.

33. — TO CANINIUS.

34. — TO TRANQUILLUS.

35. — TO ATRIUS.

36. — TO FUSCUS.

37. — TO PAULINUS.

38. — TO SATURNINUS.

39. — TO MUSTIUS.

40. — TO FUSCUS.

BOOK X. CORRESPONDENCE WITH TRAJAN.

1. — TO TRAJAN.

2. — TO TRAJAN.

3 A (20.) — TO TRAJAN.

3 B (21.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

4 (3.) — PLINY TO TRAJAN.

5 (4.) — TO TRAJAN.

6 (22.) — TO TRAJAN.

7 (23.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

8 (24.) — TO TRAJAN.

9 (25.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

10 (5.) — TO TRAJAN.

11 (6.) — TO TRAJAN.

12 (7.) — TO TRAJAN.

13 (8.) — TO TRAJAN.

14 (9.) — TO TRAJAN.

15 (26.) — TO TRAJAN.

16 (27.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

17 A (28.) — TO TRAJAN.

17 B. — TO TRAJAN.

18 (29.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

19 (30.) — TO TRAJAN.

20 (31.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

21 (32.) — PLINY TO TRAJAN.

22 (33.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

23 (34.) — TO TRAJAN.

24 (35.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

25 (10.) — TO TRAJAN.

26 (11.) — TO TRAJAN.

27 (36.) — TO TRAJAN.

28 (37.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

29 (38.) — TO TRAJAN.

30 (39.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

31 (40.) — TO TRAJAN.

32 (41.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

33 (42.) — TO TRAJAN.

34 (43.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

35 (44.) — TO TRAJAN.

36 (45.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

37 (46.) — TO TRAJAN.

33 (47.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

39 (48.) — TO TRAJAN.

40 (49.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

41 (50.) — TO TRAJAN.

42 (51.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

43 (52.) — TO TRAJAN.

44 (53.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

45 (54.) — TO TRAJAN.

46 (55.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

47 (56.) — TO TRAJAN.

48 (57.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

49 (58.) — TO TRAJAN.

50 (59.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

51 (12.) — TO TRAJAN.

52 (60.) — TO TRAJAN.

53 (61.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

54 (62.) — TO TRAJAN.

55 (63.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

56 (64.) — TO TRAJAN.

57 (65.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

58 (66.) — TO TRAJAN.

59 (67.) — TO TRAJAN.

60 (68.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

61 (69.) — TO TRAJAN.

62 (70.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

63 (13.) — TO TRAJAN.

64 (14.) — TO TRAJAN.

65 (71.) — TO TRAJAN.

66 (72.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

67 (15.) — TO TRAJAN.

68 (73.) — TO TRAJAN.

69 (74.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

70 (75.) — TO TRAJAN.

71 (76.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

72 (77.) — TO TRAJAN.

73 (73.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

74 (16.) — TO TRAJAN.

75 (79.) — TO TRAJAN.

76 (80.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

77 (81.) — TO TRAJAN.

78 (82.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

79 (83.) — TO TRAJAN.

80 (84.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

81 (85.) — TO TRAJAN.

82 (86.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

83 (87.) — TO TRAJAN.

84 (88.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

85 (17.) — TO TRAJAN.

86 A (18.) — TO TRAJAN.

86 B (18.) — TO TRAJAN.

87 (19.) — TO TRAJAN.

88 (89.) — TO TRAJAN.

89 (90.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

90 (91.) — TO TRAJAN.

91 (92.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

92 (93.) — TO TRAJAN.

93 (94.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

94 (95.) — TO TRAJAN.

95 (96.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

96 (97.) — TO TRAJAN. (Emperor’s Instructions Regarding Christians)

97 (98.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

98 (99.) — TO TRAJAN.

99 (100.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

100 (101.) — TO TRAJAN.

101 (102.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

102 (103.) — TO TRAJAN.

103 (104.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

104 (105.) — TO TRAJAN.

105 (106.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

106 (107.) — TO TRAJAN.

104 (108.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

105 (109.) — TO TRAJAN.

109 (110.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

110 (111.) — TO TRAJAN.

111 (112.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

112 (113.) — TO TRAJAN.

113 (114.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

114 (115.) — TO TRAJAN.

115 (116.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

116 (117.) — TO TRAJAN.

117 (118.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

118 (119.) — TO TRAJAN.

119 (120.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

120 (121.) — TO TRAJAN.

121 (122.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

PANEGYRICUS TRAIANI

Translated by Francis P. Garland

Pliny began writing at the age of fourteen, composing a tragedy in Greek. In the course of his life he wrote a quantity of poetry, most of which was lost despite the great affection he had for the genre. Also known as a notable orator, he regarded himself as a follower of Cicero, though his prose was more ornate in language and less direct than Cicero’s manner. The only extant oration by Pliny is the Panegyricus Traiani, which was delivered in the Senate in 100 AD and offers a description of Trajan’s figure and actions in a laudatory and emphatic form, contrasting Trajan with the former Emperor Domitian. Nevertheless, the Panegyricus Traiani is a relevant document that allows us to know many details about the Emperor’s actions in several fields of his administrative power, such as taxes, justice, military discipline and commerce.

Trajan (53-117 AD) was Emperor from 98 AD until his death. He is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor, who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history, leading the Empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death. He is also known for his philanthropic rule, overseeing extensive public building programs and implementing social welfare policies, earning him his enduring reputation as the second of the Five Good Emperors.

Pliny the Younger’s “Panegyric in Praise of Trajan”

It was a good and wise custom of our ancestors to begin no act or speech without prayer. They believed it only proper and prudent to reverence the gods and seek their aid and guidance. How much more ought we now to have recourse to prayer when, by command of the senate and the will of the people, your consul is about to make an expression of gratitude to a good prince! For what gift of the gods is better or nobler than a chaste, pious, godlike prince! And I am sure that even if there were still doubt as to whether rulers are given to the world by chance or by divine will, we should all feel that our prince was chosen by divine direction. For he was not found out by the secret power of fate, but by the open manifestation of Jupiter’s will, and was chosen amid sacred altars in the same temple in which Jupiter dwells in person as clearly as he does in the starry heavens. It is therefore all the more fitting that I should turn in prayer to thee, Jupiter, most mighty and good, and ask that my address may prove worthy of me as consul, worthy of our senate, and worthy of our prince; that my words may bear the stamp of freedom, faith, and truth, and lack as much the semblance, as they do the need, of flattery.

Not only a consul, but every citizen, should strive to say nothing of our prince that might seem proper enough if spoken of some other prince. Let us, therefore, repress the utterances of fear. Let us speak as we feel. Let us emphasize clearly in our discourse the difference between the present and the past. Let our language show unmistakably that it is Trajan we thank, and his age that we praise. But let us not address him with the flattering title of a god or divinity; for we speak not of a tyrant, but of a fellow citizen; not of a master, but of a father. He boasts that he is one of us; nor does he forget that he is only a man, though the ruler of men. Let us, then, appreciate our good fortune and prove ourselves worthy of it. Let us, too, consider again and again how unworthy it would be to show greater regard for princes who rejoice in the servitude of their fellow citizens than for those who rejoice in their freedom. The people of Rome, who have retained the right to choose their princes, now praise the courage of Trajan as enthusiastically as they did the beauty of Domitian, and applaud his devotion, self-restraint, and humanity as vociferously as they did the voice and the bearing of Nero. What, then, shall we commend? The divinity of our prince, his culture, his self-control, or his affability? We can do nothing worthier of our citizens and our senate than we have already done in conferring on him the surname of the Good — a title made peculiarly his by the arrogance of former princes. It is only natural and reasonable, then, that we should esteem ourselves happy and our prince happy, and pray that he may ever do deeds deserving of our praise. At all this he is affected even to tears, for he knows and feels that we speak of him as a man, not as a prince.

Let  us   retain, then, individually, in   the   ho«r of calm reflection, the same spirit that we had in the first heat of our devotion; and let us bear in mind that there is no kind of gratitude more sincere or more acceptable than that which, like the acclamations of the populace, is too spontaneous to be feigned.   So far as I can, I shall try to adapt my address to the modesty and moderation of our prince, and shall consider not less what his delicacy will permit than what his merits deserve.

It is the peculiar glory of our prince that, when I am about to render him an expression of gratitude, I fear not that he will think me niggardly, but lavish in his praise.   This is my only anxiety; this my only difficulty.   For it is an easy matter to render thanks to one who deserves them.   Nor is there any danger that he will mistake the praise of culture for the censure of conceit; the praise of frugality for the censure of luxury; the praise of clemency for the censure of cruelty; the praise of liberality for the censure of avarice; the praise of benignity for the censure of malice; the praise of continence for the censure of lust; the praise of industry for the censure of laziness; or the praise of courage for the censure of fear.   I do not even fear that I shall seem grateful or ungrateful according as I say a great deal or very little.

For I have observed that even the gods themselves are pleased not so much by flawless perfection in the form of prayer, as  by the uprightness and  piety  of  their votaries. They prefer him who brings to their altars a pure heart, to him who brings a studied prayer.

But I must comply with the will of the senate, which has decreed for the public advantage that the consul, by way of an address of thanks, shall remind good princes of what they have done, and bad princes of what they ought to do. This is all the more necessary now because our prince suppresses all private expressions of gratitude, and would prevent also public ones if he were permitted to forbid what the senate has decreed. In both cases, Caesar Augustus, you show moderation; for, in permitting here the expression of gratitude that you forbid in private, you honor not yourself, but us. Since, then, you have yielded to our wishes, the important thing is not for us to proclaim your merits, but for you to hear them.

I have often reflected how good and great the man should be whose beck and nod control the earth and sea, peace and war.

But I should never, even if I had power equal to that of the gods, have conceived of a prince like ours. One man becomes great in war, but sinks into obscurity in peace. Another gains distinction in the arts of peace, but not in the profession of arms.

One is feared because he is cruel; another loved because he is humble. One loses in public life the renown he gained in private; another loses in private life his public reputation. In short, there has been no prince in the past whose virtues have not been tarnished by vices. But our prince has obtained unprecedented praise and glory. His seriousness is not lessened by his cheerfulness, his gravity by his simplicity, or his dignity by his humanity. He is steady, tall, and stately in mien and bearing; and though he is in the prime of life his hair is becoming gray — a sign of approaching age. These are the marks that proclaim the prince....

But though you possessed the proper qualifications, Caesar, you were unwilling to become emperor. You had therefore to be forced. Yet you could not have been forced but for the danger that threatened our country; you would not have assumed the imperial power were it not to save the empire. And I feel sure that the praetorians revolted because great force and danger were necessary to overcome your modesty. Just as the sea is calmer, and the sky clearer, after a storm, so the peace and security we now enjoy under your rule is greater after that uprising. So through all the vicissitudes of life adversity follows prosperity, prosperity adversity. The source of both lies hidden. Indeed the causes of good and evil in general deceive us by false appearances.

The revolt of the praetorians was a great disgrace to our age, a grave injury to the commonwealth. The emperor and father of the human race was besieged, taken, and shut up; the power of saving men was taken from the mildest of old men; our prince was deprived of his most salutary power — freedom of action. If only such calamity could induce you to assume the reins of government I should say that it was worth the price. The discipline of the camp was corrupted, that you might correct it; a bad example was set, that you might act a good one; finally a prince was forced to put men to death against his will, that he might give the world a prince who could not be forced. You were destined to be adopted at some time or other; but we should never have known how much the empire owed you, had you been adopted sooner. Adopted by the emperor and called upon by your countrymen, you responded as did the great generals of old when summoned from abroad to defend their country. Thus father and son made an exchange at one and the same time: he gave you the empire; you restored it to him. Nay you even put the giver under obligation; for in sharing the imperial power with him you assumed the burden of care, while he enjoyed greater security....

During the preceding reigns the barbarians had become insolent, and no longer struggled to gain their liberty, but fought to enslave us. But on your accession they were again inspired with fear and a willingness to obey your commands. For they saw that you were a general of the old stamp — one of those who had earned their title on fields heaped high with slaughter, or on seas resounding with the shouts of victory. The result is that we now accept hostages; we do not buy them. Nor do we now make peace on disadvantageous terms in order to keep up the appearance of success. Our enemies seek and implore peace; we grant or deny it according as the dignity of the empire requires. Those who obtain their request thank us; those to whom it is denied dare not complain, for they know that you have attacked the fiercest nations at that very time of the year which has hitherto been deemed most favorable for them and most unfavorable for us. I mean the season when the Danube is spanned with ice and supports on its hardened back the ponderous engines of war — the season when the savage tribes of the north are armed, not only with weapons, but with the fury of the elements. But the elements have no terrors for you, and on your approach the enemy shut themselves up in their hiding-places while our troops cross the river triumphantly and hurl against the barbarians the fury of their own winter. Such is the awe with which you have inspired the barbarians....

Above all we ought to feel grateful because you allow the men whom you have made consuls to act with consular power. You offer no dangers, no causes of fear, to swerve the consuls from their duty; they listen to nothing against their will, nor do they make decrees under compulsion. The dignity of the office still remains and will remain; and the consuls will not lose their security while they continue in power. If by any chance the consular power is diminished, the fault will be ours, not that of our age; for so far as our prince is concerned men may now be consuls who were formerly princes. Is there any adequate return we can make for the benefits we have received? None, except that we can always remember that we were consuls under you. Let us feel and vote, then, as becomes the dignity of our office, and let our conduct show that we believe the commonwealth still exists. Let us not withdraw our counsel or active service, or feel that we have been severed from the consulate, but rather let us feel that we are inseparably bound up with it. Finally let us cheerfully endure the labors and cares of our office; its honors and dignity we enjoy in full measure.

In conclusion I invoke upon all mankind the blessing of the guardian gods of our empire; and I pray you, especially, Jupiter Capitolinus, to favor us and add to all your other gifts the gift of perpetuity. You have heard us curse a wicked prince; now hear us bless a good one. We shall not weary you with a multitude of prayers; for we ask not peace, or security, or wealth, or honors; our simple and all-embracing prayer is the health of our prince. Nor will you be reluctant to grant it; for you already received him under your protection when you snatched him from the clutches of a rapacious robber. Otherwise, at a time when the high and mighty of the empire were shaken, he who was higher than all could not have stood unmoved. He remained unnoticed by a bad prince, though he could not but attract the attention of a good prince. If, then, he rules the empire well and for the advantage of all, I ask you, Jupiter, to spare him for our grandsons and great-grandsons, and to give him a successor of his own blood whom he shall have instructed and made worthy of adoption; or, if fate deny him this, I ask you to point out to him some one worthy of being adopted in the Capitol.

My indebtedness to you, conscript fathers, I need hardly speak of, for it is recorded on public monuments. You have borne witness in a most gratifying manner to the peace and quiet of my tribuneship, to my moderation and discretion as praetor, and to the zeal and constancy with which I looked after the interests of our allies. You have approved, too, of my appointment as consul with such unanimity as to show me that I must make a constant effort to retain and increase your good will, for I know that we cannot tell whether a candidate deserves office until he has obtained it. Although I saw, then, what short roads led to office, I preferred the longer road of honor. I have passed through a period of gloom and fear to an era of security and happiness. I have been hated by a bad prince; I love a good one. I shall always, therefore, show you the respect and deference due you from a man who looks upon himself not as a consul or ex-consul, but as a candidate for the consulship.

The Latin Texts

Bellagio, Lake Como. The institution on the hill is Villa Serbelloni, now believed to have been constructed on the site of Pliny’s villa ‘Tragedy’

LIST OF LATIN TEXTS

In this section of the eBook, readers can view the original Latin text of Pliny’s letters. You may wish to Bookmark this page for future reference.

CONTENTS

LIBER PRIMVS

LIBER SECVNDVS

LIBER TERTIVS

LIBER QVARTVS

LIBER QVINTVS

LIBER SEXTVS

LIBER SEPTIMVS

LIBER OCTAVVS

LIBER NONVS

LIBER X. C. PLINII CAECILII SECVNDI EPISTVLARVM LIBER DECIMVS AD TRAIANVM IMPERATOREM CVM EIVSDEM RESPONSIS

PANEGYRICUS TRAIANI

Detailed table of contents for the letters in Latin

LIBER PRIMVS

1. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO CLARO SUO S.

1 Frequenter hortatus es, ut epistulas, si quas paulo curatius scripsissem, colligerem publicaremque. Collegi non servato temporis ordine — neque enim historiam componebam -, sed ut quaeque in manus venerat. 2 Superest ut nec te consilii nec me paeniteat obsequii. Ita enim fiet, ut eas quae adhuc neglectae iacent requiram et si quas addidero non supprimam. Vale.

Detailed table of contents for the letters in Latin

2. C. PLINIUS MATURO ARRIANO SUO S.

1 Quia tardiorem adventum tuum prospicio, librum quem prioribus epistulis promiseram exhibeo. Hunc rogo ex consuetudine tua et legas et emendes, eo magis quod nihil ante peraeque eodem ‘zêlô’ scripsisse videor. 2 Temptavi enim imitari Demosthenen semper tuum, Calvum nuper meum, dumtaxat figuris orationis; nam vim tantorum virorum, ‘pauci quos aequus ...’ assequi possunt. 3 Nec materia ipsa huic — vereor ne improbe dicam — aemulationi repugnavit: erat enim prope tota in contentione dicendi, quod me longae desidiae indormientem excitavit, si modo is sum ego qui excitari possim. 4 Non tamen omnino Marci nostri ‘lêkythous’ fugimus, quotiens paulum itinere decedere non intempestivis amoenitatibus admonebamur: acres enim esse non tristes volebamus. 5 Nec est quod putes me sub hac exceptione veniam postulare. Nam quo magis intendam limam tuam, confitebor et ipsum me et contubernales ab editione non abhorrere, si modo tu fortasse errori nostro album calculum adieceris. 6 Est enim plane aliquid edendum — atque utinam hoc potissimum quod paratum est! Audis desidiae votum — edendum autem ex pluribus causis, maxime quod libelli quos emisimus dicuntur in manibus esse, quamvis iam gratiam novitatis exuerint; nisi tamen auribus nostris bibliopolae blandiuntur. Sed sane blandiantur, dum per hoc mendacium nobis studia nostra commendent. Vale.

Detailed table of contents for the letters in Latin

3. C. PLINIUS CANINIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Quid agit Comum, tuae meaeque deliciae? quid suburbanum amoenissimum, quid illa porticus verna semper, quid platanon opacissimus, quid euripus viridis et gemmeus, quid subiectus et serviens lacus, quid illa mollis et tamen solida gestatio, quid balineum illud quod plurimus sol implet et circumit, quid triclinia illa popularia illa paucorum, quid cubicula diurna nocturna? Possident te et per vices partiuntur? 2 An, ut solebas, intentione rei familiaris obeundae crebris excursionibus avocaris? Si possident, felix beatusque es; si minus, ‘unus e multis’. 3 Quin tu — tempus enim — humiles et sordidas curas aliis mandas, et ipse te in alto isto pinguique secessu studiis asseris? Hoc sit negotium tuum hoc otium; hic labor haec quies; in his vigilia, in his etiam somnus reponatur. 4 Effinge aliquid et excude, quod sit perpetuo tuum. Nam reliqua rerum tuarum post te alium atque alium dominum sortientur, hoc numquam tuum desinet esse si semel coeperit. 5 Scio quem animum, quod horter ingenium; tu modo enitere ut tibi ipse sis tanti, quanti videberis aliis si tibi fueris. Vale.

Detailed table of contents for the letters in Latin

4. C. PLINIUS POMPEIAE CELERINAE SOCRUI S.

1 Quantum copiarum in Ocriculano, in Narniensi, in Carsulano, in Perusino tuo, in Narniensi vero etiam balineum! Ex epistulis meis, nam iam tuis opus non est: una illa brevis et verus sufficit. 2 Non mehercule tam mea sunt quae mea sunt, quam quae tua; hoc tamen differunt, quod sollicitius et intentius tui me quam mei excipiunt. Idem fortasse eveniet tibi, si quando in nostra deverteris. 3 Quod velim facias, primum ut perinde nostris rebus ac nos tuis perfruaris, deinde ut mei expergiscantur aliquando, qui me secure ac prope neglegenter exspectant. 4 Nam mitium dominorum apud servos ipsa consuetudine metus exolescit; novitatibus excitantur, probarique dominis per alios magis quam per ipsos laborant. Vale.

Detailed table of contents for the letters in Latin

5. C. PLINIUS VOCONIO ROMANO SUO S.

1 Vidistine quemquam M. Regulo timidiorem humiliorem post Domitiani mortem? Sub quo non minora flagitia commiserat quam sub Nerone sed tectiora. Coepit vereri ne sibi irascerer, nec fallebatur: irascebar. 2 Rustici Aruleni periculum foverat, exsultaverat morte; adeo ut librum recitaret publicaretque, in quo Rusticum insectatur atque etiam ‘Stoicorum simiam’ appellat, adicit ‘Vitelliana cicatrice stigmosum’ — agnoscis eloquentiam Reguli -, 3 lacerat Herennium Senecionem tam intemperanter quidem, ut dixerit ei Mettius Carus ‘Quid tibi cum meis mortuis? Numquid ego Crasso aut Camerino molestus sum?’ quos ille sub Nerone accusaverat. 4 Haec me Regulus dolenter tulisse credebat, ideoque etiam cum recitaret librum non adhibuerat. Praeterea reminiscebatur, quam capitaliter ipsum me apud centumviros lacessisset. 5 Aderam Arrionillae Timonis uxori, rogatu Aruleni Rustici; Regulus contra. Nitebamur nos in parte causae sententia Metti Modesti optimi viri: is tunc in exsilio erat, a Domitiano relegatus. Ecce tibi Regulus ‘Quaero,’ inquit, ‘Secunde, quid de Modesto sentias.’ Vides quod periculum, si respondissem ‘bene’; quod flagitium si ‘male’. Non possum dicere aliud tunc mihi quam deos adfuisse. ‘Respondebo’ inquam ‘si de hoc centumviri iudicaturi sunt.’ Rursus ille: ‘Quaero, quid de Modesto sentias.’ 6 Iterum ego: ‘Solebant testes in reos, non in damnatos interrogari.’ Tertio ille: ‘Non iam quid de Modesto, sed quid de pietate Modesti sentias quaero. 7 ‘Quaeris’ inquam ‘quid sentiam; at ego ne interrogare quidem fas puto, de quo pronuntiatum est.’ Conticuit; me laus et gratulatio secuta est, quod nec famam meam aliquo responso utili fortasse, inhonesto tamen laeseram, nec me laqueis tam insidiosae interrogationis involveram.

8 Nunc ergo conscientia exterritus apprehendit Caecilium Celerem, mox Fabium Iustum; rogat ut me sibi reconcilient. Nec contentus pervenit ad Spurinnam; huic suppliciter, ut est cum timet abiectissimus: ‘Rogo mane videas Plinium domi, sed plane mane — neque enim ferre diutius sollicitudinem possum -, et quoquo modo efficias, ne mihi irascatur.’ 9 Evigilaveram; nuntius a Spurinna: ‘Venio ad te.’ ‘Immo ego ad te.’ Coimus in porticum Liviae, cum alter ad alterum tenderemus. Exponit Reguli mandata, addit preces suas, ut decebat optimum virum pro dissimillimo, parce. Cui ego: ‘Dispicies ipse quid renuntiandum Regulo putes. 10 Te decipi a me non oportet. Exspecto Mauricum’ — nondum ab exsilio venerat -: ‘ideo nihil alterutram in partem respondere tibi possum, facturus quidquid ille decreverit; illum enim esse huius consilii ducem, me comitem decet.’ 11 Paucos post dies ipse me Regulus convenit in praetoris officio; illuc persecutus secretum petit; ait timere se ne animo meo penitus haereret, quod in centumvirali iudicio aliquando dixisset, cum responderet mihi et Satrio Rufo: ‘Satrius Rufus, cui non est cum Cicerone aemulatio et qui contentus est eloquentia saeculi nostri’. 12 Respondi nunc me intellegere maligne dictum quia ipse confiteretur, ceterum potuisse honorificum existimari. ‘Est enim’ inquam ‘mihi cum Cicerone aemulatio, nec sum contentus eloquentia saeculi nostri; 13 nam stultissimum credo ad imitandum non optima quaeque proponere. Sed tu qui huius iudicii meministi, cur illius oblitus es, in quo me interrogasti, quid de Metti Modesti pietate sentirem?’ Expalluit notabiliter, quamvis palleat semper, et haesitabundus: ‘Interrogavi non ut tibi nocerem, sed ut Modesto.’ Vide hominis crudelitatem, qui se non dissimulet exsuli nocere voluisse. 14 Subiunxit egregiam causam: ‘Scripsit’ inquit ‘in epistula quadam, quae apud Domitianum recitata est: “Regulus, omnium bipedum nequissimus”’; quod quidem Modestus verissime scripserat. 15 Hic fere nobis sermonis terminus; neque enim volui progredi longius, ut mihi omnia libera servarem dum Mauricus venit. Nec me praeterit esse Regulum ‘dyskathaireton’; est enim locuples factiosus, curatur a multis, timetur a pluribus, quod plerumque fortius amore est. 16 Potest tamen fieri ut haec concussa labantur; nam gratia malorum tam infida est quam ipsi. Verum, ut idem saepius dicam, exspecto Mauricum. Vir est gravis prudens, multis experimentis eruditus et qui futura possit ex praeteritis providere. Mihi et temptandi aliquid et quiescendi illo auctore ratio constabit. 17 Haec tibi scripsi, quia aequum erat te pro amore mutuo non solum omnia mea facta dictaque, verum etiam consilia cognoscere. Vale.

Detailed table of contents for the letters in Latin

6. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

1 Ridebis, et licet rideas. Ego, ille quem nosti, apros tres et quidem pulcherrimos cepi. ‘Ipse?’ inquis. Ipse; non tamen ut omnino ab inertia mea et quiete discederem. Ad retia sedebam; erat in proximo non venabulum aut lancea, sed stilus et pugillares; meditabar aliquid enotabamque, ut si manus vacuas, plenas tamen ceras reportarem. 2 Non est quod contemnas hoc studendi genus; mirum est ut animus agitatione motuque corporis excitetur; iam undique silvae et solitudo ipsumque illud silentium quod venationi datur, magna cogitationis incitamenta sunt. 3 Proinde cum venabere, licebit auctore me ut panarium et lagunculam sic etiam pugillares feras: experieris non Dianam magis montibus quam Minervam inerrare. Vale.

Detailed table of contents for the letters in Latin

7. C. PLINIUS OCTAVIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Vide in quo me fastigio collocaris, cum mihi idem potestatis idemque regni dederis quod Homerus Iovi Optimo Maximo: ‘tô d’ heteron men edôke patêr, heteron d’ aneneusen.’ 2 Nam ego quoque simili nutu ac renutu respondere voto tuo possum. Etenim, sicut fas est mihi, praesertim te exigente, excusare Baeticis contra unum hominem advocationem, ita nec fidei nostrae nec constantiae quam diligis convenit, adesse contra provinciam quam tot officiis, tot laboribus, tot etiam periculis meis aliquando devinxerim. 3 Tenebo ergo hoc temperamentum, ut ex duobus, quorum alterutrum petis, eligam id potius, in quo non solum studio tuo verum etiam iudicio satisfaciam. Neque enim tantopere mihi considerandum est, quid vir optimus in praesentia velis, quam quid semper sis probaturus. 4 Me circa Idus Octobris spero Romae futurum, eademque haec praesentem quoque tua meaque fide Gallo confirmaturum; cui tamen iam nunc licet spondeas de animo meo ‘ê kai kyaneêsin ep’ ophrysi neuse’. 5 Cur enim non usquequaque Homericis versibus agam tecum? quatenus tu me tuis agere non pateris, quorum tanta cupiditate ardeo, ut videar mihi hac sola mercede posse corrumpi, ut vel contra Baeticos adsim. 6 Paene praeterii, quod minime praetereundum fuit, accepisse me careotas optimas, quae nunc cum ficis et boletis certandum habent. Vale.

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8. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO SATURNINO SUO S.

1 Peropportune mihi redditae sunt litterae tuae quibus flagitabas, ut tibi aliquid ex scriptis meis mitterem, cum ego id ipsum destinassem. Addidisti ergo calcaria sponte currenti, pariterque et tibi veniam recusandi laboris et mihi exigendi verecundiam sustulisti. 2 Nam nec me timide uti decet eo quod oblatum est, nec te gravari quod depoposcisti. Non est tamen quod ab homine desidioso aliquid novi operis exspectes. Petiturus sum enim ut rursus vaces sermoni quem apud municipes meos habui bibliothecam dedicaturus. 3 Memini quidem te iam quaedam adnotasse, sed generaliter; ideo nunc rogo ut non tantum universitati eius attendas, verum etiam particulas qua soles lima persequaris. Erit enim et post emendationem liberum nobis vel publicare vel continere. 4 Quin immo fortasse hanc ipsam cunctationem nostram in alterutram sententiam emendationis ratio deducet, quae aut indignum editione dum saepius retractat inveniet, aut dignum dum id ipsum experitur efficiet. 5 Quamquam huius cunctationis meae causae non tam in scriptis quam in ipso materiae genere consistunt: est enim paulo quasi gloriosius et elatius. Onerabit hoc modestiam nostram, etiamsi stilus ipse pressus demissusque fuerit, propterea quod cogimur cum de munificentia parentum nostrorum tum de nostra disputare. 6 Anceps hic et lubricus locus est, etiam cum illi necessitas lenocinatur. Etenim si alienae quoque laudes parum aequis auribus accipi solent, quam difficile est obtinere, ne molesta videatur oratio de se aut de suis disserentis! Nam cum ipsi honestati tum aliquanto magis gloriae eius praedicationique invidemus, atque ea demum recte facta minus detorquemus et carpimus, quae in obscuritate et silentio reponuntur. 7 Qua ex causa saepe ipse mecum, nobisne tantum, quidquid est istud, composuisse an et aliis debeamus. Ut nobis, admonet illud, quod pleraque quae sunt agendae rei necessaria, eadem peracta nec utilitatem parem nec gratiam retinent.

8 Ac, ne longius exempla repetamus, quid utilius fuit quam munificentiae rationem etiam stilo prosequi? Per hoc enim assequebamur, primum ut honestis cogitationibus immoraremur, deinde ut pulchritudinem illarum longiore tractatu pervideremus, postremo ut subitae largitionis comitem paenitentiam caveremus. Nascebatur ex his exercitatio quaedam contemnendae pecuniae. 9 Nam cum omnes homines ad custodiam eius natura restrinxerit, nos contra multum ac diu pensitatus amor liberalitatis communibus avaritiae vinculis eximebat, tantoque laudabilior munificentia nostra fore videbatur, quod ad illam non impetu quodam, sed consilio trahebamur. 10 Accedebat his causis, quod non ludos aut gladiatores sed annuos sumptus in alimenta ingenuorum pollicebamur. Oculorum porro et aurium voluptates adeo non egent commendatione, ut non tam incitari debeant oratione quam reprimi; 11 ut vero aliquis libenter educationis taedium laboremque suscipiat, non praemiis modo verum etiam exquisitis adhortationibus impetrandum est. 12 Nam si medici salubres sed voluptate carentes cibos blandioribus alloquiis prosequuntur, quanto magis decuit publice consulentem utilissimum munus, sed non perinde populare, comitate orationis inducere? praesertim cum enitendum haberemus, ut quod parentibus dabatur et orbis probaretur, honoremque paucorum ceteri patienter et exspectarent et mererentur. 13 Sed ut tunc communibus magis commodis quam privatae iactantiae studebamus, cum intentionem effectumque muneris nostri vellemus intellegi, ita nunc in ratione edendi veremur, ne forte non aliorum utilitatibus sed propriae laudi servisse videamur.

14 Praeterea meminimus quanto maiore animo honestatis fructus in conscientia quam in fama reponatur. Sequi enim gloria, non appeti debet, nec, si casu aliquo non sequatur, idcirco quod gloriam meruit minus pulchrum est. 15 Ii vero, qui benefacta sua verbis adornant, non ideo praedicare quia fecerint, sed ut praedicarent fecisse creduntur. Sic quod magnificum referente alio fuisset, ipso qui gesserat recensente vanescit; homines enim cum rem destruere non possunt, iactationem eius incessunt. Ita si silenda feceris, factum ipsum, si laudanda non sileas, ipse culparis. 16 Me vero peculiaris quaedam impedit ratio. Etenim hunc ipsum sermonem non apud populum, sed apud decuriones habui, nec in propatulo sed in curia. 17 Vereor ergo ut sit satis congruens, cum in dicendo assentationem vulgi acclamationemque defugerim, nunc eadem illa editione sectari, cumque plebem ipsam, cui consulebatur, limine curiae parietibusque discreverim, ne quam in speciem ambitionis inciderem, nunc eos etiam, ad quos ex munere nostro nihil pertinet praeter exemplum, velut obvia ostentatione conquirere. 18 Habes cunctationis meae causas; obsequar tamen consilio tuo, cuius mihi auctoritas pro ratione sufficiet. Vale.

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9. C. PLINIUS MINICIO FUNDANO SUO S.

1 Mirum est quam singulis diebus in urbe ratio aut constet aut constare videatur, pluribus iunctisque non constet. 2 Nam si quem interroges ‘Hodie quid egisti?’, respondeat: ‘Officio togae virilis interfui, sponsalia aut nuptias frequentavi, ille me ad signandum testamentum, ille in advocationem, ille in consilium rogavit.’ 3 Haec quo die feceris, necessaria, eadem, si cotidie fecisse te reputes, inania videntur, multo magis cum secesseris. Tunc enim subit recordatio: ‘Quot dies quam frigidis rebus absumpsi!’ 4 Quod evenit mihi, postquam in Laurentino meo aut lego aliquid aut scribo aut etiam corpori vaco, cuius fulturis animus sustinetur. 5 Nihil audio quod audisse, nihil dico quod dixisse paeniteat; nemo apud me quemquam sinistris sermonibus carpit, neminem ipse reprehendo, nisi tamen me cum parum commode scribo; nulla spe nullo timore sollicitor, nullis rumoribus inquietor: mecum tantum et cum libellis loquor. 6 O rectam sinceramque vitam! O dulce otium honestumque ac paene omni negotio pulchrius! O mare, o litus, verum secretumque ‘mûseion’, quam multa invenitis, quam multa dictatis! 7 Proinde tu quoque strepitum istum inanemque discursum et multum ineptos labores, ut primum fuerit occasio, relinque teque studiis vel otio trade. 8 Satius est enim, ut Atilius noster eruditissime simul et facetissime dixit, otiosum esse quam nihil agere. Vale.

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10. C. PLINIUS ATTIO CLEMENTI SUO S.

1 Si quando urbs nostra liberalibus studiis floruit, nunc maxime floret. 2 Multa claraque exempla sunt; sufficeret unum, Euphrates philosophus. Hunc ego in Syria, cum adulescentulus militarem, penitus et domi inspexi, amarique ab eo laboravi, etsi non erat laborandum. Est enim obvius et expositus, plenusque humanitate quam praecipit. 3 Atque utinam sic ipse quam spem tunc ille de me concepit impleverim, ut ille multum virtutibus suis addidit! aut ego nunc illas magis miror quia magis intellego. 4 Quamquam ne nunc quidem satis intellego; ut enim de pictore scalptore fictore nisi artifex iudicare, ita nisi sapiens non potest perspicere sapientem. 5 Quantum tamen mihi cernere datur, multa in Euphrate sic eminent et elucent, ut mediocriter quoque doctos advertant et afficiant. Disputat subtiliter graviter ornate, frequenter etiam Platonicam illam sublimitatem et latitudinem effingit. Sermo est copiosus et varius, dulcis in primis, et qui repugnantes quoque ducat impellat. 6 Ad hoc proceritas corporis, decora facies, demissus capillus, ingens et cana barba; quae licet fortuita et inania putentur, illi tamen plurimum venerationis acquirunt. 7 Nullus horror in cultu, nulla tristitia, multum severitatis; reverearis occursum, non reformides. Vitae sanctitas summa; comitas par: insectatur vitia non homines, nec castigat errantes sed emendat. Sequaris monentem attentus et pendens, et persuaderi tibi etiam cum persuaserit cupias. 8 Iam vero liberi tres, duo mares, quos diligentissime instituit. Socer Pompeius Iulianus, cum cetera vita tum vel hoc uno magnus et clarus, quod ipse provinciae princeps inter altissimas condiciones generum non honoribus principem, sed sapientia elegit.

9 Quamquam quid ego plura de viro quo mihi frui non licet? An ut magis angar quod non licet? Nam distringor officio, ut maximo sic molestissimo: sedeo pro tribunali, subnoto libellos, conficio tabulas, scribo plurimas sed illitteratissimas litteras. 10 Soleo non numquam — nam id ipsum quando contingit! — de his occupationibus apud Euphraten queri. Ille me consolatur, affirmat etiam esse hanc philosophiae et quidem pulcherrimam partem, agere negotium publicum, cognoscere iudicare, promere et exercere iustitiam, quaeque ipsi doceant in usu habere. 11 Mihi tamen hoc unum non persuadet, satius esse ista facere quam cum illo dies totos audiendo discendoque consumere. Quo magis te cui vacat hortor, cum in urbem proxime veneris — venias autem ob hoc maturius -, illi te expoliendum limandumque permittas. 12 Neque enim ego ut multi invideo aliis bono quo ipse careo, sed contra: sensum quendam voluptatemque percipio, si ea quae mihi denegantur amicis video superesse. Vale.

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11. C. PLINIUS FABIO IUSTO SUO S.

1 Olim mihi nullas epistulas mittis. Nihil est, inquis, quod scribam. At hoc ipsum scribe, nihil esse quod scribas, vel solum illud unde incipere priores solebant: ‘Si vales, bene est; ego valeo.’ 2 Hoc mihi sufficit; est enim maximum. Ludere me putas? serio peto. Fac sciam quid agas, quod sine sollicitudine summa nescire non possum. Vale.

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12. C. PLINIUS CALESTRIO TIRONI SUO S.

Corellius überlebt Domitian um einen Tag.

1 Iacturam gravissimam feci, si iactura dicenda est tanti viri amissio. Decessit Corellius Rufus et quidem sponte, quod dolorem meum exulcerat. Est enim luctuosissimum genus mortis, quae non ex natura nec fatalis videtur. 2 Nam utcumque in illis qui morbo finiuntur, magnum ex ipsa necessitate solacium est; in iis vero quos accersita mors aufert, hic insanabilis dolor est, quod creduntur potuisse diu vivere. 3 Corellium quidem summa ratio, quae sapientibus pro necessitate est, ad hoc consilium compulit, quamquam plurimas vivendi causas habentem, optimam conscientiam optimam famam, maximam auctoritatem, praeterea filiam uxorem nepotem sorores, interque tot pignora veros amicos. 4 Sed tam longa, tam iniqua valetudine conflictabatur, ut haec tanta pretia vivendi mortis rationibus vincerentur. Tertio et tricensimo anno, ut ipsum audiebam, pedum dolore correptus est. Patrius hic illi; nam plerumque morbi quoque per successiones quasdam ut alia traduntur. 5 Hunc abstinentia sanctitate, quoad viridis aetas, vicit et fregit; novissime cum senectute ingravescentem viribus animi sustinebat, cum quidem incredibiles cruciatus et indignissima tormenta pateretur. 6 Iam enim dolor non pedibus solis ut prius insidebat, sed omnia membra pervagabatur. Veni ad eum Domitiani temporibus in suburbano iacentem. 7 Servi e cubiculo recesserunt — habebat hoc moris, quotiens intrasset fidelior amicus -; quin etiam uxor quamquam omnis secreti capacissima digrediebatur. 8 Circumtulit oculos et ‘Cur’ inquit ‘me putas hos tantos dolores tam diu sustinere? — ut scilicet isti latroni vel uno die supersim.’ Dedisses huic animo par corpus, fecisset quod optabat. Adfuit tamen deus voto, cuius ille compos ut iam securus liberque moriturus, multa illa vitae sed minora retinacula abrupit. 9 Increverat valetudo, quam temperantia mitigare temptavit; perseverantem constantia fugit. Iam dies alter tertius quartus: abstinebat cibo. Misit ad me uxor eius Hispulla communem amicum C. Geminium cum tristissimo nuntio, destinasse Corellium mori nec aut suis aut filiae precibus inflecti; solum superesse me, a quo revocari posset ad vitam. 10 Cucurri. Perveneram in proximum, cum mihi ab eadem Hispulla Iulius Atticus nuntiat nihil iam ne me quidem impetraturum: tam obstinate magis ac magis induruisse. Dixerat sane medico admoventi cibum: ‘Kekrika’, quae vox quantum admirationis in animo meo tantum desiderii reliquit. 11 Cogito quo amico, quo viro caream. Implevit quidem annum septimum et sexagensimum, quae aetas etiam robustissimis satis longa est; scio. Evasit perpetuam valetudinem; scio. Decessit superstitibus suis, florente re publica, quae illi omnibus carior erat; et hoc scio. 12 Ego tamen tamquam et iuvenis et firmissimi mortem doleo, doleo autem — licet me imbecillum putes — meo nomine. Amisi enim, amisi vitae meae testem rectorem magistrum. In summa dicam, quod recenti dolore contubernali meo Calvisio dixi: ‘Vereor ne neglegentius vivam.’ 13 Proinde adhibe solacia mihi, non haec: ‘Senex erat, infirmus erat’ — haec enim novi -, sed nova aliqua, sed magna, quae audierim numquam, legerim numquam. Nam quae audivi quae legi sponte succurrunt, sed tanto dolore superantur. Vale.

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13. C. PLINIUS SOSIO SENECIONI SUO S.

1 Magnum proventum poetarum annus hic attulit: toto mense Aprili nullus fere dies, quo non recitaret aliquis. Iuvat me quod vigent studia, proferunt se ingenia hominum et ostentant, tametsi ad audiendum pigre coitur. 2 Plerique in stationibus sedent tempusque audiendi fabulis conterunt, ac subinde sibi nuntiari iubent, an iam recitator intraverit, an dixerit praefationem, an e: magna parte evolucrit librum; tum demum ac tunc quoque Lente cunctanterque veniunt, nec tamen permanent, sed ante finem recedunt, alii dissimulanter et furtim, alii simpliciter et libere. 3 At hercule memoria parentum Claudium Caesarem ferunt, cum in Palatio spatiaretur audissetque clamorem, causam requisisse, cumque dictum esset recitare Nonianum, subitum recitanti inopinatumque venisse. 4 Nunc otiosissimus quisque multo ante rogatus et identidem admonitus aut non venit aut, si venit, queritur se diem — quia non perdidit — perdidisse. 5 Sed tanto magis laudandi probandique sunt, quos a scribendi recitandique studio haec auditorum vel desidia vel superbia non retardat. Equidem prope nemini defui. Erant sane plerique amici; 6 neque enim est fere quisquam, qui studia, ut non simul et nos amet. His ex causis longius quam destinaveram tempus in urbe consumpsi. Possum iam repetere secessum et scribere aliquid, quod non recitem, ne videar, quorum recitationibus adfui, non auditor fuisse sed creditor. Nam ut in ceteris rebus ita in audiendi officio perit gratia si reposcatur. Vale.

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14. C. PLINIUS IUNIO MAURICO SUO S.

1 Petis ut fratris tui filiae prospiciam maritum; quod merito mihi potissimum iniungis. Scis enim quanto opere summum illum virum suspexerim dilexerimque, quibus ille adulescentiam meam exhortationibus foverit, quibus etiam laudibus ut laudandus viderer effecerit. 2 Nihil est quod a te mandari mihi aut maius aut gratius, nihil quod honestius a me suscipi possit, quam ut eligam iuvenem, ex quo nasci nepotes Aruleno Rustico deceat. 3 Qui quidem diu quaerendus fuisset, nisi paratus et quasi provisus esset Minicius Acilianus, qui me ut iuvenis iuvenem — est enim minor pauculis annis — familiarissime diligit, reveretur ut senem. 4 Nam ita formari a me et institui cupit, ut ego a vobis solebam. Patria est ei Brixia, ex illa nostra Italia quae multum adhuc verecundiae frugalitatis, atque etiam rusticitatis antiquae, retinet ac servat. 5 Pater Minicius Macrinus, equestris ordinis princeps, quia nihil altius volvit; allectus enim a Divo Vespasiano inter praetorios honestam quietem huic nostrae — ambitioni dicam an dignitati? — constantissime praetulit. 6 Habet aviam maternam Serranam Proculam e municipio Patavio. Nosti loci mores: Serrana tamen Patavinis quoque severitatis exemplum est. Contigit et avunculus ei P. Acilius gravitate prudentia fide prope singulari. In summa nihil erit in domo tota, quod non tibi tamquam in tua placeat. 7 Aciliano vero ipsi plurimum vigoris industriae, quamquam in maxima verecundia. Quaesturam tribunatum praeturam honestissime percucurrit, ac iam pro se tibi necessitatem ambiendi remisit. 8 Est illi facies liberalis, multo sanguine multo rubore suffusa, est ingenua totius corporis pulchritudo et quidam senatorius decor. Quae ego nequaquam arbitror neglegenda; debet enim hoc castitati puellarum quasi praemium dari. 9 Nescio an adiciam esse patri eius amplas facultates. Nam cum imaginor vos quibus quaerimus generum, silendum de facultatibus puto; cum publicos mores atque etiam leges civitatis intueor, quae vel in primis census hominum spectandos arbitrantur, ne id quidem praetereundum videtur. Et sane de posteris et his pluribus cogitanti, hic quoque in condicionibus deligendis ponendus est calculus. 10 Tu fortasse me putes indulsisse amori meo, supraque ista quam res patitur sustulisse. At ego fide mea spondeo futurum ut omnia longe ampliora quam a me praedicantur invenias. Diligo quidem adulescentem ardentissime sicut meretur; sed hoc ipsum amantis est, non onerare eum laudibus. Vale.

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15. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO CLARO SUO S.

1 Heus tu! Promittis ad cenam, nec venis? Dicitur ius: ad assem impendium reddes, nec id modicum. 2 Paratae erant lactucae singulae, cochleae ternae, ova bina, halica cum mulso et nive — nam hanc quoque computabis, immo hanc in primis quae perit in ferculo -, olivae betacei cucurbitae bulbi, alia mille non minus lauta. Audisses comoedos vel lectorem vel lyristen vel — quae mea liberalitas — omnes. 3 At tu apud nescio quem ostrea vulvas echinos Gaditanas maluisti. Dabis poenas, non dico quas. Dure fecisti: invidisti, nescio an tibi, certe mihi, sed tamen et tibi. Quantum nos lusissemus risissemus studuissemus! 4 Potes apparatius cenare apud multos, nusquam hilarius simplicius incautius. In summa experire, et nisi postea te aliis potius excusaveris, mihi semper excusa. Vale.

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16. C. PLINIUS ERUCIO SUO S.

1 Amabam Pompeium Saturninum — hunc dico nostrum — laudabamque eius ingenium, etiam antequam scirem, quam varium quam flexibile quam multiplex esset; nunc vero totum me tenet habet possidet. 2 Audivi causas agentem acriter et ardenter, nec minus polite et ornate, sive meditata sive subita proferret. Adsunt aptae crebraeque sententiae, gravis et decora constructio, sonantia verba et antiqua. Omnia haec mire placent cum impetu quodam et flumine pervehuntur, placent si retractentur. 3 Senties quod ego, cum orationes eius in manus sumpseris, quas facile cuilibet veterum, quorum est aemulus, comparabis. 4 Idem tamen in historia magis satisfaciet vel brevitate vel luce vel suavitate vel splendore etiam et sublimitate narrandi. Nam in contionibus eadem quae in orationibus vis est, pressior tantum et circumscriptior et adductior. 5 Praeterea facit versus, quales Catullus meus aut Calvus, re vera quales Catullus aut Calvus. Quantum illis leporis dulcedinis amaritudinis amoris! Inserit sane, sed data opera, mollibus levibusque duriusculos quosdam; et hoc quasi Catullus aut Calvus. 6 Legit mihi nuper epistulas; uxoris esse dicebat. Plautum vel Terentium metro solutum legi credidi. Quae sive uxoris sunt ut affirmat, sive ipsius ut negat, pari gloria dignus, qui aut illa componat, aut uxorem quam virginem accepit, tam doctam politamque reddiderit. 7 Est ergo mecum per diem totum; eundem antequam scribam, eundem cum scripsi, eundem etiam cum remittor, non tamquam eundem lego. 8 Quod te quoque ut facias et hortor et moneo; neque enim debet operibus eius obesse quod vivit. An si inter eos quos numquam vidimus floruisset, non solum libros eius verum etiam imagines conquireremus, eiusdem nunc honor praesentis et gratia quasi satietate languescit? 9 At hoc pravum malignumque est, non admirari hominem admiratione dignissimum, quia videre alloqui audire complecti, nec laudare tantum verum etiam amare contingit. Vale.

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17. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TITIANO SUO S.

1 Est adhuc curae hominibus fides et officium, sunt qui defunctorum quoque amicos agant. Titinius Capito ab imperatore nostro impetravit, ut sibi liceret statuam L. Silani in foro ponere. 2 Pulchrum et magna laude dignum amicitia principis in hoc uti, quantumque gratia valcas, aliorum honoribus experiri. 3 Est omnino Capitoni in usu claros viros colere; mirum est qua religione quo studio imagines Brutorum Cassiorum Catonum domi ubi potest habeat. Idem clarissimi cuiusque vitam egregiis carminibus exornat. 4 Scias ipsum plurimis virtutibus abundare, qui alienas sic amat. Redditus est Silano debitus honor, cuius immortalitati Capito prospexit pariter et suae. Neque enim magis decorum et insigne est statuam in foro populi Romani habere quam ponere. Vale.

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18. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

1 Scribis te perterritum somnio vereri ne quid adversi in; actione patiaris; rogas ut dilationem petam, et pauculos dies, certe proximum, excusem. Difficile est, sed experiar, ‘kai gar t’ onar ek Dios estin’. 2 Refert tamen, eventura soleas an contraria somniare. Mihi reputanti somnium meum istud, quod times tu, egregiam actionem portendere videtur. 3 Susceperam causam Iuni Pastoris, cum mihi quiescenti visa est socrus mea advoluta genibus ne agerem obsecrare; et eram acturus adulescentulus adhuc, eram in quadruplici iudicio, eram contra potentissimos civitatis atque etiam Caesaris amicos, quae singula excutere mentem mihi post tam triste somnium poterant. 4 Egi tamen ‘logisamenos’ illud ‘heis oiônos aristos amynesthai peri patrês’. Nam mihi patria, et si quid carius patria, fides videbatur. Prospere cessit, atque adeo illa actio mihi aures hominum, illa ianuam famae patefecit. 5 Proinde dispice an tu quoque sub hoc exemplo somnium istud in bonum vertas; aut si tutius putas illud cautissimi cuiusque praeceptum ‘Quod dubites, ne feceris’, id ipsum rescribe. 6 Ego aliquam stropham inveniam agamque causam tuam, ut istam agere tu eum voles possis. Est enim sane alia ratio tua, alia mea fuit. Nam iudicium centumvirale differri nullo modo, istuc aegre quidem sed tamen potest. Vale.

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19. C. PLINIUS ROMATIO FIRMO SUO S.

1 Municeps tu meus et condiscipulus et ab ineunte aetate contubernalis, pater tuus et matri et avunculo meo, mihi etiam quantum aetatis diversitas passa est, familiaris: magnae et graves causae, cur suscipere augere dignitatem tuam debeam. 2 Esse autem tibi centum milium censum, satis indicat quod apud nos decurio es. Igitur ut te non decurione solum verum etiam equite Romano perfruamur, offero tibi ad implendas equestres facultates trecenta milia nummum. 3 Te memorem huius muneris amicitiae nostrae diuturnitas spondet: ego ne illud quidem admoneo, quod admonere deberem, nisi scirem sponte facturum, ut dignitate a me data quam modestissime ut a me data utare. 4 Nam sollicitius custodiendus est honor, in quo etiam beneficium amici tuendum est. Vale.

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20. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

1 Frequens mihi disputatio est cum quodam docto homine et perito, cui nihil aeque in causis agendis ut brevitas placet. 2 Quam ego custodiendam esse confiteor, si causa permittat: alioqui praevaricatio est transire dicenda, praevaricatio etiam cursim et breviter attingere quae sint inculcanda infigenda repetenda. 3 Nam plerisque longiore tractatu vis quaedam et pondus accedit, utque corpori ferrum, sic oratio animo non ictu magis quam mira imprimitur. 4 Hic ille mecum auctoritatibus agit ac mihi ex Graecis orationes Lysiae ostentat, ex nostris Gracchorum Catonisque, quorum sane plurimae sunt circumcisae et breves: ego Lysiae Demosthenen Aeschinen Hyperiden multosque praeterea, Gracchis et Catoni Pollionem Caesarem Caelium, in primis M. Tullium oppono, cuius oratio optima fertur esse quae maxima. Et hercule ut aliae bonae res ita bonus liber melior est quisque quo maior. 5 Vides ut statuas signa picturas, hominum denique multorumque animalium formas, arborum etiam, si modo sint decorae, nihil magis quam amplitudo commendet. Idem orationibus evenit; quin etiam voluminibus ipsis auctoritatem quandam et pulchritudinem adicit magnitudo.

6 Haec ille multaque alia, quae a me in eandem sententiam solent dici, ut est in disputando incomprehensibilis et lubricus, ita eludit ut contendat hos ipsos, quorum orationibus nitar, pauciora dixisse quam ediderint. 7 Ego contra puto. Testes sunt multae multorum orationes et Ciceronis pro Murena pro Vareno, in quibus brevis et nuda quasi subscriptio quorundam criminum solis titulis indicatur. Ex his apparet illum permulta dixisse, cum ederet omisisse. 8 Idem pro Cluentio ait se totam causam vetere instituto solum perorasse, et pro C. Cornelio quadriduo egisse, ne dubitare possimus, quae per plures dies — ut necesse erat — latius dixerit, postea recisa ac repurgata in unum librum grandem quidem unum tamen coartasse. 9 At aliud est actio bona, aliud oratio. Scio nonnullis ita videri, sed ego — forsitan fallar — persuasum habeo posse fieri ut sit actio bona quae non sit bona oratio, non posse non bonam actionem esse quae sit bona oratio. Est enim oratio actionis exemplar et quasi ‘archetypon’. 10 Ideo in optima quaque mille figuras extemporales invenimus, in iis etiam quas tantum editas scimus, ut in Verrem: ‘artificem quem? quemnam? recte admones; Polyclitum esse dicebant.’ Sequitur ergo ut actio sit absolutissima, quae maxime orationis similitudinem expresserit, si modo iustum et debitum tempus accipiat; quod si negetur, nulla oratoris maxima iudicis culpa est. 11 Adsunt huic opinioni meae leges, quae longissima tempora largiuntur nec brevitatem dicentibus sed copiam — hoc est diligentiam — suadent; quam praestare nisi in angustissimis causis non potest brevitas. 12 Adiciam quod me docuit usus, magister egregius. Frequenter egi, frequenter iudicavi, frequenter in consilio fui: aliud alios movet, ac plerumque parvae res maximas trahunt. Varia sunt hominum iudicia, variae voluntates. Inde qui eandem causam simul audierunt, saepe diversum, interdum idem sed ex diversis animi motibus sentiunt. 13 Praeterea suae quisque inventioni favet, et quasi fortissimum amplectitur, cum ab alio dictum est quod ipse praevidit. Omnibus ergo dandum est aliquid quod teneant, quod agnoscant. 14 Dixit aliquando mihi Regulus, cum simul adessemus: ‘Tu omnia quae sunt in causa putas exsequenda; ego iugulum statim video, hunc premo.’ Premit sane quod elegit, sed in eligendo frequenter errat. 15 Respondi posse fieri, ut genu esset aut talus, ubi ille iugulum putaret. At ego, inquam, qui iugulum perspicere non possum, omnia pertempto, omnia experior, ‘panta’ denique ‘lithon kinô’; 16 utque in cultura agri non vineas tantum, verum etiam arbusta, nec arbusta tantum verum etiam campos curo et exerceo, utque in ipsis campis non far aut siliginem solam, sed hordeum fabam ceteraque legumina sero, sic in actione plura quasi semina latius spargo, ut quae provenerint colligam. 17 Neque enim minus imperspicua incerta fallacia sunt iudicum ingenia quam tempestatum terrarumque. Nec me praeterit summum oratorem Periclen sic a comico Eupolide laudari:

‘pros de g’ autou tô taxei
peithô tis epekathêto toisi cheilesin.
houtôs ekêlei, kai monos tôn rhêtorôn
to kentron enkateleipe tois akroômenois.’

18 Verum huic ipsi Pericli nec illa ‘peithô’ nec illud ‘ekêlei’ brevitate vel velocitate vel utraque — differunt enim — sine facultate summa contigisset. Nam delectare persuadere copiam dicendi spatiumque desiderat, relinquere vero aculeum in audientium animis is demum potest qui non pungit sed infigit. 19 Adde quae de eodem Pericle comicus alter:

‘hêstrapt’, ebronta, synekyka tên Hellada’

Non enim amputata oratio et abscisa, sed lata et magnifica et excelsa tonat fulgurat, omnia denique perturbat ac miscet. 20 ‘Optimus tamen modus est’: quis negat? sed non minus non servat modum qui infra rem quam qui supra, qui astrictius quam qui effusius dicit. 21 Itaque audis frequenter ut illud: ‘immodice et redundanter’, ita hoc: ‘ieiune et infirme’. Alius excessisse materiam, alius dicitur non implesse. Aeque uterque, sed ille imbecillitate hic viribus peccat; quod certe etsi non limatioris, maioris tamen ingeni vitium est. 22 Nec vero cum haec dico illum Homericum ‘ametroepê’ probo, sed hunc:

‘kai epea niphadessin eoikota cheimeriêsin’
non quia non et ille mihi valdissime placeat:
‘paura men, alla mala ligeôs’

si tamen detur electio, illam orationem similem nivibus hibernis, id est crebram et assiduam sed et largam, postremo divinam et caelestem volo. 23 ‘At est gratior multis actio brevis.’ Est, sed inertibus quorum delicias desidiamque quasi iudicium respicere ridiculum est. Nam si hos in consilio habeas, non solum satius breviter dicere, sed omnino non dicere.

24 Haec est adhuc sententia mea, quam mutabo si dissenseris tu; sed plane cur dissentias explices rogo. Quamvis enim cedere auctoritati tuae debeam, rectius tamen arbitror in tanta re ratione quam auctoritate superari. 25 Proinde, si non errare videor, id ipsum quam voles brevi epistula, sed tamen scribe — confirmabis enim iudicium meum -; si erraro, longissimam para. Num corrupi te, qui tibi si mihi accederes brevis epistulae necessitatem, si dissentires longissimae imposui? Vale.

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21. C. PLINIUS PLINIO PATERNO SUO S.

1 Ut animi tui iudicio sic oculorum plurimum tribuo, non quia multum — ne tibi placeas — sed quia tantum quantum ego sapis; quamquam hoc quoque multum est. 2 Omissis iocis credo decentes esse servos, qui sunt empti mihi ex consilio tuo. Superest ut frugi sint, quod de venalibus melius auribus quam oculis iudicatur. Vale.

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22. C. PLINIUS CATILIO SEVERO SUO S.

1 Diu iam in urbe haereo et quidem attonitus. Perturbat me longa et pertinax valetudo Titi Aristonis, quem singulariter et miror et diligo. Nihil est enim illo gravius sanctius doctius, ut mihi non unus homo sed litterae ipsae omnesque bonae artes in uno homine summum periculum adire videantur. 2 Quam peritus ille et privati iuris et publici! quantum rerum, quantum exemplorum, quantum antiquitatis tenet! Nihil est quod discere velis quod ille docere non possit; mihi certe quotiens aliquid abditum quaero, ille thesaurus est. 3 Iam quanta sermonibus eius fides, quanta auctoritas, quam pressa et decora cunctatio! quid est quod non statim sciat? Et tamen plerumque haesitat dubitat, diversitate rationum, quas acri magnoque iudicio ab origine causisque primis repetit discernit expendit. 4 Ad hoc quam parcus in victu, quam modicus in cultu! Soleo ipsum cubiculum illius ipsumque lectum ut imaginem quandam priscae frugalitatis adspicere. 5 Ornat haec magnitudo animi, quae nihil ad ostentationem, omnia ad conscientiam refert recteque facti non ex populi sermone mercedem, sed ex facto petit. 6 In summa non facile quemquam ex istis qui sapientiae studium habitu corporis praeferunt, huic viro comparabis. Non quidem gymnasia sectatur aut porticus, nec disputationibus longis aliorum otium suumque delectat, sed in toga negotiisque versatur, multos advocatione plures consilio iuvat. 7 Nemini tamen istorum castitate pietate, iustitia, fortitudine etiam primo loco cesserit.

Mirareris si interesses, qua patientia hanc ipsam valetudinem toleret, ut dolori resistat, ut sitim differat, ut incredibilem febrium ardorem immotus opertusque transmittat. 8 Nuper me paucosque mecum, quos maxime diligit, advocavit rogavitque, ut medicos consuleremus de summa valetudinis, ut si esset insuperabilis sponte exiret e vita; si tantum difficilis et longa, resisteret maneretque: 9 dandum enim precibus uxoris, dandum filiae lacrimis, dandum etiam nobis amicis, ne spes nostras, si modo non essent inanes, voluntaria morte desereret. 10 Id ego arduum in primis et praecipua laude dignum puto. Nam impetu quodam et instinctu procurrere ad mortem commune cum multis, deliberare vero et causas eius expendere, utque suaserit ratio, vitae mortisque consilium vel suscipere vel ponere ingentis est animi. 11 Et medici quidem secunda nobis pollicentur: superest ut promissis deus adnuat tandemque me hac sollicitudine exsolvat; qua liberatus Laurentinum meum, hoc est libellos et pugillares, studiosumque otium repetam. Nunc enim nihil legere, nihil scribere aut assidenti vacat aut anxio libet. 12 Habes quid timeam, quid optem, quid etiam in posterum destinem: tu quid egeris, quid agas, quid velis agere invicem nobis, sed laetioribus epistulis scribe. Erit confusioni meae non mediocre solacium, si tu nihil quereris. Vale.

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23. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO FALCONI SUO S.

1 Consulis an existimem te in tribunatu causas agere debere. Plurimum refert, quid esse tribunatum putes, inanem umbram et sine honore nomen an potestatem sacrosanctam, et quam in ordinem cogi ut a nullo ita ne a se quidem deceat. 2 Ipse cum tribunus essem, erraverim fortasse qui me esse aliquid putavi, sed tamquam essem abstinui causis agendis: primum quod deforme arbitrabar, cui assurge cui loco cedere omnes oporteret, hunc omnibus sedentibus stare, et qui iubere posset tacere quemcumque, huic silentium clepsydra indici, et quem interfari nefas esset, hunc etiam convicia audire et si inulta pateretur inertem, si ulcisceretur insolentem videri. 3 Erat hic quoque aestus ante oculos, si forte me appellasset vel ille cui adessem, vel ille quem contra, intercederem et auxilium ferrem an quiescerem sileremque, et quasi eiurato magistratu privatum ipse me facerem. 4 His rationibus motus malui me tribunum omnibus exhibere quam paucis advocatum. 5 Sed tu — iterum dicam — plurimum interest quid esse tribunatum putes, quam personam tibi imponas; quae sapienti viro ita aptanda est ut perferatur. Vale.

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24. C. PLINIUS BAEBIO HISPANO SUO S.

1 Tranquillus contubernalis meus vult emere agellum, quem venditare amicus tuus dicitur. 2 Rogo cures, quanti aequum est emat; ita enim delectabit emisse. Nam mala emptio semper ingrata, eo maxime quod exprobrare stultitiam domino videtur. 3 In hoc autem agello, si modo arriserit pretium, Tranquilli mei stomachum multa sollicitant, vicinitas urbis, opportunitas viae, mediocritas villae, modus ruris, qui avocet magis quam distringat. 4 Scholasticis porro dominis, ut hic est, sufficit abunde tantum soli, ut relevare caput, reficere oculos, reptare per limitem unamque semitam terere omnesque viteculas suas nosse et numerare arbusculas possint. Haec tibi exposui, quo magis scires, quantum esset ille mihi ego tibi debiturus, si praediolum istud, quod commendatur his dotibus, tam salubriter emerit ut paenitentiae locum non relinquat. Vale.

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LIBER SECVNDVS

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1. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

Post aliquot annos insigne atque etiam memorabile populi Romani oculis spectaculum exhibuit publicum funus Vergini Rufi, maximi et clarissimi civis, perinde felicis. 2 Triginta annis gloriae suae supervixit; legit scripta de se carmina, legit historias et posteritati suae interfuit. Perfunctus est tertio consulatu, ut summum fastigium privati hominis impleret, cum principis noluisset. 3 Caesares quibus suspectus atque etiam invisus virtutibus fuerat evasit, reliquit incolumem optimum atque amicissimum, tamquam ad hunc ipsum honorem publici funeris reservatus. 4 Annum tertium et octogensimum excessit in altissima tranquillitate, pari veneratione. Usus est firma valetudine, nisi quod solebant ei manus tremere, citra dolorem tamen. Aditus tantum mortis durior longiorque, sed hic ipse laudabilis. 5 Nam cum vocem praepararet acturus in consulatu principi gratias, liber quem forte acceperat grandiorem, et seni et stanti ipso pondere elapsus est. Hunc dum sequitur colligitque, per leve et lubricum pavimentum fallente vestigio cecidit coxamque fregit, quae parum apte collocata reluctante aetate male coiit.

6 Huius viri exsequiae magnum ornamentum principi magnum saeculo magnum etiam foro et rostris attulerunt. Laudatus est a consule Cornelio Tacito; nam hic supremus felicitati eius cumulus accessit, laudator eloquentissimus. 7 Et ille quidem plenus annis abit, plenus honoribus, illis etiam quos recusavit: nobis tamen quaerendus ac desiderandus est ut exemplar aevi prioris, mihi vero praecipue, qui illum non solum publice quantum admirabar tantum diligebam; 8 primum quod utrique eadem regio, municipia finitima, agri etiam possessionesque coniunctae, praeterea quod ille mihi tutor relictus affectum parentis exhibuit. Sic candidatum me suffragio ornavit; sic ad omnes honores meos ex secessibus accucurrit, cum iam pridem eiusmodi officiis renuntiasset; sic illo die quo sacerdotes solent nominare quos dignissimos sacerdotio iudicant, me semper nominabat. 9 Quin etiam in hac novissima valetudine, veritus ne forte inter quinqueviros crearetur, qui minuendis publicis sumptibus iudicio senatus constituebantur, cum illi tot amici senes consularesque superessent, me huius aetatis per quem excusaretur elegit, his quidem verbis: ‘Etiam si filium haberem, tibi mandarem.’

10 Quibus ex causis necesse est tamquam immaturam mortem eius in sinu tuo defleam, si tamen fas est aut flere aut omnino mortem vocare, qua tanti viri mortalitas magis finita quam vita est. 11 Vivit enim vivetque semper, atque etiam latius in memoria hominum et sermone versabitur, postquam ab oculis recessit. 12 Volo tibi multa alia scribere, sed totus animus in hac una contemplatione defixus est. Verginium cogito, Verginium video, Verginium iam vanis imaginibus, recentibus tamen, audio alloquor teneo; cui fortasse cives aliquos virtutibus pares et habemus et habebimus, gloria neminem. Vale.

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2. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

1 Irascor, nec liquet mihi an debeam, sed irascor. Scis, quam sit amor iniquus interdum, impotens saepe, ‘mikraitios’ semper. Haec tamen causa magna est, nescio an iusta; sed ego, tamquam non minus iusta quam magna sit, graviter irascor, quod a te tam diu litterae nullae. 2 Exorare me potes uno modo, si nunc saltem plurimas et longissimas miseris. Haec mihi sola excusatio vera, ceterae falsae videbuntur. Non sum auditurus ‘non eram Romae’ vel ‘occupatior eram’; illud enim nec di sinant, ut ‘infirmior’. Ipse ad villam partim studiis partim desidia fruor, quorum utrumque ex otio nascitur. Vale.

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3. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

1 Magna Isaeum fama praecesserat, maior inventus est. Summa est facultas copia ubertas; dicit semper ex tempore, sed tamquam diu scripserit. Sermo Graecus, immo Atticus; praefationes tersae graciles dulces, graves interdum et erectae. 2 Poscit controversias plures; electionem auditoribus permittit, saepe etiam partes; surgit amicitur incipit; statim omnia ac paene pariter ad manum, sensus reconditi occursant, verba - sed qualia! - quaesita et exculta. Multa lectio in subitis, multa scriptio elucet. 3 Prohoemiatur apte, narrat aperte, pugnat acriter, colligit fortiter, ornat excelse. Postremo docet delectat afficit; quid maxime, dubites. Crebra ‘enthymêmata’ crebri syllogismi, circumscripti et effecti, quod stilo quoque assequi magnum est. Incredibilis memoria: repetit altius quae dixit ex tempore, ne verbo quidem labitur. 4 Ad tantam ‘hexin’ studio et exercitatione pervenit; nam diebus et noctibus nihil aliud agit nihil audit nihil loquitur. 5 Annum sexagensimum excessit et adhuc scholasticus tantum est: quo genere hominum nihil aut sincerius aut simplicius aut melius. Nos enim, qui in foro verisque litibus terimur, multum malitiae quamvis nolimus addiscimus: 6 schola et auditorium et ficta causa res inermis innoxia est, nec minus felix, senibus praesertim. Nam quid in senectute felicius, quam quod dulcissimum est in iuventa? 7 Quare ego Isaeum non disertissimum tantum, verum etiam beatissimum iudico. Quem tu nisi cognoscere concupiscis, saxeus ferreusque es. 8 Proinde si non ob alia nosque ipsos, at certe ut hunc audias veni. Numquamne legisti, Gaditanum quendam Titi Livi nomine gloriaque commotum ad visendum eum ab ultimo terrarum orbe venisse, statimque ut viderat abisse? ‘Aphilokalon’ illitteratum iners ac paene etiam turpe est, non putare tanti cognitionem qua nulla est iucundior, nulla pulchrior, nulla denique humanior. 9 Dices: ‘Habeo hic quos legam non minus disertos.’ Etiam; sed legendi semper occasio est, audiendi non semper. Praeterea multo magis, ut vulgo dicitur, viva vox afficit. Nam licet acriora sint quae legas, altius tamen in animo sedent, quae pronuntiatio vultus habitus gestus etiam dicentis affigit; 10 nisi vero falsum putamus illud Aeschinis, qui cum legisset Rhodiis orationem Demosthenis admirantibus cunctis, adiecisse fertur: ‘ti de, ei autou tou thêriou êkousate;’ et erat Aeschines si Demostheni credimus ‘lamprophônotatos’. Fatebatur tamen longe melius eadem illa pronuntiasse ipsum qui pepererat. 11 Quae omnia huc tendunt, ut audias Isaeum, vel ideo tantum ut audieris. Vale.

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4. C. PLINIUS CALVINAE SUAE S.

1 Si pluribus pater tuus vel uni cuilibet alii quam mihi debuisset, fuisset fortasse dubitandum, an adires hereditatem etiam viro gravem. 2 Cum vero ego ductus affinitatis officio, dimissis omnibus qui non dico molestiores sed diligentiores erant, creditor solus exstiterim, cumque vivente eo nubenti tibi in dotem centum milia contulerim, praeter eam summam quam pater tuus quasi de meo dixit - erat enim solvenda de meo -, magnum habes facilitatis meae pignus, cuius fiducia debes famam defuncti pudoremque suscipere. Ad quod te ne verbis magis quam rebus horter, quidquid mihi pater tuus debuit, acceptum tibi fieri iubebo. 3 Nec est quod verearis ne sit mihi onerosa ista donatio. Sunt quidem omnino nobis modicae facultates, dignitas sumptuosa, reditus propter condicionem agellorum nescio minor an incertior; sed quod cessat ex reditu, frugalitate suppletur, ex qua velut fonte liberalitas nostra decurrit. 4 Quae tamen ita temperanda est, ne nimia profusione inarescat; sed temperanda in aliis, in te vero facile ei ratio constabit, etiamsi modum excesserit. Vale.

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5. C. PLINIUS LUPERCO SUO S.

1 Actionem et a te frequenter efflagitatam, et a me saepe promissam, exhibui tibi, nondum tamen totam; adhuc enim pars eius perpolitur. 2 Interim quae absolutiora mihi videbantur, non fuit alienum iudicio tuo tradi. His tu rogo intentionem scribentis accommodes. Nihil enim adhuc inter manus habui, cui maiorem sollicitudinem praestare deberem. 3 Nam in ceteris actionibus existimationi hominum diligentia tantum et fides nostra, in hac etiam pietas subicietur. Inde et liber crevit, dum ornare patriam et amplificare gaudemus, pariterque et defensioni eius servimus et gloriae. 4 Tu tamen haec ipsa quantum ratio exegerit reseca. Quotiens enim ad fastidium legentium deliciasque respicio, intellego nobis commendationem et ex ipsa mediocritate libri petendam. 5 Idem tamen qui a te hanc austeritatem exigo, cogor id quod diversum est postulare, ut in plerisque frontem remittas. Sunt enim quaedam adulescentium auribus danda, praesertim si materia non refragetur; nam descriptiones locorum, quae in hoc libro frequentiores erunt, non historice tantum sed prope poetice prosequi fas est. 6 Quod tamen si quis exstiterit, qui putet nos laetius fecisse quam orationis severitas exigat, huius - ut ita dixerim - tristitiam reliquae partes actionis exorare debebunt. 7 Adnisi certe sumus, ut quamlibet diversa genera lectorum per plures dicendi species teneremus, ac sicut veremur, ne quibusdam pars aliqua secundum suam cuiusque naturam non probetur, ita videmur posse confidere, ut universitatem omnibus varietas ipsa commendet. 8 Nam et in ratione conviviorum, quamvis a plerisque cibis singuli temperemus, totam tamen cenam laudare omnes solemus, nec ea quae stomachus noster recusat, adimunt gratiam illis quibus capitur. 9 Atque haec ego sic accipi volo, non tamquam assecutum esse me credam, sed tamquam assequi laboraverim, fortasse non frustra, si modo tu curam tuam admoveris interim istis, mox iis quae sequuntur. 10 Dices te non posse satis diligenter id facere, nisi prius totam actionem cognoveris: fateor. In praesentia tamen et ista tibi familiariora fient, et quaedam ex his talia erunt ut per partes emendari possint. 11 Etenim, si avulsum statuae caput aut membrum aliquod inspiceres, non tu quidem ex illo posses congruentiam aequalitatemque deprendere, posses tamen iudicare, an id ipsum satis elegans esset; 12 nec alia ex causa principiorum libri circumferuntur, quam quia existimatur pars aliqua etiam sine ceteris esse perfecta.

13 Longius me provexit dulcedo quaedam tecum loquendi; sed iam finem faciam ne modum, quem etiam orationi adhibendum puto, in epistula excedam. Vale.

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6. C. PLINIUS AVITO SUO S.

1 Longum est altius repetere nec refert, quemadmodum acciderit, ut homo minime familiaris cenarem apud quendam, ut sibi videbatur, lautum et diligentem, ut mihi, sordidum simul et sumptuosum. 2 Nam sibi et paucis opima quaedam, ceteris vilia et minuta ponebat. Vinum etiam parvolis lagunculis in tria genera discripserat, non ut potestas eligendi, sed ne ius esset recusandi, aliud sibi et nobis, aliud minoribus amicis - nam gradatim amicos habet -, aliud suis nostrisque libertis. 3 Animadvertit qui mihi proximus recumbebat, et an probarem interrogavit. Negavi. ‘Tu ergo’ inquit ‘quam consuetudinem sequeris?’ ‘Eadem omnibus pono; ad cenam enim, non ad notam invito cunctisque rebus exaequo, quos mensa et toro aequavi.’ 4 ‘Etiamne libertos?’ ‘Etiam; convictores enim tunc, non libertos puto.’ Et ille: ‘Magno tibi constat.’ ‘Minime.’ ‘Qui fieri potest?’ ‘Quia scilicet liberti mei non idem quod ego bibunt, sed idem ego quod liberti.’ 5 Et hercule si gulae temperes, non est onerosum quo utaris ipse communicare cum pluribus. Illa ergo reprimenda, illa quasi in ordinem redigenda est, si sumptibus parcas, quibus aliquanto rectius tua continentia quam aliena contumelia consulas.

6 Quorsus haec? ne tibi, optimae indolis iuveni, quorundam in mensa luxuria specie frugalitatis imponat. Convenit autem amori in te meo, quotiens tale aliquid inciderit, sub exemplo praemonere, quid debeas fugere. 7 Igitur memento nihil magis esse vitandum quam istam luxuriae et sordium novam societatem; quae cum sint turpissima discreta ac separata, turpius iunguntur. Vale.

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7. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

1 Here a senatu Vesticio Spurinnae principe auctore triumphalis statua decreta est, non ita ut multis, qui numquam in acie steterunt, numquam castra viderunt, numquam denique tubarum sonum nisi in spectaculis audierunt, verum ut illis, qui decus istud sudore et sanguine et factis assequebantur. 2 Nam Spurinna Bructerum regem vi et armis induxit in regnum, ostentatoque bello ferocissimam gentem, quod est pulcherrimum victoriae genus, terrore perdomuit. 3 Et hoc quidem virtutis praemium, illud solacium doloris accepit, quod filio eius Cottio, quem amisit absens, habitus est honor statuae. Rarum id in iuvene; sed pater hoc quoque merebatur, cuius gravissimo vulneri magno aliquo fomento medendum fuit. 4 Praeterea Cottius ipse tam clarum specimen indolis dederat, ut vita eius brevis et angusta debuerit hac velut immortalitate proferri. Nam tanta ei sanctitas gravitas auctoritas etiam, ut posset senes illos provocare virtute, quibus nunc honore adaequatus est. 5 Quo quidem honore, quantum ego interpretor, non modo defuncti memoriae, dolori patris, verum etiam exemplo prospectum est. Acuent ad bonas artes iuventutem adulescentibus quoque, digni sint modo, tanta praemia constituta; acuent principes viros ad liberos suscipiendos et gaudia ex superstitibus et ex amissis tam gloriosa solacia. 6 His ex causis statua Cotti publice laetor, nec privatim minus. Amavi consummatissimum iuvenem, tam ardenter quam nunc impatienter requiro. Erit ergo pergratum mihi hanc effigiem eius subinde intueri subinde respicere, sub hac consistere praeter hanc commeare. 7 Etenim si defunctorum imagines domi positae dolorem nostrum levant, quanto magis hae quibus in celeberrimo loco non modo species et vultus illorum, sed honor etiam et gloria refertur! Vale.

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8. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

1 Studes an piscaris an venaris an simul omnia? Possunt enim omnia simul fieri ad Larium nostrum. Nam lacus piscem, feras silvae quibus lacus cingitur, studia altissimus iste secessus affatim suggerunt. 2 Sed sive omnia simul sive aliquid facis, non possum dicere ‘invideo’; angor tamen non et mihi licere, qui sic concupisco ut aegri vinum balinea fontes. Numquamne hos artissimos laqueos, si solvere negatur, abrumpam? Numquam, puto. 3 Nam veteribus negotiis nova accrescunt, nec tamen priora peraguntur: tot nexibus, tot quasi catenis maius in dies occupationum agmen extenditur. Vale.

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9. C. PLINIUS APOLLINARI SUO S.

1 Anxium me et inquietum habet petitio Sexti Eruci mei. Afficior cura et, quam pro me sollicitudinem non adii, quasi pro me altero patior; et alioqui meus pudor, mea existimatio, mea dignitas in discrimen adducitur. 2 Ego Sexto latum clavum a Caesare nostro, ego quaesturam impetravi; meo suffragio pervenit ad ius tribunatus petendi, quem nisi obtinet in senatu, vereor ne decepisse Caesarem videar. 2 Proinde adnitendum est mihi, ut talem eum iudicent omnes, qualem esse princeps mihi credidit. Quae causa si studium meum non incitaret, adiutum tamen cuperem iuvenem probissimum gravissimum eruditissimum, omni denique laude dignissimum, et quidem cum tota domo. 4 Nam pater ei Erucius Clarus, vir sanctus antiquus disertus atque in agendis causis exercitatus, quas summa fide pari constantia nec verecundia minore defendit. Habet avunculum C. Septicium, quo nihil verius nihil simplicius nihil candidius nihil fidelius novi. 5 Omnes me certatim et tamen aequaliter amant, omnibus nunc ego in uno referre gratiam possum. Itaque prenso amicos, supplico, ambio, domos stationesque circumeo, quantumque vel auctoritate vel gratia valeam, precibus experior, teque obsecro ut aliquam oneris mei partem suscipere tanti putes. 6 Reddam vicem si reposces, reddam et si non reposces. Diligeris coleris frequentaris: ostende modo velle te, nec deerunt qui quod tu velis cupiant. Vale.

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10. C. PLINIUS OCTAVIO SUO S.

1 Hominem te patientem vel potius durum ac paene crudelem, qui tam insignes libros tam diu teneas! 2 Quousque et tibi et nobis invidebis, tibi maxima laude, nobis voluptate? Sine per ora nominum ferantur isdemque quibus lingua Romana spatiis pervagentur. Magna et iam longa exspectatio est, quam frustrari adhuc et differre non debes. 3 Enotuerunt quidam tui versus, et invito te claustra sua refregerunt. Hos nisi retrahis in corpus, quandoque ut errones aliquem cuius dicantur invenient. 4 Habe ante oculos mortalitatem, a qua asserere te hoc uno monimento potes; nam cetera fragilia et caduca non minus quam ipsi homines occidunt desinuntque. 5 Dices, ut soles: ‘Amici mei viderint.’ Opto equidem amicos tibi tam fideles tam eruditos tam laboriosos, ut tantum curae intentionisque suscipere et possint et velint, sed dispice ne sit parum providum, sperare ex aliis quod tibi ipse non praestes. 6 Et de editione quidem interim ut voles: recita saltem quo magis libeat emittere, utque tandem percipias gaudium, quod ego olim pro te non temere praesumo. 7 Imaginor enim qui concursus quae admiratio te, qui clamor quod etiam silentium maneat; quo ego, cum dico vel recito, non minus quam clamore delector, sit modo silentium acre et intentum, et cupidum ulteriora audiendi. 8 Hoc fructu tanto tam parato desine studia tua infinita ista cunctatione fraudare; quae cum modum excedit, verendum est ne inertiae et desidiae vel etiam timiditatis nomen accipiat. Vale.

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11. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

1 Solet esse gaudio tibi, si quid acti est in senatu dignum ordine illo. Quamvis enim quietis amore secesseris, insidet tamen animo tuo maiestatis publicae cura. Accipe ergo quod per hos dies actum est, personae claritate famosum, severitate exempli salubre, rei magnitudine aeternum. 2 Marius Priscus accusantibus Afris quibus pro consule praefuit, omissa defensione iudices petiit. Ego et Cornelius Tacitus, adesse provincialibus iussi, existimavimus fidei nostrae convenire notum senatui facere excessisse Priscum immanitate et saevitia crimina quibus dari iudices possent, cum ob innocentes condemnandos, interficiendos etiam, pecunias accepisset. 3 Respondit Fronto Catius deprecatusque est, ne quid ultra repetundarum legem quaereretur, omniaque actionis suae vela vir movendarum lacrimarum peritissimus quodam velut vento miserationis implevit. 4 Magna contentio, magni utrimque clamores aliis cognitionem senatus lege conclusam, aliis liberam solutamque dicentibus, quantumque admisisset reus, tantum vindicandum. 5 Novissime consul designatus Iulius Ferox, vir rectus et sanctus, Mario quidem iudices interim censuit dandos, evocandos autem quibus diceretur innocentium poenas vendidisse. 6 Quae sententia non praevaluit modo, sed omnino post tantas dissensiones fuit sola frequens, adnotatumque experimentis, quod favor et misericordia acres et vehementes primos impetus habent, paulatim consilio et ratione quasi restincta considunt. 7 Unde evenit ut, quod multi clamore permixto tuentur, nemo tacentibus ceteris dicere velit; patescit enim, cum separaris a turba, contemplatio rerum quae turba teguntur. 8 Venerunt qui adesse erant iussi, Vitellius Honoratus et Flavius Marcianus; ex quibus Honoratus trecentis milibus exsilium equitis Romani septemque amicorum eius ultimam poenam, Marcianus unius equitis Romani septingentis milibus plura supplicia arguebatur emisse; erat enim fustibus caesus, damnatus in metallum, strangulatus in carcere. 9 Sed Honoratum cognitioni senatus mors opportuna subtraxit, Marcianus inductus est absente Prisco. Itaque Tuccius Cerialis consularis iure senatorio postulavit, ut Priscus certior fieret, sive quia miserabiliorem sive quia invidiosiorem fore arbitrabatur, si praesens fuisset, sive - quod maxime credo - quia aequissimum erat commune crimen ab utroque defendi, et si dilui non potuisset in utroque puniri.

10 Dilata res est in proximum senatum, cuius ipse conspectus augustissimus fuit. Princeps praesidebat - erat enim consul -, ad hoc Ianuarius mensis cum cetera tum praecipue senatorum frequentia celeberrimus; praeterea causae amplitudo auctaque dilatione exspectatio et fama, insitumque mortalibus studium magna et inusitata noscendi, omnes undique exciverat. 11 Imaginare quae sollicitudo nobis, qui metus, quibus super tanta re in illo coetu praesente Caesare dicendum erat. Equidem in senatu non semel egi, quin immo nusquam audiri benignius soleo: tunc me tamen ut nova omnia novo metu permovebant. 12 Obversabatur praeter illa quae supra dixi causae difficultas: stabat modo consularis, modo septemvir epulonum, iam neutrum. 13 Erat ergo perquam onerosum accusare damnatum, quem ut premebat atrocitas criminis, ita quasi peractae damnationis miseratio tuebatur. 14 Utcumque tamen animum cogitationemque collegi, coepi dicere non minore audientium assensu quam sollicitudine mea. Dixi horis paene quinque; nam duodecim clepsydris, quas spatiosissimas acceperam, sunt additae quattuor. Adeo illa ipsa, quae dura et adversa dicturo videbantur, secunda dicenti fuerunt. 15 Caesar quidem tantum mihi studium, tantam etiam curam - nimium est enim dicere sollicitudinem - praestitit, ut libertum meum post me stantem saepius admoneret voci laterique consulerem, cum me vehementius putaret intendi, quam gracilitas mea perpeti posset. Respondit mihi pro Marciano Claudius Marcellinus. 16 Missus deinde senatus et revocatus in posterum; neque enim iam incohari poterat actio, nisi ut noctis interventu scinderetur.

17 Postero die dixit pro Mario Salvius Liberalis, vir subtilis dispositus acer disertus; in illa vero causa omnes artes suas protulit. Respondit Cornelius Tacitus eloquentissime et, quod eximium orationi eius inest, ‘semnôs’. 18 Dixit pro Mario rursus Fronto Catius insigniter, utque iam locus ille poscebat, plus in precibus temporis quam in defensione consumpsit. Huius actionem vespera inclusit, non tamen sic ut abrumperet. Itaque in tertium diem probationes exierunt. Iam hoc ipsum pulchrum et antiquum, senatum nocte dirimi, triduo vocari, triduo contineri. 19 Cornutus Tertullus consul designatus, vir egregius et pro veritate firmissimus, censuit septingenta milia quae acceperat Marius aerario inferenda, Mario urbe Italiaque interdicendum, Marciano hoc amplius Africa. In fine sententiae adiecit, quod ego et Tacitus iniuncta advocatione diligenter et fortiter functi essemus, arbitrari senatum ita nos fecisse ut dignum mandatis partibus fuerit. 20 Assenserunt consules designati, omnes etiam consulares usque ad Pompeium Collegam: ille et septingenta milia aerario inferenda et Marcianum in quinquennium relegandum, Marium repetundarum poenae quam iam passus esset censuit relinquendum. 21 Erant in utraque sententia multi, fortasse etiam plures in hac vel solutiore vel molliore. Nam quidam ex illis quoque, qui Cornuto videbantur assensi, hunc qui post ipsos censuerat sequebantur. 22 Sed cum fieret discessio, qui sellis consulum astiterant, in Cornuti sententiam ire coeperunt. Tum illi qui se Collegae adnumerari patiebantur in diversum transierunt; Collega cum paucis relictus. Multum postea de impulsoribus sis, praecipue de Regulo questus est, qui se in sententia quam ipse dictaverat deseruisset. Est alioqui Regulo tam mobile ingenium, ut plurimum audeat plurimum timeat.

23 Hic finis cognitionis amplissimae. Superest tamen ‘litourgion’ non leve, Hostilius Firminus legatus Mari Prisci, qui permixtus causae graviter vehementerque vexatus est. Nam et rationibus Marciani, et sermone quem ille habuerat in ordine Lepcitanorum, operam suam Prisco ad turpissimum ministerium commodasse, stipulatusque de Marciano quinquaginta milia denariorum probabatur, ipse praeterea accepisse sestertia decem milia foedissimo quidem titulo, nomine unguentarii, qui titulus a vita hominis compti semper et pumicati non abhorrebat. 24 Placuit censente Cornuto referri de eo proximo senatu; tunc enim, casu an conscientia, afuerat.

25 Habes res urbanas; invicem rusticas scribe. Quid arbusculae tuae, quid vineae, quid segetes agunt, quid oves delicatissimae? In summa, nisi aeque longam epistulam reddis, non est quod postea nisi brevissimam exspectes. Vale.

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12. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

1 ‘Litourgion’ illud, quod superesse Mari Prisci causae proxime scripseram, nescio an satis, circumcisum tamen et adrasum est. 2 Firminus inductus in senatum respondit crimini noto. Secutae sunt diversae sententiae consulum designatorum. Cornutus Tertullus censuit ordine movendum, Acutius Nerva in sortitione provinciae rationem eius non habendam. Quae sententia tamquam mitior vicit, cum sit alioqui durior tristiorque. 3 Quid enim miserius quam exsectum et exemptum honoribus senatoriis, labore et molestia non carcere? quid gravius quam tanta ignominia affectum non in solitudine latere, sed in hac altissima specula conspiciendum se monstrandumque praebere? 4 Praeterea quid publice minus aut congruens aut decorum? notatum a senatu in senatu sedere, ipsisque illis a quibus sit notatus aequari; summotum a proconsulatu quia se in legatione turpiter gesserat, de proconsulibus iudicare, damnatumque sordium vel damnare alios vel absolvere! 5 Sed hoc pluribus visum est. Numerantur enim sententiae, non ponderantur; nec aliud in publico consilio potest fieri, in quo nihil est tam inaequale quam aequalitas ipsa. Nam cum sit impar prudentia, par omnium ius est. 6 Implevi promissum priorisque epistulae fidem exsolvi, quam ex spatio temporis iam recepisse te colligo; nam et festinanti et diligenti tabellario dedi, nisi quid impedimenti in via passus est. 7 Tuae nunc partes, ut primum illam, deinde hanc remunereris litteris, quales istinc redire uberrimae possunt. Vale.

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13. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

1 Et tu occasiones obligandi me avidissime amplecteris, et ego nemini libentius debeo. 2 Duabus ergo de causis a te potissimum petere constitui, quod impetratum maxime cupio. Regis exercitum amplissimum: hinc tibi beneficiorum larga materia, longum praeterea tempus, quo amicos tuos exornare potuisti. Convertere ad nostros nec hos multos. 3 Malles tu quidem multos; sed meae verecundiae sufficit unus aut alter, ac potius unus. 4 Is erit Voconius Romanus. Pater ei in equestri gradu clarus, clarior vitricu, immo pater alius - nam huic quoque nomini pietate successit -, mater e primi. Ipse citerioris Hispaniae - scis quod iudicium provinciae illius, quanta sit gravitas - flamen proxime fuit. 5 Hunc ego, cum simul studeremus, arte familiariterque dilexi; ille meus in urbe ille in secessu contubernalis, cum hoc seria cum hoc iocos miscui. 6 Quid enim illo aut fidelius amico aut sodale iucundius? Mira in sermone, mira etiam in ore ipso vultuque suavitas. 7 Ad hoc ingenium excelsum subtile dulce facile eruditum in causis agendis; epistulas quidem scribit, ut Musas ipsas Latine loqui credas. Amatur a me plurimum nec tamen vincitur. 8 Equidem iuvenis statim iuveni, quantum potui per aetatem, avidissime contuli, et nuper ab optimo principe trium liberorum ius impetravi; quod quamquam parce et cum delectu daret, mihi tamen tamquam eligeret indulsit. 9 Haec beneficia mea tueri nullo modo melius quam ut augeam possum, praesertim cum ipse illa tam grate interpretetur, ut dum priora accipit posteriora mereatur. 10 Habes qualis quam probatus carusque sit nobis, quem rogo pro ingenio pro fortuna tua exornes. In primis ama hominem; nam licet tribuas ei quantum amplissimum potes, nihil tamen amplius potes amicitia tua; cuius esse eum usque ad intimam familiaritatem capacem quo magis scires, breviter tibi studia mores omnem denique vitam eius expressi. 11 Extenderem preces nisi et tu rogari diu nolles et ego tota hoc epistula fecissem; rogat enim et quidem efficacissime, qui reddit causas rogandi. Vale.

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14. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Verum opinaris: distringor centumviralibus causis, quae me exercent magis quam delectant. Sunt enim pleraeque parvae et exiles; raro incidit vel personarum claritate vel negotii magnitudine insignis. 2 Ad hoc pauci cum quibus iuvet dicere; ceteri audaces atque etiam magna ex parte adulescentuli obscuri ad declamandum huc transierunt, tam irreverenter et temere, ut mihi Atilius noster expresse dixisse videatur, sic in foro pueros a centumviralibus causis auspicari, ut ab Homero in scholis. Nam hic quoque ut illic primum coepit esse quod maximum est. 3 At hercule ante memoriam meam - ita maiores natu solent dicere -, ne nobilissimis quidem adulescentibus locus erat nisi aliquo consulari producente: tanta veneratione pulcherrimum opus colebatur. 4 Nunc refractis pudoris et reverentiae claustris, omnia patent omnibus, nec inducuntur sed irrumpunt. Sequuntur auditores actoribus similes, conducti et redempti. Manceps convenitur; in media basilica tam palam sportulae quam in triclinio dantur; ex iudicio in iudicium pari mercede transitur. 5 Inde iam non inurbane ‘Sophokleis’ vocantur ‘apo tou sophôs kai kaleisthai’, isdem Latinum nomen impositum est Laudiceni; 6 et tamen crescit in dies foeditas utraque lingua notata. Here duo nomenclatores mei - habent sane aetatem eorum qui nuper togas sumpserint - ternis denariis ad laudandum trahebantur. Tanti constat ut sis disertissimus. Hoc pretio quamlibet numerosa subsellia implentur, hoc ingens corona colligitur, hoc infiniti clamores commoventur, cum mesochorus dedit signum. 7 Opus est enim signo apud non intellegentes, ne audientes quidem; 8 nam plerique non audiunt, nec ulli magis laudant. Si quando transibis per basilicam et voles scire, quo modo quisque dicat, nihil est quod tribunal ascendas, nihil quod praebeas aurem; facilis divinatio: scito eum pessime dicere, qui laudabitur maxime.

9 Primus hunc audiendi morem induxit Larcius Licinus, hactenus tamen ut auditores corrogaret. Ita certe ex Quintiliano praeceptore meo audisse me memini. 10 Narrabat ille: ‘Assectabar Domitium Afrum. Cum apud centumviros diceret graviter et lente - hoc enim illi actionis genus erat -, audit ex proximo immodicum insolitumque clamorem. Admiratus reticuit; ubi silentium factum est, repetit quod abruperat. 11 Iterum clamor, iterum reticuit, et post silentium coepit. Idem tertio. Novissime quis diceret quaesiit. Responsum est: “Licinus.” Tum intermissa causa “Centumviri,” inquit, “hoc artificium periit.”’ 12 Quod alioqui perire incipiebat cum perisse Afro videretur, nunc vero prope funditus exstinctum et eversum est. Pudet referre quae quam fracta pronuntiatione dicantur, quibus quam teneris clamoribus excipiantur. 13 Plausus tantum ac potius sola cymbala et tympana illis canticis desunt: ululatus quidem - neque enim alio vocabulo potest exprimi theatris quoque indecora laudatio - large supersunt. 14 Nos tamen adhuc et utilitas amicorum et ratio aetatis moratur ac retinet; veremur enim ne forte non has indignitates reliquisse, sed laborem fugisse videamur. Sumus tamen solito rariores, quod initium est gradatim desinendi. Vale.

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15. C. PLINIUS VALERIANO SUO S.

1 Quo modo te veteres Marsi tui? quo modo emptio nova Placent agri, postquam tui facti sunt? Rarum id quidem nihil enim aeque gratum est adeptis quam concupiscentibus. 2 Me praedia materna parum commode tractant, delectant tamen ut materna, et alioqui longa patientia occallui. Habent hunc finem assiduae querellae, quod queri pudet. Vale.

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16. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SUO S.

1 Tu quidem pro cetera tua diligentia admones me codicillos Aciliani, qui me ex parte instituit heredem, pro non scriptis habendos, quia non sint confirmati testamento; 2 quod ius ne mihi quidem ignotum est, cum sit iis etiam notum, qui nihil aliud sciunt. Sed ego propriam quandam legem mihi dixi, ut defunctorum voluntates, etiamsi iure deficerentur, quasi perfectas tuerer. Constat autem codicillos istos Aciliani manu scriptos. 3 Licet ergo non sint confirmati testamento, a me tamen ut confirmati observabuntur, praesertim cum delatori locus non sit. 4 Nam si verendum esset ne quod ego dedissem populus eriperet, cunctantior fortasse et cautior esse deberem; cum vero liceat heredi donare, quod in hereditate subsedit, nihil est quod obstet illi meae legi, cui publicae leges non repugnant. Vale.

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17. C. PLINIUS GALLO SUO S.

1 Miraris cur me Laurentinum vel - si ita mavis -, Laurens meum tanto opere delectet; desines mirari, cum cognoveris gratiam villae, opportunitatem loci, litoris spatium. 2 Decem septem milibus passuum ab urbe secessit, ut peractis quae agenda fuerint salvo iam et composito die possis ibi manere. Aditur non una via; nam et Laurentina et Ostiensis eodem ferunt, sed Laurentina a quarto decimo lapide, Ostiensis ab undecimo relinquenda est. Utrimque excipit iter aliqua ex parte harenosum, iunctis paulo gravius et longius, equo breve et molle. 3 Varia hinc atque inde facies; nam modo occurrentibus silvis via coartatur, modo latissimis pratis diffunditur et patescit; multi greges ovium, multa ibi equorum boum armenta, quae montibus hieme depulsa herbis et tepore verno nitescunt. Villa usibus capax, non sumptuosa tutela. 4 Cuius in prima parte atrium frugi, nec tamen sordidum; deinde porticus in D litterae similitudinem circumactae, quibus parvola sed festiva area includitur. Egregium hac adversus tempestates receptaculum; nam specularibus ac multo magis imminentibus rectis muniuntur. 5 Est contra medias cavaedium hilare, mox triclinium satis pulchrum, quod in litus excurrit ac si quando Africo mare impulsum est, fractis iam et novissimis fluctibus leviter alluitur. Undique valvas aut fenestras non minores valvis habet atque ita a lateribus a fronte quasi tria maria prospectat; a tergo cavaedium porticum aream porticum rursus, mox atrium silvas et longinquos respicit montes. 6 Huius a laeva retractius paulo cubiculum est amplum, deinde aliud minus quod altera fenestra admittit orientem, occidentem altera retinet; hac et subiacens mare longius quidem sed securius intuetur. 7 Huius cubiculi et triclinii illius obiectu includitur angulus, qui purissimum solem continet et accendit. Hoc hibernaculum, hoc etiam gymnasium meorum est; ibi omnes silent venti, exceptis qui nubilum inducunt, et serenum ante quam usum loci eripiunt. 8 Annectitur angulo cubiculum in hapsida curvatum, quod ambitum solis fenestris omnibus sequitur. Parieti eius in bibliothecae speciem armarium insertum est, quod non legendos libros sed lectitandos capit. 9 Adhaeret dormitorium membrum transitu interiacente, qui suspensus et tubulatus conceptum vaporem salubri temperamento huc illuc digerit et ministrat. Reliqua pars lateris huius servorum libertorumque usibus detinetur, plerisque tam mundis, ut accipere hospites possint. 10 Ex alio latere cubiculum est politissimum; deinde vel cubiculum grande vel modica cenatio, quae plurimo sole, plurimo mari lucet; post hanc cubiculum cum procoetone, altitudine aestivum, munimentis hibernum; est enim subductum omnibus ventis. Huic cubiculo aliud et procoeton communi pariete iunguntur. 11 Inde balinei cella frigidaria spatiosa et effusa, cuius in contrariis parietibus duo baptisteria velut eiecta sinuantur, abunde capacia si mare in proximo cogites. Adiacet unctorium, hypocauston, adiacet propnigeon balinei, mox duae cellae magis elegantes quam sumptuosae; cohaeret calida piscina mirifica, ex qua natantes mare aspiciunt, 12 nec procul sphaeristerium quod calidissimo soli inclinato iam die occurrit. Hic turris erigitur, sub qua diaetae duae, totidem in ipsa, praeterea Chianti quae latissimum mare longissimum litus villas amoenissimas possidet. 13 Est et alia turris; in hac cubiculum, in quo sol nascitur conditurque; lata post apotheca et horreum, sub hoc triclinium, quod turbati maris non nisi fragorem et sonum patitur, eumque iam languidum ac desinentem; hortum et gestationem videt, qua hortus includitur. 14 Gestatio buxo aut rore marino, ubi deficit buxus, ambitur; nam buxus, qua parte defenditur tectis, abunde viret; aperto caelo apertoque vento et quamquam longinqua aspergine maris inarescit. 15 Adiacet gestationi interiore circumitu vinea tenera et umbrosa, nudisque etiam pedibus mollis et cedens. Hortum morus et ficus frequens vestit, quarum arborum illa vel maxime ferax terra est, malignior ceteris. Hac non deteriore quam maris facie Chianti remota a mari fruitur, cingitur diaetis duabus a tergo, quarum fenestris subiacet vestibulum villae et hortus alius pinguis et rusticus. 16 Hinc cryptoporticus prope publici operis extenditur. Utrimque fenestrae, a mari plures, ab horto singulae sed alternis pauciores. Hae cum serenus dies et immotus, omnes, cum hinc vel inde ventis inquietus, qua venti quiescunt sine iniuria patent. 17 Ante cryptoporticum xystus violis odoratus. Teporem solis infusi repercussu cryptoporticus auget, quae ut tenet solem sic aquilonem inhibet summovetque, quantumque caloris ante tantum retro frigoris; similiter africum sistit, atque ita diversissimos ventos alium alio latere frangit et finit. Haec iucunditas eius hieme, maior aestate. 18 Nam ante meridiem xystum, post meridiem gestationis hortique proximam partem umbra sua temperat, quae, ut dies crevit decrevitve, modo brevior modo longior hac vel illa cadit. 19 Ipsa vero cryptoporticus tum maxime caret sole, cum ardentissimus culmini eius insistit. Ad hoc patentibus fenestris favonios accipit transmittitque nec umquam aere pigro et manente ingravescit. 20 In capite xysti, deinceps cryptoporticus horti, diaeta est amores mei, re vera amores: ipse posui. In hac heliocaminus quidem alia xystum, alia mare, utraque solem, cubiculum autem valvis cryptoporticum, fenestra prospicit mare. 21 Contra parietem medium zotheca perquam eleganter recedit, quae specularibus et velis obductis reductisve modo adicitur cubiculo modo aufertur. Lectum et duas cathedras capit; a pedibus mare, a tergo villae, a capite silvae: tot facies locorum totidem fenestris et distinguit et miscet. 22 Iunctum est cubiculum noctis et somni. Non illud voces servolorum, non maris murmur, non tempestatum motus non fulgurum lumen, ac ne diem quidem sentit, nisi fenestris apertis. Tam alti abdicitque secreti illa ratio, quod interiacens andron parietem cubiculi hortique distinguit atque ita omnem sonum media inanitate consumit. 23 Applicitum est cubiculo hypocauston perexiguum, quod angusta fenestra suppositum calorem, ut ratio exigit, aut effundit aut retinet. Procoeton inde et cubiculum porrigitur in solem, quem orientem statim exceptum ultra meridiem oblicum quidem sed tamen servat. 24 In hanc ego diaetam cum me recepi, abesse mihi etiam a villa mea videor, magnamque eius voluptatem praecipue Saturnalibus capio, cum reliqua pars tecti licentia dierum festisque clamoribus personat; nam nec ipse meorum lusibus nec illi studiis meis obstrepunt. 25 Haec utilitas haec amoenitas deficitur aqua salienti, sed puteos ac potius fontes habet; sunt enim in summo. Et omnino litoris illius mira natura: quacumque loco moveris humum, obvius et paratus umor occurrit, isque sincerus ac ne leviter quidem tanta maris vicinitate corruptus. 26 Suggerunt affatim ligna proximae silvae; ceteras copias ostiensis colonia ministrat. Frugi quidem homini sufficit etiam vicus, quem una villa discernit. In hoc balinea meritoria tria, magna commoditas, si forte balineum domi vel subitus adventus vel brevior mora calfacere dissuadeat. 27 Litus ornant varietate gratissima nunc continua nunc intermissa tecta villarum, quae praestant multarum urbium faciem, sive mari sive ipso litore utare; quod non numquam longa tranquillitas mollit, saepius frequens et contrarius fluctus indurat. 28 Mare non sane pretiosis piscibus abundat, soleas tamen et squillas optimas egerit. Villa vero nostra etiam mediterraneas copias praestat, lac in primis; nam illuc e pascuis pecora conveniunt, si quando aquam umbramve sectantur.

29 Iustisne de causis iam tibi videor incolere inhabitare diligere secessum? quem tu nimis urbanus es nisi concupiscis. Atque utinam concupiscas! ut tot tantisque dotibus villulae nostrae maxima commendatio ex tuo contubernio accedat. Vale.

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18. C. PLINIUS MAURICO SUO S.

1 Quid a te mihi iucundius potuit iniungi, quam ut praeceptorem fratris tui liberis quaererem? Nam beneficio tuo in scholam redeo, et illam dulcissimam aetatem quasi resumo: sedeo inter iuvenes ut solebam, atque etiam experior quantum apud illos auctoritatis ex studiis habeam. 2 Nam proxime frequenti auditorio inter se coram multis ordinis nostri clare iocabantur; intravi, conticuerunt; quod non referrem, nisi ad illorum magis laudem quam ad meam pertineret, ac nisi sperare te vellem posse fratris tui filios probe discere. 3 Quod superest, cum omnes qui profitentur audiero, quid de quoque sentiam scribam, efficiamque quantum tamen epistula consequi potero, ut ipse omnes audisse videaris. 4 Debeo enim tibi, debeo memoriae fratris tui hanc fidem hoc studium, praesertim super tanta re. Nam quid magis interest vestra, quam ut liberi - dicerem tui, nisi nunc illos magis amares - digni illo patre, te patruo reperiantur? quam curam mihi etiam si non mandasses vindicassem. 5 Nec ignoro suscipiendas offensas in eligendo praeceptore, sed oportet me non modo offensas, verum etiam simultates pro fratris tui filiis tam aequo animo subire quam parentes pro suis. Vale.

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19. C. PLINIUS CERIALI SUO S.

1 Hortaris ut orationem amicis pluribus recitem. Faciam quia hortaris, quamvis vehementer addubitem. 2 Neque enim me praeterit actiones, quae recitantur, impetum omnem caloremque ac prope nomen suum perdere, ut quas soleant commendare simul et accendere iudicum consessus, celebritas advocatorum, exspectatio eventus, fama non unius actoris, diductumque in partes audientium studium, ad hoc dicentis gestus incessus, discursus etiam omnibusque motibus animi consentaneus vigor corporis. 3 Unde accidit ut ii qui sedentes agunt, quamvis illis maxima ex parte supersint eadem illa quae stantibus, tamen hoc quod sedent quasi debilitentur et deprimantur. 4 Recitantium vero praecipua pronuntiationis adiumenta, oculi manus, praepediuntur. Quo minus mirum est, si auditorum intentio relanguescit, nullis extrinsecus aut blandimentis capta aut aculeis excitata. 5 Accedit his quod oratio de qua loquor pugnax et quasi contentiosa est. Porro ita natura comparatum est, ut ea quae scripsimus cum labore, cum labore etiam audiri putemus. 6 Et sane quotus quisque tam rectus auditor, quem non potius dulcia haec et sonantia quam austera et pressa delectent? Est quidem omnino turpis ista discordia, est tamen, quia plerumque evenit ut aliud auditores aliud iudices exigant, cum alioqui iis praecipue auditor affici debeat, quibus idem si foret iudex, maxime permoveretur. 7 Potest tamen fieri ut quamquam in his difficultatibus libro isti novitas lenocinetur, novitas apud nostros; apud Graecos enim est quiddam quamvis ex diverso, non tamen omnino dissimile. 8 Nam ut illis erat moris, leges quas ut contrarias prioribus legibus arguebant, aliarum collatione convincere, ita nobis inesse repetundarum legi quod postularemus, cum hac ipsa lege tum aliis colligendum fuit; quod nequaquam blandum auribus imperitorum, tanto maiorem apud doctos habere gratiam debet, quanto minorem apud indoctos habet. 9 Nos autem si placuerit recitare adhibituri sumus eruditissimum quemque. Sed plane adhuc an sit recitandum examina tecum, omnesque quos ego movi in utraque parte calculos pone, idque elige in quo vicerit ratio. A te enim ratio exigetur, nos excusabit obsequium. Vale.

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20. C. PLINIUS CALCISIO SUO S.

1 Assem para et accipe auream fabulam, fabulas immo; nam me priorum nova admonuit, nec refert a qua potissimum incipiam. 2 Verania Pisonis graviter iacebat, huius dico Pisonis, quem Galba adoptavit. Ad hanc Regulus venit. Primum impudentiam hominis, qui venerit ad aegram, cuius marito inimicissimus, ipsi invisissimus fuerat! 3 Esto, si venit tantum; at ille etiam proximus toro sedit, quo die qua hora nata esset interrogavit. Ubi audiit, componit vultum intendit oculos movet labra, agitat digitos computat. Nihil. Ut diu miseram exspectatione suspendit, ‘habes’ inquit ‘climacterium tempus sed evades. 4 Quod ut tibi magis liqueat, haruspicem consulam, quem sum frequenter expertus.’ 5 Nec mora, sacrificium facit, affirmat exta cum siderum significatione congruere. Illa ut in periculo credula poscit codicillos, legatum Regulo scribit. Mox ingravescit, clamat moriens hominem nequam perfidum ac plus etiam quam periurum, qui sibi per salutem filii peierasset. 6 Facit hoc Regulus non minus scelerate quam frequenter, quod iram deorum, quos ipse cotidie fallit, in caput infelicis pueri detestatur.

7 Velleius Blaesus ille locuples consularis novissima valetudine conflictabatur: cupiebat mutare testamentum. Regulus qui speraret aliquid ex novis tabulis, quia nuper captare eum coeperat, medicos hortari rogare, quoquo modo spiritum homini prorogarent. 8 Postquam signatum est testamentum, mutat personam, vertit allocutionem isdemque medicis: ‘Quousque miserum cruciatis? quid invidetis bona morte, cui dare vitam non potestis?’ Moritur Blaesus et, tamquam omnia audisset, Regulo ne tantulum quidem.

9 Sufficiunt duae fabulae, an scholastica lege tertiam poscis? est unde fiat. 10 Aurelia ornata femina signatura testamentum sumpserat pulcherrimas tunicas. Regulus cum venisset ad signandum, ‘Rogo’ inquit ‘has mihi leges.’ 11 Aurelia ludere hominem putabat, ille serio instabat; ne multa, coegit mulierem aperire tabulas ac sibi tunicas quas erat induta legare; observavit scribentem, inspexit an scripsisset. Et Aurelia quidem vivit, ille tamen istud tamquam morituram coegit. Et hic hereditates, hic legata quasi mereatur accipit.

12 ‘Alla ti diateinomai’ in ea civitate, in qua iam pridem non minora praemia, immo maiora nequitia et improbitas quam pudor et virtus habent? 13 Aspice Regulum, qui ex paupere et tenui ad tantas opes per flagitia processit, ut ipse mihi dixerit, cum consuleret quam cito sestertium sescentiens impleturus esset, invenisse se exta duplicia, quibus portendi miliens et ducentiens habiturum. 14 Et habebit, si modo ut coepit, aliena testamenta, quod est improbissimum genus falsi, ipsis quorum sunt illa dictaverit. Vale.

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LIBER TERTIVS

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1. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Nescio an ullum iucundius tempus exegerim, quam quo nuper apud Spurinnam fui, adeo quidem ut neminem magis in senectute, si modo senescere datum est, aemulari velim; nihil est enim illo vitae genere distinctius. 2 Me autem ut certus siderum cursus ita vita hominum disposita delectat. Senum praesertim: nam iuvenes confusa adhuc quaedam et quasi turbata non indecent, senibus placida omnia et ordinata conveniunt, quibus industria sera turpis ambitio est. 3 Hanc regulam Spurinna constantissime servat; quin etiam parva haec - parva si non cotidie fiant - ordine quodam et velut orbe circumagit. 4 Mane lectulo continetur, hora secunda calceos poscit, ambulat milia passuum tria nec minus animum quam corpus exercet. Si adsunt amici, honestissimi sermones explicantur; si non, liber legitur, interdum etiam praesentibus amicis, si tamen illi non gravantur. 5 Deinde considit, et liber rursus aut sermo libro potior; mox vehiculum ascendit, assumit uxorem singularis exempli vel aliquem amicorum, ut me proxime. 6 Quam pulchrum illud, quam dulce secretum! quantum ibi antiquitatis! quae facta, quos viros audias! quibus praeceptis imbuare! quamvis ille hoc temperamentum modestiae suae indixerit, ne praecipere videatur. 7 Peractis septem milibus passuum iterum ambulat mille, iterum residit vel se cubiculo ac stilo reddit. Scribit enim et quidem utraque lingua lyrica doctissima; mira illis dulcedo, mira suavitas, mira hilaritas, cuius gratiam cumulat sanctitas scribentis. 8 Ubi hora balinei nuntiata est - est autem hieme nona, aestate octava -, in sole, si caret vento, ambulat nudus. Deinde movetur pila vehementer et diu; nam hoc quoque exercitationis genere pugnat cum senectute. Lotus accubat et paulisper cibum differt; interim audit legentem remissius aliquid et dulcius. Per hoc omne tempus liberum est amicis vel eadem facere vel alia si malint. 9 Apponitur cena non minus nitida quam frugi, in argento puro et antiquo; sunt in usu et Corinthia, quibus delectatur nec afficitur. Frequenter comoedis cena distinguitur, ut voluptates quoque studiis condiantur. Sumit aliquid de nocte et aestate; nemini hoc longum est; tanta comitate convivium trahitur. 10 Inde illi post septimum et septuagensimum annum aurium oculorum vigor integer, inde agile et vividum corpus solaque ex senectute prudentia. 11 Hanc ego vitam voto et cogitatione praesumo, ingressurus avidissime, ut primum ratio aetatis receptui canere permiserit. Interim mille laboribus conteror, quorum mihi et solacium et exemplum est idem Spurinna; 12 nam ille quoque, quoad honestum fuit, obiit officia, gessit magistratus, provincias rexit, multoque labore hoc otium meruit. Igitur eundem mihi cursum, eundem terminum statuo, idque iam nunc apud te subsigno ut, si me longius evehi videris, in ius voces ad hanc epistulam meam et quiescere iubeas, cum inertiae crimen effugero. Vale.

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2. C. PLINIUS VIBIO MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Quod ipse amicis tuis obtulissem, si mihi eadem materia suppeteret, id nunc iure videor a te meis petiturus. 2 Arrianus Maturus Altinatium est princeps; cum dico princeps, non de facultatibus loquor, quae illi large supersunt, sed de castitate iustitia, gravitate prudentia. 3 Huius ego consilio in negotiis, iudicio in studiis utor; nam plurimum fide, plurimum veritate, plurimum intellegentia praestat. 4 Amat me - nihil possum ardentius dicere - ut tu. Caret ambitu; ideo se in equestri gradu tenuit, cum facile possit ascendere altissimum. Mihi tamen ornandus excolendusque est. 5 Itaque magni aestimo dignitati eius aliquid astruere inopinantis nescientis, immo etiam fortasse nolentis; astruere autem quod sit splendidum nec molestum. 6 Cuius generis quae prima occasio tibi, conferas in eum rogo; habebis me, habebis ipsum gratissimum debitorem. Quamvis enim ista non appetat, tam grate tamen excipit, quam si concupiscat. Vale.

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3. C. PLINIUS CORELLIAE HISPULLAE SUAE S.

1 Cum patrem tuum gravissimum et sanctissimum virum suspexerim magis an amaverim dubitem, teque et in memoriam eius et in honorem tuum unice diligam, cupiam necesse est atque etiam quantum in me fuerit enitar, ut filius tuus avo similis exsistat; equidem malo materno, quamquam illi paternus etiam clarus spectatusque contigerit, pater quoque et patruus illustri laude conspicui. 2 Quibus omnibus ita demum similis adolescet, si imbutus honestis artibus fuerit, quas plurimum refert a quo potissimum accipiat. 3 Adhuc illum pueritiae ratio intra contubernium tuum tenuit, praeceptores domi habuit, ubi est erroribus modica vel etiam nulla materia. Iam studia eius extra limen proferenda sunt, iam circumspiciendus rhetor Latinus, cuius scholae severitas pudor in primis castitas constet. 4 Adest enim adulescenti nostro cum ceteris naturae fortunaeque dotibus eximia corporis pulchritudo, cui in hoc lubrico aetatis non praeceptor modo sed custos etiam rectorque quaerendus est. 5 Videor ergo demonstrare tibi posse Iulium Genitorem. Amatur a me; iudicio tamen meo non obstat caritas hominis, quae ex iudicio nata est. Vir est emendatus et gravis, paulo etiam horridior et durior, ut in hac licentia temporum. 6 Quantum eloquentia valeat, pluribus credere potes, nam dicendi facultas aperta et exposita statim cernitur; vita hominum altos recessus magnasque latebras habet, cuius pro Genitore me sponsorem accipe. Nihil ex hoc viro filius tuus audiet nisi profuturum, nihil discet quod nescisse rectius fuerit, nec minus saepe ab illo quam a te meque admonebitur, quibus imaginibus oneretur, quae nomina et quanta sustineat. 7 Proinde faventibus dis trade eum praeceptori, a quo mores primum mox eloquentiam discat, quae male sine moribus discitur. Vale.

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4. C. PLINIUS CAECILIO MACRINO SUO S.

1 Quamvis et amici quos praesentes habebam, et sermones hominum factum meum comprobasse videantur, magni tamen aestimo scire quid sentias tu. 2 Nam cuius integra re consilium exquirere optassem, huius etiam peracta iudicium nosse mire concupisco. Cum publicum opus mea pecunia incohaturus in Tuscos excucurrissem, accepto ut praefectus aerari commeatu, legati provinciae Baeticae, questuri de proconsulatu Caecili Classici, advocatum me a senatu petiverunt. 3 Collegae optimi meique amantissimi, de communis officii necessitatibus praelocuti, excusare me et eximere temptarunt. Factum est senatus consultum perquam honorificum, ut darer provincialibus patronus si ab ipso me impetrassent. 4 Legati rursus inducti iterum me iam praesentem advocatum postulaverunt, implorantes fidem meam quam essent contra Massam Baebium experti, allegantes patrocini foedus. Secuta est senatus clarissima assensio, quae solet decreta praecurrere. Tum ego ‘Desino’ inquam, ‘patres conscripti, putare me iustas excusationis causas attulisse.’ Placuit et modestia sermonis et ratio. 5 Compulit autem me ad hoc consilium non solum consensus senatus, quamquam hic maxime, verum et alii quidam minores, sed tamen numeri. Veniebat in mentem priores nostros etiam singulorum hospitum iniurias voluntariis accusationibus exsecutos, quo deformius arbitrabar publici hospitii iura neglegere. 6 Praeterea cum recordarer, quanta pro isdem Baeticis superiore advocatione etiam pericula subissem, conservandum veteris officii meritum novo videbatur. Est enim ita comparatum ut antiquiora beneficia subvertas, nisi illa posterioribus cumules. Nam quamlibet saepe obligati, si quid unum neges, hoc solum meminerunt quod negatum est. 7 Ducebar etiam quod decesserat Classicus, amotumque erat quod in eiusmodi causis solet esse tristissimum, periculum senatoris. Videbam ergo advocationi meae non minorem gratiam quam si viveret ille propositam, invidiam nullam. 8 In summa computabam, si munere hoc iam tertio fungerer, faciliorem mihi excusationem fore, si quis incidisset, quem non deberem accusare. Nam cum est omnium officiorum finis aliquis, tum optime libertati venia obsequio praeparatur. 9 Audisti consilii mei motus: superest alterutra ex parte iudicium tuum, in quo mihi aeque iucunda erit simplicitas dissentientis quam comprobantis auctoritas. Vale.

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5. C. PLINIUS BAEBIO MACRO SUO S.

1 Pergratum est mihi quod tam diligenter libros avunculi mei lectitas, ut habere omnes velis quaerasque qui sint omnes. 2 Fungar indicis partibus, atque etiam quo sint ordine scripti notum tibi faciam; est enim haec quoque studiosis non iniucunda cognitio. 3 ‘De iaculatione equestri unus’; hunc cum praefectus alae militaret, pari ingenio curaque composuit. ‘De vita Pomponi Secundi duo’; a quo singulariter amatus hoc memoriae amici quasi debitum munus exsolvit. 4 ‘Bellorum Germaniae viginti’; quibus omnia quae cum Germanis gessimus bella collegit. Incohavit cum in Germania militaret, somnio monitus: astitit ei quiescenti Drusi Neronis effigies, qui Germaniae latissime victor ibi periit, commendabat memoriam suam orabatque ut se ab iniuria oblivionis assereret. 5 ‘Studiosi tres’, in sex volumina propter amplitudinem divisi, quibus oratorem ab incunabulis instituit et perficit. ‘Dubii sermonis octo’: scripsit sub Nerone novissimis annis, cum omne studiorum genus paulo liberius et erectius periculosum servitus fecisset. 6 ‘A fine Aufidi Bassi triginta unus.’ ‘Naturae historiarum triginta septem’, opus diffusum eruditum, nec minus varium quam ipsa natura.

7 Miraris quod tot volumina multaque in his tam scrupulosa homo occupatus absolverit? Magis miraberis si scieris illum aliquamdiu causas actitasse, decessisse anno sexto et quinquagensimo, medium tempus distentum impeditumque qua officiis maximis qua amicitia principum egisse. 8 Sed erat acre ingenium, incredibile studium, summa vigilantia. Lucubrare Vulcanalibus incipiebat non auspicandi causa sed studendi statim a nocte multa, hieme vero ab hora septima vel cum tardissime octava, saepe sexta. Erat sane somni paratissimi, non numquam etiam inter ipsa studia instantis et deserentis. 9 Ante lucem ibat ad Vespasianum imperatorem - nam ille quoque noctibus utebatur -, inde ad delegatum sibi officium. Reversus domum quod reliquum temporis studiis reddebat. 10 Post cibum saepe - quem interdiu levem et facilem veterum more sumebat - aestate si quid otii iacebat in sole, liber legebatur, adnotabat excerpebatque. Nihil enim legit quod non excerperet; dicere etiam solebat nullum esse librum tam malum ut non aliqua parte prodesset. 11 Post solem plerumque frigida lavabatur, deinde gustabat dormiebatque minimum; mox quasi alio die studebat in cenae tempus. Super hanc liber legebatur adnotabatur, et quidem cursim. 12 Memini quendam ex amicis, cum lector quaedam perperam pronuntiasset, revocasse et repeti coegisse; huic avunculum meum dixisse: ‘Intellexeras nempe?’ Cum ille adnuisset, ‘Cur ergo revocabas? decem amplius versus hac tua interpellatione perdidimus.’ 13 Tanta erat parsimonia temporis. Surgebat aestate a cena luce, hieme intra primam noctis et tamquam aliqua lege cogente.

14 Haec inter medios labores urbisque fremitum. In secessu solum balinei tempus studiis eximebatur - cum dico balinei, de interioribus loquor; nam dum destringitur tergiturque, audiebat aliquid aut dictabat -. 15 In itinere quasi solutus ceteris curis, huic uni vacabat: ad latus notarius cum libro et pugillaribus, cuius manus hieme manicis muniebantur, ut ne caeli quidem asperitas ullum studii tempus eriperet; qua ex causa Romae quoque sella vehebatur. 16 Repeto me correptum ab eo, cur ambularem: ‘poteras’ inquit ‘has horas non perdere’; nam perire omne tempus arbitrabatur, quod studiis non impenderetur. 17 Hac intentione tot ista volumina peregit electorumque commentarios centum sexaginta mihi reliquit, opisthographos quidem et minutissimis scriptos; qua ratione multiplicatur hic numerus. Referebat ipse potuisse se, cum procuraret in Hispania, vendere hos commentarios Larcio Licino quadringentis milibus nummum; et tunc aliquanto pauciores erant. 18 Nonne videtur tibi recordanti, quantum legerit quantum scripserit, nec in officiis ullis nec in amicitia principis fuisse; rursus cum audis quid studiis laboris impenderit, nec scripsisse satis nec legisse? Quid est enim quod non aut illae occupationes impedire aut haec instantia non possit efficere? 19 Itaque soleo ridere cum me quidam studiosum vocant, qui si comparer illi sum desidiosissimus. Ego autem tantum, quem partim publica partim amicorum officia distringunt? quis ex istis, qui tota vita litteris assident, collatus illi non quasi somno et inertiae deditus erubescat?

20 Extendi epistulam cum hoc solum quod requirebas scribere destinassem, quos libros reliquisset; confido tamen haec quoque tibi non minus grata quam ipsos libros futura, quae te non tantum ad legendos eos verum etiam ad simile aliquid elaborandum possunt aemulationis stimulis excitare. Vale.

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6. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SEVERO SUO S.

1 Ex hereditate quae mihi obvenit, emi proxime Corinthium signum, modicum quidem sed festivum et expressum, quantum ego sapio, qui fortasse in omni re, in hac certe perquam exiguum sapio: hoc tamen signum ego quoque intellego. 2 Est enim nudum, nec aut vitia si qua sunt celat, aut laudes parum ostentat. Effingit senem stantem; ossa musculi nervi, venae rugae etiam ut spirantis apparent; rari et cedentes capilli, lata frons, contracta facies, exile collum; pendent lacerti, papillae iacent, venter recessit; 3 a tergo quoque eadem aetas ut a tergo. Aes ipsum, quantum verus color indicat, vetus et antiquum; talia denique omnia, ut possint artificum oculos tenere, delectare imperitorum. 4 Quod me quamquam tirunculum sollicitavit ad emendum. Emi autem non ut haberem domi - neque enim ullum adhuc Corinthium domi habeo -, verum ut in patria nostra celebri loco ponerem, ac potissimum in Iovis templo; 5 videtur enim dignum templo dignum deo donum. Tu ergo, ut soles omnia quae a me tibi iniunguntur, suscipe hanc curam, et iam nunc iube basim fieri, ex quo voles marmore, quae nomen meum honoresque capiat, si hos quoque putabis addendos. 6 Ego signum ipsum, ut primum invenero aliquem qui non gravetur, mittam tibi vel ipse - quod mavis - afferam mecum. Destino enim, si tamen officii ratio permiserit, excurrere isto. 7 Gaudes quod me venturum esse polliceor, sed contrahes frontem, cum adiecero ‘ad paucos dies’: neque enim diutius abesse me eadem haec quae nondum exire patiuntur. Vale.

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7. C. PLINIUS CANINIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Modo nuntiatus est Silius Italicus in Neapolitano suo inedia finisse vitam. 2 Causa mortis valetudo. Erat illi natus insanabilis clavus, cuius taedio ad mortem irrevocabili constantia decucurrit usque ad supremum diem beatus et felix, nisi quod minorem ex liberis duobus amisit, sed maiorem melioremque florentem atque etiam consularem reliquit. 3 Laeserat famam suam sub Nerone - credebatur sponte accusasse -, sed in Vitelli amicitia sapienter se et comiter gesserat, ex proconsulatu Asiae gloriam reportaverat, maculam veteris industriae laudabili otio abluerat. 4 Fuit inter principes civitatis sine potentia, sine invidia: salutabatur colebatur, multumque in lectulo iacens cubiculo semper, non ex fortuna frequenti, doctissimis sermonibus dies transigebat, eum a scribendo vacaret. 5 Scribebat carmina maiore cura quam ingenio, non numquam iudicia hominum recitationibus experiebatur. 6 Novissime ita suadentibus annis ab urbe secessit, seque in Campania tenuit, ac ne adventu quidem novi principis inde commotus est: 7 magna Caesaris laus sub quo hoc liberum fuit, magna illius qui hac libertate ausus est uti. 8 Erat ‘philokalos’ usque ad emacitatis reprehensionem. Plures isdem in locis villas possidebat, adamatisque novis priores neglegebat. Multum ubique librorum, multum statuarum, multum imaginum, quas non habebat modo, verum etiam venerabatur, Vergili ante omnes, cuius natalem religiosius quam suum celebrabat, Neapoli maxime, ubi monimentum eius adire ut templum solebat. 9 In hac tranquillitate annum quintum et septuagensimum excessit, delicato magis corpore quam infirmo; utque novissimus a Nerone factus est consul, ita postremus ex omnibus, quos Nero consules fecerat, decessit.

10 Illud etiam notabile: ultimus ex Neronianis consularibus obiit, quo consule Nero periit. Quod me recordantem fragilitatis humanae miseratio subit. 11 Quid enim tam circumcisum tam breve quam hominis vita longissima? An non videtur tibi Nero modo modo fuisse? cum interim ex iis, qui sub illo gesserant consulatum, nemo iam superest. 12 Quamquam quid hoc miror? Nuper L. Piso, pater Pisonis illius, qui Valerio Festo per summum facinus in Africa occisus est, dicere solebat neminem se videre in senatu, quem consul ipse sententiam rogavisset. 13 Tam angustis terminis tantae multitudinis vivacitas ipsa concluditur, ut mihi non venia solum dignae, verum etiam laude videantur illae regiae lacrimae; nam ferunt Xersen, cum immensum exercitum oculis obisset, illacrimasse, quod tot milibus tam brevis immineret occasus. 14 Sed tanto magis hoc, quidquid est temporis futilis et caduci, si non datur factis - nam horum materia in aliena manu -, certe studiis proferamus, et quatenus nobis denegatur diu vivere, relinquamus aliquid, quo nos vixisse testemur. 15 Scio te stimulis non egere: me tamen tui caritas evocat, ut currentem quoque instigem, sicut tu soles me. ‘Agathê d’ eris’ cum invicem se mutuis exhortationibus amici ad amorem immortalitatis exacuunt. Vale.

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8. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

1 Facis pro cetera reverentia quam mihi praestas, quod tam sollicite petis ut tribunatum, quem a Neratio Marcello clarissimo viro impetravi tibi, in Caesennium Silvanum propinquum tuum transferam. 2 Mihi autem sicut iucundissimum ipsum te tribunum, ita non minus gratum alium per te videre. Neque enim esse congruens arbitror, quem augere honoribus cupias, huic pietatis titulis invidere, qui sunt omnibus honoribus pulchriores. 3 Video etiam, cum sit egregium et mereri beneficia et dare, utramque te laudem simul assecuturum, si quod ipse meruisti alii tribuas. Praeterea intellego mihi quoque gloriae fore, si ex hoc tuo facto non fuerit ignotum amicos meos non gerere tantum tribunatus posse verum etiam dare. 4 Quare ego vero honestissimae voluntati tuae pareo. Neque enim adhuc nomen in numeros relatum est, ideoque liberum est nobis Silvanum in locum tuum subdere; cui cupio tam gratum esse munus tuum, quam tibi meum est. Vale.

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9. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO MINICIANO SUO S.

1 Possum iam perscribere tibi quantum in publica provinciae Baeticae causa laboris exhauserim. 2 Nam fuit multiplex, actaque est saepius cum magna varietate. Unde varietas, unde plures actiones? Caecilius Classicus, homo foedus et aperte malus, proconsulatum in ea non minus violenter quam sordide gesserat, eodem anno quo in Africa Marius Priscus. 3 Erat autem Priscus ex Baetica, ex Africa Classicus. Inde dictum Baeticorum, ut plerumque dolor etiam venustos facit, non illepidum ferebatur: ‘Dedi malum et accepi.’ 4 Sed Marium una civitas publice multique privati reum peregerunt, in Classicum tota provincia incubuit. Ille accusationem vel fortuita vel voluntaria morte praevertit. Nam fuit mors eius infamis, ambigua tamen: ut enim credibile videbatur voluisse exire de vita, Cum defendi non posset, ita mirum pudorem damnationis morte fugisse, quem non puduisset damnanda committere. 6 Nihilo minus Baetica etiam in defuncti accusatione perstabat. Provisum hoc legibus, intermissum tamen et post longam intercapedinem tunc reductum. Addiderunt Baetici, quod simul socios ministrosque Classici detulerunt, nominatimque in eos inquisitionem postulaverunt. 7 Aderam Bacticis mecumque Lucceius Albinus, vir in dicendo copiosus ornatus; quem ego cum olim mutuo diligerem, ex hac officii societate amare ardentius coepi. 8 Habet quidem gloria, in studiis praesertim, quiddam ‘akoinônêton’ nobis tamen nullum certamen nulla contentio, cum uterque pari iugo non pro se sed pro causa niteretur, cuius et magnitudo et utilitas visa est postulare, ne tantum oneris singulis actionibus subiremus. 9 Verebamur ne nos dies ne vox ne latera deficerent, si tot crimina tot reos uno velut fasce complecteremur; deinde ne iudicum intentio multis nominibus multisque causis non lassaretur modo verum etiam confunderetur; mox ne gratia singulorum collata atque permixta pro singulis quoque vires omnium acciperet; postremo ne potentissimi vilissimo quoque quasi piaculari dato alienis poenis elaberentur. 10 Etenim tum maxime favor et ambitio dominatur, cum sub aliqua specie severitatis delitescere potest. 11 Erat in consilio Sertorianum illud exemplum, qui robustissimum et infirmissimum militem iussit caudam equi - reliqua nosti. Nam nos quoque tam numerosum agmen reorum ita demum videbamus posse superari, si per singulos carperetur.

12 Placuit in primis ipsum Classicum ostendere nocentem: hic aptissimus ad socios eius et ministros transitus erat, quia socii ministrique probari nisi illo nocente non poterant. Ex quibus duos statim Classico iunximus, Baebium Probum et Fabium Hispanum, utrumque gratia, Hispanum etiam facundia validum. Et circa Classicum quidem brevis et expeditus labor. 13 Sua manu reliquerat scriptum, quid ex quaque re, quid ex quaque causa accepisset; miserat etiam epistulas Romam ad amiculam quandam, iactantes et gloriosas, his quidem verbis: ‘Io io, liber ad te venio; iam sestertium quadragiens redegi parte vendita Baeticorum.’ 14 Circa Hispanum et Probum multum sudoris. Horum ante quam crimina ingrederer, necessarium credidi elaborare, ut constaret ministerium crimen esse: quod nisi fecissem, frustra ministros probassem. 15 Neque enim ita defendebantur, ut negarent, sed ut necessitati veniam precarentur; esse enim se provinciales et ad omne proconsulum imperium metu cogi. 16 Solet dicere Claudius Restitutus, qui mihi respondit, vir exercitatus et vigilans et quamlibet subitis paratus, numquam sibi tantum caliginis tantum perturbationis offusum, quam cum praerepta et extorta defensioni suae cerneret, in quibus omnem fiduciam reponebat. 17 Consilii nostri exitus fuit: bona Classici, quae habuisset ante provinciam, placuit senatui a reliquis separari, illa filiae haec spoliatis relinqui. Additum est, ut pecuniae quas creditoribus solverat revocarentur. Hispanus et Probus in quinquennium relegati; adeo grave visum est, quod initio dubitabatur an omnino crimen esset.

18 Post paucos dies Claudium Fuscum, Classici generum, et Stilonium Priscum, qui tribunus cohortis sub Classico fuerat, accusavimus dispari eventu: Prisco in biennium Italia interdictum, absolutus est Fuscus.

19 Actione tertia commodissimum putavimus plures congregare, ne si longius esset extracta cognitio, satietate et taedio quodam iustitia cognoscentium severitasque languesceret; et alioqui supererant minores rei data opera hunc in locum reservati, excepta tamen Classici uxore, quae sicut implicita suspicionibus ita non satis convinci probationibus visa est; 20 nam Classici filia, quae et ipsa inter reos erat, ne suspicionibus quidem haerebat. Itaque, cum ad nomen eius in extrema actione venissem - neque enim ut initio sic etiam in fine verendum erat, ne per hoc totius accusationis auctoritas minueretur -, honestissimum credidi non premere immerentem, idque ipsum dixi et libere et varie. 21 Nam modo legatos interrogabam, docuissentne me aliquid quod re probari posse confiderent; modo consilium a senatu petebam, putaretne debere me, si quam haberem in dicendo facultatem, in iugulum innocentis quasi telum aliquod intendere; postremo totum locum hoc fine conclusi: ‘Dicet aliquis: Iudicas ergo? Ego vero non iudico, memini tamen me advocatum ex iudicibus datum.’

22 Hic numerosissimae causae terminus fuit quibusdam absolutis, pluribus damnatis atque etiam relegatis, aliis in tempus aliis in perpetuum. 23 Eodem senatus consulto industria fides constantia nostra plenissimo testimonio comprobata est, dignum solumque par pretium tanti laboris. 24 Concipere animo potes quam simus fatigati, quibus totiens agendum totiens altercandum, tam multi testes interrogandi sublevandi refutandi. 25 Iam illa quam ardua quam molesta, tot reorum amicis secreto rogantibus negare, adversantibus palam obsistere! Referam unum aliquid ex iis quae dixi. Cum mihi quidam e iudicibus ipsis pro reo gratiosissimo reclamarent, ‘Non minus’ inquam ‘hic innocens erit, si ego omnia dixero.’ 26 Coniectabis ex hoc quantas contentiones, quantas etiam offensas subierimus dumtaxat ad breve tempus; nam fides in praesentia eos quibus resistit offendit, deinde ab illis ipsis suspicitur laudaturque. Non potui magis te in rem praesentem perducere. 27 Dices: ‘Non fuit tanti; quid enim mihi cum tam longa epistula?’ Nolito ergo identidem quaerere, quid Romae geratur. Et tamen memento non esse epistulam longam, quae tot dies tot cognitiones tot denique reos causasque complexa sit. 28 Quae omnia videor mihi non minus breviter quam diligenter persecutus.

Temere dixi ‘diligenter’: succurrit quod praeterieram et quidem sero, sed quamquam praepostere reddetur. Facit hoc Homerus multique illius exemplo; est alioqui perdecorum, a me tamen non ideo fiet. 29 E testibus quidam, sive iratus quod evocatus esset invitus, sive subornatus ab aliquo reorum, ut accusationem exarmaret, Norbanum Licinianum, legatum et inquisitorem, reum postulavit, tamquam in causa Castae - uxor haec Classici - praevaricaretur. 30 Est lege cautum ut reus ante peragatur, tunc de praevaricatore quaeratur, videlicet quia optime ex accusatione ipsa accusatoris fides aestimatur. 31 Norbano tamen non ordo legis, non legati nomen, non inquisitionis officium praesidio fuit; tanta conflagravit invidia homo alioqui flagitiosus et Domitiani temporibus usus ut multi, electusque tunc a provincia ad inquirendum non tamquam bonus et fidelis, sed tamquam Classici inimicus - erat ab illo relegatus -. 32 Dari sibi diem, edi crimina postulabat; neutrum impetravit, coactus est statim respondere. Respondit, malum pravumque ingenium hominis facit ut dubitem, confidenter an constanter, certe paratissime. 33 Obiecta sunt multa, quae magis quam praevaricatio nocuerunt; quin etiam duo consulares, Pomponius Rufus et Libo Frugi, laeserunt eum testimonio, tamquam apud iudicem sub Domitiano Salvi Liberalis accusatoribus adfuisset. 34 Damnatus et in insulam relegatus est. Itaque cum Castam accusarem nihil magis pressi, quam quod accusator eius praevaricationis crimine corruisset; pressi tamen frustra; accidit enim res contraria et nova, ut accusatore praevaricationis damnato rea absolveretur. 35 Quaeris, quid nos, dum haec aguntur? Indicavimus senatui ex Norbano didicisse nos publicam causam, rursusque debere ex integro discere, si ille praevaricator probaretur, atque ita, dum ille peragitur reus, sedimus. Postea Norbanus omnibus diebus cognitionis interfuit eandemque usque ad extremum vel constantiam vel audaciam pertulit.

36 Interrogo ipse me, an aliquid omiserim rursus, et rursus paene omisi. Summo die Salvius Liberalis reliquos legatos graviter increpuit, tamquam non omnes quos mandasset provincia reos peregissent, atque, ut est vehemens et disertus, in discrimen adduxit. Protexi viros optimos eosdemque gratissimos: mihi certe debere se praedicant, quod illum turbinem evaserint. 37 Hic erit epistulae finis, re vera finis; litteram non addam, etiamsi adhuc aliquid praeterisse me sensero. Vale.

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10. C. PLINIUS VESTRICIO SPURINNAE SUO ET COTTIAE S.

1 Composuisse me quaedam de filio vestro non dixi vobis, eum proxime apud vos fui, primum quia non ideo scripseram ut dicerem, sed ut meo amori meo dolori satisfacerem; deinde quia te, Spurinna, cum audisses recitasse me, ut mihi ipse dixisti, quid recitassem simul audisse credebam. 2 Praeterea veritus sum ne vos festis diebus confunderem, si in memoriam gravissimi luctus reduxissem. Nunc quoque paulisper haesitavi, id solum, quod recitavi, mitterem exigentibus vobis, an adicerem quae in aliud volumen cogito reservare. 3 Neque enim affectibus meis uno libello carissimam mihi et sanctissimam memoriam prosequi satis est, cuius famae latius consuletur, si dispensata et digesta fuerit. 4 Verum haesitanti mihi, omnia quae iam composui vobis exhiberem, an adhuc aliqua differrem, simplicius et amicius visum est omnia, praecipue cum affirmetis intra vos futura, donec placeat emittere. 5 Quod superest, rogo ut pari simplicitate, si qua existimabitis addenda commutanda omittenda, indicetis mihi. 6 Difficile est huc usque intendere animum in dolore; difficile, sed tamen, ut scalptorem, ut pictorem, qui filii vestri imaginem faceret, admoneretis, quid exprimere quid emendare deberet, ita me quoque formate regite, qui non fragilem et caducam, sed immortalem, ut vos putatis, effigiem conor efficere: quae hoc diuturnior erit, quo verior melior absolutior fuerit. Valete.

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11. C. PLINIUS IULIO GENITORI SUO S.

1 Est omnino Artemidori nostri tam benigna natura, ut officia amicorum in maius extollat. Inde etiam meum meritum ut vera ita supra meritum praedicatione circumfert. 2 Equidem, cum essent philosophi ab urbe summoti, fui apud illum in suburbano, et quo notabilius - hoc est, periculosius - esset fui praetor. Pecuniam etiam, qua tunc illi ampliore opus erat, ut aes alienum exsolveret contractum ex pulcherrimis causis, mussantibus magnis quibusdam et locupletibus amicis mutuatus ipse gratuitam dedi. 3 Atque haec feci, cum septem amicis meis aut occisis aut relegatis, occisis Senecione Rustico Helvidio, relegatis Maurico Gratilla Arria Fannia, tot circa me iactis fulminibus quasi ambustus mihi quoque impendere idem exitium certis quibusdam notis augurarer. 4 Non ideo tamen eximiam gloriam meruisse me, ut ille praedicat, credo, sed tantum effugisse flagitium. 5 Nam et C. Musonium socerum eius, quantum licitum est per aetatem, cum admiratione dilexi et Artemidorum ipsum iam tum, cum in Syria tribunus militarem, arta familiaritate complexus sum, idque primum non nullius indolis dedi specimen, quod virum aut sapientem aut proximum simillimumque sapienti intellegere sum visus. 6 Nam ex omnibus, qui nunc se philosophos vocant, vix unum aut alterum invenies tanta sinceritate, tanta veritate. Mitto, qua patientia corporis hiemes iuxta et aestates ferat, ut nullis laboribus cedat, ut nihil in cibo in potu voluptatibus tribuat, ut oculos animumque contineat. 7 Sunt haec magna, sed in alio; in hoc vero minima, si ceteris virtutibus comparentur, quibus meruit, ut a C. Musonio ex omnibus omnium ordinum assectatoribus gener assumeretur. 8 Quae mihi recordanti est quidem iucundum, quod me cum apud alios tum apud te tantis laudibus cumulat; vereor tamen ne modum excedat, quem benignitas eius - illuc enim unde coepi revertor - solet non tenere. 9 Nam in hoc uno interdum vir alioqui prudentissimus honesto quidem sed tamen errore versatur, quod pluris amicos suos quam sunt arbitratur. Vale.

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12. C. PLINIUS CATILIO SEVERO SUO S.

1 Veniam ad cenam, sed iam nunc paciscor, sit expedita sit parca, Socraticis tantum sermonibus abundet, in his quoque teneat modum. 2 Erunt officia antelucana, in quae incidere impune ne Catoni quidem licuit, quem tamen C. Caesar ita reprehendit ut laudet. 3 Describit enim eos, quibus obvius fuerit, cum caput ebrii retexissent, erubuisse; deinde adicit: ‘Putares non ab illis Catonem, sed illos a Catone deprehensos.’ Potuitne plus auctoritatis tribui Catoni, quam si ebrius quoque tam venerabilis erat? 4 Nostrae tamen cenae, ut apparatus et impendii, sic temporis modus constet. Neque enim ii sumus quos vituperare ne inimici quidem possint, nisi ut simul laudent. Vale.

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13. C. PLINIUS VOCONIO ROMANO SUO S.

1 Librum, quo nuper optimo principi consul gratias egi, misi exigenti tibi, missurus etsi non exegisses. 2 In hoc consideres velim ut pulchritudinem materiae ita difficultatem. In ceteris enim lectorem novitas ipsa intentum habet, in hac nota vulgata dicta sunt omnia; quo fit ut quasi otiosus securusque lector tantum elocutioni vacet, in qua satisfacere difficilius est cum sola aestimatur. 3 Atque utinam ordo saltem et transitus et figurae simul spectarentur! Nam invenire praeclare, enuntiare magnifice interdum etiam barbari solent, disponere apte, figurare varie nisi eruditis negatum est. 4 Nec vero affectanda sunt semper elata et excelsa. Nam ut in pictura lumen non alia res magis quam umbra commendat, ita orationem tam summittere quam attollere decet. 5 Sed quid ego haec doctissimo viro? Quin potius illud: adnota, quae putaveris corrigenda. Ita enim magis credam cetera tibi placere, si quaedam displicuisse cognovero. Vale.

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14. C. PLINIUS ACILIO SUO S.

1 Rem atrocem nec tantum epistula dignam Larcius Macedo vir praetorius a servis suis passus est, superbus alioqui dominus et saevus, et qui servisse patrem suum parum, immo nimium meminisset. 2 Lavabatur in villa Formiana. Repente eum servi circumsistunt. Alius fauces invadit, alius os verberat, alius pectus et ventrem, atque etiam - foedum dictu - verenda contundit; et cum exanimem putarent, abiciunt in fervens pavimentum, ut experirentur an viveret. Ille sive quia non sentiebat, sive quia se non sentire simulabat, immobilis et extentus fidem peractae mortis implevit. 3 Tum demum quasi aestu solutus effertur; excipiunt servi fideliores, concubinae cum ululatu et clamore concurrunt. Ita et vocibus excitatus et recreatus loci frigore sublatis oculis agitatoque corpore vivere se - et iam tutum erat - confitetur. 4 Diffugiunt servi; quorum magna pars comprehensa est, ceteri requiruntur. Ipse paucis diebus aegre focilatus non sine ultionis solacio decessit ita vivus vindicatus, ut occisi solent. 5 Vides quot periculis quot contumeliis quot ludibriis simus obnoxii; nec est quod quisquam possit esse securus, quia sit remissus et mitis; non enim iudicio domini sed scelere perimuntur.

6 Verum haec hactenus. Quid praeterea novi? Quid? Nihil, alioqui subiungerem; nam et charta adhuc superest, et dies feriatus patitur plura contexi. Addam quod opportune de eodem Macedone succurrit. Cum in publico Romae lavaretur, notabilis atque etiam, ut exitus docuit, ominosa res accidit. 7 Eques Romanus a servo eius, ut transitum daret, manu leviter admonitus convertit se nec servum, a quo erat tactus, sed ipsum Macedonem tam graviter palma percussit ut paene concideret. 8 Ita balineum illi quasi per gradus quosdam primum contumeliae locus, deinde exitii fuit. Vale.

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15. C. PLINIUS SILIO PROCULO SUO S.

1 Petis ut libellos tuos in secessu legam examinem, an editione sint digni; adhibes preces, allegas exemplum: rogas enim, ut aliquid subsicivi temporis studiis meis subtraham, impertiam tuis, adicis M. Tullium mira benignitate poetarum ingenia fovisse. 2 Sed ego nec rogandus sum nec hortandus; nam et poeticen ipsam religiosissime veneror et te valdissime diligo. Faciam ergo quod desideras tam diligenter quam libenter. 3 Videor autem iam nunc posse rescribere esse opus pulchrum nec supprimendum, quantum aestimare licuit ex iis quae me praesente recitasti, si modo mihi non imposuit recitatio tua; legis enim suavissime et peritissime. 4 Confido tamen me non sic auribus duci, ut omnes aculei iudicii mei illarum delenimentis refringantur: hebetentur fortasse et paulum retundantur, evelli quidem extorquerique non possunt. 5 Igitur non temere iam nunc de universitate pronuntio, de partibus experiar legendo. Vale.

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16. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

1 Adnotasse videor facta dictaque virorum feminarumque alia clariora esse alia maiora. Confirmata est opinio mea hesterno Fanniae sermone. Neptis haec Arriae illius, quae marito et solacium mortis et exemplum fuit. Multa referebat aviae suae non minora hoc sed obscuriora; quae tibi existimo tam mirabilia legenti fore, quam mihi audienti fuerunt. 3 Aegrotabat Caecina Paetus maritus eius, aegrotabat et filius, uterque mortifere, ut videbatur. Filius decessit eximia pulchritudine pari verecundia, et parentibus non minus ob alia carus quam quod filius erat. Huic illa ita funus paravit, ita duxit exsequias, ut ignoraret maritus; quin immo quotiens cubiculum eius intraret, vivere filium atque etiam commodiorem esse simulabat, ac persaepe interroganti, quid ageret puer, respondebat; ‘Bene quievit, libenter cibum sumpsit.’ Deinde, cum diu cohibitae lacrimae vincerent prorumperentque, egrediebatur; tunc se dolori dabat; satiata siccis oculis composito vultu redibat, tamquam orbitatem foris reliquisset. Praeclarum quidem illud eiusdem, ferrum stringere, perfodere pectus, extrahere pugionem, porrigere marito, addere vocem immortalem ac paene divinam: ‘Paete, non dolet.’ Sed tamen ista facienti, ista dicenti, gloria et aeternitas ante oculos erant; quo maius est sine praemio aeternitatis, sine praemio gloriae, abdere lacrimas operire luctum, amissoque filio matrem adhuc agere.

7 Scribonianus arma in Illyrico contra Claudium moverat; fuerat Paetus in partibus, et occiso Scriboniano Romam trahebatur. Erat ascensurus navem; Arria milites orabat, ut simul imponeretur. ‘Nempe enim’ inquit ‘daturi estis consulari viro servolos aliquos, quorum e manu cibum capiat, a quibus vestiatur, a quibus calcietur; omnia sola praestabo.’ Non impetravit: conduxit piscatoriam nauculam, ingensque navigium minimo secuta est. Eadem apud Claudium uxori Scriboniani, cum illa profiteretur indicium, ‘Ego’ inquit ‘te audiam, cuius in gremio Scribonianus occisus est, et vivis?’ Ex quo manifestum est ei consilium pulcherrimae mortis non subitum fuisse. Quin etiam, cum Thrasea gener eius deprecaretur, ne mori pergeret, interque alia dixisset: ‘Vis ergo filiam tuam, si mihi pereundum fuerit, mori mecum?’, respondit: ‘Si tam diu tantaque concordia vixerit tecum quam ego cum Paeto, volo.’ Auxerat hoc responso curam suorum; attentius custodiebatur; sensit et ‘Nihil agitis’ inquit; ‘potestis enim efficere ut male moriar, ut non moriar non potestis.’ Dum haec dicit, exsiluit cathedra adversoque parieti caput ingenti impetu impegit et corruit. Focilata ‘Dixeram’ inquit ‘vobis inventuram me quamlibet duram ad mortem viam, si vos facilem negassetis.’ Videnturne haec tibi maiora illo ‘Paete, non dolet’, ad quod per haec perventum est? cum interim illud quidem ingens fama, haec nulla circumfert. Unde colligitur, quod initio dixi, alia esse clariora alia maiora. Vale.

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17. C. PLINIUS IULIO SERVIANO SUO S.

1 Rectene omnia, quod iam pridem epistulae tuae cessant? An omnia recte, sed occupatus es tu? An tu non occupatus, sed occasio scribendi vel rara vel nulla? 2 Exime hunc mihi scrupulum, cui par esse non possum, exime autem vel data opera tabellario misso. Ego viaticum, ego etiam praemium dabo, nuntiet modo quod opto. 3 Ipse valeo, si valere est suspensum et anxium vivere, exspectantem in horas timentemque pro capite amicissimo, quidquid accidere homini potest. Vale.

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18. C. PLINIUS VIBIO SEVERO SUO S.

1 Officium consulatus iniunxit mihi, ut rei publicae nomine principi gratias agerem. Quod ego in senatu cum ad rationem et loci et temporis ex more fecissem, bono civi convenientissimum credidi eadem illa spatiosius et uberius volumine amplecti, 2 primum ut imperatori nostro virtutes suae veris laudibus commendarentur, deinde ut futuri principes non quasi a magistro sed tamen sub exemplo praemonerentur, qua potissimum via possent ad eandem gloriam niti. 3 Nam praecipere qualis esse debeat princeps, pulchrum quidem sed onerosum ac prope superbum est; laudare vero optimum principem ac per hoc posteris velut e specula lumen quod sequantur ostendere, idem utilitatis habet arrogantiae nihil. 4 Cepi autem non mediocrem voluptatem, quod hunc librum cum amicis recitare voluissem, non per codicillos, non per libellos, sed ‘si commodum’ et ‘si valde vacaret’ admoniti - numquam porro aut valde vacat Romae aut commodum est audire recitantem -, foedissimis insuper tempestatibus per biduum convenerunt, cumque modestia mea finem recitationi facere voluisset, ut adicerem tertium diem exegerunt. 5 Mihi hunc honorem habitum putem an studiis? studiis malo, quae prope exstincta refoventur. 6 At cui materiae hanc sedulitatem praestiterunt? nempe quam in senatu quoque, ubi perpeti necesse erat, gravari tamen vel puncto temporis solebamus, eandem nunc et qui recitare et qui audire triduo velint inveniuntur, non quia eloquentius quam prius, sed quia liberius ideoque etiam libentius scribitur. 7 Accedet ergo hoc quoque laudibus principis nostri, quod res antea tam invisa quam falsa, nunc ut vera ita amabilis facta est. 8 Sed ego cum studium audientium tum iudicium mire probavi: animadverti enim severissima quaeque vel maxime satisfacere. 9 Memini quidem me non multis recitasse quod omnibus scripsi, nihilo minus tamen, tamquam sit eadem omnium futura sententia, hac severitate aurium laetor, ac sicut olim theatra male musicos canere docuerunt, ita nunc in spem adducor posse fieri, ut eadem theatra bene canere musicos doceant. 10 Omnes enim, qui placendi causa scribunt, qualia placere viderint scribent. Ac mihi quidem confido in hoc genere materiae laetioris stili constare rationem, cum ea potius quae pressius et astrictius, quam illa quae hilarius et quasi exsultantius scripsi, possint videri accersita et inducta. Non ideo tamen segnius precor, ut quandoque veniat dies - utinamque iam venerit! -, quo austeris illis severisque dulcia haec blandaque vel iusta possessione decedant.

11 Habes acta mea tridui; quibus cognitis volui tantum te voluptatis absentem et studiorum nomine et meo capere, quantum praesens percipere potuisses. Vale.

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19. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Assumo te in consilium rei familiaris, ut soleo. Praedia agris meis vicina atque etiam inserta venalia sunt. In his me multa sollicitant, aliqua nec minora deterrent. 2 Sollicitat primum ipsa pulchritudo iungendi; deinde, quod non minus utile quam voluptuosum, posse utraque eadem opera eodem viatico invisere, sub eodem procuratore ac paene isdem actoribus habere, unam villam colere et ornare, alteram tantum tueri. 3 Inest huic computationi sumptus supellectilis, sumptus atriensium topiariorum fabrorum atque etiam venatorii instrumenti; quae plurimum refert unum in locum conferas an in diversa dispergas. 4 Contra vereor ne sit incautum, rem tam magnam isdem tempestatibus isdem casibus subdere; tutius videtur incerta fortunae possessionum varietatibus experiri. Habet etiam multum iucunditatis soli caelique mutatio, ipsaque illa peregrinatio inter sua. 5 Iam, quod deliberationis nostrae caput est, agri sunt fertiles pingues aquosi; constant campis vineis silvis, quae materiam et ex ea reditum sicut modicum ita statum praestant. 6 Sed haec felicitas terrae imbecillis cultoribus fatigatur. Nam possessor prior saepius vendidit pignora, et dum reliqua colonorum minuit ad tempus, vires in posterum exhausit, quarum defectione rursus reliqua creverunt. 7 Sunt ergo instruendi, eo pluris quod frugi, mancipiis; nam nec ipse usquam vinctos habeo nec ibi quisquam. Superest ut scias quanti videantur posse emi. Sestertio triciens, non quia non aliquando quinquagiens fuerint, verum et hac penuria colonorum et communi temporis iniquitate ut reditus agrorum sic etiam pretium retro abiit. 8 Quaeris an hoc ipsum triciens facile colligere possimus. Sum quidem prope totus in praediis, aliquid tamen fenero, nec molestum erit mutuari; accipiam a socru, cuius arca non secus ac mea utor. 9 Proinde hoc te non moveat, si cetera non refragantur, quae velim quam diligentissime examines. Nam cum in omnibus rebus tum in disponendis facultatibus plurimum tibi et usus et providentiae superest. Vale.

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20. C. PLINIUS MAESIO MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Meministine te saepe legisse, quantas contentiones excitarit lex tabellaria, quantumque ipsi latori vel gloriae vel reprehensionis attulerit? 2 At nunc in senatu sine ulla dissensione hoc idem ut optimum placuit: omnes comitiorum die tabellas postulaverunt. 3 Excesseramus sane manifestis illis apertisque suffragiis licentiam contionum. Non tempus loquendi, non tacendi modestia, non denique sedendi dignitas custodiebatur. 4 Magni undique dissonique clamores, procurrebant omnes cum suis candidatis, multa agmina in medio multique circuli et indecora confusio; adeo desciveramus a consuetudine parentum, apud quos omnia disposita moderata tranquilla maiestatem loci pudoremque retinebant. 5 Supersunt senes ex quibus audire soleo hunc ordinem comitiorum: citato nomine candidati silentium summum; dicebat ipse pro se; explicabat vitam suam, testes et laudatores dabat vel eum sub quo militaverat, vel eum cui quaestor fuerat, vel utrumque si poterat; addebat quosdam ex suffragatoribus; illi graviter et paucis loquebantur. Plus hoc quam preces proderat. 6 Non numquam candidatus aut natales competitoris aut annos aut etiam mores arguebat. Audiebat senatus gravitate censoria. Ita saepius digni quam gratiosi praevalebant. 7 Quae nunc immodico favore corrupta ad tacita suffragia quasi ad remedium decucurrerunt; quod interim plane remedium fuit - erat enim novum et subitum -, 8 sed vereor ne procedente tempore ex ipso remedio vitia nascantur. Est enim periculum ne tacitis suffragiis impudentia irrepat. Nam quoto cuique eadem honestatis cura secreto quae palam? 9 Multi famam, conscientiam pauci verentur. Sed nimis cito de futuris: interim beneficio tabellarum habebimus magistratus, qui maxime fieri debuerunt. Nam ut in reciperatoriis iudiciis, sic nos in his comitiis quasi repente apprehensi sinceri iudices fuimus.

10 Haec tibi scripsi, primum ut aliquid novi scriberem, deinde ut non numquam de re publica loquerer, cuius materiae nobis quanto rarior quam veteribus occasio, tanto minus omittenda est. 11 Et hercule quousque illa vulgaria? ‘Quid agis? ecquid commode vales?’ Habeant nostrae quoque litterae aliquid non humile nec sordidum, nec privatis rebus inclusum. 12 Sunt quidem cuncta sub unius arbitrio, qui pro utilitate communi solus omnium curas laboresque suscepit; quidam tamen salubri temperamento ad nos quoque velut rivi ex illo benignissimo fonte decurrunt, quos et haurire ipsi et absentibus amicis quasi ministrare epistulis possumus. Vale.

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21. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO PRISCO SUO S.

1 Audio Valerium Martialem decessisse et moleste fero. Erat homo ingeniosus acutus acer, et qui plurimum in scribendo et salis haberet et fellis nec candoris minus. 2 Prosecutus eram viatico secedentem; dederam hoc amicitiae, dederam etiam versiculis, quos de me composuit. 3 Fuit moris antiqui eos, qui vel singulorum laudes vel urbium scripserant, aut honoribus aut pecunia honorare; nostris vero temporibus ut alia speciosa et egregia ita hoc in primis exolevit. Nam postquam desiimus facere laudanda, laudari quoque ineptum putamus. 4 Quaeris, qui sint versiculi, quibus gratiam rettuli? Remitterem te ad ipsum volumen, nisi quosdam tenerem; tu, si placuerint hi, ceteros in libro requires. 5 Alloquitur Musam, mandat, ut domum meam Esquiliis quaerat, adeat reverenter:

Sed ne tempore non tuo disertam
pulses ebria ianuam videto;
totos dat tetricae dies Minervae,
dum centum studet auribus virorum
hoc, quod saecula posterique possint
Arpinis quoque comparare chartis.
Seras tutior ibis ad lucernas;
haec hora est tua, cum furit Lyaeus,
cum regnat rosa, cum madent capilli.
Tunc me vel rigidi legant Catones.

6 Meritone eum, qui haec de me scripsit, et tunc dimisi amicissime et nunc ut amicissimum defunctum esse doleo? Dedit enim mihi, quantum maximum potuit, daturus amplius, si potuisset. Tametsi, quid homini potest dari maius quam gloria et laus et aeternitas? At non erunt aeterna, quae scripsit; non erunt fortasse, ille tamen scripsit, tamquam essent futura. Vale.

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LIBER QVARTVS

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1. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Cupis post longum tempus neptem tuam meque una videre. Gratum est utrique nostrum quod cupis, mutuo mehercule. 2 Nam invicem nos incredibili quodam desiderio vestri tenemur, quod non ultra differemus. Atque adeo iam sarcinulas alligamus, festinaturi quantum itineris ratio permiserit. 3 Erit una sed brevis mora: deflectemus in Tuscos, non ut agros remque familiarem oculis subiciamus - id enim postponi potest -, sed ut fungamur necessario officio. 4 Oppidum est praediis nostris vicinum - nomen Tiferni Tiberini -, quod me paene adhuc puerum patronum cooptavit, tanto maiore studio quanto minore iudicio. Adventus meos celebrat, profectionibus angitur, honoribus gaudet. 5 In hoc ego, ut referrem gratiam - nam vinci in amore turpissimum est -, templum pecunia mea exstruxi, cuius dedicationem, cum sit paratum, differre longius irreligiosum est. 6 Erimus ergo ibi dedicationis die, quem epulo celebrare constitui. Subsistemus fortasse et sequenti, sed tanto magis viam ipsam corripiemus. 7 Contingat modo te filiamque tuam fortes invenire! nam continget hilares, si nos incolumes receperitis. Vale.

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2. C. PLINIUS ATTIO CLEMENTI SUO S.

1 Regulus filium amisit, hoc uno malo indignus, quod nescio an malum putet. Erat puer acris ingenii sed ambigui, qui tamen posset recta sectari, si patrem non referret. 2 Hunc Regulus emancipavit, ut heres matris exsisteret; mancipatum - ita vulgo ex moribus hominis loquebantur - foeda et insolita parentibus indulgentiae simulatione captabat. Incredibile, sed Regulum cogita. 3 Amissum tamen luget insane. Habebat puer mannulos multos et iunctos et solutos, habebat canes maiores minoresque, habebat luscinias psittacos merulas: omnes Regulus circa rogum trucidavit. 4 Nec dolor erat ille, sed ostentatio doloris. Convenitur ad eum mira celebritate. Cuncti detestantur oderunt, et quasi probent quasi diligant, cursant frequentant, utque breviter quod sentio enuntiem, in Regulo demerendo Regulum imitantur. 5 Tenet se trans Tiberim in hortis, in quibus latissimum solum porticibus immensis, ripam statuis suis occupavit, ut est in summa avaritia sumptuosus, in summa infamia gloriosus. 6 Vexat ergo civitatem insaluberrimo tempore et, quod vexat, solacium putat. Dicit se velle ducere uxorem, hoc quoque sicut alia perverse. 7 Audies brevi nuptias lugentis nuptias senis; quorum alterum immaturum alterum serum est. Unde hoc augurer quaeris? 8 Non quia affirmat ipse, quo mendacius nihil est, sed quia certum est Regulum esse facturum, quidquid fieri non oportet. Vale.

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3. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

1 Quod semel atque iterum consul fuisti similis antiquis, quod proconsul Asiae qualis ante te qualis post te vix unus aut alter - non sinit enim me verecundia tua dicere nemo -, quod sanctitate quod auctoritate, aetate quoque princeps civitatis, est quidem venerabile et pulchrum; ego tamen te vel magis in remissionibus miror. 2 Nam severitatem istam pari iucunditate condire, summaeque gravitati tantum comitatis adiungere, non minus difficile quam magnum est. Id tu cum incredibili quadam suavitate sermonum, tum vel praecipue stilo assequeris. 3 Nam et loquenti tibi illa Homerici senis mella profluere et, quae scribis, complere apes floribus et innectere videntur. Ita certe sum affectus ipse, cum Graeca epigrammata tua, cum mimiambos proxime legerem. 4 Quantum ibi humanitatis venustatis, quam dulcia illa quam amantia quam arguta quam recta! Callimachum me vel Heroden, vel si quid his melius, tenere credebam; quorum tamen neuter utrumque aut absolvit aut attigit. 5 Hominemne Romanum tam Graece loqui? Non medius fidius ipsas Athenas tam Atticas dixerim. Quid multa? Invideo Graecis quod illorum lingua scribere maluisti. Neque enim coniectura eget, quid sermone patrio exprimere possis, Cum hoc insiticio et inducto tam praeclara opera perfeceris. Vale.

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4. C. PLINIUS SOSIO SENECIONI SUO S.

1 Varisidium Nepotem valdissime diligo, virum industrium rectum disertum, quod apud me vel potentissimum est. Idem C. Calvisium, contubernalem meum amicum tuum, arta propinquitate complectitur; est enim filius sororis. 2 Hunc rogo semestri tribunatu splendidiorem et sibi et avunculo suo facias. Obligabis me, obligabis Calvisium nostrum, obligabis ipsum, non minus idoneum debitorem quam nos putas. 3 Multa beneficia in multos contulisti: ausim contendere nullum te melius, aeque bene unum aut alterum collocasse. Vale.

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5. C. PLINIUS IULIO SPARSO SUO S.

1 Aeschinen aiunt petentibus Rhodiis legisse orationem suam, deinde Demosthenis, summis utramque clamoribus. 2 Quod tantorum virorum scriptis contigisse non miror, cum orationem meam proxime doctissimi homines hoc studio, hoc assensu, hoc etiam labore per biduum audierint, quamvis intentionem eorum nulla hinc et inde collatio, nullum quasi certamen accenderet. 3 Nam Rhodii cum ipsis orationum virtutibus tum etiam comparationis aculeis excitabantur, nostra oratio sine aemulationis gratia probabatur. An merito, scies cum legeris librum, cuius amplitudo non sinit me longiore epistula praeloqui. 4 Oportet enim nos in hac certe in qua possumus breves esse, quo sit excusatius quod librum ipsum, non tamen ultra causae amplitudinem, extendimus. Vale.

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6. C. PLINIUS IULIO NASONI SUO S.

1 Tusci grandine excussi, in regione Transpadana summa abundantia, sed par vilitas nuntiatur: solum mihi Laurentinum meum in reditu. 2 Nihil quidem ibi possideo praeter tectum et hortum statimque harenas, solum tamen mihi in reditu. Ibi enim plurimum scribo, nec agrum quem non habeo sed ipsum me studiis excolo; ac iam possum tibi ut aliis in locis horreum plenum, sic ibi scrinium ostendere. 3 Igitur tu quoque, si certa et fructuosa praedia concupiscis, aliquid in hoc litore para. Vale.

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7. C. PLINIUS CATIO LEPIDO SUO S.

1 Saepe tibi dico inesse vim Regulo. Mirum est quam efficiat in quod incubuit. Placuit ei lugere filium: luget ut nemo. Placuit statuas eius et imagines quam plurimas facere: hoc omnibus officinis agit, illum coloribus illum cera illum aere illum argento illum auro ebore marmore effingit. 2 Ipse vero nuper adhibito ingenti auditorio librum de vita eius recitavit; de vita pueri, recitavit tamen. Eundem in exemplaria mille transcriptum per totam Italiam provinciasque dimisit. Scripsit publice, ut a decurionibus eligeretur vocalissimus aliquis ex ipsis, qui legeret eum populo: factum est. 3 Hanc ille vim, seu quo alio nomine vocanda est intentio quidquid velis optinendi, si ad potiora vertisset, quantum boni efficere potuisset! Quamquam minor vis bonis quam malis inest, ac sicut ‘amathia men thrasos, logismos de oknon pherei’, ita recta ingenia debilitat verecundia, perversa confirmat audacia. 4 Exemplo est Regulus. Imbecillum latus, os confusum, haesitans lingua, tardissima inventio, memoria nulla, nihil denique praeter ingenium insanum, et tamen eo impudentia ipsoque illo furore pervenit, ut orator habeatur. 5 Itaque Herennius Senecio mirifice Catonis illud de oratore in hunc e contrario vertit: ‘Orator est vir malus dicendi imperitus.’ Non mehercule Cato ipse tam bene verum oratorem quam hic Regulum expressit. 6 Habesne quo tali epistulae parem gratiam referas? Habes, si scripseris num aliquis in municipio vestro ex sodalibus meis, num etiam ipse tu hunc luctuosum Reguli librum ut circulator in foro legeris, ‘eparas’ scilicet, ut ait Demosthenes, ‘tên phônên kai gegêthôs kai laryngizôn’. 7 Est enim tam ineptus ut risum magis possit exprimere quam gemitum: credas non de puero scriptum sed a puero. Vale.

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8. C. PLINIUS MATURO ARRIANO SUO S.

1 Gratularis mihi quod acceperim auguratum: iure, gratularis, primum quod gravissimi principis iudicium in minoribus etiam rebus consequi pulchrum est, deinde quod sacerdotium ipsum cum priscum et religiosum tum hoc quoque sacrum plane et insigne est, quod non adimitur viventi. 2 Nam alia quamquam dignitate propemodum paria ut tribuuntur sic auferuntur; in hoc fortunae hactenus licet ut dari possit. 3 Mihi vero illud etiam gratulatione dignum videtur, quod successi Iulio Frontino principi viro, qui me nominationis die per hos continuos annos inter sacerdotes nominabat, tamquam in locum suum cooptaret; quod nunc eventus ita comprobavit, ut non fortuitum videretur. 4 Te quidem, ut scribis, ob hoc maxime delectat auguratus meus, quod M. Tullius augur fuit. Laetaris enim quod honoribus eius insistam, quem aemulari in studiis cupio. 5 Sed utinam ut sacerdotium idem, ut consulatum multo etiam iuvenior quam ille sum consecutus, ita senex saltem ingenium eius aliqua ex parte assequi possim! 6 Sed nimirum quae sunt in manu hominum et mihi et multis contigerunt; illud vero ut adipisci arduum sic etiam sperare nimium est, quod dari non nisi a dis potest. Vale.

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9. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO URSO SUO S.

1 Causam per hos dies dixit Iulius Bassus, homo laboriosus et adversis suis clarus. Accusatus est sub Vespasiano a privatis duobus; ad senatum remissus diu pependit, tandem absolutus vindicatusque. 2 Titum timuit ut Domitiani amicus, a Domitiano relegatus est; revocatus a Nerva sortitusque Bithyniam rediit reus, accusatus non minus acriter quam fideliter defensus. Varias sententias habuit, plures tamen quasi mitiores. 3 Egit contra eum Pomponius Rufus, vir paratus et vehemens; Rufo successit Theophanes, unus ex legatis, fax accusationis et origo. 4 Respondi ego. Nam mihi Bassus iniunxerat, totius defensionis fundamenta iacerem, dicerem de ornamentis suis quae illi et ex generis claritate et ex periculis ipsis magna erant, 5 dicerem de conspiratione delatorum quam in quaestu habebant, dicerem causas quibus factiosissimum quemque ut illum ipsum Theophanen offendisset. Eundem me volverat occurrere crimini quo maxime premebatur. In aliis enim quamvis auditu gravioribus non absolutionem modo verum etiam laudem merebatur; 6 hoc illum onerabat quod homo simplex et incautus quaedam a provincialibus ut amicus acceperat - nam fuerat in eadem provincia quaestor -. Haec accusatores furta ac rapinas, ipse munera vocabat. Sed lex munera quoque accipi vetat. 7 Hic ego quid agerem, quod iter defensionis ingrederer? Negarem? Verebar ne plane furtum videretur, quod confiteri timerem. Praeterea rem manifestam infitiari augentis erat crimen non diluentis, praesertim cum reus ipse nihil integrum advocatis reliquisset. Multis enim atque etiam principi dixerat, sola se munuscula dumtaxat natali suo aut Saturnalibus accepisse et plerisque misisse. 8 Veniam ergo peterem? Iugulassem reum, quem ita deliquisse concederem, ut servari nisi venia non posset. Tamquam recte factum tuerer? Non illi profuissem, sed ipse impudens exstitissem. 9 In hac difficultate placuit medium quiddam tenere: videor tenuisse.

Actionem meam, ut proelia solet, nox diremit. Egeram horis tribus et dimidia, supererat sesquihora. Nam cum e lege accusator sex horas, novem reus accepisset, ita diviserat tempora reus inter me et eum qui dicturus post erat, ut ego quinque horis ille reliquis uteretur. 10 Mihi successus actionis silentium finemque suadebat; temerarium est enim secundis non esse contentum. Ad hoc verebar ne me corporis vires iterato labore desererent, quem difficilius est repetere quam iungere. 11 Erat etiam periculum ne reliqua actio mea et frigus ut deposita et taedium ut resumpta pateretur. UT enim faces ignem assidua concussione custodiunt, dimissum aegerrime reparant, sic et dicentis calor et audientis intentio continuatione servatur, intercapedine et quasi remissione languescit. 12 Sed Bassus multis precibus, paene etiam lacrimis obsecrabat, implerem meum tempus. Parui utilitatemque eius praetuli meae. Bene cessit: inveni ita erectos animos senatus, ita recentes, ut priore actione incitati magis quam satiati viderentur. 13 Successit mihi Lucceius Albinus, tam apte ut orationes nostrae varietatem duarum, contextum unius habuisse credantur. 14 Respondit Herennius Pollio instanter et graviter, deinde Theophanes rursus. Fecit enim hoc quoque ut cetera impudentissime, quod post duos et consulares et disertos tempus sibi et quidem laxius vindicavit. Dixit in noctem atque etiam nocte illatis lucernis. 15 Postero die egerunt pro Basso Homullus et Fronto mirifice; quartum diem probationes occuparunt.

16 Censuit Baebius Macer consul designatus lege repetundarum Bassum teneri, Caepio Hispo salva dignitate iudices dandos; uterque recte. 17 ‘Qui fieri potest’ inquis, ‘cum tam diversa censuerint?’ Quia scilicet et Macro legem intuenti consentaneum fuit damnare eum qui contra legem munera acceperat, et Caepio cum putaret licere senatui - sicut licet - et mitigare leges et intendere, non sine ratione veniam dedit facto vetito quidem, non tamen inusitato. 18 Praevaluit sententia Caepionis, quin immo consurgenti ei ad censendum acclamatum est, quod solet residentibus. Ex quo potes aestimare, quanto consensu sit exceptum, cum diceret, quod tam favorabile fuit cum dicturus videretur. 19 Sunt tamen ut in senatu ita in civitate in duas partes hominum iudicia divisa. Nam quibus sententia Caepionis placuit, sententiam Macri ut rigidam duramque reprehendunt; quibus Macri, illam alteram dissolutam atque etiam incongruentem vocant; negant enim congruens esse retinere in senatu, cui iudices dederis. 20 Fuit et tertia sententia: Valerius Paulinus assensus Caepioni hoc amplius censuit, referendum de Theophane cum legationem renuntiasset. Arguebatur enim multa in accusatione fecisse, quae illa ipsa lege qua Bassum accusaverat tenerentur. 21 Sed hanc sententiam consules, quamquam maximae parti senatus mire probabatur, non sunt persecuti. 22 Paulinus tamen et iustitiae famam et constantiae tulit. Misso senatu Bassus magna hominum frequentia, magno clamore, magno gaudio exceptus est. Fecerat eum favorabilem renovata discriminum vetus fama, notumque periculis nomen, et in procero corpore maesta et squalida senectus. 23 Habebis hanc interim epistulam ut ‘prodromon’, exspectabis orationem plenam onustamque. Exspectabis diu; neque enim leviter et cursim, ut de re tanta retractanda est. Vale.

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10. C. PLINIUS STATIO SABINO SUO S.

1 Scribis mihi Sabinam, quae nos reliquit heredes, Modestum servum suum nusquam liberum esse iussisse, eidem tamen sic ascripsisse legatum: ‘Modesto quem liberum esse iussi’. 2 Quaeris quid sentiam. Contuli cum peritis iuris. Convenit inter omnes nec libertatem deberi quia non sit data, nec legatum quia servo suo dederit. Sed mihi manifestus error videtur, ideoque puto nobis quasi scripserit Sabina faciendum, quod ipsa scripsisse se credidit. 3 Confido accessurum te sententiae meae, cum religiosissime soleas custodire defunctorum voluntatem, quam bonis heredibus intellexisse pro iure est. Neque enim minus apud nos honestas quam apud alios necessitas valet. 4 Moretur ergo in libertate sinentibus nobis, fruatur legato quasi omnia diligentissime caverit. Cavit enim, quae heredes bene elegit. Vale.

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11. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO MINICIANO SUO S.

1 Audistine Valerium Licinianum in Sicilia profiteri? nondum te puto audisse: est enim recens nuntius. Praetorius hic modo inter eloquentissimos causarum actores habebatur; nunc eo decidit, ut exsul de senatore, rhetor de oratore fieret. 2 Itaque ipse in praefatione dixit dolenter et graviter: ‘Quos tibi, Fortuna, ludos facis? facis enim ex senatoribus professores, ex professoribus senatores.’ Cui sententiae tantum bilis, tantum amaritudinis inest, ut mihi videatur ideo professus ut hoc diceret. 3 Idem cum Graeco pallio amictus intrasset - carent enim togae iure, quibus aqua et igni interdictum est -, postquam se composuit circumspexitque habitum suum, ‘Latine’ inquit ‘declamaturus sum.’ 4 Dices tristia et miseranda, dignum tamen illum qui haec ipsa studia incesti scelere macularit. 5 Confessus est quidem incestum, sed incertum utrum quia verum erat, an quia graviora metuebat si negasset. Fremebat enim Domitianus aestuabatque in ingenti invidia destitutus. 6 Nam cum Corneliam Vestalium maximam defodere vivam concupisset, ut qui illustrari saeculum suum eiusmodi exemplis arbitraretur, pontificis maximi iure, seu potius immanitate tyranni licentia domini, reliquos pontifices non in Regiam sed in Albanam villam convocavit. Nec minore scelere quam quod ulcisci videbatur, absentem inauditamque damnavit incesti, cum ipse fratris filiam incesto non polluisset solum verum etiam occidisset; nam vidua abortu periit. 7 Missi statim pontifices qui defodiendam necandamque curarent. Illa nunc ad Vestam, nunc ad ceteros deos manus tendens, multa sed hoc frequentissime clamitabat: ‘Me Caesar incestam putat, qua sacra faciente vicit triumphavit!’ 8 Blandiens haec an irridens, ex fiducia sui an ex contemptu principis dixerit, dubium est. Dixit donec ad supplicium, nescio an innocens, certe tamquam innocens ducta est. 9 Quin etiam cum in illud subterraneum demitteretur, haesissetque descendenti stola, vertit se ac recollegit, cumque ei manum carnifex daret, aversata est et resiluit foedumque contactum quasi plane a casto puroque corpore novissima sanctitate reiecit omnibusque numeris pudoris ‘pollên pronoian eschen euschêmôn pesein?. 10 Praeterea Celer eques Romanus, cui Cornelia obiciebatur, cum in comitio virgis caederetur, in hac voce perstiterat: ‘Quid feci? nihil feci.’ 11 Ardebat ergo Domitianus et crudelitatis et iniquitatis infamia. Arripit Licinianum, quod in agris suis occultasset Corneliae libertam. Ille ab iis quibus erat curae praemonetur, si comitium et virgas pati nollet, ad confessionem confugeret quasi ad veniam. Fecit. 12 Locutus est pro absente Herennius Senecio tale quiddam, quale est illud: ‘keitai Patroklos’. Ait enim: ‘Ex advocato nuntius factus sum; Licinianus recessit.’ 13 Gratum hoc Domitiano adeo quidem ut gaudio proderetur, diceretque: ‘Absolvit nos Licinianus.’ Adiecit etiam non esse verecundiae eius instandum; ipsi vero permisit, si qua posset, ex rebus suis raperet, antequam bona publicarentur, exsiliumque molle velut praemium dedit. 14 Ex quo tamen postea clementia divi Nervae translatus est in Siciliam, ubi nunc profitetur seque de fortuna praefationibus vindicat.

15 Vides quam obsequenter paream tibi, qui non solum res urbanas verum etiam peregrinas tam sedulo scribo, ut altius repetam. Et sane putabam te, quia tunc afuisti, nihil aliud de Liciniano audisse quam relegatum ob incestum. Summam enim rerum nuntiat fama non ordinem. 16 Mereor ut vicissim, quid in oppido tuo, quid in finitimis agatur - solent enim quaedam notabilia incidere - perscribas, denique quidquid voles dum modo non minus longa epistula nuntia. Ego non paginas tantum sed versus etiam syllabasque numerabo. Vale.

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12. C. PLINIUS MATURO ARRIANO SUO S.

1 Amas Egnatium Marcellinum atque etiam mihi saepe commendas; amabis magis commendabisque, si cognoveris eius recens factum. 2 Cum in provinciam quaestor exisset, scribamque qui sorte obtigerat ante legitimum salarii tempus amisisset, quod acceperat scribae daturus, intellexit et statuit subsidere apud se non oportere. 3 Itaque reversus Caesarem, deinde Caesare auctore senatum consuluit, quid fieri de salario vellet. Parva quaestio sed tamen quaestio. Heredes scribae sibi, praefecti aerari populo vindicabant. 4 Acta causa est; dixit heredum advocatus, deinde populi, uterque percommode. Caecilius Strabo aerario censuit inferendum, Baebius Macer heredibus dandum: obtinuit Strabo. 5 Tu lauda Marcellinum, ut ego statim feci. Quamvis enim abunde sufficiat illi quod est et a principe et a senatu probatus, gaudebit tamen testimonio tuo. 6 Omnes enim, qui gloria famaque ducuntur, mirum in modum assensio et laus a minoribus etiam profecta delectat. Te vero Marcellinus ita veretur ut iudicio tuo plurimum tribuat. 7 Accedit his quod, si cognoverit factum suum isto usque penetrasse, necesse est laudis suae spatio et cursu et peregrinatione laetetur. Etenim nescio quo pacto vel magis homines iuvat gloria lata quam magna. Vale.

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13. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

1 Salvum in urbem venisse gaudeo; venisti autem, si quando alias, nunc maxime mihi desideratus. Ipse pauculis adhuc diebus in Tusculano commorabor, ut opusculum quod est in manibus absolvam. 2 Vereor enim ne, si hanc intentionem iam in fine laxavero, aegre resumam. Interim ne quid festinationi meae pereat, quod sum praesens petiturus, hac quasi praecursoria epistula rogo. Sed prius accipe causas rogandi, deinde ipsum quod peto.

3 Proxime cum in patria mea fui, venit ad me salutandum municipis mei filius praetextatus. Huic ego ‘Studes?’ inquam. Respondit: ‘Etiam.’ ‘Ubi?’ ‘Mediolani.’ ‘Cur non hic?’ Et pater eius - erat enim una atque etiam ipse adduxerat puerum -: ‘Quia nullos hic praeceptores habemus.’ 4 ‘Quare nullos? Nam vehementer intererat vestra, qui patres estis’ - et opportune complures patres audiebant - ‘liberos vestros hic potissimum discere. Ubi enim aut iucundius morarentur quam in patria aut pudicius continerentur quam sub oculis parentum aut minore sumptu quam domi? 5 Quantulum est ergo collata pecunia conducere praeceptores, quodque nunc in habitationes, in viatica, in ea quae peregre emuntur - omnia autem peregre emuntur - impenditis, adicere mercedibus? Atque adeo ego, qui nondum liberos habeo, paratus sum pro re publica nostra, quasi pro filia vel parente, tertiam partem eius quod conferre vobis placebit dare. 6 Totum etiam pollicerer, nisi timerem ne hoc munus meum quandoque ambitu corrumperetur, ut accidere multis in locis video, in quibus praeceptores publice conducuntur. 7 Huic vitio occurri uno remedio potest, si parentibus solis ius conducendi relinquatur, isdemque religio recte iudicandi necessitate collationis addatur. 8 Nam qui fortasse de alieno neglegentes, certe de suo diligentes erunt dabuntque operam, ne a me pecuniam non nisi dignus accipiat, si accepturus et ab ipsis erit. 9 Proinde consentite conspirate maioremque animum ex meo sumite, qui cupio esse quam plurimum, quod debeam conferre. Nihil honestius praestare liberis vestris, nihil gratius patriae potestis. Educentur hic qui hic nascuntur, statimque ab infantia natale solum amare frequentare consuescant. Atque utinam tam claros praeceptores inducatis, ut in finitimis oppidis studia hinc petantur, utque nunc liberi vestri aliena in loca ita mox alieni in hunc locum confluant!’

10 Haec putavi altius et quasi a fonte repetenda, quo magis scires, quam gratum mihi foret si susciperes quod iniungo. Iniungo autem et pro rei magnitudine rogo, ut ex copia studiosorum, quae ad te ex admiratione ingenii tui convenit, circumspicias praeceptores, quos sollicitare possimus, sub ea tamen condicione ne cui fidem meam obstringam. Omnia enim libera parentibus servo: illi iudicent illi eligant, ego mihi curam tantum et impendium vindico. 11 Proinde si quis fuerit repertus, qui ingenio suo fidat, eat illuc ea lege ut hinc nihil aliud certum quam fiduciam suam ferat. Vale.

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14. C. PLINIUS [DECIMO] PATERNO SUO S.

1 Tu fortasse orationem, ut soles, et flagitas et exspectas; at ego quasi ex aliqua peregrina delicataque merce lusus meos tibi prodo. 2 Accipies cum hac epistula hendecasyllabos nostros, quibus nos in vehiculo in balineo inter cenam oblectamus otium temporis. 3 His iocamur ludimus amamus dolemus querimur irascimur, describimus aliquid modo pressius modo elatius, atque ipsa varietate temptamus efficere, ut alia aliis quaedam fortasse omnibus placeant. 4 Ex quibus tamen si non nulla tibi petulantiora paulo videbuntur, erit eruditionis tuae cogitare summos illos et gravissimos viros qui talia scripserunt non modo lascivia rerum, sed ne verbis quidem nudis abstinuisse; quae nos refugimus, non quia severiores - unde enim? -, sed quia timidiores sumus. 5 Scimus alioqui huius opusculi illam esse verissimam legem, quam Catullus expressit:

Nam castum esse decet pium poetam
ipsum, versiculos nihil necesse est,
qui tunc denique habent salem et leporem
si sunt molliculi et parum pudici.

6 Ego quanti faciam iudicium tuum, vel ex hoc potes aestimare, quod malui omnia a te pensitari quam electa laudari. Et sane quae sunt commodissima desinunt videri, cum paria esse coeperunt. 7 Praeterea sapiens subtilisque lector debet non diversis conferre diversa, sed singula expendere, nec deterius alio putare quod est in suo genere perfectum. 8 Sed quid ego plura? Nam longa praefatione vel excusare vel commendare ineptias ineptissimum est. Unum illud praedicendum videtur, cogitare me has meas nugas ita inscribere ‘hendecasyllabi’, qui titulus sola metri lege constringitur. 9 Proinde, sive epigrammata sive idyllia sive eclogas sive, ut multi, poematia seu quod aliud vocare malueris, licebit voces; ego tantum hendecasyllabos praesto. 10 A simplicitate tua peto, quod de libello meo dicturus es alii, mihi dicas; neque est difficile quod postulo. Nam si hoc opusculum nostrum aut potissimum esset aut solum, fortasse posset durum videri dicere: ‘Quaere quod agas’; molle et humanum est: ‘Habes quod agas.’ Vale.

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15. C. PLINIUS MINICIO FUNDANO SUO S.

1 Si quid omnino, hoc certe iudicio facio, quod Asinium Rufum singulariter amo. Est homo eximius et bonorum amantissimus. Cur enim non me quoque inter bonos numerem? Idem Cornelium Tacitum - scis quem virum - arta familiaritate complexus est. 2 Proinde si utrumque nostrum probas, de Rufo quoque necesse est idem sentias, cum sit ad conectendas amicitias vel tenacissimum vinculum morum similitudo. 3 Sunt ei liberi plures. Nam in hoc quoque functus est optimi civis officio, quod fecunditate uxoris large frui voluit, eo saeculo quo plerisque etiam singulos filios orbitatis praemia graves faciunt. Quibus ille despectis, avi quoque nomen assumpsit. Est enim avus, et quidem ex Saturio Firmo, quem diliges ut ego si ut ego propius inspexeris. 4 Haec eo pertinent, ut scias quam copiosam, quam numerosam domum uno beneficio sis obligaturus; ad quod petendum voto primum, deinde bono quodam omine adducimur. 5 Optamus enim tibi ominamurque in proximum annum consulatum: ita nos virtutes tuae, ita iudicia principis augurari volunt. 6 Concurrit autem ut sit eodem anno quaestor maximus ex liberis Rufi, Asinius Bassus, iuvenis - nescio an dicam, quod me pater et sentire et dicere cupit, adulescentis verecundia vetat - ipso patre melior. 7 Difficile est ut mihi de absente credas - quamquam credere soles omnia -, tantum in illo industriae probitatis eruditionis ingenii studii memoriae denique esse, quantum expertus invenies. 8 Vellem tam ferax saeculum bonis artibus haberemus, ut aliquos Basso praeferre deberes: tum ego te primus hortarer moneremque, circumferres oculos ac diu pensitares, quem potissimum eligeres. 9 Nunc vero - sed nihil volo de amico meo arrogantius dicere; hoc solum dico, dignum esse iuvenem quem more maiorum in filii locum assumas. Debent autem sapientes viri, ut tu, tales quasi liberos a re publica accipere, quales a natura solemus optare. 10 Decorus erit tibi consuli quaestor patre praetorio, propinquis consularibus, quibus iudicio ipsorum, quamquam asulescentulus adhuc, iam tamen invicem ornamento est. 11 Proinde indulge precibus meis, obsequere consilio, et ante omnia si festinare videor ignosce, primum quia votis suis amor plerumque praecurrit; deinde quod in ea civitate, in qua omnia quasi ab occupantibus aguntur, quae legitimum tempus exspectant, non matura sed sera sunt; in summa quod rerum, quas assequi cupias, praesumptio ipsa iucunda est. 12 Revereatur iam te Bassus ut consulem, tu dilige illum ut quaestorem, nos denique utriusque vestrum amantissimi laetitia duplici perfruamur. 13 Etenim cum sic te, sic Bassum diligamus, ut et illum cuiuscumque et tuum quemcumque quaestorem in petendis honoribus omni ope labore gratia simus iuvaturi, perquam iucundum nobis erit, si in eundem iuvenem studium nostrum et amicitiae meae et consulatus tui ratio contulerit, si denique precibus meis tu potissimum adiutor accesseris, cuius et suffragio senatus libentissime indulgeat et testimonio plurimum credat. Vale.

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16. C. PLINIUS VALERIO PAULINO SUO S.

1 Gaude meo, gaude tuo, gaude etiam publico nomine: adhuc honor studiis durat. Proxime cum dicturus apud centumviros essem, adeundi mihi locus nisi a tribunali, nisi per ipsos iudices non fuit; tanta stipatione cetera tenebantur. 2 Ad hoc quidam ornatus adulescens scissis tunicis, ut in frequentia solet fieri, sola velatus toga perstitit et quidem horis septem. 3 Nam tam diu dixi magno cum labore, maiore cum fructu. Studeamus ergo nec desidiae nostrae praetendamus alienam. Sunt qui audiant, sunt qui legant, nos modo dignum aliquid auribus dignum chartis elaboremus. Vale.

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17. C. PLINIUS CLUSINIO GALLO SUO S.

1 Et admones et rogas, ut suscipiam causam Corelliae absentis contra C. Caecilium consulem designatum. Quod admones, gratias ago; quod rogas, queror. Admoneri enim debeo ut sciam, rogari non debeo ut faciam, quod mihi non facere turpissimum est. 2 An ego tueri Corelli filiam dubitem? Est quidem mihi cum isto, contra quem me advocas, non plane familiaris sed tamen amicitia. 3 Accedit huc dignitas hominis atque hic ipse cui destinatus est honor, cuius nobis hoc maior agenda reverentia est, quod iam illo functi sumus. Naturale est enim ut ea, quae quis adeptus est ipse, quam amplissima existimari velit. 4 Sed mihi cogitanti adfuturum me Corelli filiae omnia ista frigida et inania videntur. Obversatur oculis ille vir quo neminem aetas nostra graviorem sanctiorem subtiliorem tulit, quem ego cum ex admiratione diligere coepissem, quod evenire contra solet, magis admiratus sum postquam penitus inspexi. 5 Inspexi enim penitus: nihil a me ille secretum, non ioculare non serium, non triste non laetum. 6 Adulescentulus eram, et iam mihi ab illo honor atque etiam - audebo dicere - reverentia ut aequali habebatur. Ille meus in petendis honoribus suffragator et testis, ille in incohandis deductor et comes, ille in gerendis consiliator et rector, ille denique in omnibus officiis nostris, quamquam et imbecillus et senior, quasi iuvenis et validus conspiciebatur. 7 Quantum ille famae meae domi in publico, quantum etiam apud principem astruxit! 8 Nam cum forte de bonis iuvenibus apud Nervam imperatorem sermo incidisset, et plerique me laudibus ferrent, paulisper se intra silentium tenuit, quod illi plurimum auctoritatis addebat; deinde gravitate quam noras: ‘Necesse est’ inquit ‘parcius laudem Secundum, quia nihil nisi ex consilio meo facit.’ 9 Qua voce tribuit mihi quantum petere voto immodicum erat, nihil me facere non sapientissime, cum omnia ex consilio sapientissimi viri facerem. Quin etiam moriens filiae suae - ipsa solet praedicare -: ‘Multos quidem amicos tibi ut longiore vita paravi, praecipuos tamen Secundum et Cornutum. 10 Quod cum recordor, intellego mihi laborandum, ne qua parte videar hanc de me fiduciam providentissimi viri destituisse. 11 Quare ego vero Corelliae adero promptissime nec subire offensas recusabo; quamquam non solum veniam me verum etiam laudem apud istum ipsum, a quo - ut ais - nova lis fortasse ut feminae intenditur, arbitror consecuturum, si haec eadem in actione, latius scilicet et uberius quam epistularum angustiae sinunt, vel in excusationem vel etiam commendationem meam dixero. Vale.

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18. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

1 Quemadmodum magis approbare tibi possum, quanto opere mirer epigrammata tua Graeca, quam quod quaedam Latine aemulari et exprimere temptavi? in deterius tamen. Accidit hoc primum imbecillitate ingenii mei, deinde inopia ac potius, ut Lucretius ait, egestate patrii sermonis. 2 Quodsi haec, quae sunt et Latina et mea, habere tibi aliquid venustatis videbuntur, quantum putas inesse iis gratiae, quae et a te et Graece proferuntur! Vale.

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19. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE HISPULLAE SUAE S.

1 Cum sis pietatis exemplum, fratremque optimum et amantissimum tui pari caritate dilexeris, filiamque eius ut tuam diligas, nec tantum amitae ei affectum verum etiam patris amissi repraesentes, non dubito maximo tibi gaudio fore cum cognoveris dignam patre dignam te dignam avo evadere. 2 Summum est acumen summa frugalitas; amat me, quod castitatis indicium est. Accedit his studium litterarum, quod ex mei caritate concepit. Meos libellos habet lectitat ediscit etiam. 3 Qua illa sollicitudine cum videor acturus, quanto cum egi gaudio afficitur! Disponit qui nuntient sibi quem assensum quos clamores excitarim, quem eventum iudicii tulerim. Eadem, si quando recito, in proximo discreta velo sedet, laudesque nostras avidissimis auribus excipit. 4 Versus quidem meos cantat etiam formatque cithara non artifice aliquo docente, sed amore qui magister est optimus. 5 His ex causis in spem certissimam adducor, perpetuam nobis maioremque in dies futuram esse concordiam. Non enim aetatem meam aut corpus, quae paulatim occidunt ac senescunt, sed gloriam diligit. 6 Nec aliud decet tuis manibus educatam, tuis praeceptis institutam, quae nihil in contubernio tuo viderit, nisi sanctum honestumque, quae denique amare me ex tua praedicatione consueverit. 7 Nam cum matrem meam parentis loco vererere, me a pueritia statim formare laudare, talemque qualis nunc uxori meae videor, ominari solebas. 8 Certatim ergo tibi gratias agimus, ego quod illam mihi, illa quod me sibi dederis, quasi invicem elegeris. Vale.

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20. C. PLINIUS NOVIO MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Quid senserim de singulis tuis libris, notum tibi ut quemque perlegeram feci; accipe nunc quid de universis generaliter iudicem. 2 Est opus pulchrum validum acre sublime, varium elegans purum figuratum, spatiosum etiam et cum magna tua laude diffusum, in quo tu ingenii simul dolorisque velis latissime vectus es; et horum utrumque invicem adiumento fuit. 3 Nam dolori sublimitatem et magnificentiam ingenium, ingenio vim et amaritudinem dolor addidit. Vale.

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21. C. PLINIUS VELIO CERIALI SUO S.

1 Tristem et acerbum casum Helvidiarum sororum! Utraque a partu, utraque filiam enixa decessit. 2 Afficior dolore, nec tamen supra modum doleo: ita mihi luctuosum videtur, quod puellas honestissimas in flore primo fecunditas abstulit. Angor infantium sorte, quae sunt parentibus statim et dum nascuntur orbatae, angor optimorum maritorum, angor etiam meo nomine. 3 Nam patrem illarum defunctum quoque perseverantissime diligo, ut actione mea librisque testatum est; cui nunc unus ex tribus liberis superest, domumque pluribus adminiculis paulo ante fundatam desolatus fulcit ac sustinet. 4 Magno tamen fomento dolor meus acquiescit, si hunc saltem fortem et incolumem, paremque illi patri illi avo fortuna servaverit. Cuius ego pro salute pro moribus, hoc sum magis anxius quod unicus factus est. 5 Nosti in amore mollitiam animi mei, nosti metus; quo minus te mirari oportebit, quod plurimum timeam, de quo plurimum spero. Vale.

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22. C. PLINIUS SEMPRONIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Interfui principis optimi cognitioni in consilium assumptus. Gymnicus agon apud Viennenses ex cuiusdam testamento celebratur. Hunc Trebonius Rufinus, vir egregius nobisque amicus, in duumviratu tollendum abolendumque curavit. 2 Negabatur ex auctoritate publica fecisse. Egit ipse causam non minus feliciter quam diserte. Commendabat actionem, quod tamquam homo Romanus et bonus civis in negotio suo mature et graviter loquebatur. 3 Cum sententiae perrogarentur, dixit Iunius Mauricus, quo viro nihil firmius nihil verius, non esse restituendum Viennensibus agona; adiecit ‘Vellem etiam Romae tolli posset.’ 4 Constanter, inquis, et fortiter; quidni? sed hoc a Maurico novum non est. Idem apud imperatorem Nervam non minus fortiter. Cenabat Nerva cum paucis; Veiento proximus atque etiam in sinu recumbebat: dixi omnia cum hominem nominavi. 5 Incidit sermo de Catullo Messalino, qui luminibus orbatus ingenio saevo mala caecitatis addiderat: non verebatur, non erubescebat, non miserebatur; quo saepius a Domitiano non secus ac tela, quae et ipsa caeca et improvida feruntur, in optimum quemque contorquebatur. 6 De huius nequitia sanguinariisque sententiis in commune omnes super cenam loquebantur, cum ipse imperator: ‘Quid putamus passurum fuisse si viveret?’ Et Mauricus: ‘Nobiscum cenaret.’ 7 Longius abii, libens tamen. Placuit agona tolli, qui mores Viennensium infecerat, ut noster hic omnium. Nam Viennensium vitia intra ipsos residunt, nostra late vagantur, utque in corporibus sic in imperio gravissimus est morbus, qui a capite diffunditur. Vale.

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23. C. PLINIUS POMPONIO BASSO SUO S.

1 Magnam cepi voluptatem, cum ex communibus amicis cognovi te, ut sapientia tua dignum est, et disponere otium et ferre, habitare amoenissime, et nunc terra nunc mari corpus agitare, multum disputare, multum audire multum lectitare, cumque plurimum scias, cotidie tamen aliquid addiscere. 2 Ita senescere oportet virum, qui magistratus amplissimos gesserit, exercitus rexerit, totumque se rei publicae quam diu decebat obtulerit. 3 Nam et prima vitae tempora et media patriae, extrema nobis impertire debemus, ut ipsae leges monent, quae maiorem annis otio reddunt. 4 Quando mihi licebit, quando per aetatem honestum erit imitari istud pulcherrimae quietis exemplum? quando secessus mei non desidiae nomen sed tranquillitatis accipient? Vale.

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24. C. PLINIUS FABIO VALENTI SUO S.

1 Proxime cum apud centumviros in quadruplici iudicio dixissem, subiit recordatio egisse me iuvenem aeque in quadruplici. 2 Processit animus ut solet longius: coepi reputare quos in hoc iudicio, quos in illo socios laboris habuissem. Solus eram qui in utroque dixissem: tantas conversiones aut fragilitas mortalitatis aut fortunae mobilitas facit. 3 Quidam ex iis qui tunc egerant decesserunt, exsulant alii; huic aetas et valetudo silentium suasit, hic sponte beatissimo otio fruitur; alius exercitum regit, illum civilibus officiis principis amicitia exemit. 4 Circa nos ipsos quam multa mutata sunt! Studiis processimus, studiis periclitati sumus, rursusque processimus: 5 profuerunt nobis bonorum amicitiae, bonorum obfuerunt iterumque prosunt. Si computes annos, exiguum tempus, si vices rerum, aevum putes; 6 quod potest esse documento nihil desperare, nulli rei fidere, cum videamus tot varietates tam volubili orbe circumagi. 7 Mihi autem familiare est omnes cogitationes meas tecum communicare, isdemque te vel praeceptis vel exemplis monere, quibus ipse me moneo; quae ratio huius epistulae fuit. Vale.

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25. C. PLINIUS MAESIO MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Scripseram tibi verendum esse, ne ex tacitis suffragiis vitium aliquod exsisteret. Factum est. Proximis comitiis in quibusdam tabellis multa iocularia atque etiam foeda dictu, in una vero pro candidatorum nominibus suffragatorum nomina inventa sunt. 2 Excanduit senatus magnoque clamore ei qui scripsisset iratum principem est comprecatus. Ille tamen fefellit et latuit, fortasse etiam inter indignantes fuit. 3 Quid hunc putamus domi facere, qui in tanta re tam serio tempore tam scurriliter ludat, qui denique omnino in senatu dicax et urbanus et bellus est? 4 Tantum licentiae pravis ingeniis adicit illa fiducia: ‘quis enim sciet?’ Poposcit tabellas, stilum accepit, demisit caput, neminem veretur, se contemnit. 5 Inde ista ludibria scaena et pulpito digna. Quo te vertas? quae remedia conquiras? Ubique vitia remediis fortiora. ‘Alla tauta tô hyper hêmas melêsei’, cui multum cotidie vigiliarum, multum laboris adicit haec nostra iners et tamen effrenata petulantia. Vale.

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26. C. PLINIUS MAECILIO NEPOTI SUO S.

1 Petis ut libellos meos, quos studiosissime comparasti, recognoscendos emendandosque curem. Faciam. Quid enim suscipere libentius debeo, te praesertim exigente? 2 Nam cum vir gravissimus doctissimus disertissimus, super haec occupatissimus, maximae provinciae praefuturus, tanti putes scripta nostra circumferre tecum, quanto opere mihi providendum est, ne te haec pars sarcinarum tamquam supervacua offendat! 3 Adnitar ergo, primum ut comites istos quam commodissimos habeas, deinde ut reversus invenias, quos istis addere velis. Neque enim mediocriter me ad nova opera tu lector hortaris. Vale.

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27. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO FALCONI SUO S.

1 Tertius dies est quod audivi recitantem Sentium Augurinum cum summa mea voluptate, immo etiam admiratione. Poematia appellat. Multa tenuiter multa sublimiter, multa venuste multa tenere, multa dulciter multa cum bile. 2 Aliquot annis puto nihil generis eiusdem absolutius scriptum, nisi forte me fallit aut amor eius aut quod ipsum me laudibus vexit. 3 Nam lemma sibi sumpsit, quod ego interdum versibus ludo. Atque adeo iudicii mei te iudicem faciam, si mihi ex hoc ipso lemmate secundus versus occurrerit; nam ceteros teneo et iam explicui.

4 Canto carmina versibus minutis,
his olim quibus et meus Catullus
et Calvus veteresque. Sed quid ad me?
Unus Plinius est mihi priores:
mavult versiculos foro relicto
et quaerit quod amet, putatque amari.
Ille o Plinius, ille quot Catones!
I nunc, quisquis amas, amare noli.

5 Vides quam acuta omnia quam apta quam expressa. Ad hunc gustum totum librum repromitto, quem tibi ut primum publicaverit exhibebo. Interim ama iuvenem et temporibus nostris gratulare pro ingenio tali, quod ille moribus adornat. Vivit cum Spurinna, vivit cum Antonino, quorum alteri affinis, utrique contubernalis est. 6 Possis ex hoc facere coniecturam, quam sit emendatus adulescens, qui a gravissimis senibus sic amatur. Est enim illud verissimum:

‘gignôskôn hoti
toioutos estin, hoisper hêdetai synôn’ Vale.

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28. C. PLINIUS VIBIO SEVERO SUO S.

1 Herennius Severus vir doctissimus magni aestimat in bibliotheca sua ponere imagines municipum tuorum Corneli Nepotis et Titi Cati petitque, si sunt istic, ut esse credibile est, exscribendas pingendasque delegem. 2 Quam curam tibi potissimum iniungo, primum quia desideriis meis amicissime obsequeris, deinde quia tibi studiorum summa reverentia, summus amor studiosorum, postremo quod patriam tuam omnesque, qui nomen eius auxerunt, ut patriam ipsam veneraris et diligis. 3 Peto autem, ut pictorem quam diligentissimum assumas. Nam cum est arduum similitudinem effingere ex vero, tum longe difficillima est imitationis imitatio; a qua rogo ut artificem quem elegeris ne in melius quidem sinas aberrare. Vale.

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29. C. PLINIUS ROMATIO FIRMO SUO S.

1 Heia tu! cum proxime res agentur, quoquo modo ad iudicandum veni: nihil est quod in dextram aurem fiducia mei dormias. Non impune cessatur. 2 Ecce Licinius Nepos praetor! Acer et fortis et praetor, multam dixit etiam senatori. Egit ille in senatu causam suam, egit autem sic ut deprecaretur. Remissa est multa, sed timuit, sed rogavit, sed opus venia fuit. 3 Dices: ‘Non omnes praetores tam severi. Falleris; nam vel instituere vel reducere eiusmodi exemplum non nisi severi, institutum reductumve exercere etiam lenissimi possunt. Vale.

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30. C. PLINIUS LICINIO SURAE SUO S.

1 Attuli tibi ex patria mea pro munusculo quaestionem altissima ista eruditione dignissimam. 2 Fons oritur in monte, per saxa decurrit, excipitur cenatiuncula manu facta; ibi paulum retentus in Larium lacum decidit. Huius mira natura: ter in die statis auctibus ac diminutionibus crescit decrescitque. 3 Cernitur id palam et cum summa voluptate deprenditur. Iuxta recumbis et vesceris, atque etiam ex ipso fonte - nam est frigidissimus - potas; interim ille certis dimensisque momentis vel subtrahitur vel assurgit. 4 Anulum seu quid; aliud ponis in sicco, alluitur sensim ac novissime operitur, detegitur rursus paulatimque deseritur. Si diutius observes, utrumque iterum ac tertio videas. 5 Spiritusne aliquis occultior os fontis et fauces modo laxat modo includit, prout illatus occurrit aut decessit expulsus? 6 Quod in ampullis ceterisque generis eiusdem videmus accidere, quibus non hians nec statim patens exitus. Nam illa quoque, quamquam prona atque vergentia, per quasdam obluctantis animae moras crebris quasi singultibus sistunt quod effundunt. 7 An, quae oceano natura, fonti quoque, quaque ille ratione aut impellitur aut resorbetur, hac modicus hic umor vicibus alternis supprimitur egeritur? 8 An ut flumina, quae in mare deferuntur, adversantibus ventis obvioque aestu retorquentur, ita est aliquid quod huius fontis excursum repercutiat? 9 An latentibus venis certa mensura, quae dum colligit quod exhauserat, minor rivus et pigrior; cum collegit, agilior maiorque profertur? 10 An nescio quod libramentum abditum et caecum, quod cum exinanitum est, suscitat et elicit fontem; cum repletum, moratur et strangulat? 11 Scrutare tu causas - potes enim -, quae tantum miraculum efficiunt: mihi abunde est, si satis expressi quod efficitur. Vale.

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LIBER QVINTVS

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1. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SEVERO SUO S.

1 Legatum mihi obvenit modicum sed amplissimo gratius. Cur amplissimo gratius? Pomponia Galla exheredato filio Asudio Curiano heredem reliquerat me, dederat coheredes Sertorium Severum praetorium virum aliosque splendidos equites Romanos. 2 Curianus orabat, ut sibi donarem portionem meam seque praeiudicio iuvarem; eandem tacita conventione salvam mihi pollicebatur. 3 Respondebam non convenire moribus meis aliud palam aliud agere secreto; praeterea non esse satis honestum donare et locupleti et orbo; in summa non profuturum ei si donassem, profuturum si cessissem, esse autem me paratum cedere si inique exheredatum mihi liqueret. 4 Ad hoc ille: ‘Rogo cognoscas.’ Cunctatus paulum ‘Faciam’ inquam; ‘neque enim video cur ipse me minorem putem, quam tibi videor. Sed iam nunc memento non defuturam mihi constantiam, si ita fides duxerit, secundum matrem tuam pronuntiandi.’ 5 ‘Ut voles’ ait; ‘voles enim quod aequissimum.’ Adhibui in consilium duos quos tunc civitas nostra spectatissimos habuit, Corellium et Frontinum. 6 His circumdatus in cubiculo meo sedi. Dixit Curianus quae pro se putabat. Respondi paucis ego — neque enim aderat alius, qui defunctae pudorem tueretur -, deinde secessi, et ex consilii sententia ‘Videtur’ inquam, ‘Curiane, mater tua iustas habuisse causas irascendi tibi.’

Post hoc ille cum ceteris subscripsit centumvirale iudicium, non subscripsit mecum. 7 Appetebat iudicii dies; coheredes mei componere et transigere cupiebant non diffidentia causae, sed metu temporum. Verebantur quod videbant multis accidisse, ne ex centumvirali iudicio capitis rei exirent. 8 Et erant quidam in illis, quibus obici et Gratillae amicitia et Rustici posset. 9 Rogant me ut cum Curiano loquar. Convenimus in aedem Concordiae. Ibi ego ‘Si mater’ inquam ‘te ex parte quarta scripsisset heredem, num queri posses? Quid si heredem quidem instituisset ex asse, sed legatis ita exhausisset ut non amplius apud te quam quarta remaneret? Igitur sufficere tibi debet, si exheredatus a matre quartam partem ab heredibus eius accipias, quam tamen ego augebo. 10 Scis te non subscripsisse mecum, et iam biennium transisse omniaque me usu cepisse. Sed ut te coheredes mei tractabiliorem experiantur, utque tibi nihil abstulerit reverentia mei, offero pro mea parte tantundem.’ Tuli fructum non conscientiae modo verum etiam famae. 11 Ille ergo Curianus legatum mihi reliquit et factum meum, nisi forte blandior mihi antiquum, notabili honore signavit.

12 Haec tibi scripsi, quia de omnibus quae me vel delectant vel angunt, non aliter tecum quam mecum loqui soleo; deinde quod durum existimabam, te amantissimum mei fraudare voluptate quam ipse capiebam. 13 Neque enim sum tam sapiens ut nihil mea intersit, an iis quae honeste fecisse me credo, testificatio quaedam et quasi praemium accedat. Vale.

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2. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO FLACCO SUO S.

1 Accepi pulcherrimos turdos, cum quibus parem calculum ponere nec urbis copiis ex Laurentino nec maris tam turbidis tempestatibus possum. 2 Recipies ergo epistulas steriles et simpliciter ingratas, ac ne illam quidem sollertiam Diomedis in permutando munere imitantes. Sed, quae facilitas tua, hoc magis dabis veniam, quod se non mereri fatentur. Vale.

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3. C. PLINIUS TITIO ARISTONI SUO S.

1 Cum plurima officia tua mihi grata et iucunda sunt, tum vel maxime quod me celandum non putasti, fuisse apud te de versiculis meis multum copiosumque sermonem, eumque diversitate iudiciorum longius processisse, exstitisse etiam quosdam, qui scripta quidem ipsa non improbarent, me tamen amice simpliciterque reprehenderent, quod haec scriberem recitaremque. 2 Quibus ego, ut augeam meam culpam, ita respondeo: facio non numquam versiculos severos parum, facio; nam et comoedias audio et specto mimos et lyricos lego et Sotadicos intellego; aliquando praeterea rideo iocor ludo, utque omnia innoxiae remissionis genera breviter amplectar, homo sum. 3 Nec vero moleste fero hanc esse de moribus meis existimationem, ut qui nesciunt talia doctissimos gravissimos sanctissimos homines scriptitasse, me scribere mirentur. 4 Ab illis autem quibus notum est, quos quantosque auctores sequar, facile impetrari posse confido, ut errare me sed cum illis sinant, quorum non seria modo verum etiam lusus exprimere laudabile est. 5 An ego verear — neminem viventium, ne quam in speciem adulationis incidam, nominabo -, sed ego verear ne me non satis deceat, quod decuit M. Tullium, C. Calvum, Asinium Pollionem, M. Messalam, Q. Hortensium, M. Brutum, L. Sullam, Q. Catulum, Q. Scaevolam, Servium Sulpicium, Varronem, Torquatum, immo Torquatos, C. Memmium, Lentulum Gaetulicum, Annaeum Senecam et proxime Verginium Rufum et, si non sufficiunt exempla privata, Divum Iulium, Divum Augustum, Divum Nervam, Tiberium Caesarem? 6 Neronem enim transeo, quamvis sciam non corrumpi in deterius quae aliquando etiam a malis, sed honesta manere quae saepius a bonis fiunt. Inter quos vel praecipue numerandus est P. Vergilius, Cornelius Nepos et prius Accius Enniusque. Non quidem hi senatores, sed sanctitas morum non distat ordinibus. 7 Recito tamen, quod illi an fecerint nescio. Etiam: sed illi iudicio suo poterant esse contenti, mihi modestior constantia est quam ut satis absolutum putem, quod a me probetur. 8 Itaque has recitandi causas sequor, primum quod ipse qui recitat aliquanto acrius scriptis suis auditorum reverentia intendit; deinde quod de quibus dubitat, quasi ex consilii sententia statuit. 9 Multa etiam multis admonetur, et si non admoneatur, quid quisque sentiat perspicit ex vultu oculis nutu manu murmure silentio; quae satis apertis notis iudicium ab humanitate discernunt. 10 Atque adeo si cui forte eorum qui interfuerunt curae fuerit eadem illa legere, intelleget me quaedam aut commutasse aut praeterisse, fortasse etiam ex suo iudicio, quamvis ipse nihil dixerit mihi. 11 Atque haec ita disputo quasi populum in auditorium, non in cubiculum amicos advocarim, quos plures habere multis gloriosum, reprehensioni nemini fuit. Vale.

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4. C. PLINIUS IULIO VALERIANO SUO S.

1 Res parva, sed initium non parvae. Vir praetorius Sollers a senatu periit, ut sibi instituere nundinas in agris suis permitteretur. Contra dixerunt legati Vicetinorum; adfuit Tuscilius Nominatus. 2 Dilata causa est. Alio senatu Vicetini sine advocato intraverunt, dixerunt se deceptos, lapsine verbo, an quia ita sentiebant. Interrogati a Nepote praetore, quem docuissent, responderunt quem prius. Interrogati an tunc gratis adfuisset, responderunt sex milibus nummum; an rursus aliquid dedissent, dixerunt mille denarios. Nepos postulavit ut Nominatus induceretur. 3 Hactenus illo die. Sed quantum auguror longius res procedet. Nam pleraque tacta tantum et omnino commota latissime serpunt. Erexi aures tuas. 4 Quam diu nunc oportet, quam blande roges, ut reliqua cognoscas! si tamen non ante ob haec ipsa veneris Romam, spectatorque malueris esse quam lector. Vale.

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5. C. PLINIUS NOVIO MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Nuntiatum mihi C. Fannium decessisse; qui nuntius me gravi dolore confudit, primum quod amavi hominem elegantem disertum, deinde quod iudicio eius uti solebam. Erat enim acutus natura, usu exercitatus, veritate promptissimus. 2 Angit me super ista casus ipsius: decessit veteri testamento, omisit quos maxime diligebat, prosecutus est quibus offensior erat. Sed hoc utcumque tolerabile; gravius illud, quod pulcherrimum opus imperfectum reliquit. 3 Quamvis enim agendis causis distringeretur, scribebat tamen exitus occisorum aut relegatorum a Nerone et iam tres libros absolverat subtiles et diligentes et Latinos atque inter sermonem historiamque medios, ac tanto magis reliquos perficere cupiebat, quanto frequentius hi lectitabantur. 4 Mihi autem videtur acerba semper et immatura mors eorum, qui immortale aliquid parant. Nam qui voluptatibus dediti quasi in diem vivunt, vivendi causas cotidie finiunt; qui vero posteros cogitant, et memoriam sui operibus extendunt, his nulla mors non repentina est, ut quae semper incohatum aliquid abrumpat. 5 Gaius quidem Fannius, quod accidit, multo ante praesensit. Visus est sibi per nocturnam quietem iacere in lectulo suo compositus in habitum studentis, habere ante se scrinium — ita solebat -; mox imaginatus est venisse Neronem, in toro resedisse, prompsisse primum librum quem de sceleribus eius ediderat, cumque ad extremum revolvisse; idem in secundo ac tertio fecisse, tunc abisse. 6 Expavit et sic interpretatus est, tamquam idem sibi futurus esset scribendi finis, qui fuisset illi legendi: et fuit idem. 7 Quod me recordantem miseratio subit, quantum vigiliarum quantum laboris exhauserit frustra. Occursant animo mea mortalitas mea scripta. Nec dubito te quoque eadem cogitatione terreri, pro istis quae inter manus habes. 8 Proinde, dum suppetit vita, enitamur ut mors quam paucissima quae abolere possit inveniat. Vale.

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6. C. PLINIUS DOMITIO APOLLINARI SUO S.

1 Amavi curam et sollicitudinem tuam, quod cum audisses me aestate Tuscos meos petiturum, ne facerem suasisti, dum putas insalubres. 2 Est sane gravis et pestilens ora Tuscorum, quae per litus extenditur; sed hi procul a mari recesserunt, quin etiam Appennino saluberrimo montium subiacent. 3 Atque adeo ut omnem pro me metum ponas, accipe temperiem caeli regionis situm villae amoenitatem, quae et tibi auditu et mihi relatu iucunda erunt.

4 Caelum est hieme frigidum et gelidum; myrtos oleas quaeque alia assiduo tepore laetantur, aspernatur ac respuit; laurum tamen patitur atque etiam nitidissimam profert, interdum sed non saepius quam sub urbe nostra necat. 5 Aestatis mira clementia: semper aer spiritu aliquo movetur, frequentius tamen auras quam ventos habet. 6 Hinc senes multi: videas avos proavosque iam iuvenum, audias fabulas veteres sermonesque maiorum, cumque veneris illo putes alio te saeculo natum. 7 Regionis forma pulcherrima. Imaginare amphitheatrum aliquod immensum, et quale sola rerum natura possit effingere. Lata et diffusa planities montibus cingitur, montes summa sui parte procera nemora et antiqua habent. 8 Frequens ibi et varia venatio. Inde caeduae silvae cum ipso monte descendunt. Has inter pingues terrenique colles — neque enim facile usquam saxum etiam si quaeratur occurrit — planissimis campis fertilitate non cedunt, opimamque messem serius tantum, sed non minus percoquunt. 9 Sub his per latus omne vineae porriguntur, unamque faciem longe lateque contexunt; quarum a fine imoque quasi margine arbusta nascuntur. 10 Prata inde campique, campi quos non nisi, ingentes boves et fortissima aratra perfringunt: tantis glaebis tenacissimum solum cum primum prosecatur assurgit, ut nono demum sulco perdometur. 11 Prata florida et gemmea trifolium aliasque herbas teneras semper et molles et quasi novas alunt. Cuncta enim perennibus rivis nutriuntur; sed ubi aquae plurimum, palus nulla, quia devexa terra, quidquid liquoris accepit nec absorbuit, effundit in Tiberim. 12 Medios ille agros secat navium patiens omnesque fruges devehit in urbem, hieme dumtaxat et vere; aestate summittitur immensique fluminis nomen arenti alveo deserit, autumno resumit. 13 Magnam capies voluptatem, si hunc regionis situm ex monte prospexeris. Neque enim terras tibi sed formam aliquam ad eximiam pulchritudinem pictam videberis cernere: ea varietate, ea descriptione, quocumque inciderint oculi, reficientur.

14 Villa in colle imo sita prospicit quasi ex summo: ita leviter et sensim clivo fallente consurgit, ut cum ascendere te non putes, sentias ascendisse. A tergo Appenninum, sed longius habet; accipit ab hoc auras quamlibet sereno et placido die, non tamen acres et immodicas, sed spatio ipso lassas et infractas. 15 Magna sui parte meridiem spectat aestivumque solem ab hora sexta, hibernum aliquanto maturius quasi invitat, in porticum latam et pro modo longam. Multa in hae membra, atrium etiam ex more veterum. 16 Ante porticum xystus in plurimas species distinctus concisusque buxo; demissus inde pronusque pulvinus, cui bestiarum effigies invicem adversas buxus inscripsit; acanthus in plano, mollis et paene dixerim liquidus. 17 Ambit hunc ambulatio pressis varieque tonsis viridibus inclusa; ab his gestatio in modum circi, quae buxum multiformem humilesque et retentas manu arbusculas circumit. Omnia maceria muniuntur: hanc gradata buxus operit et subtrahit. 18 Pratum inde non minus natura quam superiora illa arte visendum; campi deinde porro multaque alia prata et arbusta. 19 A capite porticus triclinium excurrit; valvis xystum desinentem et protinus pratum multumque ruris videt, fenestris hac latus xysti et quod prosilit villae, hac adiacentis hippodromi nemus comasque prospectat. 20 Contra mediam fere porticum diaeta paulum recedit, cingit areolam, quae quattuor platanis inumbratur. Inter has marmoreo labro aqua exundat circumiectasque platanos et subiecta platanis leni aspergine fovet. 21 Est in hac diaeta dormitorium cubiculum quod diem clamorem sonum excludit, iunctaque ei cotidiana amicorumque cenatio: areolam illam, porticus alam eademque omnia quae porticus adspicit. 22 Est et aliud cubiculum a proxima platano viride et umbrosum, marmore excultum podio tenus, nec cedit gratiae marmoris ramos insidentesque ramis aves imitata pictura. 23 Fonticulus in hoc, in fonte crater; circa sipunculi plures miscent iucundissimum murmur. In cornu porticus amplissimum cubiculum triclinio occurrit; aliis fenestris xystum, aliis despicit pratum, sed ante piscinam, quae fenestris servit ac subiacet, strepitu visuque iucunda; 24 nam ex edito desiliens aqua suscepta marmore albescit. Idem cubiculum hieme tepidissimum, quia plurimo sole perfunditur. 25 Cohaeret hypocauston et, si dies nubilus, immisso vapore solis vicem supplet. Inde apodyterium balinei laxum et hilare excipit cella frigidaria, in qua baptisterium amplum atque opacum. Si natare latius aut tepidius velis, in area piscina est, in proximo puteus, ex quo possis rursus astringi, si paeniteat teporis. 26 Frigidariae cellae conectitur media, cui sol benignissime praesto est; caldariae magis, prominet enim. In hac tres descensiones, duae in sole, tertia a sole longius, a luce non longius. 27 Apodyterio superpositum est sphaeristerium, quod plura genera exercitationis pluresque circulos capit. Non procul a balineo scalae, quae in cryptoporticum ferunt prius ad diaetas tres. Harum alia arcolae illi, in qua platani quattuor, alia prato, alia vineis imminet diversasque caeli partes ut prospectus habet. 28 In summa cryptoporticu cubiculum ex ipsa cryptoporticu excisum, quod hippodromum vineas montes intuetur. Iungitur cubiculum obvium soli, maxime hiberno. Hinc oritur diaeta, quae villae hippodromum adnectit. Haec facies, hic usus a fronte.

29 A latere aestiva cryptoporticus in edito posita, quae non adspicere vineas sed tangere videtur. In media triclinium saluberrimum afflatum ex Appenninis vallibus recipit; post latissimis fenestris vineas, valvis aeque vineas sed per cryptoporticum quasi admittit. 30 A latere triclinii quod fenestris caret, scalae convivio utilia secretiore ambitu suggerunt. In fine cubiculum, cui non minus iucundum prospectum cryptoporticus ipsa quam vineae praebent. Subest cryptoporticus subterraneae similis; aestate incluso frigore riget contentaque acre suo nec desiderat auras nec admittit. 31 Post utramque cryptoporticum, unde triclinium desinit, incipit porticus ante medium diem hiberna, inclinato die aestiva. Hac adeuntur diaetae duae, quarum in altera cubicula quattuor, altera tria ut circumit sol aut sole utuntur aut umbra.

32 Hanc dispositionem amoenitatemque tectorum longe longeque praecedit hippodromus. Medius patescit statimque intrantium oculis totus offertur, platanis circumitur; illae hedera vestiuntur utque summae suis ita imae alienis frondibus virent. Hedera truncum et ramos pererrat vicinasque platanos transitu suo copulat. Has buxus interiacet; exteriores buxos circumvenit laurus, umbraeque platanorum suam confert. 33 Rectus hic hippodromi limes in extrema parte hemicyclio frangitur mutatque faciem: cupressis ambitur et tegitur, densiore umbra opacior nigriorque; interioribus circulis — sunt enim plures — purissimum diem recipit. 34 Inde etiam rosas effert, umbrarumque frigus non ingrato sole distinguit. Finito vario illo multiplicique curvamine recto limiti redditur nec huic uni, nam viae plures intercedentibus buxis dividuntur. 35 Alibi pratulum, alibi ipsa buxus intervenit in formas mille descripta, litteras interdum, quae modo nomen domini dicunt modo artificis: alternis metulae surgunt, alternis inserta sunt poma, et in opere urbanissimo subita velut illati ruris imitatio. Medium spatium brevioribus utrimque platanis adornatur. 36 Post has acanthus hinc inde lubricus et flexuosus, deinde plures figurae pluraque nomina. In capite stibadium candido marmore vite protegitur; vitem quattuor columellae Carystiae subeunt. Ex stibadio aqua velut expressa cubantium pondere sipunculis effluit, cavato lapide suscipitur, gracili marmore continetur atque ita occulte temperatur, ut impleat nec redundet. 37 Gustatorium graviorque cena margini imponitur, levior naucularum et avium figuris innatans circumit. Contra fons egerit aquam et recipit; nam expulsa in altum in se cadit iunctisque hiatibus et absorbetur et tollitur. E regione stibadii adversum cubiculum tantum stibadio reddit ornatus, quantum accipit ab illo. 38 Marmore splendet, valvis in viridia prominet et exit, alia viridia superioribus inferioribusque fenestris suspicit despicitque. Mox zothecula refugit quasi in cubiculum idem atque aliud. Lectus hic et undique fenestrae, et tamen lumen obscurum umbra premente. 39 Nam laetissima vitis per omne tectum in culmen nititur et ascendit. Non secus ibi quam in nemore iaceas, imbrem tantum tamquam in nemore non sentias. 40 Hic quoque fons nascitur simulque subducitur. Sunt locis pluribus disposita sedilia e marmore, quae ambulatione fessos ut cubiculum ipsum iuvant. Fonticuli sedilibus adiacent; per totum hippodromum inducti strepunt rivi, et qua manus duxit sequuntur: his nunc illa viridia, nunc haec, interdum simul omnia lavantur.

41 Vitassem iam dudum ne viderer argutior, nisi proposuissem omnes angulos tecum epistula circumire. Neque enim verebar ne laboriosum esset legenti tibi, quod visenti non fuisset, praesertim cum interquiescere, si liberet, depositaque epistula quasi residere saepius posses. Praeterea indulsi amori meo; amo enim, quae maxima ex parte ipse incohavi aut incohata percolui. 42 In summa — cur enim non aperiam tibi vel iudicium meum vel errorem? — primum ego officium scriptoris existimo, titulum suum legat atque identidem interroget se quid coeperit scribere, sciatque si materiae immoratur non esse longum, longissimum si aliquid accersit atque attrahit. 43 Vides quot versibus Homerus, quot Vergilius arma hic Aeneae Achillis ille describat; brevis tamen uterque est quia facit quod instituit. Vides ut Aratus minutissima etiam sidera consectetur et colligat; modum tamen servat. Non enim excursus hic eius, sed opus ipsum est. 44 Similiter nos ut ‘parva magnis’, cum totam villam oculis tuis subicere conamur, si nihil inductum et quasi devium loquimur, non epistula quae describit sed villa quae describitur magna est.

Verum illuc unde coepi, ne secundum legem meam iure reprendar, si longior fuero in hoc in quod excessi. 45 Habes causas cur ego Tuscos meos Tusculanis Tiburtinis Praenestinisque praeponam. Nam super illa quae rettuli, altius ibi otium et pinguius eoque securius: nulla necessitas togae, nemo accersitor ex proximo, placida omnia et quiescentia, quod ipsum salubritati regionis ut purius caelum, ut aer liquidior accedit. 46 Ibi animo, ibi corpore maxime valeo. Nam studiis animum, venatu corpus exerceo. Mei quoque nusquam salubrius degunt; usque adhuc certe neminem ex iis quos eduxeram mecum, — venia sit dicto — ibi amisi. Di modo in posterum hoc mihi gaudium, hanc gloriam loco servent! Vale.

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7. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Nec heredem institui nec praecipere posse rem publicam constat; Saturninus autem, qui nos reliquit heredes, quadrantem rei publicae nostrae, deinde pro quadrante praeceptionem quadringentorum milium dedit. Hoc si ius aspicias irritum, si defuncti voluntatem ratum et firmum est. 2 Mihi autem defuncti voluntas — vereor quam in partem iuris consulti quod sum dicturus accipiant — antiquior iure est, utique in eo quod ad communem patriam voluit pervenire. 3 An cui de meo sestertium sedecies contuli, huic quadringentorum milium paulo amplius tertiam partem ex adventicio denegem? Scio te quoque a iudicio meo non abhorrere, cum eandem rem publicam ut civis optimus diligas. 4 Velim ergo, cum proxime decuriones contrahentur, quid sit iuris indices, parce tamen et modeste; deinde subiungas nos quadringenta milia offerre, sicut praeceperit Saturninus. Illius hoc munus, illius liberalitas; nostrum tantum obsequium vocetur. 5 Haec ego scribere publice supersedi, primum quod memineram pro necessitudine amicitiae nostrae, pro facultate prudentiae tuae et debere te et posse perinde meis ac tuis partibus fungi; deinde quia verebar ne modum, quem tibi in sermone custodire facile est, tenuisse in epistula non viderer. 6 Nam sermonem vultus gestus vox ipsa moderatur, epistula omnibus commendationibus destituta malignitati interpretantium exponitur. Vale.

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8. C. PLINIUS TITINIO CAPITONI SUO S.

1 Suades ut historiam scribam, et suades non solus: multi hoc me saepe monuerunt et ego volo, non quia commode facturum esse confidam — id enim temere credas nisi expertus -, sed quia mihi pulchrum in primis videtur non pati occidere, quibus aeternitas debeatur, aliorumque famam cum sua extendere. 2 Me autem nihil aeque ac diuturnitatis amor et cupido sollicitat, res homine dignissima, eo praesertim qui nullius sibi conscius culpae posteritatis memoriam non reformidet. 3 Itaque diebus ac noctibus cogito, si ‘qua me quoque possim tollere humo’; id enim voto meo sufficit, illud supra votum ‘victorque virum volitare per ora’; ‘quamquam o-’: sed hoc satis est, quod prope sola historia polliceri videtur. 4 Orationi enim et carmini parva gratia, nisi eloquentia est summa: historia quoquo modo scripta delectat. Sunt enim homines natura curiosi, et quamlibet nuda rerum cognitione capiuntur, ut qui sermunculis etiam fabellisque ducantur. Me vero ad hoc studium impellit domesticum quoque exemplum. 5 Avunculus meus idemque per adoptionem pater historias et quidem religiosissime scripsit. Invenio autem apud sapientes honestissimum esse maiorum vestigia sequi, si modo recto itinere praecesserint. Cur ergo cunctor? 6 Egi magnas et graves causas. Has, etiamsi mihi tenuis ex iis spes, destino retractare, ne tantus ille labor meus, nisi hoc quod reliquum est studii addidero, mecum pariter intercidat. 7 Nam si rationem posteritatis habeas, quidquid non est peractum, pro non incohato est. Dices: ‘Potes simul et rescribere actiones et componere historiam.’ Utinam! sed utrumque tam magnum est, ut abunde sit alterum efficere. 8 Unodevicensimo aetatis anno dicere in foro coepi, et nunc demum quid praestare debeat orator, adhuc tamen per caliginem video. 9 Quid si huic oneri novum accesserit? Habet quidem oratio et historia multa communia, sed plura diversa in his ipsis, quae communia videntur. Narrat illa narrat haec, sed aliter: huic pleraque humilia et sordida et ex medio petita, illi omnia recondita splendida excelsa conveniunt; 10 hanc saepius ossa musculi nervi, illam tori quidam et quasi iubae decent; haec vel maxime vi amaritudine instantia, illa tractu et suavitate atque etiam dulcedine placet; postremo alia verba alius sonus alia constructio. 11 Nam plurimum refert, ut Thucydides ait, ‘ktêma’ sit an ‘agônisma’; quorum alterum oratio, alterum historia est. His ex causis non adducor ut duo dissimilia et hoc ipso diversa, quo maxima, confundam misceamque, ne tanta quasi colluvione turbatus ibi faciam quod hic debeo; ideoque interim veniam, ut ne a meis verbis recedam, advocandi peto. 12 Tu tamen iam nunc cogita quae potissimum tempora aggrediar. Vetera et scripta aliis? Parata inquisitio, sed onerosa collatio. Intacta et nova? Graves offensae levis gratia. 13 Nam praeter id, quod in tantis vitiis hominum plura culpanda sunt quam laudanda, tum si laudaveris parcus, si culpaveris nimius fuisse dicaris, quamvis illud plenissime, hoc restrictissime feceris. 14 Sed haec me non retardant; est enim mihi pro fide satis animi: illud peto praesternas ad quod hortaris, eligasque materiam, ne mihi iam scribere parato alia rursus cunctationis et morae iusta ratio nascatur. Vale.

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9. C. PLINIUS SEMPRONIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Descenderam in basilicam Iuliam, auditurus quibus proxima comperendinatione respondere debebam. 2 Sedebant iudices, decemviri venerant, obversabantur advocati, silentium longum; tandem a praetore nuntius. Dimittuntur centumviri, eximitur dies me gaudente, qui umquam ita paratus sum ut non mora laeter. 3 Causa dilationis Nepos praetor, qui legibus quaerit. Proposuerat breve edictum, admonebat accusatores, admonebat reos exsecuturum se quae senatus consulto continerentur. 4 Suberat edicto senatus consultum: hoc omnes qui quid negotii haberent iurare prius quam agerent iubebantur, nihil sc ob advocationem cuiquam dedisse promisisse cavisse. His enim verbis ac mille praeterea et venire advocationes et emi vetabantur; peractis tamen negotiis permittebatur pecuniam dumtaxat decem milium dare. 5 Hoc facto Nepotis commotus praetor qui centumviralibus praesidet, deliberaturus an sequeretur exemplum, inopinatum nobis otium dedit. 6 Interim tota civitate Nepotis edictum carpitur laudatur. Multi: ‘Invenimus, qui curva corrigeret! Quid? ante hunc praetores non fuerunt? quis autem hic est, qui emendet publicos mores?’ Alii contra: ‘Rectissime fecit; initurus magistratum iura cognovit, senatus consulta legit, reprimit foedissimas pactiones, rem pulcherrimam turpissime venire non patitur.’ 7 Tales ubique sermones, qui tamen alterutram in partem ex eventu praevalebunt. Est omnino iniquum, sed usu receptum, quod honesta consilia vel turpia, prout male aut prospere cedunt, ita vel probantur vel reprehenduntur. Inde plerumque eadem facta modo diligentiae modo vanitatis, modo libertatis modo furoris nomen accipiunt. Vale.

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10. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

1 Libera tandem hendecasyllaborum meorum fidem, qui scripta tua communibus amicis spoponderunt. Appellantur cotidie, efflagitantur, ac iam periculum est ne cogantur ad exhibendum formulam accipere. 2 Sum et ipse in edendo haesitator, tu tamen meam quoque cunctationem tarditatemque vicisti. Proinde aut rumpe iam moras aut cave ne eosdem istos libellos, quos tibi hendecasyllabi nostri blanditiis elicere non possunt, convicio scazontes extorqueant. 3 Perfectum opus absolutumque est, nec iam splendescit lima sed atteritur. Patere me videre titulum tuum, patere audire describi legi venire volumina Tranquilli mei. Aequum est nos in amore tam mutuo eandem percipere ex te voluptatem, qua tu perfrueris ex nobis. Vale.

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11. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Recepi litteras tuas ex quibus cognovi speciosissimam te porticum sub tuo filiique tui nomine dedicasse, sequenti die in portarum ornatum pecuniam promisisse, ut initium novae liberalitatis esset consummatio prioris. 2 Gaudeo primum tua gloria, cuius ad me pars aliqua pro necessitudine nostra redundat; deinde quod memoriam soceri mei pulcherrimis operibus video proferri; postremo quod patria nostra florescit, quam mihi a quocumque excoli iucundum, a te vero laetissimum est. 3 Quod superest, deos precor ut animum istum tibi, animo isti tempus quam longissimum tribuant. Nam liquet mihi futurum ut peracto quod proxime promisisti, incohes aliud. Nescit enim semel incitata liberalitas stare, cuius pulchritudinem usus ipse commendat. Vale.

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12. C. PLINIUS TERENTIO SCAURO SUO S.

1 Recitaturus oratiunculam quam publicare cogito, advocavi aliquos ut vererer, paucos ut verum audirem. Nam mihi duplex ratio recitandi, una ut sollicitudine intendar, altera ut admonear, si quid forte me ut meum fallit. 2 Tuli quod petebam: inveni qui mihi copiam consilii sui facerent, ipse praeterea quaedam emendanda adnotavi. Emendavi librum, quem misi tibi. 3 Materiam ex titulo cognosces, cetera liber explicabit, quem iam nunc oportet ita consuescere, ut sine praefatione intellegatur. 4 Tu velim quid de universo, quid de partibus sentias, scribas mihi. Ero enim vel cautior in continendo vel constantior in edendo, si huc vel illuc auctoritas tua accesserit. Vale.

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13. C. PLINIUS IULIO VALERIANO SUO S.

1 Et tu rogas et ego promisi si rogasses, scripturum me tibi quem habuisset eventum postulatio Nepotis circa Tuscilium Nominatum. Inductus est Nominatus; egit ipse pro se nullo accusante. Nam legati Vicetinorum non modo non presserunt eum verum etiam sublevaverunt. 2 Summa defensionis, non fidem sibi in advocatione sed constantiam defuisse; descendisse ut acturum, atque etiam in curia visum, deinde sermonibus amicorum perterritum recessisse; monitum enim ne desiderio senatoris, non iam quasi de nundinis sed quasi de gratia fama dignitate certantis, tam pertinaciter praesertim in senatu repugnaret, alioqui maiorem invidiam quam proxime passurus. 3 Erat sane prius, a paucis tamen, acclamatum exeunti. Subiunxit preces multumque lacrimarum; quin etiam tota actione homo in dicendo exercitatus operam dedit, ut deprecari magis — id enim et favorabilius et tutius — quam defendi videretur. 4 Absolutus est sententia designati consulis Afrani Dextri, cuius haec summa: melius quidem Nominatum fuisse facturum, si causam Vicetinorum eodem animo quo susceperat pertulisset; quia tamen in hoc genus culpae non fraude incidisset, nihilque dignum animadversione admisisse convinceretur, liberandum, ita ut Vicetinis quod acceperat redderet. 5 Assenserunt omnes praeter Fabium Aprum. Is interdicendum ei advocationibus in quinquennium censuit, et quamvis neminem auctoritate traxisset, constanter in sententia mansit; quin etiam Dextrum, qui primus diversum censuerat, prolata lege de senatu habendo iurare coegit e re publica esse quod censuisset. 6 Cui quamquam legitimae postulationi a quibusdam reclamatum est; exprobrare enim censenti ambitionem videbatur. Sed prius quam sententiae dicerentur, Nigrinus tribunus plebis recitavit libellum disertum et gravem, quo questus est venire advocationes, venire etiam praevaricationes, in lites coiri, et gloriae loco poni ex spoliis civium magnos et statos reditus. 7 Recitavit capita legum, admonuit senatus consultorum, in fine dixit petendum ab optimo principe, ut quia leges, quia senatus consulta contemnerentur, ipse tantis vitiis mederetur. 8 Pauci dies, et liber principis severus et tamen moderatus: leges ipsum; est in publicis actis. Quam me iuvat, quod in causis agendis non modo pactione dono munere verum etiam xeniis semper abstinui! 9 Oportet quidem, quae sunt inhonesta, non quasi illicita sed quasi pudenda vitare; iucundum tamen si prohiberi publice videas, quod numquam tibi ipse permiseris. 10 Erit fortasse, immo non dubie, huius propositi mei et minor laus et obscurior fama, cum omnes ex necessitate facient quod ego sponte faciebam. Interim fruor voluptate, cum alii divinum me, alii meis rapinis meae avaritiae occursum per ludum ac iocum dictitant. Vale.

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14. C. PLINIUS PONTIO ALLIFANO SUO S.

1 Secesseram in municipium, cum mihi nuntiatum est Cornutum Tertullum accepisse Aemiliae viae curam. 2 Exprimere non possum, quanto sim gaudio affectus, et ipsius et meo nomine: ipsius quod, sit licet — sicut est — ab omni ambitione longe remotus, debet tamen ei iucundus honor esse ultro datus, meo quod aliquanto magis me delectat mandatum mihi officium, postquam par Cornuto datum video. 3 Neque enim augeri dignitate quam aequari bonis gratius. Cornuto autem quid melius, quid sanctius, quid in omni genere laudis ad exemplar antiquitatis expressius? quod mihi cognitum est non fama, qua alioqui optima et meritissima fruitur, sed longis magnisque experimentis. 4 Una diligimus, una dileximus omnes fere quos aetas nostra in utroque sexu aemulandos tulit; quae societas amicitiarum artissima nos familiaritate coniunxit. 5 Accessit vinculum necessitudinis publicae; idem enim mihi, ut scis, collega quasi voto petitus in praefectura aerarii fuit, fuit et in consulatu. Tum ego qui vir et quantus esset altissime inspexi, cum sequerer ut magistrum, ut parentem vererer, quod non tam aetatis maturitate quam vitae merebatur. 6 His ex causis ut illi sic mihi gratulor, nec privatim magis quam publice, quod tandem homines non ad pericula ut prius verum ad honores virtute perveniunt.

7 In infinitum epistulam extendam, si gaudio meo indulgeam. Praevertor ad ea, quae me agentem hic nuntius deprehendit. 8 Eram cum prosocero meo, eram cum amita uxoris, eram cum amicis diu desideratis, circumibam agellos, audiebam multum rusticarum querellarum, rationes legebam invitus et cursim — aliis enim chartis, aliis sum litteris initiatus -, coeperam etiam itineri me praeparare. 8 Nam includor angustiis commeatus, eoque ipso, quod delegatum Cornuto audio officium, mei admoneor. Cupio te quoque sub idem tempus Campania tua remittat, ne quis cum in urbem rediero, contubernio nostro dies pereat. Vale.

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15. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

1 Cum versus tuos aemulor, tum maxime quam sint boni experior. Ut enim pictores pulchram absolutamque faciem raro nisi in peius effingunt, ita ego ab hoc archetypo labor et decido. 2 Quo magis hortor, ut quam plurima proferas, quae imitari omnes concupiscant, nemo aut paucissimi possint. Vale.

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16. C. PLINIUS AEFULANO MARCELLINO SUO S.

1 Tristissimus haec tibi scribo, Fundani nostri filia minore defuncta. Qua puella nihil umquam festivius amabilius, nec modo longiore vita sed prope immortalitate dignius vidi. 2 Nondum annos xiiii impleverat, et iam illi anilis prudentia, matronalis gravitas erat et tamen suavitas puellaris cum virginali verecundia. 3 Ut illa patris cervicibus inhaerebat! ut nos amicos paternos et amanter et modeste complectebatur! ut nutrices, ut paedagogos, ut praeceptores pro suo quemque officio diligebat! quam studiose, quam intellegenter lectitabat! ut parce custoditeque ludebat! Qua illa temperantia, qua patientia, qua etiam constantia novissimam valetudinem tulit! 4 Medicis obsequebatur, sororem patrem adhortabatur ipsamque se destitutam corporis viribus vigore animi sustinebat. 5 Duravit hic illi usque ad extremum, nec aut spatio valetudinis aut metu mortis infractus est, quo plures gravioresque nobis causas relinqueret et desiderii et doloris. 6 O triste plane acerbumque funus! o morte ipsa mortis tempus indignius! iam testinata erat egregio iuveni, iam electus nuptiarum dies, iam nos vocati. Quod gaudium quo maerore mutatum est! 7 Non possum exprimere verbis quantum animo vulnus acceperim, cum audivi Fundanum ipsum, ut multa luctuosa dolor invenit, praecipientem, quod in vestes margarita gemmas fuerat erogaturus, hoc in tus et unguenta et odores impenderetur. 8 Est quidem ille eruditus et sapiens, ut qui se ab ineunte aetate altioribus studiis artibusque dediderit; sed nunc omnia, quae audiit saepe quae dixit, aspernatur expulsisque virtutibus aliis pietatis est totus. 9 Ignosces, laudabis etiam, si cogitaveris quid amiserit. Amisit enim filiam, quae non minus mores eius quam os vultumque referebat, totumque patrem mira similitudine exscripserat. 10 Proinde si quas ad eum de dolore tam iusto litteras mittes, memento adhibere solacium non quasi castigatorium et nimis forte, sed molle et humanum. Quod ut facilius admittat, multum faciet medii temporis spatium. 11 Ut enim crudum adhuc vulnus medentium manus reformidat, deinde patitur atque ultro requirit, sic recens animi dolor consolationes reicit ac refugit, mox desiderat et clementer admotis acquiescit. Vale.

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17. C. PLINIUS VESTRICIO SPURINNAE SUO S.

1 Scio quanto opere bonis artibus faveas, quantum gaudium capias, si nobiles iuvenes dignum aliquid maioribus suis faciant. Quo festinantius nuntio tibi fuisse me hodie in auditorio Calpurni Pisonis. 2 Recitabat ‘katasterismôn’ eruditam sane luculentamque materiam. Scripta elegis erat fluentibus et teneris et enodibus, sublimibus etiam, ut poposcit locus. Apte enim et varie nunc attollebatur, nunc residebat; excelsa depressis, exilia plenis, severis iucunda mutabat, omnia ingenio pari. 3 Commendabat haec voce suavissima, vocem verecundia: multum sanguinis, multum sollicitudinis in ore, magna ornamenta recitantis. Etenim nescio quo pacto magis in studiis homines timor quam fiducia decet. 4 Ne plura — quamquam libet plura, quo sunt pulchriora de iuvene, rariora de nobili -, recitatione finita multum ac diu exosculatus adulescentem, qui est acerrimus stimulus monendi, laudibus incitavi, pergeret qua coepisset, lumenque quod sibi maiores sui praetulissent, posteris ipse praeferret. 5 Gratulatus sum optimae matri, gratulatus et fratri, qui ex auditorio illo non minorem pietatis gloriam quam ille alter eloquentiae retulit: tam notabiliter pro fratre recitante primum metus eius, mox gaudium eminuit.

6 Di faciant ut talia tibi saepius nuntiem! Faveo enim saeculo ne sit sterile et effetum, mireque cupio ne nobiles nostri nihil in domibus suis pulchrum nisi imagines habeant; quae nunc mihi hos adulescentes tacitae laudare adhortari, et quod amborum gloriae satis magnum est, agnoscere videntur. Vale.

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18. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO MACRO SUO S.

1 Bene est mihi quia tibi bene est. Habes uxorem tecum, habes filium; frueris mari fontibus viridibus agro villa amoenissima. Neque enim dubito esse amoenissimam, in qua se composuerat homo felicior, ante quam felicissimus fieret. 2 Ego in Tuscis et venor et studeo, quae interdum alternis, interdum simul facio; nec tamen adhuc possum pronuntiare, utrum sit difficilius capere aliquid an scribere. Vale.

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19. C. PLINIUS VALERIO PAULINO SUO S.

1 Video quam molliter tuos habeas; quo simplicius tibi confitebor, qua indulgentia meos tractem. 2 Est mihi semper in animo et Homericum illud ‘patêr d’ hôs êpios êen’ et hoc nostrum ‘pater familiae’. Quod si essem natura asperior et durior, frangeret me tamen infirmitas liberti mei Zosimi, cui tanto maior humanitas exhibenda est, quanto nunc illa magis eget. 3 Homo probus officiosus litteratus; et ars quidem eius et quasi inscriptio comoedus, in qua plurimum facit. Nam pronuntiat acriter sapienter apte decenter etiam; utitur et cithara perite, ultra quam comoedo necesse est. Idem tam commode orationes et historias et carmina legit, ut hoc solum didicisse videatur. 4 Haec tibi sedulo exposui, quo magis scires, quam multa unus mihi et quam iucunda ministeria praestaret. Accedit longa iam caritas hominis, quam ipsa pericula auxerunt. 5 Est enim ita natura comparatum, ut nihil aeque amorem incitet et accendat quam carendi metus; quem ego pro hoc non semel patior. 6 Nam ante aliquot annos, dum intente instanterque pronuntiat, sanguinem reiecit atque ob hoc in Aegyptum missus a me post longam peregrinationem confirmatus rediit nuper; deinde dum per continuos dies nimis imperat voci, veteris infirmitatis tussicula admonitus rursus sanguinem reddidit. 7 Qua ex causa destinavi eum mittere in praedia tua, quae Foro Iulii possides. Audivi enim te saepe referentem esse ibi et aera salubrem et lac eiusmodi curationibus accommodatissimum. 8 Rogo ergo scribas tuis, ut illi villa, ut domus pateat, offerant etiam sumptibus eius, si quid opus erit. 9 Erit autem opus modico; est enim tam parcus et continens, ut non solum delicias verum etiam necessitates valetudinis frugalitate restringat. Ego proficiscenti tantum viatici dabo, quantum sufficiat eunti in tua. Vale.

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20. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO URSO SUO S.

1 Iterum Bithyni: breve tempus a Iulio Basso, et Rufum Varenum proconsulem detulerunt, Varenum quem nuper adversus Bassum advocatum et postularant et acceperant. Inducti in senatum inquisitionem postulaverunt. 2 Varenus petit ut sibi quoque defensionis causa evocare testes liceret; recusantibus Bithynis cognitio suscepta est. Egi pro Vareno non sine eventu; nam bene an male liber indicabit. 3 In actionibus enim utramque in partem fortuna dominatur: multum commendationis et detrahit et affert memoria vox gestus tempus ipsum, postremo vel amor vel odium rei; liber offensis, liber gratia, liber et secundis casibus et adversis caret. 4 Respondit mihi Fonteius Magnus, unus ex Bithynis, plurimis verbis paucissimis rebus. Est plerisque Graecorum, ut illi, pro copia volubilitas: tam longas tamque frigidas perihodos uno spiritu quasi torrente contorquent. 5 Itaque Iulius Candidus non invenuste solet dicere, aliud esse eloquentiam aliud loquentiam. Nam eloquentia vix uni aut alteri, immo — si M. Antonio credimus — nemini, haec vero, quam Candidus loquentiam appellat, multis atque etiam impudentissimo cuique maxime contigit. 6 Postero die dixit pro Vareno Homullus callide acriter culte, contra Nigrinus presse graviter ornate. Censuit Acilius Rufus consul designatus inquisitionem Bithynis dandam, postulationem Vareni silentio praeteriit. 7 Haec forma negandi fuit. Cornelius Priscus consularis et accusatoribus quae petebant et reo tribuit, vicitque numero. Impetravimus rem nec lege comprehensam nec satis usitatam, iustam tamen. 8 Quare iustam, non sum epistula exsecuturus, ut desideres actionem. Nam si verum est Homericum illud:

‘tên gar aoidên mallon epikleious’ anthrôpoi,
<hê tis akouontessi neôt>atê amphipelêtai’,

providendum est mihi, ne gratiam novitatis et florem, quae oratiunculam illam vel maxime commendat, epistulae loquacitate praecerpam. Vale.

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21. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO SATURNINO SUO S.

1 Varie me affecerunt litterae tuae; nam partim laeta partim tristia continebant: laeta quod te in urbe teneri nuntiabant— ‘nollem’ inquis; sed ego volo -, praeterea quod recitaturum statim ut venissem pollicebantur; ago gratias quod exspector. 2 Triste illud, quod Iulius Valens graviter iacet; quamquam ne hoc quidem triste, si illius utilitatibus aestimetur, cuius interest quam maturissime inexplicabili morbo liberari. 3 Illud plane non triste solum verum etiam luctuosum, quod Iulius Avitus decessit dum ex quaestura redit, decessit in nave, procul a fratre amantissimo, procul a matre a sororibus 4 — nihil ista ad mortuum pertinent, sed pertinuerunt cum moreretur, pertinent ad hos qui supersunt -; iam quod in flore primo tantae indolis iuvenis exstinctus est summa consecuturus, si virtutes eius maturuissent. 5 Quo ille studiorum amore flagrabat! quantum legit, quantum etiam scripsit! quae nunc omnia cum ipso sine fructu posteritatis abierunt. 6 Sed quid ego indulgeo dolori? Cui si frenos remittas, nulla materia non maxima est. Finem epistulae faciam, ut facere possim etiam lacrimis quas epistula expressit. Vale.

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LIBER SEXTVS

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1. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

1 Quamdiu ego trans Padum tu in Piceno, minus te requirebam; postquam ego in urbe tu adhuc in Piceno, multo magis, seu quod ipsa loca in quibus esse una solemus acrius me tui commonent, seu quod desiderium absentium nihil perinde ac vicinitas acuit, quoque propius accesseris ad spem fruendi, hoc impatientius careas. 2 Quidquid in causa, eripe me huic tormento. Veni, aut ego illuc unde inconsulte properavi revertar, vel ob hoc solum, ut experiar an mihi, cum sine me Romae coeperis esse, similes his epistulas mittas. Vale.

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2. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

1 Soleo non numquam in iudiciis quaerere M. Regulum; nolo enim dicere desiderare. 2 Cur ergo quaero? Habebat studiis honorem, timebat pallebat scribebat, quamvis non posset ediscere. Illud ipsum, quod oculum modo dextrum modo sinistrum circumlinebat — dextrum si a petitore, alterum si a possessore esset acturus -, quod candidum splenium in hoc aut in illud supercilium transferebat, quod semper haruspices consulebat de actionis eventu, a nimia superstitione sed tamen et a magno studiorum honore veniebat. 3 Iam illa perquam iucunda una dicentibus, quod libera tempora petebat, quod audituros corrogabat. Quid enim iucundius quam sub alterius invidia quamdiu velis, et in alieno auditorio quasi deprehensum commode dicere?

4 Sed utcumque se habent ista, bene fecit Regulus quod est mortuus: melius, si ante. Nunc enim sane poterat sine malo publico vivere, sub eo principe sub quo nocere non poterat. 5 Ideo fas est non numquam eum quaerere. Nam, postquam obiit ille, increbruit passim et invaluit consuetudo binas vel singulas clepsydras, interdum etiam dimidias et dandi et petendi. Nam et qui dicunt, egisse malunt quam agere, et qui audiunt, finire quam iudicare. Tanta neglegentia tanta desidia, tanta denique irreverentia studiorum periculorumque est. 6 An nos sapientiores maioribus nostris, nos legibus ipsis iustiores, quae tot horas tot dies tot comperendinationes largiuntur? Hebetes illi et supra modum tardi; nos apertius dicimus, celerius intellegimus, religiosius iudicamus, quia paucioribus clepsydris praecipitamus causas quam diebus explicari solebant. 7 O Regule, qui ambitione ab omnibus obtinebas quod fidei paucissimi praestant! Equidem quotiens iudico, quod vel saepius facio quam dico, quantum quis plurimum postulat aquae do. 8 Etenim temerarium existimo divinare quam spatiosa sit causa inaudita, tempusque negotio finire cuius modum ignores, praesertim cum primam religioni suae iudex patientiam debeat, quae pars magna iustitiae est. At quaedam supervacua dicuntur. Etiam: sed satius est et haec dici quam non dici necessaria. 9 Praeterea, an sint supervacua, nisi cum audieris scire non possis. Sed de his melius coram ut de pluribus vitiis civitatis. Nam tu quoque amore communium soles emendari cupere quae iam corrigere difficile est.

10 Nunc respiciamus domos nostras. Ecquid omnia in tua recte? in mea novi nihil. Mihi autem et gratiora sunt bona quod perseverant, et leviora incommoda quod assuevi. Vale.

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3. C. PLINIUS VERO SUO S.

1 Gratias ago, quod agellum quem nutrici meae donaveram colendum suscepisti. Erat, cum donarem, centum milium nummum; postea decrescente reditu etiam pretium minuit, quod nunc te curante reparabit. 2 Tu modo memineris commendari tibi a me non arbores et terram, quamquam haec quoque, sed munusculum meum, quod esse quam fructuosissimum non illius magis interest quae accepit, quam mea qui dedi. Vale.

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4. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

1 Numquam sum magis de occupationibus meis questus, quae me non sunt passae aut proficiscentem te valetudinis causa in Campaniam prosequi aut profectam e vestigio subsequi. 2 Nunc enim praecipue simul esse cupiebam, ut oculis meis crederem quid viribus quid corpusculo apparares, ecquid denique secessus voluptates regionisque abundantiam inoffensa transmitteres. 3 Equidem etiam fortem te non sine cura desiderarem; est enim suspensum et anxium de eo quem ardentissime diligas interdum nihil scire. 4 Nunc vero me cum absentiae tum infirmitatis tuae ratio incerta et varia sollicitudine exterret. Vereor omnia, imaginor omnia, quaeque natura metuentium est, ea maxime mihi quae maxime abominor fingo. 5 Quo impensius rogo, ut timori meo cottidie singulis vel etiam binis epistulis consulas. Ero enim securior dum lego, statimque timebo cum legero. Vale.

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5. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

1 Scripseram tenuisse Varenum, ut sibi evocare testes liceret; quod pluribus aequum, quibusdam iniquum et quidem pertinaciter visum, maxime Licinio Nepoti, qui sequenti senatu, cum de rebus aliis referretur, de proximo senatus consulto disseruit finitamque causam retractavit. 2 Addidit etiam petendum a consulibus ut referrent sub exemplo legis ambitus de lege repetundarum, an placeret in futurum ad eam legem adici, ut sicut accusatoribus inquirendi testibusque denuntiandi potestas ex ea lege esset, ita reis quoque fieret. 3 Fuerunt quibus haec eius oratio ut sera et intempestiva et praepostera displiceret, quae omisso contra dicendi tempore castigaret peractum, cui potuisset occurrere. 4 Iuventius quidem Celsus praetor tamquam emendatorem senatus et multis et vehementer increpuit. Respondit Nepos rursusque Celsus; neuter contumeliis temperavit. 5 Nolo referre quae dici ab ipsis moleste tuli. Quo magis quosdam e numero nostro improbavi, qui modo ad Celsum modo ad Nepotem, prout hic vel ille diceret, cupiditate audiendi cursitabant, et nunc quasi stimularent et accenderent, nunc quasi reconciliarent ac recomponerent, frequentius singulis, ambobus interdum propitium Caesarem ut in ludicro aliquo precabantur. 6 Mihi quidem illud etiam peracerbum fuit, quod sunt alter alteri quid pararent indicati. Nam et Celsus Nepoti ex libello respondit et Celso Nepos ex pugillaribus. 7 Tanta loquacitas amicorum, ut homines iurgaturi id ipsum invicem scierint, tamquam convenisset. Vale.

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6. C. PLINIUS FUNDANO SUO S.

1 Si quando, nunc praecipue cuperem esse te Romae, et sis rogo. Opus est mihi voti laboris sollicitudinis socio. Petit honores Iulius Naso; petit cum multis, cum bonis, quos ut gloriosum sic est difficile superare. 2 Pendeo ergo et exerceor spe, afficior metu et me consularem esse non sentio; nam rursus mihi videor omnium quae decucurri candidatus. 3 Meretur hanc curam longa mei caritate. Est mihi cum illo non sane paterna amicitia — neque enim esse potuit per meam aetatem -; solebat tamen vixdum adulescentulo mihi pater eius cum magna laude monstrari. Erat non studiorum tantum verum etiam studiosorum amantissimus ac prope cotidie ad audiendos, quos tunc ego frequentabam, Quintilianum Niceten Sacerdotem ventitabat, vir alioqui clarus et gravis et qui prodesse filio memoria sui debeat. 4 Sed multi nunc in senatu quibus ignotus ille, multi quibus notus, sed non nisi viventes reverentur. Quo magis huic, omissa gloria patris in qua magnum ornamentum gratia infirma, ipsi enitendum ipsi elaborandum est. 5 Quod quidem semper, quasi provideret hoc tempus, sedulo fecit: paravit amicos, quos paraverat coluit, me certe, ut primum sibi iudicare permisit, ad amorem imitationemque delegit. 6 Dicenti mihi sollicitus assistit, assidet recitanti; primis etiam et cum maxime nascentibus opusculis meis interest, nunc solus ante cum fratre, cuius nuper amissi ego suscipere partes, ego vicem debeo implere. 7 Doleo enim et illum immatura morte indignissime raptum, et hunc optimi fratris adiumento destitutum solisque amicis relictum. 8 Quibus ex causis exigo ut venias, et suffragio meo tuum iungas. Permultum interest mea te ostentare, tecum circumire. Ea est auctoritas tua, ut putem me efficacius tecum etiam meos amicos rogaturum. 9 Abrumpe si qua te retinent: hoc tempus meum, hoc fides, hoc etiam dignitas postulat. Suscepi candidatum, et suscepisse me notum est; ego ambio, ego periclitor; in summa, si datur Nasoni quod petit, illius honor, si negatur, mea repulsa est. Vale.

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7. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

1 Scribis te absentia mea non mediocriter affici unumque habere solacium, quod pro me libellos meos teneas, saepe etiam in vestigio meo colloces. 2 Gratum est quod nos requiris, gratum quod his fomentis acquiescis; invicem ego epistulas tuas lectito atque identidem in manus quasi novas sumo. 3 Sed eo magis ad desiderium tui accendor: nam cuius litterae tantum habent suavitatis, huius sermonibus quantum dulcedinis inest! Tu tamen quam frequentissime scribe, licet hoc ita me delectet ut torqueat. Vale.

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8. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

1 Atilium Crescentem et nosti et amas. Quis enim illum spectatior paulo aut non novit aut non amat? Hunc ego non ut multi, sed artissime diligo. 2 Oppida nostra unius diei itinere dirimuntur; ipsi amare invicem, qui est flagrantissimus amor, adulescentuli coepimus. Mansit hic postea, nec refrixit iudicio sed invaluit. Sciunt qui alterutrum nostrum familiarius intuentur. Nam et ille amicitiam meam latissima praedicatione circumfert, et ego prae me fero, quantae sit mihi curae modestia quies securitas eius. 3 Quin etiam, cum insolentiam cuiusdam tribunatum plebis inituri vereretur, idque indicasset mihi, respondi: ‘ou tis emeu zôntos’. Quorsus haec? ut scias, non posse Atilium me incolumi iniuriam accipere. 4 Iterum dices ‘quorsus haec?’ Debuit ei pecuniam Valerius Varus. Huius est heres Maximus noster, quem et ipse amo, sed Konjunktivs tu. 5 Rogo ergo, exigo etiam pro iure amicitiae, cures ut Atilio meo salva sit non sors modo verum etiam usura plurium annorum. Homo est alieni abstinentissimus sui diligens; nullis quaestibus sustinetur, nullus illi nisi ex frugalitate reditus. 6 Nam studia, quibus plurimum praestat, ad voluptatem tantum et gloriam exercet. Gravis est ei vel minima iactura; quam<quam> reparare quod amiseris gravius. 7 Exime hunc illi, exime hunc mihi scrupulum: sine me suavitate eius, sine leporibus perfrui. Neque enim possum tristem videre, cuius hilaritas me tristem esse non patitur. 8 In summa nosti facetias hominis; quas velim attendas, ne in bilem et amaritudinem vertat iniuria. Quam vim habeat offensus, crede ei quam in amore habet. Non feret magnum et liberum ingenium cum contumelia damnum. 9 Verum, ut ferat ille, ego meum damnum meam contumeliam iudicabo, sed non tamquam pro mea — hoc est, gravius — irascar. Quamquam quid denuntiationibus et quasi minis ago? Quin potius, ut coeperam, rogo oro des operam, ne ille se — quod valdissime vereor — a me, ego me neglectum a te putem. Dabis autem, si hoc perinde curae est tibi quam illud mihi. Vale.

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9. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

1 Commendas mihi Iulium Nasonem candidatum. Nasonem mihi? quid si me ipsum? Fero tamen et ignosco. Eundem enim commendassem tibi, si te Romae morante ipse afuissem. 2 Habet hoc sollicitudo, quod omnia necessaria putat. Tu tamen censeo alios roges; ego precum tuarum minister adiutor particeps ero. Vale.

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10. C. PLINIUS ALBINO SUO S.

1 Cum venissem in socrus meae villam Alsiensem, quae aliquamdiu Rufi Vergini fuit, ipse mihi locus optimi illius et maximi viri desiderium non sine dolore renovavit. Hunc enim colere secessum atque etiam senectutis suae nidulum vocare consueverat. 2 Quocumque me contulissem, illum animus illum oculi requirebant. Libuit etiam monimentum eius videre, et vidisse paenituit. 3 Est enim adhuc imperfectum, nec difficultas operis in causa, modici ac potius exigui, sed inertia eius cui cura mandata est. Subit indignatio cum miseratione, post decimum mortis annum reliquias neglectumque cinerem sine titulo sine nomine iacere, cuius memoria orbem terrarum gloria pervagetur. 4 At ille mandaverat caveratque, ut divinum illud et immortale factum versibus inscriberetur:

Hic situs est Rufus, pulso qui Vindice quondam
imperium asseruit non sibi sed patriae.

5 Tam rara in amicitiis fides, tam parata oblivio mortuorum, ut ipsi nobis debeamus etiam conditoria exstruere omniaque heredum officia praesumere. 6 Nam cui non est verendum, quod videmus accidisse Verginio? cuius iniuriam ut indigniorem, sic etiam notiorem ipsius claritas facit. Vale.

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11. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 O diem laetum! Adhibitus in consilium a praefecto urbis audivi ex diverso agentes summae spei summae indolis iuvenes, Fuscum Salinatorem et Ummidium Quadratum, egregium par nec modo temporibus nostris sed litteris ipsis ornamento futurum. 2 Mira utrique probitas, constantia salva, decorus habitus, os Latinum, vox virilis, tenax memoria, magnum ingenium, iudicium aequale; quae singula mihi voluptati fuerunt, atque inter haec illud, quod et ipsi me ut rectorem, ut magistrum intuebantur, et iis qui audiebant me aemulari, meis instare vestigiis videbantur. 3 O diem — repetam enim — laetum notandumque mihi candidissimo calculo! Quid enim aut publice laetius quam clarissimos iuvenes nomen et famam ex studiis petere, aut mihi optatius quam me ad recta tendentibus quasi exemplar esse propositum? 4 Quod gaudium ut perpetuo capiam deos oro; ab isdem teste te peto, ut omnes qui me imitari tanti putabunt meliores esse quam me velint. Vale.

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12. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Tu vero non debes suspensa manu commendare mihi quos tuendos putas. Nam et te decet multis prodesse et me suscipere quidquid ad curam tuam pertinet. 2 Itaque Bittio Prisco quantum plurimum potuero praestabo, praesertim in harena mea, hoc est apud centumviros. 3 Epistularum, quas mihi ut ais ‘aperto pectore’ scripsisti, oblivisci me iubes; at ego nullarum libentius memini. Ex illis enim vel praecipue sentio, quanto opere me diligas, cum sic exegeris mecum, ut solebas cum tuo filio. 4 Nec dissimulo hoc mihi iucundiores eas fuisse, quod habebam bonam causam, cum summo studio curassem quod tu curari volebas. 5 Proinde etiam atque etiam rogo, ut mihi semper eadem simplicitate, quotiens cessare videbor— ‘videbor’ dico, numquam enim cessabo -, convicium facias, quod et ego intellegam a summo amore proficisci, et tu non meruisse me gaudeas. Vale.

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13. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

1 Umquamne vidisti quemquam tam laboriosum et exercitum quam Varenum meum? cui quod summa contentione impetraverat defendendum et quasi rursus petendum fuit. 2 Bithyni senatus consultum apud consules carpere ac labefactare sunt ausi, atque etiam absenti principi criminari; ab illo ad senatum remissi non destiterunt. Egit Claudius Capito irreverenter magis quam constanter, ut qui senatus consultum apud senatum accusaret. 3 Respondit Catius Fronto graviter et firme. Senatus ipse mirificus; nam illi quoque qui prius negarant Vareno quae petebat, eadem danda postquam erant data censuerunt; 4 singulos enim integra re dissentire fas esse, peracta quod pluribus placuisset cunctis tuendum. 5 Acilius tantum Rufus et cum eo septem an octo, septem immo, in priore sententia perseverarunt. Erant in hac paucitate non nulli, quorum temporaria gravitas vel potius gravitatis imitatio ridebatur. 6 Tu tamen aestima, quantum nos in ipsa pugna certaminis maneat, cuius quasi praelusio atque praecursio has contentiones excitavit. Vale.

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14. C. PLINIUS MAURICO SUO S.

1 Sollicitas me in Formianum. Veniam ea condicione, ne quid contra commodum tuum facias; qua pactione invicem mihi caveo. Neque enim mare et litus, sed te otium libertatem sequor: alioqui satius est in urbe remanere. 2 Oportet enim omnia aut ad alienum arbitrium aut ad suum facere. Mei certe stomachi haec natura est, ut nihil nisi totum et merum velit. Vale.

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15. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

1 Mirificae rei non interfuisti; ne ego quidem, sed me recens fabula excepit. Passennus Paulus, splendidus eques Romanus et in primis eruditus, scribit elegos. Gentilicium hoc illi: est enim municeps Properti atque etiam inter maiores suos Propertium numerat. 2 Is cum recitaret, ita coepit dicere: ‘Prisce, iubes...’. Ad hoc Iavolenus Priscus — aderat enim ut Paulo amicissimus -: ‘Ego vero non iubeo.’ Cogita qui risus hominum, qui ioci. 3 Est omnino Priscus dubiae sanitatis, interest tamen officiis, adhibetur consiliis atque etiam ius civile publice respondet: quo magis quod tunc fecit et ridiculum et notabile fuit. 4 Interim Paulo aliena deliratio aliquantum frigoris attulit. Tam sollicite recitaturis providendum est, non solum ut sint ipsi sani verum etiam ut sanos adhibeant. Vale.

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16. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

1 Petis ut tibi avunculi mei exitum scribam, quo verius tradere posteris possis. Gratias ago; nam video morti eius si celebretur a te immortalem gloriam esse propositam. 2 Quamvis enim pulcherrimarum clade terrarum, ut populi ut urbes memorabili casu, quasi semper victurus occiderit, quamvis ipse plurima opera et mansura condiderit, multum tamen perpetuitati eius scriptorum tuorum aeternitas addet. 3 Equidem beatos puto, quibus deorum munere datum est aut facere scribenda aut scribere legenda, beatissimos vero quibus utrumque. Horum in numero avunculus meus et suis libris et tuis erit. Quo libentius suscipio, deposco etiam quod iniungis.

4 Erat Miseni classemque imperio praesens regebat. Nonum Kal. Septembres hora fere septima mater mea indicat ei apparere nubem inusitata et magnitudine et specie. 5 Usus ille sole, mox frigida, gustaverat iacens studebatque; poscit soleas, ascendit locum ex quo maxime miraculum illud conspici poterat. Nubes — incertum procul intuentibus ex quo monte; Vesuvium fuisse postea cognitum est — oriebatur, cuius similitudinem et formam non alia magis arbor quam pinus expresserit. 6 Nam longissimo velut trunco elata in altum quibusdam ramis diffundebatur, credo quia recenti spiritu evecta, dein senescente eo destituta aut etiam pondere suo victa in latitudinem vanescebat, candida interdum, interdum sordida et maculosa prout terram cineremve sustulerat. 7 Magnum propiusque noscendum ut eruditissimo viro visum. Iubet liburnicam aptari; mihi si venire una vellem facit copiam; respondi studere me malle, et forte ipse quod scriberem dederat. 8 Egrediebatur domo; accipit codicillos Rectinae Tasci imminenti periculo exterritae — nam villa eius subiacebat, nec ulla nisi navibus fuga -: ut se tanto discrimini eriperet orabat. 9 Vertit ille consilium et quod studioso animo incohaverat obit maximo. Deducit quadriremes, ascendit ipse non Rectinae modo sed multis — erat enim frequens amoenitas orae — laturus auxilium. 10 Properat illuc unde alii fugiunt, rectumque cursum recta gubernacula in periculum tenet adeo solutus metu, ut omnes illius mali motus omnes figuras ut deprenderat oculis dictaret enotaretque.

11 Iam navibus cinis incidebat, quo propius accederent, calidior et densior; iam pumices etiam nigrique et ambusti et fracti igne lapides; iam vadum subitum ruinaque montis litora obstantia. Cunctatus paulum an retro flecteret, mox gubernatori ut ita faceret monenti ‘Fortes’ inquit ‘fortuna iuvat: Pomponianum pete.’ 12 Stabiis erat diremptus sinu medio — nam sensim circumactis curvatisque litoribus mare infunditur -; ibi quamquam nondum periculo appropinquante, conspicuo tamen et cum cresceret proximo, sarcinas contulerat in naves, certus fugae si contrarius ventus resedisset. Quo tunc avunculus meus secundissimo invectus, complectitur trepidantem consolatur hortatur, utque timorem eius sua securitate leniret, deferri in balineum iubet; lotus accubat cenat, aut hilaris aut — quod aeque magnum — similis hilari. 13 Interim e Vesuvio monte pluribus locis latissimae flammae altaque incendia relucebant, quorum fulgor et claritas tenebris noctis excitabatur. Ille agrestium trepidatione ignes relictos desertasque villas per solitudinem ardere in remedium formidinis dictitabat. Tum se quieti dedit et quievit verissimo quidem somno; nam meatus animae, qui illi propter amplitudinem corporis gravior et sonantior erat, ab iis qui limini obversabantur audiebatur. 14 Sed area ex qua diaeta adibatur ita iam cinere mixtisque pumicibus oppleta surrexerat, ut si longior in cubiculo mora, exitus negaretur. Excitatus procedit, seque Pomponiano ceterisque qui pervigilaverant reddit. 15 In commune consultant, intra tecta subsistant an in aperto vagentur. Nam crebris vastisque tremoribus tecta nutabant, et quasi emota sedibus suis nunc huc nunc illuc abire aut referri videbantur. 16 Sub dio rursus quamquam levium exesorumque pumicum casus metuebatur, quod tamen periculorum collatio elegit; et apud illum quidem ratio rationem, apud alios timorem timor vicit. Cervicalia capitibus imposita linteis constringunt; id munimentum adversus incidentia fuit. 17 Iam dies alibi, illic nox omnibus noctibus nigrior densiorque; quam tamen faces multae variaque lumina solvebant. Placuit egredi in litus, et ex proximo adspicere, ecquid iam mare admitteret; quod adhuc vastum et adversum permanebat. 18 Ibi super abiectum linteum recubans semel atque iterum frigidam aquam poposcit hausitque. Deinde flammae flammarumque praenuntius odor sulpuris alios in fugam vertunt, excitant illum. 19 Innitens servolis duobus assurrexit et statim concidit, ut ego colligo, crassiore caligine spiritu obstructo, clausoque stomacho qui illi natura invalidus et angustus et frequenter aestuans erat. 20 Ubi dies redditus — is ab eo quem novissime viderat tertius -, corpus inventum integrum illaesum opertumque ut fuerat indutus: habitus corporis quiescenti quam defuncto similior.

21 Interim Miseni ego et mater — sed nihil ad historiam, nec tu aliud quam de exitu eius scire voluisti. Finem ergo faciam. 22 Unum adiciam, omnia me quibus interfueram quaeque statim, cum maxime vera memorantur, audieram, persecutum. Tu potissima excerpes; aliud est enim epistulam aliud historiam, aliud amico aliud omnibus scribere. Vale.

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17. C. PLINIUS RESTITUTO SUO S.

1 Indignatiunculam, quam in cuiusdam amici auditorio cepi, non possum mihi temperare quo minus apud te, quia non contigit coram, per epistulam effundam. Recitabatur liber absolutissimus. 2 Hunc duo aut tres, ut sibi et paucis videntur, diserti surdis mutisque similes audiebant. Non labra diduxerunt, non moverunt manum, non denique assurrexerunt saltem lassitudine sedendi. 3 Quae tanta gravitas? quae tanta sapientia? quae immo pigritia arrogantia sinisteritas ac potius amentia, in hoc totum diem impendere ut offendas, ut inimicum relinquas ad quem tamquam amicissimum veneris? Disertior ipse es? 4 Tanto magis ne invideris; nam qui invidet minor est. Denique sive plus sive minus sive idem praestas, lauda vel inferiorem vel superiorem vel parem: superiorem quia nisi laudandus ille non potes ipse laudari, inferiorem aut parem quia pertinet ad tuam gloriam quam maximum videri, quem praecedis vel exaequas. 5 Equidem omnes qui aliquid in studiis faciunt venerari etiam mirarique soleo; est enim res difficilis ardua fastidiosa, et quae cos a quibus contemnitur invicem contemnat. Nisi forte aliud iudicas tu. Quamquam quis uno te reverentior huius operis, quis benignior aestimator? 6 Qua ratione ductus tibi potissimum indignationem meam prodidi, quem habere socium maxime poteram. Vale.

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18. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

1 Rogas ut agam Firmanorum publicam causam; quod ego quamquam plurimis occupationibus distentus adnitar. Cupio enim et ornatissimam coloniam advocationis officio, et te gratissimo tibi munere obstringere. 2 Nam cum familiaritatem nostram, ut soles praedicare, ad praesidium ornamentumque tibi sumpseris, nihil est quod negare debeam, praesertim pro patria petenti. Quid enim precibus aut honestius piis aut efficacius amantis? 3 Proinde Firmanis tuis ac iam potius nostris obliga fidem meam; quos labore et studio meo dignos cum splendor ipsorum tum hoc maxime pollicetur, quod credibile est optimos esse inter quos tu talis exstiteris. Vale.

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19. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

1 Scis tu accessisse pretium agris, praecipue suburbanis? Causa subitae caritatis res multis agitata sermonibus. Proximis comitiis honestissimas voces senatus expressit: ‘Candidati ne conviventur, ne mittant munera, ne pecunias deponant.’ 2 Ex quibus duo priora tam aperte quam immodice fiebant; hoc tertium, quamquam occultaretur, pro comperto habebatur. 3 Homullus deinde noster vigilanter usus hoc consensu senatus sententiae loco postulavit, ut consules desiderium universorum notum principi facerent, peterentque sicut aliis vitiis huic quoque providentia sua occurreret. 4 Occurrit; nam sumptus candidatorum, foedos illos et infames, ambitus lege restrinxit; eosdem patrimonii tertiam partem conferre iussit in ea quae solo continerentur, deforme arbitratus — et erat — honorem petituros urbem Italiamque non pro patria sed pro hospitio aut stabulo quasi peregrinantes habere. 5 Concursant ergo candidati; certatim quidquid venale audiunt emptitant, quoque sint plura venalia efficiunt. 6 Proinde si paenitet te Italicorum praediorum, hoc vendendi tempus tam hercule quam in provinciis comparandi, dum idem candidati illic vendunt ut hic emant. Vale.

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20. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

1 Ais te adductum litteris quas exigenti tibi de morte avunculi mei scripsi, cupere cognoscere, quos ego Miseni relictus — id enim ingressus abruperam — non solum metus verum etiam casus pertulerim.

‘Quamquam animus meminisse horret, ...
incipiam.’

2 Profecto avunculo ipse reliquum tempus studiis — ideo enim remanseram — impendi; mox balineum cena somnus inquietus et brevis. 3 Praecesserat per multos dies tremor terrae, minus formidolosus quia Campaniae solitus; illa vero nocte ita invaluit, ut non moveri omnia sed verti crederentur. 4 Irrupit cubiculum meum mater; surgebam invicem, si quiesceret excitaturus. Resedimus in area domus, quae mare a tectis modico spatio dividebat. 5 Dubito, constantiam vocare an imprudentiam debeam — agebam enim duodevicensimum annum -: posco librum Titi Livi, et quasi per otium lego atque etiam ut coeperam excerpo. Ecce amicus avunculi qui nuper ad eum ex Hispania venerat, ut me et matrem sedentes, me vero etiam legentem videt, illius patientiam securitatem meam corripit. Nihilo segnius ego intentus in librum.

6 Iam hora diei prima, et adhuc dubius et quasi languidus dies. Iam quassatis circumiacentibus tectis, quamquam in aperto loco, angusto tamen, magnus et certus ruinae metus. 7 Tum demum excedere oppido visum; sequitur vulgus attonitum, quodque in pavore simile prudentiae, alienum consilium suo praefert, ingentique agmine abeuntes premit et impellit. 8 Egressi tecta consistimus. Multa ibi miranda, multas formidines patimur. Nam vehicula quae produci iusseramus, quamquam in planissimo campo, in contrarias partes agebantur, ac ne lapidibus quidem fulta in eodem vestigio quiescebant. 9 Praeterea mare in se resorberi et tremore terrae quasi repelli videbamus. Certe processerat litus, multaque animalia maris siccis harenis detinebat. Ab altero latere nubes atra et horrenda, ignei spiritus tortis vibratisque discursibus rupta, in longas flammarum figuras dehiscebat; fulguribus illae et similes et maiores erant. 10 Tum vero idem ille ex Hispania amicus acrius et instantius ‘Si frater’ inquit ‘tuus, tuus avunculus vivit, vult esse vos salvos; si periit, superstites voluit. Proinde quid cessatis evadere?’ Respondimus non commissuros nos ut de salute illius incerti nostrae consuleremus. 11 Non moratus ultra proripit se effusoque cursu periculo aufertur. Nec multo post illa nubes descendere in terras, operire maria; cinxerat Capreas et absconderat, Miseni quod procurrit abstulerat. 12 Tum mater orare hortari iubere, quoquo modo fugerem; posse enim iuvenem, se et annis et corpore gravem bene morituram, si mihi causa mortis non fuisset. Ego contra salvum me nisi una non futurum; dein manum eius amplexus addere gradum cogo. Paret aegre incusatque se, quod me moretur.

13 Iam cinis, adhuc tamen rarus. Respicio: densa caligo tergis imminebat, quae nos torrentis modo infusa terrae sequebatur. ‘Deflectamus’ inquam ‘dum videmus, ne in via strati comitantium turba in tenebris obteramur.’ 14 Vix consideramus, et nox — non qualis illunis aut nubila, sed qualis in locis clausis lumine exstincto. Audires ululatus feminarum, infantum quiritatus, clamores virorum; alii parentes alii liberos alii coniuges vocibus requirebant, vocibus noscitabant; hi suum casum, illi suorum miserabantur; erant qui metu mortis mortem precarentur; 15 multi ad deos manus tollere, plures nusquam iam deos ullos aeternamque illam et novissimam noctem mundo interpretabantur. Nec defuerunt qui fictis mentitisque terroribus vera pericula augerent. Aderant qui Miseni illud ruisse illud ardere falso sed credentibus nuntiabant. 16 Paulum reluxit, quod non dies nobis, sed adventantis ignis indicium videbatur. Et ignis quidem longius substitit; tenebrae rursus cinis rursus, multus et gravis. Hunc identidem assurgentes excutiebamus; operti alioqui atque etiam oblisi pondere essemus. 17 Possem gloriari non gemitum mihi, non vocem parum fortem in tantis periculis excidisse, nisi me cum omnibus, omnia mecum perire misero, magno tamen mortalitatis solacio credidissem.

18 Tandem illa caligo tenuata quasi in fumum nebulamve discessit; mox dies verus; sol etiam effulsit, luridus tamen qualis esse cum deficit solet. Occursabant trepidantibus adhuc oculis mutata omnia altoque cinere tamquam nive obducta. 19 Regressi Misenum curatis utcumque corporibus suspensam dubiamque noctem spe ac metu exegimus. Metus praevalebat; nam et tremor terrae perseverabat, et plerique lymphati terrificis vaticinationibus et sua et aliena mala ludificabantur.

20 Nobis tamen ne tunc quidem, quamquam et expertis periculum et exspectantibus, abeundi consilium, donec de avunculo nuntius.

Haec nequaquam historia digna non scripturus leges et tibi scilicet qui requisisti imputabis, si digna ne epistula quidem videbuntur. Vale.

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21. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

1 Sum ex iis qui mirer antiquos, non tamen — ut quidam — temporum nostrorum ingenia despicio. Neque enim quasi lassa et effeta natura nihil iam laudabile parit. 2 Atque adeo nuper audivi Vergilium Romanum paucis legentem comoediam ad exemplar veteris comoediae scriptam, tam bene ut esse quandoque possit exemplar. 3 Nescio an noris hominem, quamquam nosse debes; est enim probitate morum, ingenii elegantia, operum varietate monstrabilis. 4 Scripsit mimiambos tenuiter argute venuste, atque in hoc genere eloquentissime; nullum est enim genus quod absolutum non possit eloquentissimum dici. Scripsit comoedias Menandrum aliosque aetatis eiusdem aemulatus; licet has inter Plautinas Terentianasque numeres. 5 Nunc primum se in vetere comoedia, sed non tamquam inciperet ostendit. Non illi vis, non granditas, non subtilitas, non amaritudo, non dulcedo, non lepos defuit: ornavit virtutes, insectatus est vitia; fictis nominibus decenter, veris usus est apte. 6 Circa me tantum benignitate nimia modum excessit, nisi quod tamen poetis mentiri licet. 7 In summa extorquebo ei librum legendumque, immo ediscendum mittam tibi; neque enim dubito futurum, ut non deponas si semel sumpseris. Vale.

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22. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

1 Magna res acta est omnium qui sunt provinciis praefuturi, magna omnium qui se simpliciter credunt amicis. 2 Lustricius Bruttianus cum Montanium Atticinum comitem suum in multis flagitiis deprehendisset, Caesari scripsit. Atticinus flagitiis addidit, ut quem deceperat accusaret. Recepta cognitio est; fui in consilio. Egit uterque pro se, egit autem carptim et ‘kata kephalaion’, quo genere veritas statim ostenditur. 3 Protulit Bruttianus testamentum suum, quod Atticini manu scriptum esse dicebat; hoc enim et arcana familiaritas et querendi de eo, quem sic amasset, necessitas indicabatur. 4 Enumeravit crimina foeda manifesta; quae ille cum diluere non posset, ita regessit, ut dum defenditur turpis, dum accusat sceleratus probaretur. Corrupto enim scribae servo interceperat commentarios intercideratque, ac per summum nefas utebatur adversus amicum crimine suo. 5 Fecit pulcherrime Caesar: non enim de Bruttiano, sed statim de Atticino perrogavit. Damnatus et in insulam relegatus; Bruttiano iustissimum integritatis testimonium redditum, quem quidem etiam constantiae gloria secuta est. 6 Nam defensus expeditissime accusavit vehementer, nec minus acer quam bonus et sincerus apparuit. 7 Quod tibi scripsi, ut te sortitum provinciam praemonerem, plurimum tibi credas, nec cuiquam satis fidas, deinde scias si quis forte te — quod abominor — fallat, paratam ultionem. Qua tamen ne sit opus, etiam atque etiam attende; 8 neque enim tam iucundum est vindicari quam decipi miserum. Vale.

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13. C. PLINIUS TRIARIO SUO S.

1 Impense petis ut agam causam pertinentem ad curam tuam, pulchram alioqui et famosam. Faciam, sed non gratis. ‘Qui fieri potest’ inquis ‘ut non gratis tu?’ Potest: exigam enim mercedem honestiorem gratuito patrocinio. 2 Peto atque etiam paciscor ut simul agat Cremutius Ruso. Solitum hoc mihi et iam in pluribus claris adulescentibus factitatum; nam mire concupisco bonos iuvenes ostendere foro, assignare famae. 3 Quod si cui, praestare Rusoni meo debeo, vel propter natales ipsius vel propter eximiam mei caritatem; quem magni aestimo in isdem iudiciis, ex isdem etiam partibus conspici audiri. 4 Obliga me, obliga ante quam dicat; nam cum dixerit gratias ages. Spondeo sollicitudini tuae, spei meae, magnitudini causae suffecturum. Est indolis optimae brevi producturus alios, si interim provectus fuerit a nobis. 5 Neque enim cuiquam tam clarum statim ingenium ut possit emergere, nisi illi materia occasio, fautor etiam commendatorque contingat. Vale.

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24. C. PLINIUS MACRO SUO S.

1 Quam multum interest quid a quoque fiat! Eadem enim facta claritate vel obscuritate facientium aut tolluntur altissime aut humillime deprimuntur. 2 Navigabam per Larium nostrum, cum senior amicus ostendit mihi villam, atque etiam cubiculum quod in lacum prominet: ‘Ex hoc’ inquit ‘aliquando municeps nostra cum marito se praecipitavit.’ 3 Causam requisivi. Maritus ex diutino morbo circa velanda corporis ulceribus putrescebat; uxor ut inspiceret exegit; neque enim quemquam fidelius indicaturum, possetne sanari. 4 Vidit desperavit hortata est ut moreretur, comesque ipsa mortis, dux immo et exemplum et necessitas fuit; nam se cum marito ligavit abiecitque in lacum. 5 Quod factum ne mihi quidem, qui municeps, nisi proxime auditum est, non quia minus illo clarissimo Arriae facto, sed quia minor ipsa. Vale.

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25. C. PLINIUS HISPANO SUO S.

1 Scribis Robustum, splendidum equitem Romanum, cum Atilio Scauro amico meo Ocriculum usque commune iter peregisse, deinde nusquam comparuisse; petis ut Scaurus veniat nosque, si potest, in aliqua inquisitionis vestigia inducat. 2 Veniet; vereor ne frustra. Suspicor enim tale nescio quid Robusto accidisse quale aliquando Metilio Crispo municipi meo. 3 Huic ego ordinem impetraveram atque etiam proficiscenti quadraginta milia nummum ad instruendum se ornandumque donaveram, nec postea aut epistulas eius aut aliquem de exitu nuntium accepi. 4 Interceptusne sit a suis an cum suis dubium: certe non ipse, non quisquam ex servis eius apparuit, ut ne Robusti quidem. 5 Experiamur tamen, accersamus Scaurum; demus hoc tuis, demus optimi adulescentis honestissimis precibus, qui pietate mira mira etiam sagacitate patrem quaerit. Di faveant ut sic inveniat ipsum, quemadmodum iam cum quo fuisset invenit! Vale.

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26. C. PLINIUS SERVIANO SUO S.

1 Gaudeo et gratulor, quod Fusco Salinatori filiam tuam destinasti. Domus patricia, pater honestissimus, mater pari laude; ipse studiosus litteratus etiam disertus, puer simplicitate comitate iuvenis senex gravitate. Neque enim amore decipior. 2 Amo quidem effuse — ita officiis ita reverentia meruit -, iudico tamen, et quidem tanto acrius quanto magis amo; tibique ut qui exploraverim spondeo, habiturum te generum quo melior fingi ne voto quidem potuit. 3 Superest ut avum te quam maturissime similium sui faciat. Quam felix tempus illud, quo mihi liberos illius nepotes tuos, ut meos vel liberos vel nepotes, ex vestro sinu sumere et quasi pari iure tenere continget! Vale.

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27. C. PLINIUS SEVERO SUO S.

1 Rogas ut cogitem, quid designatus consul in honorem principis censeas. Facilis inventio, non facilis electio; est enim ex virtutibus eius larga materia. Scribam tamen vel — quod malo — coram indicabo, si prius haesitationem meam ostendero. 2 Dubito num idem tibi suadere quod mihi debeam. Designatus ego consul omni hac, etsi non adulatione, specie tamen adulationis abstinui, non tamquam liber et constans, sed tamquam intellegens principis nostri, cuius videbam hanc esse praecipuam laudem, si nihil quasi ex necessitate decernerem. 3 Recordabar etiam plurimos honores pessimo cuique delatos, quibus hic optimus separari non alio magis poterat, quam diversitate censendi; quod ipsum non dissimulatione et silentio praeterii, ne forte non iudicium illud meum sed oblivio videretur. 4 Hoc tunc ego; sed non omnibus eadem placent, ne conveniunt quidem. Praeterea faciendi aliquid non faciendive ratio cum hominum ipsorum tum rerum etiam ac temporum condicione mutatur. 5 Nam recentia opera maximi principis praebent facultatem, nova magna vera censendi. Quibus ex causis, ut supra scripsi, dubito an idem nunc tibi quod tunc mihi suadeam. Illud non dubito, debuisse me in parte consilii tui ponere, quid ipse fecissem. Vale.

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28. C. PLINIUS PONTIO SUO S.

1 Scio quae tibi causa fuerit impedimento, quominus praecurrere adventum meum in Campaniam posses. Sed quamquam absens totus huc migrasti: tantum mihi copiarum qua urbanarum qua rusticarum nomine tuo oblatum est, quas omnes improbe, accepi tamen. 2 Nam me tui ut ita facerem rogabant, et verebar ne et mihi et illis irascereris, si non fecissem. In posterum nisi adhibueritis modum ego adhibebo; et iam tuis denuntiavi, si rursus tam multa attulissent, omnia relaturos. 3 Dices oportere me tuis rebus ut meis uti. Etiam: sed perinde illis ac meis parco. Vale.

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29. C. PLINIUS QUADRATO SUO S.

1 Avidius Quietus, qui me unice dilexit et — quo non minus gaudeo — probavit, ut multa alia Thraseae — fuit enim familiaris — ita hoc saepe referebat, praecipere solitum suscipiendas esse causas aut amicorum aut destitutas aut ad exemplum pertinentes. 2 Cur amicorum, non eget interpretatione. Cur destitutas? quod in illis maxime et constantia agentis et humanitas cerneretur. Cur pertinentes ad exemplum? quia plurimum referret, bonum an malum induceretur. 3 Ad haec ego genera causarum ambitiose fortasse, addam tamen claras et illustres. Aequum est enim agere non numquam gloriae et famae, id est suam causam. Hos terminos, quia me consuluisti, dignitati ac verecundiae tuae statuo. 4 Nec me praeterit usum et esse et haberi optimum dicendi magistrum; video etiam multos parvo ingenio litteris nullis, ut bene agerent agendo consecutos. 5 Sed et illud, quod vel Pollionis vel tamquam Pollionis accepi, verissimum experior: ‘Commode agendo factum est ut saepe agerem, saepe agendo ut minus commode’, quia scilicet assiduitate nimia facilitas magis quam facultas, nec fiducia sed temeritas paratur. 6 Nec vero Isocrati quo minus haberetur summus orator offecit, quod infirmitate vocis mollitia frontis ne in publico diceret impediebatur. Proinde multum lege scribe meditare, ut possis cum voles dicere: dices cum velle debebis. 7 Hoc fere temperamentum ipse servavi; non numquam necessitati quae pars rationis est parui. Egi enim quasdam a senatu iussus, quo tamen in numero fuerunt ex illa Thraseae divisione, hoc est ad exemplum pertinentes. 8 Adfui Baeticis contra Baebium Massam: quaesitum est, an danda esset inquisitio; data est. Adfui rursus isdem querentibus de Caecilio Classico: quaesitum est, an provinciales ut socios ministrosque proconsulis plecti oporteret; poenas luerunt. 9 Accusavi Marium Priscum, qui lege repetundarum damnatus utebatur clementia legis, cuius severitatem immanitate criminum excesserat; relegatus est. 10 Tuitus sum Iulium Bassum, ut incustoditum nimis et incautum, ita minime malum; iudicibus acceptis in senatu remansit. 11 Dixi proxime pro Vareno postulante, ut sibi invicem evocare testes liceret; impetratum est. In posterum opto ut ea potissimum iubear, quae me deceat vel sponte fecisse. Vale.

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30. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Debemus mehercule natales tuos perinde ac nostros celebrare, cum laetitia nostrorum ex tuis pendeat, cuius diligentia et cura hic hilares istic securi sumus. 2 Villa Camilliana, quam in Campania possides, est quidem vetustate vexata; et tamen, quae sunt pretiosiora, aut integra manent aut levissime laesa sunt. 3 Attendimus ergo, ut quam saluberrime reficiantur. Ego videor habere multos amicos, sed huius generis, cuius et tu quaeris et res exigit, prope neminem. 4 Sunt enim omnes togati et urbani; rusticorum autem praediorum administratio poscit durum aliquem et agrestem, cui nec labor ille gravis nec cura sordida nec tristis solitudo videatur. 5 Tu de Rufo honestissime cogitas; fuit enim filio tuo familiaris. Quid tamen nobis ibi praestare possit ignoro, velle plurimum credo. Vale.

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31. C. PLINIUS CORNELIANO SUO S.

1 Evocatus in consilium a Caesare nostro ad Centum Cellas — hoc loco nomen -, magnam cepi voluptatem. 2 Quid enim iucundius quam principis iustitiam gravitatem comitatem in secessu quoque ubi maxime recluduntur inspicere? Fuerunt variae cognitiones et quae virtutes iudicis per plures species experirentur. 3 Dixit causam Claudius Ariston princeps Ephesiorum, homo munificus et innoxie popularis; inde invidia et a dissimillimis delator immissus, itaque absolutus vindicatusque est.

4 Sequenti die audita est Gallitta adulterii rea. Nupta haec tribuno militum honores petituro, et suam et mariti dignitatem centurionis amore maculaverat. Maritus legato consulari, ille Caesari scripserat. 5 Caesar excussis probationibus centurionem exauctoravit atque etiam relegavit. Supererat crimini, quod nisi duorum esse non poterat, reliqua pars ultionis; sed maritum non sine aliqua reprehensione patientiae amor uxoris retardabat, quam quidem etiam post delatum adulterium domi habuerat quasi contentus aemulum removisse. 6 Admonitus ut perageret accusationem, peregit invitus. Sed illam damnari etiam invito accusatore necesse erat: damnata et Iuliae legis poenis relicta est. Caesar et nomen centurionis et commemorationem disciplinae militaris sententiae adiecit, ne omnes eius modi causas revocare ad se videretur.

7 Tertio die inducta cognitio est multis sermonibus et vario rumore iactata, Iuli Tironis codicilli, quos ex parte veros esse constabat, ex parte falsi dicebantur. 8 Substituebantur crimini Sempronius Senecio eques Romanus et Eurythmus Caesaris libertus et procurator. Heredes, cum Caesar esset in Dacia, communiter epistula scripta, petierant ut susciperet cognitionem. 9 Susceperat; reversus diem dederat, et cum ex heredibus quidam quasi reverentia Eurythmi omitterent accusationem, pulcherrime dixerat: ‘Nec ille Polyclitus est nec ego Nero.’ Indulserat tamen petentibus dilationem, cuius tempore exacto consederat auditurus. 10 A parte heredum intraverunt duo omnino; postulaverunt, omnes heredes agere cogerentur, cum detulissent omnes, aut sibi quoque desistere permitteretur. 11 Locutus est Caesar summa gravitate summa moderatione, cumque advocatus Senecionis et Eurythmi dixisset suspicionibus relinqui reos, nisi audirentur, ‘Non curo’ inquit ‘an isti suspicionibus relinquantur, ego relinquor.’ 12 Dein conversus ad nos: ÎÎEpistêsate’ quid facere debeamus; isti enim queri volunt quod sibi licuerit non accusari.’ Tum ex consilii sententia iussit denuntiari heredibus omnibus, aut agerent aut singuli approbarent causas non agendi; alioqui se vel de calumnia pronuntiaturum.

13 Vides quam honesti, quam severi dies; quos iucundissimae remissiones sequebantur. Adhibebamur cotidie cenae; erat modica, si principem cogitares. Interdum acroamata audiebamus, interdum iucundissimis sermonibus nox ducebatur. 14 Summo die abeuntibus nobis — tam diligens in Caesare humanitas — xenia sunt missa. Sed mihi ut gravitas cognitionum, consilii honor, suavitas simplicitasque convictus, ita locus ipse periucundus fuit. 15 Villa pulcherrima cingitur viridissimis agris, imminet litori, cuius in sinu fit cum maxime portus. Huius sinistrum brachium firmissimo opere munitum est, dextrum elaboratur. 16 In ore portus insula assurgit, quae illatum vento mare obiacens frangat, tutumque ab utroque latere decursum navibus praestet. Assurgit autem arte visenda: ingentia saxa latissima navis provehit contra; haec alia super alia deiecta ipso pondere manent ac sensim quodam velut aggere construuntur. 17 Eminet iam et apparet saxeum dorsum impactosque fluctus in immensum elidit et tollit; vastus illic fragor canumque circa mare. Saxis deinde pilae adicientur quae procedente tempore enatam insulam imitentur. Habebit hic portus, et iam habet nomen auctoris, eritque vel maxime salutaris; nam per longissimum spatium litus importuosum hoc receptaculo utetur. Vale.

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32. C. PLINIUS QUINTILIANO SUO S.

1 Quamvis et ipse sis continentissimus, et filiam tuam ita institueris ut decebat tuam filiam, Tutili neptem, cum tamen sit nuptura honestissimo viro Nonio Celeri, cui ratio civilium officiorum necessitatem quandam nitoris imponit, debet secundum condicionem mariti <uti> veste comitatu, quibus non quidem augetur dignitas, ornatur tamen et instruitur. 2 Te porro animo beatissimum, modicum facultatibus scio. Itaque partem oneris tui mihi vindico, et tamquam parens alter puellae nostrae confero quinquaginta milia nummum plus collaturus, nisi a verecundia tua sola mediocritate munusculi impetrari posse confiderem, ne recusares. Vale.

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33. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

1 ‘Tollite cuncta’ inquit ‘coeptosque auferte labores!’ Seu scribis aliquid seu legis, tolli auferri iube et accipe orationem meam ut illa arma divinam — num superbius potui? -, re vera ut inter meas pulchram; nam mihi satis est certare mecum. 2 Est haec pro Attia Viriola, et dignitate personae et exempli raritate et iudicii magnitudine insignis. Nam femina splendide nata, nupta praetorio viro, exheredata ab octogenario patre intra undecim dies quam illi novercam amore captus induxerat, quadruplici iudicio bona paterna repetebat. 3 Sedebant centum et octoginta iudices — tot enim quattuor consiliis colliguntur -, ingens utrimque advocatio et numerosa subsellia, praeterea densa circumstantium corona latissimum iudicium multiplici circulo ambibat. 4 Ad hoc stipatum tribunal, atque etiam ex superiore basilicae parte qua feminae qua viri et audiendi — quod difficile — et — quod facile — visendi studio imminebant. Magna exspectatio patrum, magna filiarum, magna etiam novercarum. 5 Secutus est varius eventus; nam duobus consiliis vicimus, totidem victi sumus. Notabilis prorsus et mira eadem in causa, isdem iudicibus, isdem advocatis, eodem tempore tanta diversitas. 6 Accidit casu, quod non casus videretur: victa est noverca, ipsa heres ex parte sexta, victus Suburanus, qui exheredatus a patre singulari impudentia alieni patris bona vindicabat, non ausus sui petere.

7 Haec tibi exposui, primum ut ex epistula scires, quae ex oratione non poteras, deinde — nam detegam artes — ut orationem libentius legeres, si non legere tibi sed interesse iudicio videreris; quam, sit licet magna, non despero gratiam brevissimae impetraturam. 8 Nam et copia rerum et arguta divisione et narratiunculis pluribus et eloquendi varietate renovatur. Sunt multa — non auderem nisi tibi dicere — elata, multa pugnacia, multa subtilia. 9 Intervenit enim acribus illis et erectis frequens necessitas computandi ac paene calculos tabulamque poscendi, ut repente in privati iudicii formam centumvirale vertatur. 10 Dedimus vela indignationi, dedimus irae, dedimus dolori, et in amplissima causa quasi magno mari pluribus ventis sumus vecti. 11 In summa solent quidam ex contubernalibus nostris existimare hanc orationem — iterum dicam — ut inter meas ‘hyper Ktêsiphôntos’ esse: an vere, tu facillime iudicabis, qui tam memoriter tenes omnes, ut conferre cum hac dum hanc solam legis possis. Vale.

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34. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Recte fecisti quod gladiatorium munus Veronensibus nostris promisisti, a quibus olim amaris suspiceris ornaris. Inde etiam uxorem carissimam tibi et probatissimam habuisti, cuius memoriae aut opus aliquod aut spectaculum atque hoc potissimum, quod maxime funeri, debebatur. 2 Praeterea tanto consensu rogabaris, ut negare non constans, sed durum videretur. Illud quoque egregie, quod tam facilis tam liberalis in edendo fuisti; nam per haec etiam magnus animus ostenditur. 3 Vellem Africanae, quas coemeras plurimas, ad praefinitum diem occurrissent: sed licet cessaverint illae tempestate detentae, tu tamen meruisti ut acceptum tibi fieret, quod quo minus exhiberes, non per te stetit. Vale.

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LIBER SEPTIMVS

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1. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

1 Terret me haec tua tam pertinax valetudo, et quamquam te temperantissimum noverim, vereor tamen ne quid illi etiam in mores tuos liceat. 2 Proinde moneo patienter resistas: hoc laudabile hoc salutare. Admittit humana natura quod suadeo. 3 Ipse certe sic agere sanus cum meis soleo: ‘Spero quidem, si forte in adversam valetudinem incidero, nihil me desideraturum vel pudore vel paenitentia dignum; si tamen superaverit morbus, denuntio ne quid mihi detis, nisi permittentibus medicis, sciatisque si dederitis ita vindicaturum, ut solent alii quae negantur.’ 4 Quin etiam cum perustus ardentissima febre, tandem remissus unctusque, acciperem a medico potionem, porrexi manum utque tangeret dixi, admotumque iam labris poculum reddidi. 5 Postea cum vicensimo valetudinis die balineo praepararer, mussantesque medicos repente vidissem, causam requisivi. Responderunt posse me tuto lavari, non tamen omnino sine aliqua suspicione. 6 ‘Quid’ inquam ‘necesse est?’ atque ita spe balinei, cui iam videbar inferri, placide leniterque dimissa, ad abstinentiam rursus, non secus ac modo ad balineum, animum vultumque composui. 7 Quae tibi scripsi, primum ut te non sine exemplo monerem, deinde ut in posterum ipse ad eandem temperantiam astringerer, cum me hac epistula quasi pignore obligavissem. Vale.

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2. C. PLINIUS IUSTO SUO S.

1 Quemadmodum congruit, ut simul et affirmes te assiduis occupationibus impediri, et scripta nostra desideres, quae vix ab otiosis impetrare aliquid perituri temporis possunt? 2 Patiar ergo aestatem inquietam vobis exercitamque transcurrere, et hieme demum, cum credibile erit noctibus saltem vacare te posse, quaeram quid potissimum ex nugis meis tibi exhibeam. 3 Interim abunde est si epistulae non sunt molestae; sunt autem et ideo breviores erunt. Vale.

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3. C. PLINIUS PRAESENTI SUO S.

1 Tantane perseverantia tu modo in Lucania, modo in Campania? ‘Ipse enim’ inquis ‘Lucanus, uxor Campana.’ 2 Iusta causa longioris absentiae, non perpetuae tamen. Quin ergo aliquando in urbem redis? ubi dignitas honor amicitiae tam superiores quam minores. Quousque regnabis? quousque vigilabis cum voles, dormies quamdiu voles? quousque calcei nusquam, toga feriata, liber totus dies? 3 Tempus est te revisere molestias nostras, vel ob hoc solum ne voluptates istae satietate languescant. Saluta paulisper, quo sit tibi iucundius salutari; terere in hac turba, ut te solitudo delectet. 4 Sed quid imprudens quem evocare conor retardo? Fortasse enim his ipsis admoneris, ut te magis ac magis otio involvas; quod ego non abrumpi sed intermitti volo. 5 Ut enim, si cenam tibi facerem, dulcibus cibis acres acutosque miscerem, ut obtusus illis et oblitus stomachus his excitaretur, ita nunc hortor ut iucundissimum genus vitae non nullis interdum quasi acoribus condias. Vale.

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4. C. PLINIUS PONTIO SUO S.

1 Ais legisse te hendecasyllabos meos; requiris etiam quemadmodum coeperim scribere, homo ut tibi videor severus, ut ipse fateor non ineptus. 2 Numquam a poetice — altius enim repetam — alienus fui; quin etiam quattuordecim natus annos Graecam tragoediam scripsi. ‘Qualem?’ inquis. Nescio; tragoedia vocabatur. 3 Mox, cum e militia rediens in Icaria insula ventis detinerer, Latinos elegos in illud ipsum mare ipsamque insulam feci. Expertus sum me aliquando et heroo, hendecasyllabis nunc primum, quorum hic natalis haec causa est. Legebantur in Laurentino mihi libri Asini Galli de comparatione patris et Ciceronis. Incidit epigramma Ciceronis in Tironem suum. 4 Dein cum meridie — erat enim aestas — dormiturus me recepissem, nec obreperet somnus, coepi reputare maximos oratores hoc studii genus et in oblectationibus habuisse et in laude posuisse. 5 Intendi animum contraque opinionem meam post longam desuetudinem perquam exiguo temporis momento id ipsum, quod me ad scribendum sollicitaverat, his versibus exaravi:

6 Cum libros Galli legerem, quibus ille parenti
ausus de Cicerone dare est palmamque decusque,
lascivum inveni lusum Ciceronis et illo
spectandum ingenio, quo seria condidit et quo
humanis salibus multo varioque lepore
magnorum ostendit mentes gaudere virorum.
Nam queritur quod fraude mala frustratus amantem
paucula cenato sibi debita savia Tiro
tempore nocturno subtraxerit. 5 His ego lectis
‘cur post haec’ inquam ‘nostros celamus amores
nullumque in medium timidi damus atque fatemur
Tironisque dolos, Tironis nosse fugaces
blanditias et furta novas addentia flammas?’

7 Transii ad elegos; hos quoque non minus celeriter explicui, addidi alios facilitate corruptus. Deinde in urbem reversus sodalibus legi; probaverunt. 8 Inde plura metra si quid otii, ac maxime in itinere temptavi. Postremo placuit exemplo multorum unum separatim hendecasyllaborum volumen absolvere, nec paenitet. 9 Legitur describitur cantatur etiam, et a Graecis quoque, quos Latine huius libelli amor docuit, nunc cithara nunc lyra personatur. 10 Sed quid ego tam gloriose? Quamquam poetis furere concessum est. Et tamen non de meo sed de aliorum iudicio loquor; qui sive iudicant sive errant, me delectat. Unum precor, ut posteri quoque aut errent similiter aut iudicent. Vale.

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5. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

1 Incredibile est quanto desiderio tui tenear. In causa amor primum, deinde quod non consuevimus abesse. Inde est quod magnam noctium partem in imagine tua vigil exigo; inde quod interdiu, quibus horis te visere solebam, ad diaetam tuam ipsi me, ut verissime dicitur, pedes ducunt; quod denique aeger et maestus ac similis excluso a vacuo limine recedo. Unum tempus his tormentis caret, quo in foro et Samicorum litibus conteror. 2 Aestima tu, quae vita mea sit, cui requies in labore, in miseria curisque solacium. Vale.

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6. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

1 Rara et notabilis res Vareno contigit, sit licet adhuc dubia. Bithyni accusationem eius ut temere incohatam omisisse narrantur. ‘Narrantur’ dico? Adest provinciae legatus, attulit decretum concilii ad Caesarem, attulit ad multos principes viros, attulit etiam ad nos Vareni advocatos. 2 Perstat tamen idem ille Magnus; quin etiam Nigrinum optimum virum pertinacissime exercet. Per hunc a consulibus postulabat, ut Varenus exhibere rationes cogeretur. 3 Assistebam Vareno iam tantum ut amicus et tacere decreveram. Nihil enim tam contrarium quam si advocatus a senatu datus defenderem ut reum, cui opus esset ne reus videretur. 4 Cum tamen finita postulatione Nigrini consules ad me oculos rettulissent, ‘Scietis’ inquam ‘constare nobis silentii nostri rationem, cum veros legatos provinciae audieritis.’ Contra Nigrinus: ‘Ad quem missi sunt?’ Ego: ‘Ad me quoque: habeo decretum provinciae.’ 5 Rursus ille: ‘Potest tibi liquere.’ Ad hoc ego: ‘Si tibi ex diverso liquet, potest et mihi quod est melius liquere.Ì 6 Tum legatus Polyaenus causas abolitae accusationis exposuit, postulavitque ne cognitioni Caesaris praeiudicium fieret. Respondit Magnus iterumque Polyaenus. Ipse raro et breviter interlocutus multum me intra silentium tenui. 7 Accepi enim non minus interdum oratorium esse tacere quam dicere.

Atque adeo repeto me quibusdam capitis reis vel magis silentio quam oratione accuratissima profuisse. 8 Mater amisso filio — quid enim prohibet, quamquam alia ratio scribendae epistulae fuerit, de studiis disputare? — libertos eius eosdemque coheredes suos falsi et veneficii reos detulerat ad principem, iudicemque impetraverat Iulium Servianum. 9 Defenderam reos ingenti quidem coetu; erat enim causa notissima, praeterea utrimque ingenia clarissima. Finem cognitioni quaestio imposuit, quae secundum reos dedit. 10 Postea mater adiit principem, affirmavit se novas probationes invenisse. Praeceptum est Suburano, ut vacaret finitam causam retractanti, si quid novi afferret. 11 Aderat matri Iulius Africanus, nepos illius oratoris, quo audito Passienus Crispus dixit: ‘Bene mehercule, bene; sed quo tam bene?’ Huius nepos, iuvenis ingeniosus sed non parum callidus, cum multa dixisset assignatumque tempus implesset, ‘Rogo’ inquit, ‘Suburane, permittas mihi unum verbum adicere.’ 12 Tum ego, cum omnes me ut diu responsurum intuerentur, ‘Respondissem’ inquam ‘si unum illud verbum Africanus adiecisset, in quo non dubito omnia nova fuisse.’ 13 Non facile me repeto tantum assensum agendo consecutum, quantum tunc non agendo.

Similiter nunc et probatum et exceptum est, quod pro Vareno hactenus tacui. 14 Consules, ut Polyaenus postulabat, omnia integra principi servaverunt; cuius cognitionem suspensus exspecto. Nam dies ille nobis pro Vareno aut securitatem et otium dabit aut intermissum laborem renovata sollicitudine iniunget. Vale.

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7. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

1 Et proxime Prisco nostro et rursus, quia ita iussisti, gratias egi. Libentissime quidem: est enim mihi periucundum, quod viri optimi mihique amicissimi adeo cohaesistis, ut invicem vos obligari putetis. 2 Nam ille quoque praecipuam se voluptatem ex amicitia tua capere profitetur, certatque tecum honestissimo certamine mutuae caritatis, quam ipsum tempus augebit. Te negotiis distineri ob hoc moleste fero, quod deservire studiis non potes. Si tamen alteram litem per iudicem alteram — ut ais — ipse finieris, incipies primum istic otio frui, deinde satiatus ad nos reverti. Vale.

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8. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

1 Exprimere non possum, quam iucundum sit mihi quod Saturninus noster summas tibi apud me gratias aliis super alias epistulis agit. 2 Perge ut coepisti, virumque optimum quam familiarissime dilige, magnam voluptatem ex amicitia eius percepturus nec ad breve tempus. 3 Nam cum omnibus virtutibus abundat, tum hac praecipue, quod habet maximam in amore constantiam. Vale.

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9. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

1 Quaeris quemadmodum in secessu, quo iam diu frueris, putem te studere oportere. 2 Utile in primis, et multi praecipiunt, vel ex Graeco in Latinum vel ex Latino vertere in Graecum. Quo genere exercitationis proprietas splendorque verborum, copia figurarum, vis explicandi, praeterea imitatione optimorum similia inveniendi facultas paratur; simul quae legentem fefellissent, transferentem fugere non possunt. 3 Intellegentia ex hoc et iudicium acquiritur. Nihil offuerit quae legeris hactenus, ut rem argumentumque teneas, quasi aemulum scribere lectisque conferre, ac sedulo pensitare, quid tu quid ille commodius. Magna gratulatio si non nulla tu, magnus pudor si cuncta ille melius. Licebit interdum et notissima eligere et certare cum electis. 4 Audax haec, non tamen improba, quia secreta contentio: quamquam multos videmus eius modi certamina sibi cum multa laude sumpsisse, quosque subsequi satis habebant, dum non desperant, antecessisse. 5 Poteris et quae dixeris post oblivionem retractare, multa retinere plura transire, alia interscribere alia rescribere. 6 Laboriosum istud et taedio plenum, sed difficultate ipsa fructuosum, recalescere ex integro et resumere impetum fractum omissumque, postremo nova velut membra peracto corpori intexere nec tamen priora turbare. 7 Scio nunc tibi esse praecipuum studium orandi; sed non ideo semper pugnacem hunc et quasi bellatorium stilum suaserim. Ut enim terrae variis mutatisque seminibus, ita ingenia nostra nunc hac nunc illa meditatione recoluntur. 8 Volo interdum aliquem ex historia locum apprendas, volo epistulam diligentius scribas. Nam saepe in oratione quoque non historica modo sed prope poetica descriptionum necessitas incidit, et pressus sermo purusque ex epistulis petitur. 9 Fas est et carmine remitti, non dico continuo et longo — id enim perfici nisi in otio non potest -, sed hoc arguto et brevi, quod apte quantas libet occupationes curasque distinguit. 10 Lusus vocantur; sed hi lusus non minorem interdum gloriam quam seria consequuntur. Atque adeo — cur enim te ad versus non versibus adhorter? —

11 ut laus est cerae, mollis cedensque sequatur
si doctos digitos iussaque fiat opus
et nunc informet Martem castamve Minervam,
nunc Venerem effingat, nunc Veneris puerum;
utque sacri fontes non sola incendia sistunt,
saepe etiam flores vernaque prata iuvant,
sic hominum ingenium flecti ducique per artes
non rigidas docta mobilitate decet.

12 Itaque summi oratores, summi etiam viri sic se aut exercebant aut delectabant, immo delectabant exercebantque. 13 Nam mirum est ut his opusculis animus intendatur remittatur. Recipiunt enim amores odia iras misericordiam urbanitatem, omnia denique quae in vita atque etiam in foro causisque versantur. 14 Inest his quoque eadem quae aliis carminibus utilitas, quod metri necessitate devincti soluta oratione laetamur, et quod facilius esse comparatio ostendit, libentius scribimus.

15 Habes plura etiam fortasse quam requirebas; unum tamen omisi. Non enim dixi quae legenda arbitrarer: quamquam dixi, cum dicerem quae scribenda. Tu memineris sui cuiusque generis auctores diligenter eligere. Aiunt enim multum legendum esse, non multa. 16 Qui sint hi adeo notum probatumque est, ut demonstratione non egeat; et alioqui tam immodice epistulam extendi, ut dum tibi quemadmodum studere debeas suadeo, studendi tempus abstulerim. Quin ergo pugillares resumis, et aliquid ex his vel istud ipsum quod coeperas scribis? Vale.

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10. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

1 Quia ipse, cum prima cognovi, iungere extrema quas avulsa cupio, te quoque existimo velle de Vareno et Bithynis reliqua cognoscere. Acta causa hinc a Polyaeno, inde a Magno. 2 Finitis actionibus Caesar ‘Neutra’ inquit ‘pars de mora queretur; erit mihi curae explorare provinciae voluntatem.’ 3 Multum interim Varenus tulit. Etenim quam dubium est an merito accusetur, qui an omnino accusetur incertum est! Superest ne rursus provinciae quod damnasse dicitur placeat, agatque paenitentiam paenitentiae suae. Vale.

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11. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Miraris quod Hermes libertus meus hereditarios agros, quos ego iusseram proscribi, non exspectata auctione pro meo quincunce ex septingentis milibus Corelliae addixerit. Adicis hos nongentis milibus posse venire, ac tanto magis quaeris, an quod gessit ratum servem. 2 Ego vero servo: quibus ex causis, accipe. Cupio enim et tibi probatum et coheredibus meis excusatum esse, quod me ab illis maiore officio iubente secerno. 3 Corelliam cum summa reverentia diligo, primum ut sororem Corelli Rufi, cuius mihi memoria sacrosancta est, deinde ut matri meae familiarissimam. 4 Sunt mihi et cum marito eius Minicio Iusto, optimo viro, vetera iura; fuerunt et cum filio maxima, adeo quidem ut praetore me ludis meis praesederit. 5 Haec, cum proxime istic fui, indicavit mihi cupere se aliquid circa Larium nostrum possidere. Ego illi ex praediis meis quod vellet et quanti vellet obtuli exceptis maternis paternisque; his enim cedere ne Corelliae quidem possum. 6 Igitur cum obvenisset mihi hereditas in qua praedia ista, scripsi ei venalia futura. Has epistulas Hermes tulit exigentique, ut statim portionem meam sibi addiceret, paruit. Vides quam ratum habere debeam, quod libertus meus meis moribus gessit. 7 Superest ut coheredes aequo animo ferant separatim me vendidisse, quod mihi licuit omnino non vendere. 8 Nec vero coguntur imitari meum exemplum: non enim illis eadem cum Corellia iura. Possunt ergo intueri utilitatem suam, pro qua mihi fuit amicitia. Vale.

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12. C. PLINIUS MINICIO SUO S.

1 Libellum formatum a me, sicut exegeras, quo amicus tuus, immo noster — quid enim non commune nobis? -, si res posceret uteretur, misi tibi ideo tardius ne tempus emendandi eum, id est disperdendi, haberes. 2 Habebis tamen, an emendandi nescio, utique disperdendi. ‘Hymeis gar hoi euzêloi’ optima quaeque detrahitis. 3 Quod si feceris, boni consulam. Postea enim illis ex aliqua occasione ut meis utar, et beneficio fastidi tui ipse laudabor, ut in eo quod adnotatum invenies et suprascripto aliter explicitum. 4 Nam cum suspicarer futurum, ut tibi tumidius videretur, quoniam est sonantius et elatius, non alienum existimavi, ne te torqueres, addere statim pressius quiddam et exilius, vel potius humilius et peius, vestro tamen iudicio rectius. 5 Cur enim non usquequaque tenuitatem vestram insequar et exagitem? Haec ut inter istas occupationes aliquid aliquando rideres, illud serio: 6 vide ut mihi viaticum reddas, quod impendi data opera cursore dimisso. Ne tu, cum hoc legeris, non partes libelli, sed totum libellum improbabis, negabisque ullius pretii esse, cuius pretium reposcaris. Vale.

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13. C. PLINIUS FEROCI SUO S.

1 Eadem epistula et non studere te et studere significat. Aenigmata loquor? Ita plane, donec distinctius quod sentio enuntiem. 2 Negat enim te studere, sed est tam polita quam nisi a studente non potest scribi; aut es tu super omnes beatus, si talia per desidiam et otium perficis. Vale.

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14. C. PLINIUS CORELLIAE SUAE S.

1 Tu quidem honestissime, quod tam impense et rogas et exigis, ut accipi iubeam a te pretium agrorum non e septingentis milibus, quanti illos a liberto meo, sed ex nongentis, quanti a publicanis partem vicensimam emisti. 2 Invicem ego et rogo et exigo, ut non solum quid te verum etiam quid me deceat aspicias, patiarisque me in hoc uno tibi eodem animo repugnare, quo in omnibus obsequi soleo. Vale.

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15. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

1 Requiris quid agam. Quae nosti: distringor officio, amicis deservio, studeo interdum, quod non interdum sed solum semperque facere, non audeo dicere rectius, certe beatius erat. 2 Te omnia alia quam quae velis agere moleste ferrem, nisi ea quae agis essent honestissima. Nam et rei publicae suae negotia curare et disceptare inter amicos laude dignissimum est. 3 Prisci nostri contubernium iucundum tibi futurum sciebam. Noveram simplicitatem eius, noveram comitatem; eundem esse — quod minus noram — gratissimum experior, cum tam iucunde officiorum nostrorum meminisse eum scribas. Vale.

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16. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Calestrium Tironem familiarissime diligo et privatis mihi et publicis necessitudinibus implicitum. 2 Simul militavimus, simul quaestores Caesaris fuimus. Ille me in tribunatu liberorum iure praecessit, ego illum in praetura sum consecutus, cum mihi Caesar annum remisisset. Ego in villas eius saepe secessi, ille in domo mea saepe convaluit. 3 Hic nunc pro consule provinciam Baeticam per Ticinum est petiturus. 4 Spero, immo confido facile me impetraturum, ex itinere deflectat ad te, si voles vindicta liberare, quos proxime inter amicos manumisisti. Nihil est quod verearis ne sit hoc illi molestum, cui orbem terrarum circumire non erit longum mea causa. 5 Proinde nimiam istam verecundiam pone, teque quid velis consule. Illi tam iucundum quod ego, quam mihi quod tu iubes. Vale.

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17. C. PLINIUS CELERI SUO S.

1 Sua cuique ratio recitandi; mihi quod saepe iam dixi, ut si quid me fugit — ut certe fugit — admonear. 2 Quo magis miror, quod scribis fuisse quosdam qui reprehenderent quod orationes omnino recitarem; nisi vero has solas non putant emendandas. 3 A quibus libenter requisierim, cur concedant — si concedunt tamen — historiam debere recitari, quae non ostentationi sed fidei veritatique componitur; cur tragoediam, quae non auditorium sed scaenam et actores; cur lyrica, quae non lectorem sed chorum et lyram poscunt. At horum recitatio usu iam recepta est. 4 Num ergo culpandus est ille qui coepit? Quamquam orationes quoque et nostri quidam et Graeci lectitaverunt. 5 Supervacuum tamen est recitare quae dixeris. Etiam, si eadem omnia, si isdem omnibus, si statim recites; si vero multa inseras multa commutes, si quosdam novos quosdam eosdem sed post tempus assumas, cur minus probabilis sit causa recitandi quae dixeris quam edendi? 6 Sed difficile est ut oratio dum recitatur satisfaciat. Iam hoc ad laborem recitantis pertinet, non ad rationem non recitandi. 7 Nec vero ego dum recito laudari, sed dum legor cupio. Itaque nullum emendandi genus omitto. Ac primum quae scripsi mecum ipse pertracto; deinde duobus aut tribus lego; mox aliis trado adnotanda, notasque eorum, si dubito, cum uno rursus aut altero pensito; novissime pluribus recito, ac si quid mihi credis tunc acerrime emendo; 8 nam tanto diligentius quanto sollicitius intendo. Optime autem reverentia pudor metus iudicant, idque adeo sic habe: Nonne si locuturus es cum aliquo quamlibet docto, uno tamen, minus commoveris quam si cum multis vel indoctis? 9 Nonne cum surgis ad agendum, tunc maxime tibi ipse diffidis, tunc commutata non dico plurima sed omnia cupis? utique si latior scaena et corona diffusior; nam illos quoque sordidos pullatosque reveremur. 10 Nonne si prima quaeque improbari putas, debilitaris et concidis? Opinor, quia in numero ipso est quoddam magnum collatumque consilium, quibusque singulis iudicii parum, omnibus plurimum. 11 Itaque Pomponius Secundus — hic scriptor tragoediarum -, si quid forte familiarior amicus tollendum, ipse retinendum arbitraretur, dicere solebat: ‘Ad populum provoco’, atque ita ex populi vel silentio vel assensu aut suam aut amici sententiam sequebatur. 12 Tantum ille populo dabat; recte an secus, nihil ad me. Ego enim non populum advocare sed certos electosque soleo, quos intuear quibus credam, quos denique et tamquam singulos observem et tamquam non singulos timeam. 13 Nam, quod M. Cicero de stilo, ego de metu sentio: timor est, timor emendator asperrimus. Hoc ipsum quod nos recitaturos cogitamus emendat; quod auditorium ingredimur emendat; quod pallemus horrescimus circumspicimus emendat. 14 Proinde non paenitet me consuetudinis meae quam utilissimam experior, adeoque non deterreor sermunculis istorum, ut ultro te rogem monstres aliquid quod his addam. 15 Nihil enim curae meae satis est. Cogito quam sit magnum dare aliquid in manus hominum, nec persuadere mihi possum non et cum multis et saepe tractandum, quod placere et semper et omnibus cupias. Vale.

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18. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

1 Deliberas mecum quemadmodum pecunia, quam municipibus nostris in epulum obtulisti, post te quoque salva sit. Honesta consultatio, non expedita sententia. Numeres rei publicae summam: verendum est ne dilabatur. Des agros: ut publici neglegentur. 2 Equidem nihil commodius invenio, quam quod ipse feci. Nam pro quingentis milibus nummum, quae in alimenta ingenuorum ingenuarumque promiseram, agrum ex meis longe pluris actori publico mancipavi; eundem vectigali imposito recepi, tricena milia annua daturus. 3 Per hoc enim et rei publicae sors in tuto nec reditus incertus, et ager ipse propter id quod vectigal large supercurrit, semper dominum a quo exerceatur inveniet. 4 Nec ignoro me plus aliquanto quam donasse videor erogavisse, cum pulcherrimi agri pretium necessitas vectigalis infregerit. 5 Sed oportet privatis utilitatibus publicas, mortalibus aeternas anteferre, multoque diligentius muneri suo consulere quam facultatibus. Vale.

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19. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

1 Angit me Fanniae valetudo. Contraxit hanc dum assidet Iuniae virgini, sponte primum — est enim affinis -, deinde etiam ex auctoritate pontificum. 2 Nam virgines, cum vi morbi atrio Vestae coguntur excedere, matronarum curae custodiaeque mandantur. Quo munere Fannia dum sedulo fungitur, hoc discrimine implicita est. 3 Insident febres, tussis increscit; summa macies summa defectio. Animus tantum et spiritus viget Helvidio marito, Thrasea patre dignissimus; reliqua labuntur, meque non metu tantum, verum etiam dolore conficiunt. 4 Doleo enim feminam maximam eripi oculis civitatis, nescio an aliquid simile visuris. Quae castitas illi, quae sanctitas, quanta gravitas quanta constantia! Bis maritum secuta in exsilium est, tertio ipsa propter maritum relegata. 5 Nam cum Senecio reus esset quod de vita Helvidi libros composuisset rogatumque se a Fannia in defensione dixisset, quaerente minaciter Mettio Caro, an rogasset respondit: ‘Rogavi’; an commentarios scripturo dedisset: ‘Dedi’; an sciente matre: ‘Nesciente’; postremo nullam vocem cedentem periculo emisit. 6 Quin etiam illos ipsos libros, quamquam ex necessitate et metu temporum abolitos senatus consulto, publicatis bonis servavit habuit, tulitque in exsilium exsili causam. 7 Eadem quam iucunda quam comis, quam denique — quod paucis datum est — non minus amabilis quam veneranda! Eritne quam postea uxoribus nostris ostentare possimus? Erit a qua viri quoque fortitudinis exempla sumamus, quam sic cernentes audientesque miremur, ut illas quae leguntur? 8 Ac mihi domus ipsa nutare, convulsaque sedibus suis ruitura supra videtur, licet adhuc posteros habeat. Quantis enim virtutibus quantisque factis assequentur, ut haec non novissima occiderit? 9 Me quidem illud etiam affligit et torquet, quod matrem eius, illam — nihil possum illustrius dicere — tantae feminae matrem, rursus videor amittere, quam haec, ut reddit ac refert nobis, sic auferet secum, meque et novo pariter et rescisso vulnere afficiet. 10 Utramque colui utramque dilexi: utram magis nescio, nec discerni volebant. Habuerunt officia mea in secundis, habuerunt in adversis. Ego solacium relegatarum, ego ultor reversarum; non feci tamen paria atque eo magis hanc cupio servari, ut mihi solvendi tempora supersint. 11 In his eram curis, cum scriberem ad te; quas si deus aliquis in gaudium verterit, de metu non querar. Vale.

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20. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

1 Librum tuum legi et, quam diligentissime potui, adnotavi quae commutanda, quae eximenda arbitrarer. Nam et ego verum dicere assuevi, et tu libenter audire. Neque enim ulli patientius reprehenduntur, quam qui maxime laudari merentur. 2 Nunc a te librum meum cum adnotationibus tuis exspecto. O iucundas, o pulchras vices! Quam me delectat quod, si qua posteris cura nostri, usquequaque narrabitur, qua concordia simplicitate fide vixerimus! 3 Erit rarum et insigne, duos homines aetate dignitate propemodum aequales, non nullius in litteris nominis — cogor enim de te quoque parcius dicere, quia de me simul dico -, alterum alterius studia fovisse. 4 Equidem adulescentulus, cum iam tu fama gloriaque floreres, te sequi, tibi ‘longo sed proximus intervallo’ et esse et haberi concupiscebam. Et erant multa clarissima ingenia; sed tu mihi — ita similitudo naturae ferebat — maxime imitabilis, maxime imitandus videbaris. 5 Quo magis gaudeo, quod si quis de studiis sermo, una nominamur, quod de te loquentibus statim occurro. Nec desunt qui utrique nostrum praeferantur. 6 Sed nos, nihil interest mea quo loco, iungimur; nam mihi primus, qui a te proximus. Quin etiam in testamentis debes adnotasse: nisi quis forte alterutri nostrum amicissimus, eadem legata et quidem pariter accipimus. 7 Quae omnia huc spectant, ut invicem ardentius diligamus, cum tot vinculis nos studia mores fama, suprema denique hominum iudicia constringant. Vale.

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21. C. PLINIUS CORNUTO SUO S.

1 Pareo, collega carissime, et infirmitati oculorum ut iubes consulo. Nam et huc tecto vehiculo undique inclusus quasi in cubiculo perveni et hic non stilo modo verum etiam lectionibus difficulter sed abstineo, solisque auribus studeo. 2 Cubicula obductis velis opaca nec tamen obscura facio. Cryptoporticus quoque adopertis inferioribus fenestris tantum umbrae quantum luminis habet. Sic paulatim lucem ferre condisco. 3 Balineum assumo quia prodest, vinum quia non nocet, parcissime tamen. Ita assuevi, et nunc custos adest.

4 Gallinam ut a te missam libenter accepi; quam satis acribus oculis, quamquam adhuc lippus, pinguissimam vidi. Vale.

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22. C. PLINIUS FALCONI SUO S.

1 Minus miraberis me tam instanter petisse, ut in amicum meum conferres tribunatum, cum scieris quis ille qualisque. Possum autem iam tibi et nomen indicare et describere ipsum, postquam polliceris. 2 Est Cornelius Minicianus, ornamentum regionis meae seu dignitate seu moribus. Natus splendide abundat facultatibus, amat studia ut solent pauperes. Idem rectissimus iudex, fortissimus advocatus, amicus fidelissimus. 3 Accepisse te beneficium credes, cum propius inspexeris hominem omnibus honoribus, omnibus titulis — nihil volo elatius de modestissimo viro dicere — parem. Vale.

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23. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Gaudeo quidem esse te tam fortem, ut Mediolani occurrere Tironi possis, sed ut perseveres esse tam fortis, rogo ne tibi contra rationem aetatis tantum laboris iniungas. Quin immo denuntio, ut illum et domi et intra domum atque etiam intra cubiculi limen exspectes. 2 Etenim, cum a me ut frater diligatur, non debet ab eo quem ego parentis loco observo, exigere officium quod parenti suo remisisset. Vale.

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24. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

1 Ummidia Quadratilla paulo minus octogensimo aetatis anno decessit usque ad novissimam valetudinem viridis, atque etiam ultra matronalem modum compacto corpore et robusto. 2 Decessit honestissimo testamento: reliquit heredes ex besse nepotem, ex tertia parte neptem. Neptem parum novi, nepotem familiarissime diligo, adulescentem singularem nec iis tantum, quos sanguine attingit, inter propinquos amandum. 3 Ac primum conspicuus forma omnes sermones malignorum et puer et iuvenis evasit, intra quartum et vicensimum annum maritus, et si deus adnuisset pater. Vixit in contubernio aviae delicatae severissime, et tamen obsequentissime. 4 Habebat illa pantomimos fovebatque, effusius quam principi feminae convenit. Hos Quadratus non in theatro, non domi spectabat, nec illa exigebat. 5 Audivi ipsam cum mihi commendaret nepotis sui studia, solere se, ut feminam in illo otio sexus, laxare animum lusu calculorum, solere spectare pantomimos suos, sed cum factura esset alterutrum, semper se nepoti suo praecepisse abiret studeretque; quod mihi non amore eius magis facere quam reverentia videbatur.

6 Miraberis, et ego miratus sum. Proximis sacerdotalibus ludis, productis in commissione pantomimis, cum simul theatro ego et Quadratus egrederemur, ait mihi: ‘Scis me hodie primum vidisse saltantem aviae meae libertum?’ Hoc nepos. 7 At hercule alienissimi homines in honorem Quadratillae — pudet me dixisse honorem — per adulationis officium in theatrum cursitabant exsultabant plaudebant mirabantur ac deinde singulos gestus dominae cum canticis reddebant; qui nunc exiguissima legata, theatralis operae corollarium, accipient ab herede, qui non spectabat. 8 Haec, quia soles si quid incidit novi non invitus audire, deinde quia iucundum est mihi quod ceperam gaudium scribendo retractare. Gaudeo enim pietate defunctae, honore optimi iuvenis; laetor etiam quod domus aliquando C. Cassi, huius qui Cassianae scholae princeps et parens fuit, serviet domino non minori. 9 Implebit enim illam Quadratus meus et decebit, rursusque ei pristinam dignitatem celebritatem gloriam reddet, cum tantus orator inde procedet, quantus iuris ille consultus. Vale.

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25. C. PLINIUS RUFO SUO S.

1 O quantum eruditorum aut modestia ipsorum aut quies operit ac subtrahit famae! At nos eos tantum dicturi aliquid aut lecturi timemus, qui studia sua proferunt, cum illi qui tacent hoc amplius praestent, quod maximum opus silentio reverentur. 2 Expertus scribo quod scribo. Terentius Iunior, equestribus militiis atque etiam procuratione Narbonensis provinciae integerrime functus, recepit se in agros suos, paratisque honoribus tranquillissimum otium praetulit. 3 Hunc ego invitatus hospitio ut bonum patrem familiae, ut diligentem agricolam intuebar, de his locuturus, in quibus illum versari putabam; et coeperam, cum ille me doctissimo sermone revocavit ad studia. 4 Quam tersa omnia, quam Latina, quam Graeca! Nam tantum utraque lingua valet, ut ea magis videatur excellere, qua cum maxime loquitur. Quantum ille legit, quantum tenet! Athenis vivere hominem, non in villa putes. 5 Quid multa? Auxit sollicitudinem meam effecitque ut illis quos doctissimos novi, non minus hos seductos et quasi rusticos verear. 6 Idem suadeo tibi: sunt enim ut in castris sic etiam in litteris nostris, plures cultu pagano quos cinctos et armatos, et quidem ardentissimo ingenio, diligenter scrutatus invenies. Vale.

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26. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Nuper me cuiusdam amici languor admonuit, optimos esse nos dum infirmi sumus. Quem enim infirmum aut avaritia aut libido sollicitat? 2 Non amoribus servit, non appetit honores, opes neglegit et quantulumcumque, ut relicturus, satis habet. Tunc deos tunc hominem esse se meminit, invidet nemini neminem miratur neminem despicit, ac ne sermonibus quidem malignis aut attendit aut alitur: balinea imaginatur et fontes. 3 Haec summa curarum, summa votorum mollemque in posterum et pinguem, si contingat evadere, hoc est innoxiam beatamque destinat vitam. 4 Possum ergo quod plurimis verbis, plurimis etiam voluminibus philosophi docere conantur, ipse breviter tibi mihique praecipere, ut tales esse sani perseveremus, quales nos futuros profitemur infirmi. Vale.

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27. C. PLINIUS SURAE SUO S.

1 Et mihi discendi et tibi docendi facultatem otium praebet. Igitur perquam velim scire, esse phantasmata et habere propriam figuram numenque aliquod putes an inania et vana ex metu nostro imaginem accipere. 2 Ego ut esse credam in primis eo ducor, quod audio accidisse Curtio Rufo. Tenuis adhuc et obscurus, obtinenti Africam comes haeserat. Inclinato die spatiabatur in porticu; offertur ei mulieris figura humana grandior pulchriorque. Perterrito Africam se futurorum praenuntiam dixit: iturum enim Romam honoresque gesturum, atque etiam cum summo imperio in eandem provinciam reversurum, ibique moriturum. 3 Facta sunt omnia. Praeterea accedenti Carthaginem egredientique nave eadem figura in litore occurrisse narratur. Ipse certe implicitus morbo futura praeteritis, adversa secundis auguratus, spem salutis nullo suorum desperante proiecit.

4 Iam illud nonne et magis terribile et non minus mirum est quod exponam ut accepi? 5 Erat Athenis spatiosa et capax domus sed infamis et pestilens. Per silentium noctis sonus ferri, et si attenderes acrius, strepitus vinculorum longius primo, deinde e proximo reddebatur: mox apparebat idolon, senex macie et squalore confectus, promissa barba horrenti capillo; cruribus compedes, manibus catenas gerebat quatiebatque. 6 Inde inhabitantibus tristes diraeque noctes per metum vigilabantur; vigiliam morbus et crescente formidine mors sequebatur. Nam interdiu quoque, quamquam abscesserat imago, memoria imaginis oculis inerrabat, longiorque causis timoris timor erat. Deserta inde et damnata solitudine domus totaque illi monstro relicta; proscribebatur tamen, seu quis emere seu quis conducere ignarus tanti mali vellet. 7 Venit Athenas philosophus Athenodorus, legit titulum auditoque pretio, quia suspecta vilitas, percunctatus omnia docetur ac nihilo minus, immo tanto magis conducit. Ubi coepit advesperascere, iubet sterni sibi in prima domus parte, poscit pugillares stilum lumen, suos omnes in interiora dimittit; ipse ad scribendum animum oculos manum intendit, ne vacua mens audita simulacra et inanes sibi metus fingeret. 8 Initio, quale ubique, silentium noctis; dein concuti ferrum, vincula moveri. Ille non tollere oculos, non remittere stilum, sed offirmare animum auribusque praetendere. Tum crebrescere fragor, adventare et iam ut in limine, iam ut intra limen audiri. Respicit, videt agnoscitque narratam sibi effigiem. 9 Stabat innuebatque digito similis vocanti. Hic contra ut paulum exspectaret manu significat rursusque ceris et stilo incumbit. Illa scribentis capiti catenis insonabat. Respicit rursus idem quod prius innuentem, nec moratus tollit lumen et sequitur. 10 Ibat illa lento gradu quasi gravis vinculis. Postquam deflexit in aream domus, repente dilapsa deserit comitem. Desertus herbas et folia concerpta signum loco ponit. 11 Postero die adit magistratus, monet ut illum locum effodi iubeant. Inveniuntur ossa inserta catenis et implicita, quae corpus aevo terraque putrefactum nuda et exesa reliquerat vinculis; collecta publice sepeliuntur. Domus postea rite conditis manibus caruit.

12 Et haec quidem affirmantibus credo; illud affirmare aliis possum. Est libertus mihi non illitteratus. Cum hoc minor frater eodem lecto quiescebat. Is visus est sibi cernere quendam in toro residentem, admoventemque capiti suo cultros, atque etiam ex ipso vertice amputantem capillos. Ubi illuxit, ipse circa verticem tonsus, capilli iacentes reperiuntur. 13 Exiguum temporis medium, et rursus simile aliud priori fidem fecit. Puer in paedagogio mixtus pluribus dormiebat. Venerunt per fenestras — ita narrat — in tunicis albis duo cubantemque detonderunt et qua venerant recesserunt. Hunc quoque tonsum sparsosque circa capillos dies ostendit. 14 Nihil notabile secutum, nisi forte quod non fui reus, futurus, si Domitianus sub quo haec acciderunt diutius vixisset. Nam in scrinio eius datus a Caro de me libellus inventus est; ex quo coniectari potest, quia reis moris est summittere capillum, recisos meorum capillos depulsi quod imminebat periculi signum fuisse.

15 Proinde rogo, eruditionem tuam intendas. Digna res est quam diu multumque consideres; ne ego quidem indignus, cui copiam scientiae tuae facias. 16 Licet etiam utramque in partem — ut soles — disputes, ex altera tamen fortius, ne me suspensum incertumque dimittas, cum mihi consulendi causa fuerit, ut dubitare desinerem. Vale.

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28. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO SUO S.

1 Ais quosdam apud te reprehendisse, tamquam amicos meos ex omni occasione ultra modum laudem. 2 Agnosco crimen, amplector etiam. Quid enim honestius culpa benignitatis? Qui sunt tamen isti, qui amicos meos melius norint? Sed, ut norint, quid invident mihi felicissimo errore? Ut enim non sint tales quales a me praedicantur, ego tamen beatus quod mihi videntur. 3 Igitur ad alios hanc sinistram diligentiam conferant; nec sunt parum multi, qui carpere amicos suos iudicium vocant. Mihi numquam persuadebunt ut meos amari a me nimium putem. Vale.

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29. C. PLINIUS MONTANO SUO S.

1 Ridebis, deinde indignaberis, deinde ridebis, si legeris, quod nisi legeris non potes credere. 2 Est via Tiburtina intra primum lapidem — proxime adnotavi — monimentum Pallantis ita inscriptum: ‘Huic senatus ob fidem pietatemque erga patronos ornamenta praetoria decrevit et sestertium centies quinquagies, cuius honore contentus fuit.’ 3 Equidem numquam sum miratus quae saepius a fortuna quam a iudicio proficiscerentur; maxime tamen hic me titulus admonuit, quam essent mimica et inepta, quae interdum in hoc caenum, in has sordes abicerentur, quae denique ille furcifer et recipere ausus est et recusare, atque etiam ut moderationis exemplum posteris prodere. 4 Sed quid indignor? Ridere satius, ne se magnum aliquid adeptos putent, qui huc felicitate perveniunt ut rideantur. Vale.

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30. C. PLINIUS GENITORI SUO S.

1 Torqueor quod discipulum, ut scribis, optimae spei amisisti. Cuius et valetudine et morte impedita studia tua quidni sciam? cum sis omnium officiorum observantissimus, cumque omnes quos probas effusissime diligas. 2 Me huc quoque urbana negotia persequuntur; non desunt enim qui me iudicem aut arbitrum faciant. 3 Accedunt querelae rusticorum, qui auribus meis post longum tempus suo iure abutuntur. Instat et necessitas agrorum locandorum, perquam molesta: adeo rarum est invenire idoneos conductores. 4 Quibus ex causis precario studeo, studeo tamen. Nam et scribo aliquid et lego; sed cum lego, ex comparatione sentio quam male scribam, licet tu mihi bonum animum facias, 5 qui libellos meos de ultione Helvidi orationi Demosthenis ‘kata Meidiou’ confers. Quam sane, cum componerem illos, habui in manibus, non ut aemularer — improbum enim ac paene furiosum -, sed tamen imitarer et sequerer, quantum aut diversitas ingeniorum maximi et minimi, aut causae dissimilitudo pateretur. Vale.

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31. C. PLINIUS CORNUTO SUO S.

1 Claudius Pollio amari a te cupit dignus hoc ipso quod cupit, deinde quod ipse te diligit; neque enim fere quisquam exigit istud nisi qui facit. Vir alioqui rectus integer quietus ac paene ultra modum — si quis tamen ultra modum — verecundus. 2 Hunc, cum simul militaremus, non solum ut commilito inspexi. Praeerat alae miliariae; ego iussus a legato consulari rationes alarum et cohortium excutere, ut magnam quorundam foedamque avaritiam, neglegentiam parem, ita huius summam integritatem, sollicitam diligentiam inveni. 3 Postea promotus ad amplissimas procurationes, nulla occasione corruptus ab insito abstinentiae amore deflexit; numquam secundis rebus intumuit; numquam officiorum varietate continuam laudem humanitatis infregit, eademque firmitate animi laboribus suffecit, qua nunc otium patitur. 4 Quod quidem paulisper cum magna sua laude intermisit et posuit, a Corellio nostro ex liberalitate imperatoris Nervae emendis dividendisque agris adiutor assumptus. Etenim qua gloria dignum est, summo viro in tanta eligendi facultate praecipue placuisse! 5 Idem quam reverenter, quam fideliter amicos colat, multorum supremis iudiciis, in his Anni Bassi gravissimi civis, credere potes, cuius memoriam tam grata praedicatione prorogat et extendit, ut librum de vita eius — nam studia quoque sicut alias bonas artes veneratur — ediderit. 6 Pulchrum istud et raritate ipsa probandum, cum plerique hactenus defunctorum meminerint ut querantur. 7 Hunc hominem appetentissimum tui, mihi crede, complectere apprehende, immo et invita, ac sic ama tamquam gratiam referas. Neque enim obligandus sed remunerandus est in amoris officio, qui prior coepit. Vale.

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32. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Delector iucundum tibi fuisse Tironis mei adventum; quod vero scribis oblata occasione proconsulis plurimos manumissos, unice laetor. Cupio enim patriam nostram omnibus quidem rebus augeri, maxime tamen civium numero: id enim oppidis firmissimum ornamentum. 2 Illud etiam me non ut ambitiosum sed tamen iuvat, quod adicis te meque et gratiarum actione et laude celebratos. Est enim, ut Xenophon ait, ‘hêdiston akousma epainos’, utique si te mereri putes. Vale.

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33. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

1 Auguror nec me fallit augurium, historias tuas immortales futuras; quo magis illis — ingenue fatebor — inseri cupio. 2 Nam si esse nobis curae solet ut facies nostra ab optimo quoque artifice exprimatur, nonne debemus optare, ut operibus nostris similis tui scriptor praedicatorque contingat? 3 Demonstro ergo quamquam diligentiam tuam fugere non possit, cum sit in publicis actis, demonstro tamen quo magis credas, iucundum mihi futurum si factum meum, cuius gratia periculo crevit, tuo ingenio tuo testimonio ornaveris.

4 Dederat me senatus cum Herennio Senecione advocatum provinciae Baeticae contra Baebium Massam, damnatoque Massa censuerat, ut bona eius publice custodirentur. Senecio, cum explorasset consules postulationibus vacaturos, convenit me et ‘Qua concordia’ inquit ‘iniunctam nobis accusationem exsecuti sumus, hac adeamus consules petamusque, ne bona dissipari sinant, quorum esse in custodia debent.’ 5 Respondi: ‘Cum simus advocati a senatu dati, dispice num peractas putes partes nostras senatus cognitione finita.’ Et ille: ‘Tu quem voles tibi terminum statues, cui nulla cum provincia necessitudo nisi ex beneficio tuo et hoc recenti; ipse et natus ibi et quaestor in ea fui.’ 6 Tum ego: ‘Si fixum tibi istud ac deliberatum, sequar te ut, si qua ex hoc invidia, non tantum tua.’ 7 Venimus ad consules; dicit Senecio quae res ferebat, aliqua subiungo. Vixdum conticueramus, et Massa questus Senecionem non advocati fidem sed inimici amaritudinem implesse, impietatis reum postulat. 8 Horror omnium; ego autem ‘Vereor’ inquam, ‘clarissimi consules, ne mihi Massa silentio suo praevaricationem obiecerit, quod non et me reum postulavit.’ Quae vox et statim excepta, et postea multo sermone celebrata est. 9 Divus quidem Nerva — nam privatus quoque attendebat his quae recte in publico fierent — missis ad me gravissimis litteris non mihi solum, verum etiam saeculo est gratulatus, cui exemplum — sic enim scripsit — simile antiquis contigisset. 10 Haec, utcumque se habent, notiora clariora maiora tu facies; quamquam non exigo ut excedas actae rei modum. Nam nec historia debet egredi veritatem, et honeste factis veritas sufficit. Vale.

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LIBER OCTAVVS

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1. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO SUO S.

1 Iter commode explicui, excepto quod quidam ex meis adversam valetudinem ferventissimis aestibus contraxerunt. 2 Encolpius quidem lector, ille seria nostra ille deliciae, exasperatis faucibus pulvere sanguinem reiecit. Quam triste hoc ipsi, quam acerbum mihi, si is cui omnis ex studiis gratia inhabilis studiis fuerit! Quis deinde libellos meos sic leget, sic amabit? 3 Quem aures meae sic sequentur? Sed di laetiora promittunt. Stetit sanguis, resedit dolor. Praeterea continens ipse, nos solliciti, medici diligentes. Ad hoc salubritas caeli, secessus quies tantum salutis quantum otii pollicentur. Vale.

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2. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO SUO S.

1 Alii in praedia sua proficiscuntur ut locupletiores revertantur, ego ut pauperior. Vendideram vindemias certatim negotiatoribus ementibus. Invitabat pretium, et quod tunc et quod fore videbatur. 2 Spes fefellit. Erat expeditum omnibus remittere aequaliter, sed non satis aequum. Mihi autem egregium in primis videtur ut foris ita domi, ut in magnis ita in parvis, ut in alienis ita in suis agitare iustitiam. Nam si paria peccata, pares etiam laudes. 3 Itaque omnibus quidem, ne quis ‘mihi non donatus abiret’, partem octavam pretii quo quis emerat concessi; deinde iis, qui amplissimas summas emptionibus occupaverant, separatim consului. Nam et me magis iuverant, et maius ipsi fecerant damnum. 4 Igitur iis qui pluris quam decem milibus emerant, ad illam communem et quasi publicam octavam addidi decimam eius summae, qua decem milia excesserant. 5 Vereor ne parum expresserim: apertius calculo ostendam. Si qui forte quindecim milibus emerant, hi et quindecim milium octavam et quinque milium decimam tulerunt. 6 Praeterea, cum reputarem quosdam ex debito aliquantum, quosdam aliquid, quosdam nihil reposuisse, nequaquam verum arbitrabar, quos non aequasset fides solutionis, hos benignitate remissionis aequari. 7 Rursus ergo iis qui solverant eius quod solverant decimam remisi. Per hoc enim aptissime et in praeteritum singulis pro cuiusque merito gratia referri, et in futurum omnes cum ad emendum tum etiam ad solvendum allici videbantur. 8 Magno mihi seu ratio haec seu facilitas stetit, sed fuit tanti. Nam regione tota et novitas remissionis et forma laudatur. Ex ipsis etiam quos non una, ut dicitur, pertica sed distincte gradatimque tractavi, quanto quis melior et probior, tanto mihi obligatior abiit expertus non esse apud me <ëen de iê timê êmen kakos êde kai esthlos’>. Vale.

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3. C. PLINIUS SPARSO SUO S.

1 Librum quem novissime tibi misi, ex omnibus meis vel maxime placere significas. Est eadem opinio cuiusdam eruditissimi. 2 Quo magis adducor ut neutrum falli putem, quia non est credibile utrumque falli, et quia tamen blandior mihi. Volo enim proxima quaeque absolutissima videri, et ideo iam nunc contra istum librum faveo orationi, quam nuper in publicum dedi communicaturus tecum, ut primum diligentem tabellarium invenero. 3 Erexi exspectationem tuam, quam vereor ne destituat oratio in manus sumpta. Interim tamen tamquam placituram — et fortasse placebit — exspecta. Vale.

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4. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

1 Optime facis, quod bellum Dacicum scribere paras. Nam quae tam recens tam copiosa tam elata, quae denique tam poetica et quamquam in verissimis rebus tam fabulosa materia? 2 Dices immissa terris nova flumina, novos pontes fluminibus iniectos, insessa castris montium abrupta, pulsum regia pulsum etiam vita regem nihil desperantem; super haec actos bis triumphos, quorum alter ex invicta gente primus, alter novissimus fuit. 3 Una sed maxima difficultas, quod haec aequare dicendo arduum immensum, etiam tuo ingenio, quamquam altissime assurgat et amplissimis operibus increscat. Non nullus et in illo labor, ut barbara et fera nomina, in primis regis ipsius, Graecis versibus non resultent. 4 Sed nihil est quod non arte curaque, si non potest vinci, mitigetur. Praeterea, si datur Homero et mollia vocabula et Graeca ad levitatem versus contrahere extendere inflectere, cur tibi similis audentia praesertim non delicata sed necessaria non detur? 5 Proinde iure vatum invocatis dis, et inter deos ipso, cuius res opera consilia dicturus es, immitte rudentes, pande vela ac, si quando alias, toto ingenio vehere. Cur enim non ego quoque poetice cum poeta? 6 Illud iam nunc paciscor: prima quaeque ut absolveris mittito, immo etiam ante quam absolvas, sicut erunt recentia et rudia et adhuc similia nascentibus. 7 Respondebis non posse perinde carptim ut contexta, perinde incohata placere ut effecta. Scio. Itaque et a me aestimabuntur ut coepta, spectabuntur ut membra, extremamque limam tuam opperientur in scrinio nostro. Patere hoc me super cetera habere amoris tui pignus, ut ea quoque norim quae nosse neminem velles. 8 In summa potero fortasse scripta tua magis probare laudare, quanto illa tardius cautiusque, sed ipsum te magis amabo magisque laudabo, quanto celerius et incautius miseris. Vale.

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5. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

1 Grave vulnus Macrinus noster accepit: amisit uxorem singularis exempli, etiam si olim fuisset. Vixit cum hac triginta novem annis sine iurgio sine offensa. Quam illa reverentiam marito suo praestitit, cum ipsa summam mereretur! quot quantasque virtutes, ex diversis aetatibus sumptas, collegit et miscuit! 2 Habet quidem Macrinus grande solacium, quod tantum bonum tam diu tenuit, sed hinc magis exacerbatur quod amisit; nam fruendis voluptatibus crescit carendi dolor. 3 Ero ergo suspensus pro homine amicissimo, dum admittere avocamenta et cicatricem pati possit, quam nihil aeque ac necessitas ipsa et dies longa et satietas doloris inducit. Vale.

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6. C. PLINIUS MONTANO SUO S.

1 Cognovisse iam ex epistula mea debes, adnotasse me nuper monumentum Pallantis sub hac inscriptione: ‘Huic senatus ob fidem pietatemque erga patronos ornamenta praetoria decrevit et sestertium centies quinquagies, cuius honore contentus fuit.’ 2 Postea mihi visum est pretium operae ipsum senatus consultum quaerere. Inveni tam copiosum et effusum, ut ille superbissimus titulus modicus atque etiam demissus videretur. Conferant se misceantque, non dico illi veteres, Africani Achaici Numantini, sed hi proximi Marii Sullae Pompei — nolo progredi longius -: infra Pallantis laudes iacebunt. 3 Urbanos qui illa censuerunt putem an miseros? Dicerem urbanos, si senatum deceret urbanitas; miseros, sed nemo tam miser est ut illa cogatur. Ambitio ergo et procedendi libido? Sed quis adeo demens, ut per suum, per publicum dedecus procedere velit in ea civitate, in qua hic esset usus florentissimae dignitatis, ut primus in senatu laudare Pallantem posset? 4 Mitto quod Pallanti servo praetoria ornamenta offeruntur — quippe offeruntur a servis -, mitto quod censent non exhortandum modo verum etiam compellendum ad usum aureorum anulorum; erat enim contra maiestatem senatus, si ferreis praetorius uteretur. 5 Levia haec et transeunda, illa memoranda quod nomine Pallantis senatus — nec expiata postea curia est -, Pallantis nomine senatus gratias agit Caesari, quod et ipse cum summo honore mentionem eius prosecutus esset et senatui facultatem fecisset testandi erga eum benevolentiam suam. 6 Quid enim senatui pulchrius, quam ut erga Pallantem satis gratus videretur? Additur: ‘Ut Pallas, cui se omnes pro virili parte obligatos fatentur, singularis fidei singularis industriae fructum meritissimo ferat’. Prolatos imperii fines, redditos exercitus rei publicae credas. 7 Astruitur his: ‘Cum senatui populoque Romano liberalitatis gratior repraesentari nulla materia posset, quam si abstinentissimi fidelissimique custodis principalium opum facultates adiuvare contigisset’. Hoc tunc votum senatus, hoc praecipuum gaudium populi, haec liberalitatis materia gratissima, si Pallantis facultates adiuvare publicarum opum egestione contingeret. 8 Iam quae sequuntur? Voluisse quidem senatum censere dandum ex aerario sestertium centies quinquagies et quanto ab eius modi cupiditatibus remotior eius animus esset, tanto impensius petere a publico parente, ut eum compelleret ad cedendum senatui. 9 Id vero deerat, ut cum Pallante auctoritate publica ageretur, Pallas rogaretur ut senatui cederet, ut illi superbissimae abstinentiae Caesar ipse patronus, ipse advocaretur, ne sestertium centies quinquagies sperneret. Sprevit, quod solum potuit tantis opibus publice oblatis arrogantius facere, quam si accepisset. 10 Senatus tamen id quoque similis querenti laudibus tulit, his quidem verbis: sed cum princeps optimus parensque publicus rogatus a Pallante eam partem sententiae, quae pertinebat ad dandum ei ex aerario sestertium centies quinquagies, remitti voluisset, testari senatum, et se libenter ac merito hanc summam inter reliquos honores ob fidem diligentiamque Pallanti decernere coepisse, voluntati tamen principis sui, cui in nulla re fas putaret repugnare, in hac quoque re obsequi. 11 Imaginare Pallantem velut intercedentem senatus consulto moderantemque honores suos et sestertium centies quinquagies ut nimium recusantem, cum praetoria ornamenta tamquam minus recepisset; 12 imaginare Caesarem liberti precibus vel potius imperio coram senatu obtemperantem — imperat enim libertus patrono, quem in senatu rogat -; imaginare senatum usquequaque testantem merito libenterque se hanc summam inter reliquos honores Pallanti coepisse decernere et perseveraturum fuisse, nisi obsequeretur principis voluntati, cui non esset fas in ulla re repugnare. Ita ne sestertium centies quinquagies Pallas ex aerario ferret, verecundia ipsius obsequio senatus opus fuit in hoc praecipue non obsecuturi, si in ulla re putasset fas esse non obsequi.

13 Finem existimas? Mane dum et maiora accipe: ‘Utique, cum sit utile principis benignitatem promptissimam ad laudem praemiaque merentium illustrari ubique et maxime iis locis, quibus incitari ad imitationem praepositi rerum eius curae possent, et Pallantis spectatissima fides atque innocentia exemplo provocare studium tam honestae aemulationis posset, ea quae X. kal. Februarias quae proximae fuissent in amplissimo ordine optimus princeps recitasset senatusque consulta de iis rebus facta in aere inciderentur, idque aes figeretur ad statuam loricatam divi Iulii’. 14 Parum visum tantorum dedecorum esse curiam testem: delectus est celeberrimus locus, in quo legenda praesentibus, legenda futuris proderentur. Placuit aere signari omnes honores fastidiosissimi mancipii, quosque repudiasset quosque quantum ad decernentes pertinet gessit. Incisa et insculpta sunt publicis aeternisque monumentis praetoria ornamenta Pallantis, sic quasi foedera antiqua, sic quasi sacrae leges. 15 Tanta principis, tanta senatus, tanta Pallantis ipsius — quid dicam nescio, ut vellent in oculis omnium figi Pallas insolentiam suam, patientiam Caesar, humilitatem senatus. Nec puduit rationem turpitudini obtendere, egregiam quidem pulchramque rationem, ut exemplo Pallantis praemiorum ad studium aemulationis ceteri provocarentur. 16 Ea honorum vilitas erat, illorum etiam quos Pallas non dedignabatur. Inveniebantur tamen honesto loco nati, qui peterent cuperentque quod dari liberto promitti servis videbant.

17 Quam iuvat quod in tempora illa non incidi, quorum sic me tamquam illis vixerim pudet! Non dubito similiter affici te. Scio quam sit tibi vivus et ingenuus animus: ideo facilius est ut me; quamquam indignationem quibusdam in locis fortasse ultra epistulae modum extulerim, parum doluisse quam nimis credas. Vale.

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7. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

1 Neque ut magistro magister neque ut discipulo discipulus — sic enim scribis -, sed ut discipulo magister — nam tu magister, ego contra; atque adeo tu in scholam revocas, ego adhuc Saturnalia extendo — librum misisti. 2 Num potui longius hyperbaton facere, atque hoc ipso probare eum esse me qui non modo magister tuus, sed ne discipulus quidem debeam dici? Sumam tamen personam magistri, exseramque in librum tuum ius quod dedisti, eo liberius quod nihil ex me interim missurus sum tibi in quo te ulciscaris. Vale.

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8. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

1 Vidistine aliquando Clitumnum fontem? Si nondum — et puto nondum: alioqui narrasses mihi -, vide; quem ego — paenitet tarditatis — proxime vidi. 2 Modicus collis assurgit, antiqua cupressu nemorosus et opacus. Hunc subter exit fons et exprimitur pluribus venis sed imparibus, eluctatusque quem facit gurgitem lato gremio patescit, purus et vitreus, ut numerare iactas stipes et relucentes calculos possis. 3 Inde non loci devexitate, sed ipsa sui copia et quasi pondere impellitur, fons adhuc et iam amplissimum flumen, atque etiam navium patiens; quas obvias quoque et contrario nisu in diversa tendentes transmittit et perfert, adeo validus ut illa qua properat ipse, quamquam per solum planum, remis non adiuvetur, idem aegerrime remis contisque superetur adversus. 4 Iucundum utrumque per iocum ludumque fluitantibus, ut flexerint cursum, laborem otio otium labore variare. Ripae fraxino multa, multa populo vestiuntur, quas perspicuus amnis velut mersas viridi imagine adnumerat. Rigor aquae certaverit nivibus, nec color cedit. 5 Adiacet templum priscum et religiosum. Stat Clitumnus ipse amictus ornatusque praetexta; praesens numen atque etiam fatidicum indicant sortes. Sparsa sunt circa sacella complura, totidemque di. Sua cuique veneratio suum nomen, quibusdam vero etiam fontes. Nam praeter illum quasi parentem ceterorum sunt minores capite discreti; sed flumini miscentur, quod ponte transmittitur. 6 Is terminus sacri profanique: in superiore parte navigare tantum, infra etiam natare concessum. Balineum Hispellates, quibus illum locum Divus Augustus dono dedit, publice praebent, praebent et hospitium. Nec desunt villae quae secutae fluminis amoenitatem margini insistunt. 7 In summa nihil erit, ex quo non capias voluptatem. Nam studebis quoque: leges multa multorum omnibus columnis omnibus parietibus inscripta, quibus fons ille deusque celebratur. Plura laudabis, non nulla ridebis; quamquam tu vero, quae tua humanitas, nulla ridebis. Vale.

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9. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

1 Olim non librum in manus, non stilum sumpsi, olim nescio quid sit otium quid quies, quid denique illud iners quidem, iucundum tamen nihil agere nihil esse: adeo multa me negotia Samicorum nec secedere nec studere patiuntur. 2 Nulla enim studia tanti sunt, ut amicitiae officium deseratur, quod religiosissime custodiendum studia ipsa praecipiunt. Vale.

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10. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Quo magis cupis ex nobis pronepotes videre, hoc tristior audies neptem tuam abortum fecisse, dum se praegnantem esse puellariter nescit, ac per hoc quaedam custodienda praegnantibus omittit, facit omittenda. Quem errorem magnis documentis expiavit, in summum periculum adducta. 2 Igitur, ut necesse est graviter accipias senectutem tuam quasi paratis posteris destitutam, sic debes agere dis gratias, quod ita tibi in praesentia pronepotes negaverunt, ut servarent neptem, illos reddituri, quorum nobis spem certiorem haec ipsa quamquam parum prospere explorata fecunditas facit. 3 Isdem nunc ego te quibus ipsum me hortor moneo confirmo. Neque enim ardentius tu pronepotes quam ego liberos cupio, quibus videor a meo tuoque latere pronum ad honores iter et audita latius nomina et non subitas imagines relicturus. Nascantur modo et hunc nostrum dolorem gaudio mutent. Vale.

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11. C. PLINIUS HISPULLAE SUAE S.

1 Cum affectum tuum erga fratris filiam cogito etiam materna indulgentia molliorem, intellego prius tibi quod est posterius nuntiandum, ut praesumpta laetitia sollicitudini locum non relinquat. Quamquam vereor ne post gratulationem quoque in metum redeas, atque ita gaudeas periculo liberatam, ut simul quod periclitata sit perhorrescas. 2 Iam hilaris, iam sibi iam mihi reddita incipit refici, transmissumque discrimen convalescendo metiri. Fuit alioqui in summo discrimine, — impune dixisse liceat — fuit nulla sua culpa, aetatis aliqua. Inde abortus et ignorati uteri triste experimentum. 3 Proinde etsi non contigit tibi desiderium fratris amissi aut nepote eius aut nepte solari, memento tamen dilatum magis istud quam negatum, cum salva sit ex qua sperari potest. Simul excusa patri tuo casum, cui paratior apud feminas venia. Vale.

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12. C. PLINIUS MINICIANO SUO S.

1 Hunc solum diem excuso: recitaturus est Titinius Capito, quem ego audire nescio magis debeam an cupiam. Vir est optimus et inter praecipua saeculi ornamenta numerandus. Colit studia, studiosos amat fovet provehit, multorum qui aliqua componunt portus sinus gremium, omnium exemplum, ipsarum denique litterarum iam senescentium reductor ac reformator. 2 Domum suam recitantibus praebet, auditoria non apud se tantum benignitate mira frequentat; mihi certe, si modo in urbe, defuit numquam. Porro tanto turpius gratiam non referre, quanto honestior causa referendae. 3 An si litibus tererer, obstrictum esse me crederem obeunti vadimonia mea, nunc, quia mihi omne negotium omnis in studiis cura, minus obligor tanta sedulitate celebranti, in quo obligari ego, ne dicam solo, certe maxime possum? 4 Quod si illi nullam vicem nulla quasi mutua officia deberem, sollicitarer tamen vel ingenio hominis pulcherrimo et maxime et in summa severitate dulcissimo, vel honestate materiae. Scribit exitus illustrium virorum, in his quorundam mihi carissimorum. 5 Videor ergo fungi pio munere, quorumque exsequias celebrare non licuit, horum quasi funebribus laudationibus seris quidem sed tanto magis veris interesse. Vale.

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13. C. PLINIUS GENIALI SUO S.

1 Probo quod libellos meos cum patre legisti. Pertinet ad profectum tuum a disertissimo viro discere, quid laudandum quid reprehendendum, simul ita institui, ut verum dicere assuescas. 2 Vides quem sequi, cuius debeas implere vestigia. O te beatum, cui contigit unum atque idem optimum et coniunctissimum exemplar, qui denique eum potissimum imitandum habes, cui natura esse te simillimum voluit! Vale.

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14. C. PLINIUS ARISTONI SUO S.

1 Cum sis peritissimus et privati iuris et publici, cuius pars senatorium est, cupio ex te potissimum audire, erraverim in senatu proxime necne, non ut in praeteritum — serum enim -, verum ut in futurum si quid simile inciderit erudiar. 2 Dices: ‘Cur quaeris quod nosse debebas?’ Priorum temporum servitus ut aliarum optimarum artium, sic etiam iuris senatorii oblivionem quandam et ignorantiam induxit. 3 Quotus enim quisque tam patiens, ut velit discere, quod in usu non sit habiturus? Adde quod difficile est tenere quae acceperis nisi exerceas. Itaque reducta libertas rudes nos et imperitos deprehendit; cuius dulcedine accensi, cogimur quaedam facere ante quam nosse. 4 Erat autem antiquitus institutum, ut a maioribus natu non auribus modo verum etiam oculis disceremus, quae facienda mox ipsi ac per vices quasdam tradenda minoribus haberemus. 5 Inde adulescentuli statim castrensibus stipendiis imbuebantur ut imperare parendo, duces agere dum sequuntur adsuescerent; inde honores petituri adsistebant curiae foribus, et consilii publici spectatores ante quam consortes erant. 6 Suus cuique parcns pro magistro, aut cui parens non erat maximus quisque et vetustissimus pro parente. Quae potestas referentibus, quod censentibus ius, quae vis magistratibus, quae ceteris libertas, ubi cedendum ubi resistendum, quod silentii tempus, quis dicendi modus, quae distinctio pugnantium sententiarum, quae exsecutio prioribus aliquid addentium, omnem denique senatorium morem — quod fidissimum percipiendi genus — exemplis docebantur. 7 At nos iuvenes fuimus quidem in castris; sed cum suspecta virtus, inertia in pretio, cum ducibus auctoritas nulla, nulla militibus verecundia, nusquam imperium nusquam obsequium, omnia soluta turbata atquc etiam in contrarium versa, postremo obliviscenda magis quam tenenda. 8 Iidem prospeximus curiam, sed curiam trepidam et elinguem, cum dicere quod velles periculosum, quod nolles miserum esset. Quid tunc disci potuit, quid didicisse iuvit, cum senatus aut ad otium summum aut ad summum nefas vocaretur, et modo ludibrio modo dolori retentus numquam seria, tristia saepe censeret? 9 Eadem mala iam senatores, iam participes malorum multos per annos vidimus tulimusque; quibus ingenia nostra in posterum quoque hebetata fracta contusa sunt. 10 Breve tempus — nam tanto brevius omne quanto felicius tempus — quo libet scire quid simus, libet exercere quod scimus. Quo iustius peto primum ut errori, si quis est error, tribuas veniam, deinde medearis scientia tua cui semper fuit curae, sic iura publica ut privata sic antiqua ut recentia sic rara ut adsidua tractare. 11 Atque ego arbitror illis etiam, quibus plurimarum rerum agitatio frequens nihil esse ignotum patiebatur, genus quaestionis quod adfero ad te aut non satis tritum aut etiam inexpertum fuisse. Hoc et ego excusatior si forte sum lapsus, et tu dignior laude, si potes id quoque docere quod in obscuro est an didiceris.

12 Referebatur de libertis Afrani Dextri consulis incertum sua an suorum manu, scelere an obsequio perempti. Hos alius — Quis? Ego; sed nihil refert — post quaestionem supplicio liberandos, alius in insulam relegandos, alius morte puniendos arbitrabatur. Quarum sententiarum tanta diversitas erat, ut non possent esse nisi singulae. 13 Quid enim commune habet occidere et relegare? Non hercule magis quam relegare et absolvere; quamquam propior aliquanto est sententiae relegantis, quae absolvit, quam quae occidit — utraque enim ex illis vitam relinquit, haec adimit -, cum interim et qui morte puniebant et qui relegabant, una sedebant et temporaria simulatione concordiae discordiam differebant. 14 Ego postulabam, ut tribus sententiis constaret suus numerus, nec se brevibus indutiis duae iungerent. Exigebam ergo ut qui capitali supplicio afficiendos putabant, discederent a relegante, nec interim contra absolventes mox dissensuri congregarentur, quia parvolum referret an idem displiceret, quibus non idem placuisset. 15 Illud etiam mihi permirum videbatur, eum quidem qui libertos relegandos, servos supplicio afficiendos censuisset, coactum esse dividere sententiam; hunc autem qui libertos morte multaret, cum relegante numerari. Nam si oportuisset dividi sententiam unius, quia res duas comprehendebat, non reperiebam quemadmodum posset iungi sententia duorum tam diversa censentium.

16 Atque adeo permitte mihi sic apud te tamquam ibi, sic peracta re tamquam adhuc integra rationem iudicii mei reddere, quaeque tunc carptim multis obstrepentibus dixi, nunc per otium iungere. 17 Fingamus tres omnino iudices in hanc causam datos esse; horum uni placuisse perire libertos, alteri relegari, tertio absolvi. Utrumne sententiae duae collatis viribus novissimam periment, an separatim una quaeque tantundem quantum altera valebit, nec magis poterit cum secunda prima conecti quam secunda cum tertia? 18 Igitur in senatu quoque numerari tamquam contrariae debent, quae tamquam diversae dicuntur. Quodsi unus atque idem et perdendos censeret et relegandos, num ex sententia unius et perire possent et relegari? Num denique omnino una sententia putaretur, quae tam diversa coniungeret? 19 Quemadmodum igitur, cum alter puniendos, alter censeat relegandos, videri potest una sententia quae dicitur a duobus, quae non videretur una, si ab uno diceretur? Quid? lex non aperte docet dirimi debere sententias occidentis et relegantis, cum ita discessionem fieri iubet: ‘Qui haec censetis, in hanc partem, qui alia omnia, in illam partem ite qua sentitis’? Examina singula verba et expende: ‘qui haec censetis’, hoc est qui relegandos putatis, ‘in hanc partem’, id est in eam in qua sedet qui censuit relegandos. 20 Ex quo manifestum est non posse in eadem parte remanere eos, qui interficiendos arbitrantur. ‘Qui alia omnia’: animadvertis, ut non contenta lex dicere ‘alia’ addiderit ‘omnia’. Num ergo dubium est alia omnia sentire eos qui occidunt quam qui relegant? ‘In illam partem ite qua sentitis’: nonne videtur ipsa lex eos qui dissentiunt in contrariam partem vocare cogere impellere? Non consul etiam, ubi quisque remanere, quo transgredi debeat, non tantum sollemnibus verbis, sed manu gestuque demonstrat? 21 At enim futurum est ut si dividantur sententiae interficientis et relegantis, praevaleat illa quae absolvit. Quid istud ad censentes? quos certe non decet omnibus artibus, omni ratione pugnare, ne fiat quod est mitius. Oportet tamen eos qui puniunt et qui relegant, absolventibus primum, mox inter se comparari. Scilicet ut in spectaculis quibusdam sors aliquem seponit ac servat, qui cum victore contendat, sic in senatu sunt aliqua prima, sunt secunda certamina, et ex duabus sententiis eam, quae superior exstiterit, tertia exspectat. 22 Quid, quod prima sententia comprobata ceterae perimuntur? Qua ergo ratione potest esse non unus atque idem locus sententiarum, quarum nullus est postea? 23 Planius repetam. Nisi dicente sententiam eo qui relegat, illi qui puniunt capite initio statim in alia discedant, frustra postea dissentient ab eo cui paulo ante consenserint. 24 Sed quid ego similis docenti? cum discere velim, an sententias dividi an iri in singulas oportuerit. Obtinui quidem quod postulabam; nihilo minus tamen quaero, an postulare debuerim. Quemadmodum obtinui? Qui ultimum supplicium sumendum esse censebat, nescio an iure, certe aequitate postulationis meae victus, omissa sententia sua accessit releganti, veritus scilicet ne, si dividerentur sententiae, quod alioqui fore videbatur, ea quae absolvendos esse censebat numero praevaleret. Etenim longe plures in hac una quam in duabus singulis erant. 25 Tum illi quoque qui auctoritate eius trahebantur, transeunte illo destituti reliquerunt sententiam ab ipso auctore desertam, secutique sunt quasi transfugam quem ducem sequebantur. 26 Sic ex tribus sententiis duae factae, tenuitque ex duabus altera tertia expulsa, quae, cum ambas superare non posset, elegit ab utra vinceretur. Vale.

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15. C. PLINIUS IUNIORI SUO S.

1 Oneravi te tot pariter missis voluminibus, sed oneravi primum quia exegeras, deinde quia scripseras tam graciles istic vindemias esse, ut plane scirem tibi vacaturum, quod vulgo dicitur, librum legere. 2 Eadem ex meis agellis nuntiantur. Igitur mihi quoque licebit scribere quae legas, sit modo unde chartae emi possint; aut necessario quidquid scripserimus boni malive delebimus. Vale.

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16. C. PLINIUS PATERNO SUO S.

1 Confecerunt me infirmitates meorum, mortes etiam, et quidem iuvenum. Solacia duo nequaquam paria tanto dolori, solacia tamen: unum facilitas manumittendi — videor enim non omnino immaturos perdidisse, quos iam liberos perdidi -, alterum quod permitto servis quoque quasi testamenta facere, eaque ut legitima custodio. 2 Mandant rogantque quod visum; pareo ut iussus. Dividunt donant relinquunt, dumtaxat intra domum; nam servis res publica quaedam et quasi civitas domus est. 3 Sed quamquam his solaciis acquiescam, debilitor et frangor eadem illa humanitate, quae me ut hoc ipsum permitterem induxit. Non ideo tamen velim durior fieri. Nec ignoro alios eius modi casus nihil amplius vocare quam damnum, eoque sibi magnos homines et sapientes videri. Qui an magni sapientesque sint, nescio; homines non sunt. 4 Hominis est enim affici dolore sentire, resistere tamen et solacia admittere, non solaciis non egere. 5 Verum de his plura fortasse quam debui; sed pauciora quam volui. Est enim quaedam etiam dolendi voluptas, praesertim si in amici sinu defleas, apud quem lacrimis tuis vel laus sit parata vel venia. Vale.

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17. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

1 Num istic quoque immite et turbidum caelum? Hic assiduae tempestates et crebra diluvia. Tiberis alveum excessit et demissioribus ripis alte superfunditur; 2 quamquam fossa quam providentissimus imperator fecit exhaustus, premit valles, innatat campis, quaque planum solum, pro solo cernitur. Inde quae solet flumina accipere et permixta devehere, velut obvius retro cogit, atque ita alienis aquis operit agros, quos ipse non tangit. 3 Anio, delicatissimus amnium ideoque adiacentibus villis velut invitatus retentusque, magna ex parte nemora quibus inumbratur fregit et rapuit; subruit montes, et decidentium mole pluribus locis clausus, dum amissum iter quaerit, impulit tecta ac se super ruinas eiecit atque extulit. 4 Viderunt quos excelsioribus terris illa tempestas deprehendit, alibi divitum apparatus et gravem supellectilem, alibi instrumenta ruris, ibi boves aratra rectores, hic soluta et libera armenta, atque inter haec arborum truncos aut villarum trabes atque culmina varie lateque fluitantia. 5 Ac ne illa quidem malo vacaverunt, ad quae non ascendit amnis. Nam pro amne imber assiduus et deiecti nubibus turbines, proruta opera quibus pretiosa rura cinguntur, quassata atque etiam decussa monumenta. Multi eius modi casibus debilitati obruti obtriti, et aucta luctibus damna.

6 Ne quid simile istic, pro mensura periculi vereor, teque rogo, si nihil tale, quam maturissime sollicitudini meae consulas, sed et si tale, id quoque nunties. Nam parvolum differt, patiaris adversa an exspectes; nisi quod tamen est dolendi modus, non est timendi. Doleas enim quantum scias accidisse, timeas quantum possit accidere. Vale.

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18. C. PLINIUS RUFINO SUO S.

1 Falsum est nimirum quod creditur vulgo, testamenta hominum speculum esse morum, cum Domitius Tullus longe melior apparuerit morte quam vita. 2 Nam cum se captandum praebuisset, reliquit filiam heredem, quae illi cum fratre communis, quia genitam fratre adoptaverat. Prosecutus est nepotes plurimis iucundissimisque legatis, prosecutus etiam proneptem. In summa omnia pietate plenissima ac tanto magis inexspectata sunt. 3 Ergo varii tota civitate sermones: alii fictum ingratum immemorem loquuntur, seque ipsos dum insectantur illum turpissimis confessionibus produnt, ut qui de patre avo proavo quasi de orbo querantur; alii contra hoc ipsum laudibus ferunt, quod sit frustratus improbas spes hominum, quos sic decipi pro moribus temporum est. Addunt etiam non fuisse ei liberum alio testamento mori: neque enim reliquisse opes filiae sed reddidisse, quibus auctus per filiam fuerat. 4 Nam Curtilius Mancia perosus generum suum Domitium Lucanum — frater is Tulli — sub ea condicione filiam eius neptem suam instituerat heredem, si esset manu patris emissa. Emiserat pater, adoptaverat patruus, atque ita circumscripto testamento consors frater in fratris potestatem emancipatam filiam adoptionis fraude revocaverat et quidem cum opibus amplissimis. 5 Fuit alioqui fratribus illis quasi fato datum ut divites fierent, invitissimis a quibus facti sunt. Quin etiam Domitius Afer, qui illos in nomen assumpsit, reliquit testamentum ante decem et octo annos nuncupatum, adeoque postea improbatum sibi, ut patris eorum bona proscribenda curaverit. 6 Mira illius asperitas, mira felicitas horum: illius asperitas, qui numero civium excidit, quem socium etiam in liberis habuit; felicitas horum, quibus successit in locum patris, qui patrem abstulerat. 7 Sed haec quoque hereditas Afri, ut reliqua cum fratre quaesita, transmittenda erant filiae fratris, a quo Tullus ex asse heres institutus praelatusque filiae fuerat, ut conciliaretur. Quo laudabilius testamentum est, quod pietas fides pudor scripsit, in quo denique omnibus affinitatibus pro cuiusque officio gratia relata est, relata et uxori. 8 Accepit amoenissimas villas, accepit magnam pecuniam uxor optima et patientissima ac tanto melius de viro merita, quanto magis est reprehensa quod nupsit. Nam mulier natalibus clara, moribus proba, aetate declivis, diu vidua mater olim, parum decore secuta matrimonium videbatur divitis senis ita perditi morbo, ut esse taedio posset uxori, quam iuvenis sanusque duxisset. 9 Quippe omnibus membris extortus et fractus, tantas opes solis oculis obibat, ac ne in lectulo quidem nisi ab aliis movebatur; quin etiam — foedum miserandumque dictu — dentes lavandos fricandosque praebebat. Auditum frequenter ex ipso, cum quereretur de contumeliis debilitatis suae, digitos se servorum suorum cotidie lingere. 10 Vivebat tamen et vivere volebat, sustentante maxime uxore, quae culpam incohati matrimonii in gloriam perseverantia verterat.

11 Habes omnes fabulas urbis; nam sunt omnes fabulae Tullus. Exspectatur auctio: fuit enim tam copiosus, ut amplissimos hortos eodem quo emerat die instruxerit plurimis et antiquissimis statuis; tantum illi pulcherrimorum operum in horreis quae neglegebat. Invicem tu, si quid istic epistula dignum, ne gravare. 12 Nam cum aures hominum novitate laetantur, tum ad rationem vitae exemplis erudimur. Vale.

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19. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Et gaudium mihi et solacium in litteris, nihilque tam laetum quod his laetius, tam triste quod non per has minus triste. Itaque et infirmitate uxoris et meorum periculo, quorundam vero etiam morte turbatus, ad unicum doloris levamentum studia confugi, quae praestant ut adversa magis intellegam sed patientius feram. 2 Est autem mihi moris, quod sum daturus in manus hominum, ante amicorum iudicio examinare, in primis tuo. Proinde si quando, nunc intende libro quem cum hac epistula accipies, quia vereor ne ipse ut tristis parum intenderim. Imperare enim dolori ut scriberem potui; ut vacuo animo laetoque, non potui. Porro ut ex studiis gaudium sic studia hilaritate proveniunt. Vale.

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20. C. PLINIUS GALLO SUO S.

1 Ad quae noscenda iter ingredi, transmittere mare solemus, ea sub oculis posita neglegimus, seu quia ita natura comparatum, ut proximorum incuriosi longinqua sectemur, seu quod omnium rerum cupido languescit, cum facilis occasio, seu quod differimus tamquam saepe visuri, quod datur videre quotiens velis cernere. 2 Quacumque de causa, permulta in urbe nostra iuxtaque urbem non oculis modo sed ne auribus quidem novimus, quae si tulisset Achaia Aegyptos Asia aliave quaelibet miraculorum ferax commendatrixque terra, audita perlecta lustrata haberemus. 3 Ipse certe nuper, quod nec audieram ante nec videram, audivi pariter et vidi. Exegerat prosocer meus, ut Amerina praedia sua inspicerem. Haec perambulanti mihi ostenditur subiacens lacus nomine Vadimonis; simul quaedam incredibilia narrantur. 4 Perveni ad ipsum. Lacus est in similitudinem iacentis rotae circumscriptus et undique aequalis: nullus sinus, obliquitas nulla, omnia dimensa paria, et quasi artificis manu cavata et excisa. Color caerulo albidior, viridior et pressior; sulpuris odor saporque medicatus; vis qua fracta solidantur. Spatium modicum, quod tamen sentiat ventos, et fluctibus intumescat. 5 Nulla in hoc navis — sacer enim -, sed innatant insulae, herbidae omnes harundine et iunco, quaeque alia fecundior palus ipsaque illa extremitas lacus effert. Sua cuique figura ut modus; cunctis margo derasus, quia frequenter vel litori vel sibi illisae terunt terunturque. Par omnibus altitudo, par levitas; quippe in speciem carinae humili radice descendunt. 6 Haec ab omni latere perspicitur, eadem aqua pariter suspensa et mersa. Interdum iunctae copulataeque et continenti similes sunt, interdum discordantibus ventis digeruntur, non numquam destitutae tranquillitate singulae fluitant. 7 Saepe minores maioribus velut cumbulae onerariis adhaerescunt, saepe inter se maiores minoresque quasi cursum certamenque desumunt; rursus omnes in eundem locum appulsae, qua steterunt promovent terram, et modo hac modo illa lacum reddunt auferuntque, ac tum demum cum medium tenuere non contrahunt. 8 Constat pecora herbas secuta sic in insulas illas ut in extremam ripam procedere solere, nec prius intellegere mobile solum quam litori abrepta quasi illata et imposita circumfusum undique lacum paveant; mox quo tulerit ventus egressa, non magis se descendisse sentire, quam senserint ascendisse. 9 Idem lacus in flumen egeritur, quod ubi se paulisper oculis dedit specu mergitur alteque conditum meat ac, si quid antequam subduceretur accepit, servat et profert. 10 Haec tibi scripsi, quia nec minus ignota quam mihi nec minus grata credebam. Nam te quoque ut me nihil aeque ac naturae opera delectant. Vale.

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21. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

1 Ut in vita sic in studiis pulcherrimum et humanissimum existimo severitatem comitatemque miscere, ne illa in tristitiam, haec in petulantiam excedat. 2 Qua ratione ductus graviora opera lusibus iocisque distinguo. Ad hos proferendos et tempus et locum opportunissimum elegi, utque iam nunc assuescerent et ab otiosis et in triclinio audiri, Iulio mense, quo maxime lites interquiescunt, positis ante lectos cathedris amicos collocavi. 3 Forte accidit ut eodem die mane in advocationem subitam rogarer, quod mihi causam praeloquendi dedit. Sum enim deprecatus, ne quis ut irreverentem operis argueret, quod recitaturus, quamquam et amicis et paucis, id est iterum amicis, foro et negotiis non abstinuissem. Addidi hunc ordinem me et in scribendo sequi, ut necessitates voluptatibus, seria iucundis anteferrem, ac primum amicis tum mihi scriberem. 4 Liber fuit et opusculis varius et metris. Ita solemus, qui ingenio parum fidimus, satietatis periculum fugere. Recitavi biduo. Hoc assensus audientium exegit; et tamen ut alii transeunt quaedam imputantque quod transeant, sic ego nihil praetereo atque etiam non praeterire me dico. Lego enim omnia ut omnia emendem, quod contingere non potest electa recitantibus. 5 At illud modestius et fortasse reverentius; sed hoc simplicius et amantius. Amat enim qui se sic amari putat, ut taedium non pertimescat; et alioqui quid praestant sodales, si conveniunt voluptatis suae causa? Delicatus ac similis ignoto est, qui amici librum bonum mavult audire quam facere. 6 Non dubito cupere te pro cetera mei caritate quam maturissime legere hunc adhuc musteum librum. Leges, sed retractatum, quae causa recitandi fuit; et tamen non nulla iam ex eo nosti. Haec emendata postea vel, quod interdum longiore mora solet, deteriora facta quasi nova rursus et rescripta cognosces. Nam plerisque mutatis ea quoque mutata videntur, quae manent. Vale.

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22. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

1 Nostine hos qui omnium libidinum servi, sic aliorum vitiis irascuntur quasi invideant, et gravissime puniunt, quos maxime imitantur? cum eos etiam, qui non indigent clementia ullius, nihil magis quam lenitas deceat. 2 Atque ego optimum et emendatissimum existimo, qui ceteris ita ignoscit, tamquam ipse cotidie peccet, ita peccatis abstinet tamquam nemini ignoscat. 3 Proinde hoc domi hoc foris hoc in omni vitae genere teneamus, ut nobis implacabiles simus, exorabiles istis etiam qui dare veniam nisi sibi nesciunt, mandemusque memoriae quod vir mitissimus et ob hoc quoque maximus Thrasea crebro dicere solebat: ‘Qui vitia odit, homines odit.’ Quaeris fortasse quo commotus haec scribam. 4 Nuper quidam — sed melius coram; quamquam ne tunc quidem. Vereor enim ne id quod improbo consectari carpere referre huic quod cum maxime praecipimus repugnet. Quisquis ille qualiscumque sileatur, quem insignire exempli nihil, non insignire humanitatis plurimum refert. Vale.

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23. C. PLINIUS MARCELLINO SUO S.

1 Omnia mihi studia, omnes curas, omnia avocamenta exemit excussit eripuit dolor, quem ex morte Iuni Aviti gravissimum cepi. 2 Latum clavum in domo mea induerat, suffragio meo adiutus in petendis honoribus fuerat; ad hoc ita me diligebat, ita verebatur, ut me formatore morum, me quasi magistro uteretur. 3 Rarum hoc in adulescentibus nostris. Nam quotus quisque vel aetati alterius vel auctoritati ut minor cedit? Statim sapiunt, statim sciunt omnia, neminem verentur, neminem imitantur, atque ipsi sibi exempla sunt. Sed non Avitus, cuius haec praecipua prudentia, quod alios prudentiores arbitrabatur, haec praecipua eruditio quod discere volebat. 4 Semper ille aut de studiis aliquid aut de officiis vitae consulebat, semper ita recedebat ut melior factus; et erat factus vel eo quod audierat, vel quod omnino quaesierat. 5 Quod ille obsequium Serviano exactissimo viro praestitit! quem legatum tribunus ita et intellexit et cepit, ut ex Germania in Pannoniam transeuntem non ut commilito sed ut comes assectatorque sequeretur. Qua industria qua modestia quaestor, consulibus suis — et plures habuit — non minus iucundus et gratus quam utilis fuit! Quo discursu, qua vigilantia hanc ipsam aedilitatem cui praereptus est petiit! Quod vel maxime dolorem meum exulcerat. 6 Obversantur oculis cassi labores, et infructuosae preces, et honor quem meruit tantum; redit animo ille latus clavus in penatibus meis sumptus, redeunt illa prima illa postrema suffragia mea, illi sermones illae consultationes. 7 Afficior adulescentia ipsius, afficior necessitudinum casu. Erat illi grandis natu parens, erat uxor quam ante annum virginem acceperat, erat filia quam paulo ante sustulerat. Tot spes tot gaudia dies unus in diversa convertit. 8 Modo designatus aedilis, recens maritus recens pater intactum honorem, orbam matrem, viduam uxorem, filiam pupillam ignaram patris reliquit: Accedit lacrimis meis quod absens et impendentis mali nescius, pariter aegrum pariter decessisse cognovi, ne gravissimo dolori timore consuescerem. In tantis tormentis eram cum scriberem haec <ut haec> scriberem sola; neque enim nunc aliud aut cogitare aut loqui possum. Vale.

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24. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Amor in te meus cogit, non ut praecipiam — neque enim praeceptore eges -, admoneam tamen, ut quae scis teneas et observes, aut nescire melius. 2 Cogita te missum in provinciam Achaiam, illam veram et meram Graeciam, in qua primum humanitas litterae, etiam fruges inventae esse creduntur; missum ad ordinandum statum liberarum civitatum, id est ad homines maxime homines, ad liberos maxime liberos, qui ius a natura datum virtute meritis amicitia, foedere denique et religione tenuerunt. 3 Reverere conditores deos et nomina deorum, reverere gloriam veterem et hanc ipsam senectutem, quae in homine venerabilis, in urbibus sacra. Sit apud te honor antiquitati, sit ingentibus factis, sit fabulis quoque. Nihil ex cuiusquam dignitate, nihil ex libertate, nihil etiam ex iactatione decerpseris. 4 Habe ante oculos hanc esse terram, quae nobis miserit iura, quae leges non victis sed petentibus dederit, Athenas esse quas adeas Lacedaemonem esse quam regas; quibus reliquam umbram et residuum libertatis nomen eripere durum ferum barbarum est. 5 Vides a medicis, quamquam in adversa valetudine nihil servi ac liberi differant, mollius tamen liberos clementiusque tractari. Recordare quid quaeque civitas fuerit, non ut despicias quod esse desierit; absit superbia asperitas. 6 Nec timueris contemptum. An contemnitur qui imperium qui fasces habet, nisi humilis et sordidus, et qui se primus ipse contemnit? Male vim suam potestas aliorum contumeliis experitur, male terrore veneratio acquiritur, longeque valentior amor ad obtinendum quod velis quam timor. Nam timor abit si recedas, manet amor, ac sicut ille in odium hic in reverentiam vertitur. 7 Te vero etiam atque etiam — repetam enim — meminisse oportet officii tui titulum ac tibi ipsum interpretari, quale quantumque sit ordinare statum liberarum civitatum. Nam quid ordinatione civilius, quid libertate pretiosius? 8 Porro quam turpe, si ordinatio eversione, libertas servitute mutetur! Accedit quod tibi certamen est tecum: onerat te quaesturae tuae fama, quam ex Bithynia optimam revexisti; onerat testimonium principis; onerat tribunatus, praetura atque haec ipsa legatio quasi praemium data. 9 Quo magis nitendum est ne in longinqua provincia quam suburbana, ne inter servientes quam liberos, ne sorte quam iudicio missus, ne rudis et incognitus quam exploratus probatusque humanior melior peritior fuisse videaris, cum sit alioqui, ut saepe audisti saepe legisti, multo deformius amittere quam non assequi laudem.

10 Haec velim credas, quod initio dixi, scripsisse me admonentem, non praecipientem; quamquam praecipientem quoque. Quippe non vereor, in amore ne modum excesserim. Neque enim periculum est ne sit nimium quod esse maximum debet. Vale.

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LIBER NONVS

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1. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Saepe te monui, ut libros quos vel pro te vel in Plantam, immo et pro te et in illum — ita enim materia cogebat -, composuisti quam maturissime emitteres; quod nunc praecipue morte eius audita et hortor et moneo. 2 Quamvis enim legeris multis legendosque dederis, nolo tamen quemquam opinari defuncto demum incohatos, quos incolumi eo peregisti. Salva sit tibi constantiae fama. Erit autem, si notum aequis iniquisque fuerit non post inimici mortem scribendi tibi natam esse fiduciam, sed iam paratam editionem morte praeventam. 3 Et simul vitabis illud ‘ouch hosiê phthimenoisi’. Nam quod de vivente scriptum de vivente recitatum est, in defunctum quoque tamquam viventem adhuc editur, si editur statim. Igitur si quid aliud in manibus, interim differ; hoc perfice, quod nobis qui legimus olim absolutum videtur. Sed iam videatur et tibi, cuius cunctationem nec res ipsa desiderat, et temporis ratio praecidit. Vale.

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2. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

1 Facis iucunde quod non solum plurimas epistulas meas verum etiam longissimas flagitas; in quibus parcior fui partim quia tuas occupationes verebar, partim quia ipse multum distringebar plerumque frigidis negotiis quae simul et avocant animum et comminuunt. Praeterea nec materia plura scribendi dabatur. 2 Neque enim eadem nostra condicio quae M. Tulli, ad cuius exemplum nos vocas. Illi enim et copiosissimum ingenium, et par ingenio qua varietas rerum qua magnitudo largissime suppetebat; 3 nos quam angustis terminis claudamur etiam tacente me perspicis, nisi forte volumus scholasticas tibi atque, ut ita dicam, umbraticas litteras mittere. 4 Sed nihil minus aptum arbitramur, cum arma vestra cum castra, eum denique cornua tubas sudorem pulverem soles cogitamus. 5 Habes, ut puto, iustam excusationem, quam tamen dubito an tibi probari velim. Est enim summi amoris negare veniam brevibus epistulis amicorum, quamvis scias illis constare rationem. Vale.

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3. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

1 Alius aliud: ego beatissimum existimo, qui bonae mansuraeque famae praesumptione perfruitur, certusque posteritatis cum futura gloria vivit. Ac mihi nisi praemium aeternitatis ante oculos, pingue illud altumque otium placeat. 2 Etenim omnes homines arbitror oportere aut immortalitatem suam aut mortalitatem cogitare, et illos quidem contendere eniti, hos quiescere remitti, nec brevem vitam caducis laboribus fatigare, ut video multos misera simul et ingrata imagine industriae ad vilitatem sui pervenire. 3 Haec ego tecum quae cotidie mecum, ut desinam mecum, si dissenties tu; quamquam non dissenties, ut qui semper clarum aliquid et immortale meditere. Vale.

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4. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

1 Vererer ne immodicam orationem putares, quam cum hac epistula accipies, nisi esset generis eius ut saepe incipere saepe desinere videatur. am singulis criminibus singulae velut causae continentur. 2 Poteris ergo, undecumque coeperis ubicumque desieris, quae deinceps sequentur et quasi incipientia legere et quasi cohaerentia, meque in universitate longissimum, brevissimum in partibus iudicare. Vale.

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5. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

1 Egregie facis — inquiro enim — et persevera, quod iustitiam tuam provincialibus multa humanitate commendas; cuius praecipua pars est honestissimum quemque complecti, atque ita a minoribus amari, ut simul a principibus diligare. 2 Plerique autem dum verentur, ne gratiae potentium nimium impertire videantur, sinisteritatis atque etiam malignitatis famam consequuntur. 3 A quo vitio tu longe recessisti, scio, sed temperare mihi non possum quominus laudem similis monenti, quod eum modum tenes ut discrimina ordinum dignitatumque custodias; quae si confusa turbata permixta sunt, nihil est ipsa aequalitate inaequalius. Vale.

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6. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO SUO S.

1 Omne hoc tempus inter pugillares ac libellos iucundissima quiete transmisi. ‘Quemadmodum’ inquis ‘in urbe potuisti?’ Circenses erant, quo genere spectaculi ne levissime quidem teneor. Nihil novum nihil varium, nihil quod non semel spectasse sufficiat. 2 Quo magis miror tot milia virorum tam pueriliter identidem cupere currentes equos, insistentes curribus homines videre. Si tamen aut velocitate equorum aut hominum arte traherentur, esset ratio non nulla; nunc favent panno, pannum amant, et si in ipso cursu medioque certamine hic color illuc ille huc transferatur, studium favorque transibit, et repente agitatores illos equos illos, quos procul noscitant, quorum clamitant nomina relinquent. 3 Tanta gratia tanta auctoritas in una vilissima tunica, mitto apud vulgus, quod vilius tunica, sed apud quosdam graves homines; quos ego cum recordor, in re inani frigida assidua, tam insatiabiliter desidere, capio aliquam voluptatem, quod hac voluptate non capior. 4 Ac per hos dies libentissime otium meum in litteris colloco, quos alii otiosissimis occupationibus perdunt. Vale.

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7. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

1 Aedificare te scribis. Bene est, inveni patrocinium; aedifico enim iam ratione quia tecum. Nam hoc quoque non dissimile quod ad mare tu, ego ad Larium lacum. 2 Huius in litore plures meae villae, sed duae maxime ut delectant ita exercent. 3 Altera imposita saxis more Baiano lacum prospicit, altera aeque more Baiano lacum tangit. Itaque illam tragoediam, hanc appellare comoediam soleo, illam quod quasi cothurnis, hanc quod quasi socculis sustinetur. Sua utrique amoenitas, et utraque possidenti ipsa diversitate iucundior. 4 Haec lacu propius, illa latius utitur; haec unum sinum molli curvamine amplectitur, illa editissimo dorso duos dirimit; illic recta gestatio longo limite super litus extenditur, hic spatiosissimo xysto leviter inflectitur; illa fluctus non sentit haec frangit; ex illa possis despicere piscantes, ex hac ipse piscari, hamumque de cubiculo ac paene etiam de lectulo ut e naucula iacere. Hae mihi causae utrique quae desunt astruendi ob ea quae supersunt. 5 Etsi quid ego rationem tibi? apud quem pro ratione erit idem facere. Vale.

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8. C. PLINIUS AUGURINO SUO S.

1 Si laudatus a te laudare te coepero, vereor ne non tam proferre iudicium meum quam referre gratiam videar. Sed licet videar, omnia scripta tua pulcherrima existimo, maxime tamen illa de nobis. 2 Accidit hoc una eademque de causa. Nam et tu, quae de amicis, optime scribis, et ego, quae de me, ut optima lego. Vale.

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9. C. PLINIUS COLONO SUO S.

1 Unice probo quod Pompei Quintiani morte tam dolenter afficeris, ut amissi caritatem desiderio extendas, non ut plerique qui tantum viventes amant seu potius amare se simulant, ac ne simulant quidem nisi quos florentes vident; nam miserorum non secus ac defunctorum obliviscuntur. Sed tibi perennis fides tantaque in amore constantia, ut finiri nisi tua morte non possit. 2 Et hercule is fuit Quintianus, quem diligi deceat ipsius exemplo. Felices amabat, miseros tuebatur, desiderabat amissos. Iam illa quanta probitas in ore, quanta in sermone cunctatio, quam pari libra gravitas comitasque! quod studium litterarum, quod iudicium! qua pietate cum dissimillimo patre vivebat! quam non obstabat illi, quo minus vir optimus videretur, quod erat optimus filius! 3 Sed quid dolorem tuum exulcero? Quamquam sic amasti iuvenem ut hoc potius quam de illo sileri velis, a me praesertim cuius praedicatione putas vitam eius ornari, memoriam prorogari, ipsamque illam qua est raptus aetatem posse restitui. Vale.

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10. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

1 Cupio praeceptis tuis parere; sed aprorum tanta penuria est, ut Minervae et Dianae, quas ais pariter colendas, convenire non possit. 2 Itaque Minervae tantum serviendum est, delicate tamen ut in secessu et aestate. In via plane non nulla leviora statimque delenda ea garrulitate qua sermones in vehiculo seruntur extendi. His quaedam addidi in villa, cum aliud non liberet. Itaque poemata quiescunt, quae tu inter nemora et lucos commodissime perfici putas. 3 Oratiunculam unam alteram retractavi; quamquam id genus operis inamabile inamoenum, magisque laboribus ruris quam voluptatibus simile. Vale.

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11. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

1 Epistulam tuam iucundissimam accepi, eo maxime quod aliquid ad te scribi volebas, quod libris inseri posset. Obveniet materia vel haec ipsa quam monstras, vel potior alia. Sunt enim in hac offendicula non nulla: circumfer oculos et occurrent. 2 Bibliopolas Lugduni esse non putabam ac tanto libentius ex litteris tuis cognovi venditari libellos meos, quibus peregre manere gratiam quam in urbe collegerint delector. Incipio enim satis absolutum existimare, de quo tanta diversitate regionum discreta hominum iudicia consentiunt. Vale.

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12. C. PLINIUS IUNIORI SUO S.

1 Castigabat quidam filium suum quod paulo sumptuosius equos et canes emeret. Huic ego iuvene digresso: ‘Heus tu, numquamne fecisti, quod a patre corripi posset? “Fecisti” dico. Non interdum facis quod filius tuus, si repente pater ille tu filius, pari gravitate reprehendat? Non omnes homines aliquo errore ducuntur? Non hic in illo sibi, in hoc alius indulget?’ 2 Haec tibi admonitus immodicae severitatis exemplo, pro amore mutuo scripsi, ne quando tu quoque filium tuum acerbius duriusque tractares. Cogita et illum puerum esse et te fuisse, atque ita hoc quod es pater utere, ut memineris et hominem esse te et hominis patrem. Vale.

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13. C. PLINIUS QUADRATO SUO S.

1 Quanto studiosius intentiusque legisti libros quos de Helvidi ultione composui, tanto impensius postulas, ut perscribam tibi quaeque extra libros quaeque circa libros, totum denique ordinem rei cui per aetatem non interfuisti.

2 Occiso Domitiano statui mecum ac deliberavi, esse magnam pulchramque materiam insectandi nocentes, miseros vindicandi, se proferendi. Porro inter multa scelera multorum nullum atrocius videbatur, quam quod in senatu senator senatori, praetorius consulari, reo iudex manus intulisset. 3 Fuerat alioqui mihi cum Helvidio amicitia, quanta potuerat esse cum eo, qui metu temporum nomen ingens paresque virtutes secessu tegebat; fuerat cum Arria et Fannia, quarum altera Helvidi noverca, altera mater novercae. Sed non ita me iura privata, ut publicum fas et indignitas facti et exempli ratio incitabat. 4 Ac primis quidem diebus redditae libertatis pro se quisque inimicos suos, dumtaxat minores, incondito turbidoque clamore postulaverat simul et oppresserat. Ego et modestius et constantius arbitratus immanissimum reum non communi temporum invidia, sed proprio crimine urgere, cum iam satis primus ille impetus defremuisset et languidior in dies ira ad iustitiam redisset, quamquam tum maxime tristis amissa nuper uxore, mitto ad Anteiam — nupta haec Helvidio fuerat -; rogo ut veniat, quia me recens adhuc luctus limine contineret. 5 Ut venit, ‘Destinatum est’ inquam ‘mihi maritum tuum non inultum pati. Nuntia Arriae et Fanniae’ — ab exsilio redierant -, ‘consule te, consule illas, an velitis ascribi facto, in quo ego comite non egeo; sed non ita gloriae meae faverim, ut vobis societate eius invideam.’ Perfert Anteia mandata, nec illae morantur.

6 Opportune senatus intra diem tertium. Omnia ego semper ad Corellium rettuli, quem providentissimum aetatis nostrae sapientissimumque cognovi: in hoc tamen contentus consilio meo fui veritus ne vetaret; erat enim cunctantior cautiorque. Sed non sustinui inducere in animum, quominus illi eodem die facturum me indicarem, quod an facerem non deliberabam, expertus usu de eo quod destinaveris non esse consulendos quibus consultis obsequi debeas. 7 Venio in senatum, ius dicendi peto, dico paulisper maximo assensu. Ubi coepi crimen attingere, reum destinare, adhuc tamen sine nomine, undique mihi reclamari. Alius: ‘Sciamus, quis sit de quo extra ordinem referas’, alius: ‘Quis est ante relationem reus?’, alius: ‘Salvi simus, qui supersumus.’ 8 Audio imperturbatus interritus: tantum susceptae rei honestas valet, tantumque ad fiduciam vel metum differt, nolint homines quod facias an non probent. Longum est omnia quae tunc hinc inde iacta sunt recensere. 9 Novissime consul: ‘Secunde, sententiae loco dices, si quid volueris.’ ‘Permiseras’ inquam ‘quod usque adhuc omnibus permisisti.’ 10 Resido; aguntur alia. Interim me quidam ex consularibus amicis, secreto curatoque sermone, quasi nimis fortiter incauteque progressum corripit revocat, monet ut desistam, adicit etiam: ‘Notabilem te futuris principibus fecisti.’ ‘Esto’ inquam ‘dum malis.’ 11 Vix ille discesserat, rursus alter: ‘Quid audes? Quo ruis? Quibus te periculis obicis? Quid praesentibus confidis incertus futurorum? Lacessis hominem iam praefectum aerarii et brevi consulem, praeterea qua gratia quibus amicitiis fultum!’ Nominat quendam, qui tunc ad orientem amplissimum exercitum non sine magnis dubiisque rumoribus obtinebat. 12 Ad haec ego: “ëOmnia praecepi atque animo mecum ante peregi” nec recuso, si ita casus attulerit, luere poenas ob honestissimum factum, dum flagitiosissimum ulciscor.’

13 Iam censendi tempus. Dicit Domitius Apollinaris consul designatus, dicit Fabricius Veiento, Fabius Postuminus, Bittius Proculus collega Publici Certi, de quo agebatur, uxoris autem meae quam amiseram vitricus, post hos Ammius Flaccus. Omnes Certum nondum a me nominatum ut nominatum defendunt crimenque quasi in medio relictum defensione suscipiunt. 14 Quae praeterea dixerint, non est necesse narrare: in libris habes; sum enim cuncta ipsorum verbis persecutus. 15 Dicunt contra Avidius Quietus, Cornutus Tertullus: Quietus, iniquissimum esse querelas dolentium excludi, ideoque Arriae et Fanniae ius querendi non auferendum, nec interesse cuius ordinis quis sit, sed quam causam habeat; 16 Cornutus, datum se a consulibus tutorem Helvidi filiae petentibus matre eius et vitrico; nunc quoque non sustinere deserere officii sui partes, in quo tamen et suo dolori modum imponere et optimarum feminarum perferre modestissimum affectum; quas contentas esse admonere senatum Publici Certi cruentae adulationis et petere, si poena flagitii manifestissimi remittatur, nota certe quasi censoria inuratur. 17 Tum Satrius Rufus medio ambiguoque sermone ‘Puto’ inquit ‘iniuriam factam Publicio Certo, si non absolvitur; nominatus est ab amicis Arriae et Fanniae, nominatus ab amicis suis. Nec debemus solliciti esse; idem enim nos, qui bene sentimus de homine, et iudicaturi sumus. Si innocens est, sicut et spero et malo et, donec aliquid probetur, credo, poteritis absolvere.’ 18 Haec illi quo quisque ordine citabantur. Venitur ad me. Consurgo, utor initio quod in libro est, respondeo singulis. Mirum qua intentione, quibus clamoribus omnia exceperint, qui modo reclamabant: tanta conversio vel negotii dignitatem vel proventum orationis vel actoris Constantiam subsecuta est. 19 Finio. Incipit respondere Veiento; nemo patitur; obturbatur obstrepitur, adeo quidem ut diceret: ‘Rogo, patres conscripti, ne me cogatis implorare auxilium tribunorum.’ Et statim Murena tribunus: ‘Permitto tibi, vir clarissime Veiento, dicere.’ Tunc quoque reclamatur. 20 Inter moras consul citatis nominibus et peracta discessione mittit senatum, ac paene adhuc stantem temptantemque dicere Veientonem reliquit. Multum ille de hac — ita vocabat — contumelia questus est Homerico versu: ‘ô geron, ê mala dê se neoi teirousi machêtai’. 21 Non fere quisquam in senatu fuit, qui non me complecteretur exoscularetur certatimque laude cumularet, quod intermissum iam diu morem in publicum consulendi susceptis propriis simultatibus reduxissem; quod denique senatum invidia liberassem, qua flagrabat apud ordines alios, quod severus in ceteros senatoribus solis dissimulatione quasi mutua parceret.

22 Haec acta sunt absente Certo; fuit enim seu tale aliquid suspicatus sive, ut excusabatur, infirmus. Et relationem quidem de eo Caesar ad senatum non remisit; obtinui tamen quod intenderam: 23 nam collega Certi consulatum, successorem Certus accepit, planeque factum est quod dixeram in fine: ‘Reddat praemium sub optimo principe, quod a pessimo accepit.’ Postea actionem meam utcumque potui recollegi, addidi multa. 24 Accidit fortuitum, sed non tamquam fortuitum, quod editis libris Certus intra paucissimos dies implicitus morbo decessit. 25 Audivi referentes hanc imaginem menti eius hanc oculis oberrasse, tamquam videret me sibi cum ferro imminere. Verane haec, affirmare non ausim; interest tamen exempli, ut vera videantur.

26 Habes epistulam, si modum epistulae cogites, libris quos legisti non minorem; sed imputabis tibi qui contentus libris non fuisti. Vale.

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14. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

Nec ipse tibi plaudis, et ego nihil magis ex fide quam de te scribo. Posteris an aliqua cura nostri, nescio; nos certe meremur, ut sit aliqua, non dico ingenio — id enim superbum -, sed studio et labore et reverentia posterorum. Pergamus modo itinere instituto, quod ut paucos in lucem famamque provexit, ita multos e tenebis et silentio protulit. Vale.

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15. C. PLINIUS FALCONI SUO S.

1 Refugeram in Tuscos, ut omnia ad arbitrium meum facerem. At hoc ne in Tuscis quidem: tam multis undique rusticorum libellis et tam querulis inquietor, quos aliquanto magis invitus quam meos lego; nam et meos invitus. 2 Retracto enim actiunculas quasdam, quod post intercapedinem temporis et frigidum et acerbum est. Rationes quasi absente me negleguntur. 3 Interdum tamen equum conscendo et patrem familiae hactenus ago, quod aliquam partem praediorum, sed pro gestatione percurro. Tu consuetudinem serva, nobisque sic rusticis urbana acta perscribe. Vale.

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16. C. PLINIUS MAMILIANO SUO S.

1 Summam te voluptatem percepisse ex isto copiosissimo genere venandi non miror, cum historicorum more scribas numerum iniri non potuisse. Nobis venari nec vacat nec libet: non vacat quia vindemiae in manibus, non libet quia exiguae. 2 Devehimus tamen pro novo musto novos versiculos tibique iucundissime exigenti ut primum videbuntur defervisse mittemus. Vale.

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17. C. PLINIUS GENITORI SUO S.

1 Recepi litteras tuas quibus quereris taedio tibi fuisse quamvis lautissimam cenam, quia scurrae cinaedi moriones mensis inerrabant. 2 Vis tu remittere aliquid ex rugis? Equidem nihil tale habeo, habentes tamen fero. Cur ergo non habeo? Quia nequaquam me ut inexspectatum festivumve delectat, si quid molle a cinaedo, petulans a scurra, stultum a morione profertur. 3 Non rationem sed stomachum tibi narro. Atque adeo quam multos putas esse, quos ea quibus ego et tu capimur et ducimur, partim ut inepta partim ut molestissima offendant! Quam multi, cum lector aut lyristes aut comoedus inductus est, calceos poscunt aut non minore cum taedio recubant, quam tu ista — sic enim appellas — prodigia perpessus es! 4 Demus igitur alienis oblectationibus veniam, ut nostris impetremus. Vale.

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18. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

1 Qua intentione, quo studio, qua denique memoria legeris libellos meos, epistula tua ostendit. Ipse igitur exhibes negotium tibi qui elicis et invitas, ut quam plurima communicare tecum velim. 2 Faciam, per partes tamen et quasi digesta, ne istam ipsam memoriam, cui gratias ago, assiduitate et copia turbem oneratamque et quasi oppressam cogam pluribus singula posterioribus priora dimittere. Vale.

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19. C. PLINIUS RUSONI SUO S.

1 Significas legisse te in quadam epistula mea iussisse Verginium Rufum inscribi sepulcro suo:

Hic situs est Rufus, pulso qui Vindice quondam
imperium asseruit non sibi sed patriae.

Reprehendis quod iusserit, addis etiam melius rectiusque Frontinum, quod vetuerit omnino monumentum sibi fieri, meque ad extremum quid de utroque sentiam consulis. 2 Utrumque dilexi, miratus sum magis quem tu reprehendis, atque ita miratus ut non putarem satis umquam posse laudari, cuius nunc mihi subeunda defensio est. 3 Omnes ego qui magnum aliquid memorandumque fecerunt, non modo venia verum etiam laude dignissimos iudico, si immortalitatem quam meruere sectantur, victurique nominis famam supremis etiam titulis prorogare nituntur. 4 Nec facile quemquam nisi Verginium invenio, cuius tanta in praedicando verecundia quanta gloria ex facto. 5 Ipse sum testis, familiariter ab eo dilectus probatusque, semel omnino me audiente provectum, ut de rebus suis hoc unum referret, ita secum aliquando Cluvium locutum: ‘Scis, Vergini, quae historiae fides debeatur; proinde si quid in historiis meis legis aliter ac velis rogo ignoscas.’ Ad hoc ille: ‘Tune ignoras, Cluvi, ideo me fecisse quod feci, ut esset liberum vobis scribere quae libuisset?’ 6 Age dum, hunc ipsum Frontinum in hoc ipso, in quo tibi parcior videtur et pressior, comparemus. Vetuit exstrui monumentum, sed quibus verbis? ‘Impensa monumenti supervacua est; memoria nostri durabit, si vita meruimus.’ An restrictius arbitraris per orbem terrarum legendum dare duraturam memoriam suam quam uno in loco duobus versiculis signare quod feceris? 7 Quamquam non habeo propositum illum reprehendendi, sed hunc tuendi; cuius quae potest apud te iustior esse defensio, quam ex collatione eius quem praetulisti? 8 Meo quidem iudicio neuter culpandus, quorum uterque ad gloriam pari cupiditate, diverso itinere contendit, alter dum expetit debitos titulos, alter dum mavult videri contempsisse. Vale.

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20. C. PLINIUS VENATORI SUO S.

1 Tua vero epistula tanto mihi iucundior fuit quanto longior erat, praesertim cum de libellis meis tota loqueretur; quos tibi voluptati esse non miror, cum omnia nostra perinde ac nos ames. 2 Ipse cum maxime vindemias graciles quidem, uberiores tamen quam exspectaveram colligo, si colligere est non numquam decerpere uvam, torculum invisere, gustare de lacu mustum, obrepere urbanis, qui nunc rusticis praesunt meque notariis et lectoribus reliquerunt. Vale.

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21. C. PLINIUS SABINIANO SUO S.

1 Libertus tuus, cui suscensere te dixeras, venit ad me advolutusque pedibus meis tamquam tuis haesit. Flevit multum, multum rogavit, multum etiam tacuit, in summa fecit mihi fidem paenitentiae verae: credo emendatum quia deliquisse se sentit. 2 Irasceris, scio, et irasceris merito, id quoque scio; sed tunc praecipua mansuetudinis laus, cum irae causa iustissima est. 3 Amasti hominem et, spero, amabis: interim sufficit ut exorari te sinas. Licebit rursus irasci, si meruerit, quod exoratus excusatius facies. Remitte aliquid adulescentiae ipsius, remitte lacrimis, remitte indulgentiae tuae. Ne torseris illum, ne torseris etiam te; torqueris enim cum tam lenis irasceris. 4 Vereor ne videar non rogare sed cogere, si precibus eius meas iunxero; iungam tamen tanto plenius et effusius, quanto ipsum acrius severiusque corripui, destricte minatus numquam me postea rogaturum. Hoc illi, quem terreri oportebat, tibi non idem; nam fortasse iterum rogabo, impetrabo iterum: sit modo tale, ut rogare me, ut praestare te deceat. Vale.

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22. C. PLINIUS SEVERO SUO S.

1 Magna me sollicitudine affecit Passenni Pauli valetudo, et quidem plurimis iustissimisque de causis. Vir est optimus honestissimus, nostri amantissimus; praeterea in litteris veteres aemulatur exprimit reddit, Propertium in primis, a quo genus ducit, vera suboles eoque simillima illi in quo ille praecipuus. 2 Si elegos eius in manus sumpseris, leges opus tersum molle iucundum, et plane in Properti domo scriptum. Nuper ad lyrica deflexit, in quibus ita Horatium ut in illis illum alterum effingit: putes si quid in studiis cognatio valet, et huius propinquum. Magna varietas magna mobilitas: amat ut qui verissime, dolet ut qui impatientissime, laudat ut qui benignissime, ludit ut qui facetissime, omnia denique tamquam singula absolvit. 3 Pro hoc ego amico, pro hoc ingenio non minus aeger animo quam corpore ille, tandem illum tandem me recepi. Gratulare mihi, gratulare etiam litteris ipsis, quae ex periculo eius tantum discrimen adierunt, quantum ex salute gloriae consequentur. Vale.

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23. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Frequenter agenti mihi evenit, ut centumviri cum diu se intra iudicum auctoritatem gravitatemque tenuissent, omnes repente quasi victi coactique consurgerent laudarentque; 2 frequenter e senatu famam qualem maxime optaveram rettuli: numquam tamen maiorem cepi voluptatem, quam nuper ex sermone Corneli Taciti. Narrabat sedisse secum circensibus proximis equitem Romanum. Hunc post varios eruditosque sermones requisisse: ‘Italicus es an provincialis?’ Se respondisse: ‘Nosti me, et quidem ex studiis.’ 3 Ad hoc illum: ‘Tacitus es an Plinius?’ Exprimere non possum, quam sit iucundum mihi quod nomina nostra quasi litterarum propria, non hominum, litteris redduntur, quod uterque nostrum his etiam e studiis notus, quibus aliter ignotus est.

4 Accidit aliud ante pauculos dies simile. Recumbebat mecum vir egregius, Fadius Rufinus, super eum municeps ipsius, qui illo die primum venerat in urbem; cui Rufinus demonstrans me: ‘Vides hunc?’ Multa deinde de studiis nostris; et ille ‘Plinius est’ inquit. 5 Verum fatebor, capio magnum laboris mei fructum. An si Demosthenes iure laetatus est, quod illum anus Attica ita noscitavit: ‘Houtos esti Dêmosthenes’, celebritate nominis mei gaudere non debeo? Ego vero et gaudeo et gaudere me dico. 6 Neque enim vereor ne iactantior videar, cum de me aliorum iudicium non meum profero, praesertim apud te qui nec ullius invides laudibus et faves nostris. Vale.

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24. C. PLINIUS SABINIANO SUO S.

Bene fecisti quod libertum aliquando tibi carum reducentibus epistulis meis in domum in animum recepisti. Iuvabit hoc te; me certe iuvat, primum quod te tam tractabilem video, ut in ira regi possis, deinde quod tantum mihi tribuis, ut vel auctoritati meae pareas vel precibus indulgeas. Igitur et laudo et gratias ago; simul in posterum moneo, ut te erroribus tuorum, etsi non fuerit qui deprecetur, placabilem praestes. Vale.

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25. C. PLINIUS MAMILIANO SUO S.

1 Quereris de turba castrensium negotiorum et, tamquam summo otio perfruare, lusus et ineptias nostras legis amas flagitas, meque ad similia condenda non mediocriter incitas. 2 Incipio enim ex hoc genere studiorum non solum oblectationem verum etiam gloriam petere, post iudicium tuum viri eruditissimi gravissimi ac super ista verissimi. 3 Nunc me rerum actus modice sed tamen distringit; quo finito aliquid earundem Camenarum in istum benignissimum sinum mittam. Tu passerculis et columbulis nostris inter aquilas vestras dabis pennas, si tamen et tibi placebunt; si tantum sibi, continendos cavea nidove curabis. Vale.

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26. C. PLINIUS LUPERCO SUO S.

1 Dixi de quodam oratore saeculi nostri recto quidem et sano, sed parum grandi et ornato, ut opinor, apte: ‘Nihil peccat, nisi quod nihil peccat.’ 2 Debet enim orator erigi attolli, interdum etiam effervescere ecferri, ac saepe accedere ad praeceps; nam plerumque altis et excelsis adiacent abrupta. Tutius per plana sed humilius et depressius iter; frequentior currentibus quam reptantibus lapsus, sed his non labentibus nulla, illis non nulla laus etiamsi labantur. 3 Nam ut quasdam artes ita eloquentiam nihil magis quam ancipitia commendant. Vides qui per funem in summa nituntur, quantos soleant excitare clamores, cum iam iamque casuri videntur. 4 Sunt enim maxime mirabilia quae maxime insperata, maxime opericulosa utque Graeci magis exprimunt, ‘parabola’. Ideo nequaquam par gubernatoris est virtus, cum placido et cum turbato mari vehitur: tunc admirante nullo, illaudatus inglorius subit portum, at cum stridunt funes curvatur arbor gubernacula gemunt, tunc ille clarus et dis maris proximus.

5 Cur haec? Quia visus es mihi in scriptis meis adnotasse quaedam ut tumida quae ego sublimia, ut improba quae ego audentia, ut nimia quae ego plena arbitrabar. Plurimum autem refert, reprehendenda adnotes an insignia. 6 Omnis enim advertit, quod eminet et exstat; sed acri intentione diiudicandum est, immodicum sit an grande, altum an enorme. Atque ut Homerum potissimum attingam, quem tandem alterutram in partem potest fugere ‘amphi de salpinxen megas ouranos, êeri d’ enchos ekeklito’ et totum illud ‘oute thalassês kyma toson boaa’? 7 Sed opus est examine et libra, incredibile sint haec et inania an magnifica caelestia. Nec nunc ego me his similia aut dixisse aut posse dicere puto — non ita insanio -, sed hoc intellegi volo, laxandos esse eloquentiae frenos, nec angustissimo gyro ingeniorum impetus refringendos.

8 ‘At enim alia condicio oratorum, alia poetarum. Quasi vero M. Tullius minus audeat! Quamquam hunc omitto; neque enim ambigi puto. Sed Demosthenes ipse, ille norma oratoris et regula, num se cohibet et comprimit, cum dicit illa notissima: ‘anthrôpoi miaroi, kolakes kai alastores’ et rursus ‘ou lithois eteichisa tên polin oude plinthois egô’ et statim ‘ouk ek men thalassês tên Euboian probebalesthai pro tês Attikês’ et alibi:íegô de oimai men, ô andres Athênaioi, nê tous theous ekeinon methyein tô megethei tôn pepragmenôn’? 9 Iam quid audentius illo pulcherrimo ac longissimo excessu: ‘nosêma gar ...’? Quid haec breviora superioribus, sed audacia paria: ‘tote egô men tô Pythôni thrasynomenô kai pollô reonti kath’ hêmôn’? Ex eadem nota ‘hotan de ek pleonexias kai ponêrias <tis> hôsper houtos ischysê, hê prôtê prophasis kai mikron ptaisma hapanta anechaitise kai dielyse’. Simile his ‘apeschoinismenos hapasi tois en tê polei dikaiois’ et ibidem ‘sy ton eis tauta eleon proudôkas, Aristogeiton, mallon d’ anêrêkas holôs. Mê dê, pros hous autos echôsas limenas kai probolôn eneplêsas, pros toutous hormizou. Et dixerat: ‘toutô d’ oudena horô tôn topôn toutôn basimon onta, alla panta apokrêmna, pharangas, barathra’. Et deinceps ‘dedoika, mê doxête tisi ton aei boulomenon einai ponêron tôn en tê polei paidotribein’, nec satis: ‘oude gar tous progonous hypolambanô ta dikastêria tauta hymin oikodomêsai, hina tous toioutous en autois moscheuête’, ad hoc: ‘ei de kapêlos esti ponêrias kai palinkapêlos kai metaboleus’ et mille talia, ut praeteream quae ab Aeschine ‘thaumata’, non ‘rêmata’ vocantur.

10 In contrarium incidi: dices hunc quoque ob ista culpari. Sed vide, quanto maior sit, qui reprehenditur, ipso reprehendente et maior ob haec quoque; in aliis enim vis, in his granditas eius elucet. 11 Num autem Aeschines ipse eis, quae in Demosthene carpebat, abstinuit? <ëChrê gar, ô andres Athênaioi, to auto> phthengesthai ton rêtora kai ton nomon® hotan de heteran men phônên aphiê ho nomos, heteran de ho rêtôr ...’. Alio loco: ‘epeita anaphainetai peri pantôn en tô psêphismati.’ Iterum alio: ‘all’ enkathêmenoi kai enedreuontes en tê akroasei eiselaunete auton eis tous paranomous logous’. 12 Quod adeo probavit, ut repetat: ‘all’ hôsper en tais hippodromiais eis ton tou pragmatos auton dromon eiselaunete’. Iam illa custoditius pressiusque: ‘sy de helkopoieis, <kai mallon soi melei tôn authêmerôn logôn ê tês sôtêrias tês poleôs’, altius illa: ‘ouk apopempsesthe ton anthrôpon hôs koinên tôn Hellênôn symphoran; ê syllabontes hôs> lêstên tôn pragmatôn <ep’ onomatôn> dia tês politeias pleonta <timôrêsesthe>; 13 Exspecto, ut quaedam ex hac epistula ut illud ‘gubernacula gemunt’ et ‘dis maris proximus’ isdem notis quibus ea, de quibus scribo, confodias; intellego enim me, dum veniam prioribus peto, in illa ipsa quae adnotaveras incidisse. Sed confodias licet, dum modo iam nunc destines diem, quo et de illis et de his coram exigere possimus. Aut enim tu me timidum aut ego te temerarium faciam. Vale.

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27. C. PLINIUS PATERNO SUO S.

1 Quanta potestas, quanta dignitas, quanta maiestas, quantum denique numen sit historiae, cum frequenter alias tum proxime sensi. Recitaverat quidam verissimum librum, partemque eius in alium diem reservaverat. 2 Ecce amici cuiusdam orantes obsecrantesque, ne reliqua recitaret. Tantus audiendi quae fecerint pudor, quibus nullus faciendi quae audire erubescunt. Et ille quidem praestitit quod rogabatur — sinebat fides -; liber tamen ut factum ipsum manet manebit legeturque semper, tanto magis quia non statim. Incitantur enim homines ad noscenda quae differuntur. Vale.

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28. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

1 Post longum tempus epistulas tuas, sed tres pariter recepi, omnes elegantissimas amantissimas, et quales a te venire praesertim desideratas oportebat. Quarum una iniungis mihi iucundissimum ministerium, ut ad Plotinam sanctissimam feminam litterae tuae perferantur: perferentur. 2 Eadem commendas Popilium Artemisium: statim praestiti quod petebat. Indicas etiam modicas te vindemias collegisse: communis haec mihi tecum, quamquam in diversissima parte terrarum, querela est. 3 Altera epistula nuntias multa te nunc dictare nunc scribere, quibus nos tibi repraesentes. Gratias ago; agerem magis si me illa ipsa, quae scribis aut dictas, legere voluisses. Et erat aequum ut te mea ita me tua scripta cognoscere, etiamsi ad alium quam ad me pertinerent. 4 Polliceris in fine, cum certius de vitae nostrae ordinatione aliquid audieris, futurum te fugitivum rei familiaris statimque ad nos evolaturum, qui iam tibi compedes nectimus, quas perfringere nullo modo possis. 5 Tertia epistula continebat esse tibi redditam orationem pro Clario eamque visam uberiorem, quam dicente me audiente te fuerit. Est uberior; multa enim postea inserui. Adicis alias te litteras curiosius scriptas misisse; an acceperim quaeris. Non accepi et accipere gestio. Proinde prima quaque occasione mitte appositis quidem usuris, quas ego — num parcius possum? — centesimas computabo. Vale.

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29. C. PLINIUS RUSTICO SUO S.

1 Ut satius unum aliquid insigniter facere quam plura mediocriter, ita plurima mediocriter, si non possis unum aliquid insigniter. Quod intuens ego variis me studiorum generibus nulli satis confisus experior. 2 Proinde, cum hoc vel illud leges, ita singulis veniam ut non singulis dabis. An ceteris artibus excusatio in numero, litteris durior lex, in quibus difficilior effectus est? Quid autem ego de venia quasi ingratus? Nam si ea facilitate proxima acceperis qua priora, laus potius speranda quam venia obsecranda est. Mihi tamen venia sufficit. Vale.

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30. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

1 Laudas mihi et frequenter praesens et nunc per epistulas Nonium tuum, quod sit liberalis in quosdam: et ipse laudo, si tamen non in hos solos. Volo enim eum, qui sit vere liberalis, tribuere patriae propinquis, affinibus amicis, sed amicis dico pauperibus, non ut isti qui iis potissimum donant, qui donare maxime possunt. 2 Hos ego viscatis hamatisque muneribus non sua promere puto sed aliena corripere. Sunt ingenio simili qui quod huic donant auferunt illi, famamque liberalitatis avaritia petunt. 3 Primum est autem suo esse contentum, deinde, quos praecipue scias indigere, sustentantem foventemque orbe quodam socialitatis ambire. Quae cuncta si facit iste, usquequaque laudandus est; si unum aliquid, minus quidem, laudandus tamen: 4 tam rarum est etiam imperfectae liberalitatis exemplar. Ea invasit homines habendi cupido, ut possideri magis quam possidere videantur. Vale.

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31. C. PLINIUS SARDO SUO S.

1 Postquam a te recessi, non minus tecum, quam cum ad te fui. Legi enim librum tuum identidem repetens ea maxime — non enim mentiar -, quae de me scripsisti, in quibus quidem percopiosus fuisti. Quam multa, quam varia, quam non eadem de eodem nec tamen diversa dixisti! 2 Laudem pariter et gratias agam? Neutrum satis possum et, si possem, timerem ne arrogans esset ob ea laudare, ob quae gratias agerem. Unum illud addam, omnia mihi tanto laudabiliora visa quanto iucundiora, tanto iucundiora quanto laudabiliora erant. Vale.

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32. C. PLINIUS TITIANO SUO S.

Quid agis, quid acturus es? Ipse vitam iucundissimam — id est, otiosissimam — vivo. Quo fit, ut scribere longiores epistulas nolim, velim legere, illud tamquam delicatus, hoc tamquam otiosus. Nihil est enim aut pigrius delicatis aut curiosius otiosis. Vale.

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33. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

1 Incidi in materiam veram sed simillimam fictae, dignamque isto laetissimo altissimo planeque poetico ingenio; incidi autem, dum super cenam varia miracula hinc inde referuntur. Magna auctori fides: tametsi quid poetae cum fide? Is tamen auctor, cui bene vel historiam scripturus credidisses.

2 Est in Africa Hipponensis colonia mari proxima. Adiacet navigabile stagnum; ex hoc in modum fluminis aestuarium emergit, quod vice alterna, prout aestus aut repressit aut impulit, nunc infertur mari, nunc redditur stagno. 3 Omnis hic aetas piscandi navigandi atque etiam natandi studio tenetur, maxime pueri, quos otium lususque sollicitat. His gloria et virtus altissime provehi: victor ille, qui longissime ut litus ita simul natantes reliquit. 4 Hoc certamine puer quidam audentior ceteris in ulteriora tendebat. Delphinus occurrit, et nunc praecedere puerum nunc sequi nunc circumire, postremo subire deponere iterum subire, trepidantemque perferre primum in altum, mox flectit ad litus, redditque terrae et aequalibus. 5 Serpit per coloniam fama; concurrere omnes, ipsum puerum tamquam miraculum aspicere, interrogare audire narrare. Postero die obsident litus, prospectant mare et si quid est mari simile. Natant pueri, inter hos ille, sed cautius. Delphinus rursus ad tempus, rursus ad puerum. Fugit ille cum ceteris. Delphinus, quasi invitet et revocet, exsilit mergitur, variosque orbes implicat expeditque. 6 Hoc altero die, hoc tertio, hoc pluribus, donec homines innutritos mari subiret timendi pudor. Accedunt et alludunt et appellant, tangunt etiam pertrectantque praebentem. Crescit audacia experimento. Maxime puer, qui primus expertus est, adnatat nanti, insilit tergo, fertur referturque, agnosci se amari putat, amat ipse; neuter timet, neuter timetur; huius fiducia, mansuetudo illius augetur. 7 Nec non alii pueri dextra laevaque simul eunt hortantes monentesque. Ibat una — id quoque mirum — delphinus alius, tantum spectator et comes. Nihil enim simile aut faciebat aut patiebatur, sed alterum illum ducebat reducebat, ut puerum ceteri pueri. 8 Incredibile, tam verum tamen quam priora, delphinum gestatorem collusoremque puerorum in terram quoque extrahi solitum, harenisque siccatum, ubi incaluisset in mare revolvi. 9 Constat Octavium Avitum, legatum proconsulis, in litus educto religione prava superfudisse unguentum, cuius illum novitatem odoremque in altum refugisse, nec nisi post multos dies visum languidum et maestum, mox redditis viribus priorem lasciviam et solita ministeria repetisse. 10 Confluebant omnes ad spectaculum magistratus, quorum adventu et mora modica res publica novis sumptibus atterebatur. Postremo locus ipse quietem suam secretumque perdebat: placuit occulte interfici, ad quod coibatur. 11 Haec tu qua miseratione, qua copia deflebis ornabis attolles! Quamquam non est opus affingas aliquid aut astruas; sufficit ne ea quae sunt vera minuantur. Vale.

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34. C. PLINIUS TRANQUILLO SUO S.

1 Explica aestum meum: audio me male legere, dumtaxat versus; rationes enim commode, sed tanto minus versus. Cogito ergo recitaturus familiaribus amicis experiri libertum meum. Hoc quoque familiare, quod elegi non bene sed melius — scio — lecturum, si tamen non fuerit perturbatus. 2 Est enim tam novus lector quam ego poeta. Ipse nescio, quid illo legente interim faciam, sedeam defixus et mutus et similis otioso an, ut quidam, quae pronuntiabit, murmure oculis manu prosequar. Sed puto me non minus male saltare quam legere. Iterum dicam, explica aestum meum vereque rescribe, num sit melius pessime legere quam ista vel non facere vel facere. Vale.

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35. C. PLINIUS ATRIO SUO S.

1 Librum, quem misisti, recepi et gratias ago. Sum tamen hoc tempore occupatissimus. Ideo nondum eum legi, cum alioqui valdissime cupiam. Sed eam reverentiam cum litteris ipsis tum scriptis tuis debeo, ut sumere illa nisi vacuo animo irreligiosum putem. 2 Diligentiam tuam in retractandis operibus valde probo. Est tamen aliquis modus, primum quod nimia cura deterit magis quam emendat, deinde quod nos a recentioribus revocat simulque nec absolvit priora et incohare posteriora non patitur. Vale.

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36. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

1 Quaeris, quemadmodum in Tuscis diem aestate disponam. Evigilo cum libuit, plerumque circa horam primam, saepe ante, tardius raro. Clausae fenestrae manent; mire enim silentio et tenebris ab iis quae avocant abductus et liber et mihi relictus, non oculos animo sed animum oculis sequor, qui eadem quae mens vident, quotiens non vident alia. 2 Cogito, si quid in manibus, cogito ad verbum scribenti emendantique similis, nunc pauciora nunc plura, ut vel difficile vel facile componi tenerive potuerunt. Notarium voco et die admisso quae formaveram dicto; abit rursusque revocatur rursusque dimittitur. 3 Ubi hora quarta vel quinta — neque enim certum dimensumque tempus -, ut dies suasit, in xystum me vel cryptoporticum confero, reliqua meditor et dicto. Vehiculum ascendo. Ibi quoque idem quod ambulans aut iacens; durat intentio mutatione ipsa refecta. Paulum redormio, dein ambulo, mox orationem Graecam Latinamve clare et intente non tam vocis causa quam stomachi lego; pariter tamen et illa firmatur. 4 Iterum ambulo ungor exerceor lavor. Cenanti mihi, si cum uxore vel paucis, liber legitur; post cenam comoedia aut lyristes; mox cum meis ambulo, quorum in numero sunt eruditi. Ita variis sermonibus vespera extenditur, et quamquam longissimus dies bene conditur. 5 Non numquam ex hoc ordine aliqua mutantur; nam, si diu iacui vel ambulavi, post somnum demum lectionemque non vehiculo sed, quod brevius quia velocius, equo gestor. Interveniunt amici ex proximis oppidis, partemque diei ad se trahunt interdumque lasso mihi opportuna interpellatione subveniunt. 6 Venor aliquando, sed non sine pugillaribus, ut quamvis nihil ceperim non nihil referam. Datur et colonis, ut videtur ipsis, non satis temporis, quorum mihi agrestes querelae litteras nostras et haec urbana opera commendant. Vale.

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37. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

1 Nec tuae naturae est translaticia haec et quasi publica officia a familiaribus amicis contra ipsorum commodum exigere, et ego te constantius amo quam ut verear, ne aliter ac velim accipias, nisi te Kalendis statim consulem videro, praesertim cum me necessitas locandorum praediorum plures annos ordinatura detineat, in qua mihi nova consilia sumenda sunt. 2 Nam priore lustro, quamquam post magnas remissiones, reliqua creverunt: inde plerisque nulla iam cura minuendi aeris alieni, quod desperant posse persolvi; rapiunt etiam consumuntque quod natum est, ut qui iam putent se non sibi parcere. 3 Occurrendum ergo augescentibus vitiis et medendum est. Medendi una ratio, si non nummo sed partibus locem ac deinde ex meis aliquos operis exactores, custodes fructibus ponam. Et alioqui nullum iustius genus reditus, quam quod terra caelum annus refert. 4 At hoc magnam fidem acres oculos numerosas manus poscit. Experiundum tamen et quasi in veteri morbo quaelibet mutationis auxilia temptanda sunt. 5 Vides, quam non delicata me causa obire primum consulatus tui diem non sinat; quem tamen hic quoque ut praesens votis gaudio gratulatione celebrabo. Vale.

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38. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

Ego vero Rufum nostrum laudo, non quia tu ut ita facerem petisti sed quia est ille dignissimus. Legi enim librum omnibus numeris absolutum, cui multum apud me gratiae amor ipsius adiecit. Iudicavi tamen; neque enim soli iudicant qui maligne legunt. Vale.

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39. C. PLINIUS MUSTIO SUO S.

1 Haruspicum monitu reficienda est mihi aedes Cereris in praediis in melius et in maius, vetus sane et angusta, cum sit alioqui stato die frequentissima. 2 Nam Idibus Septembribus magnus e regione tota coit populus, multae res aguntur, multa vota suscipiuntur, multa redduntur; sed nullum in proximo suffugium aut imbris aut solis. 3 Videor ergo munifice simul religioseque facturus, si aedem quam pulcherrimam exstruero, addidero porticus aedi, illam ad usum deae has ad hominum. 4 Velim ergo emas quattuor marmoreas columnas, cuius tibi videbitur generis, emas marmora quibus solum, quibus parietes excolantur. Erit etiam faciendum ipsius deae signum, quia antiquum illud e ligno quibusdam sui partibus vetustate truncatum est. 5 Quantum ad porticus, nihil interim occurrit, quod videatur istinc esse repetendum, nisi tamen ut formam secundum rationem loci scribas. Neque enim possunt circumdari templa: nam solum templi hinc flumine et abruptissimis ripis, hinc via cingitur. 6 Est ultra viam latissimum pratum, in quo satis apte contra templum ipsum porticus explicabuntur; nisi quid tu melius invenies, qui soles locorum difficultates arte superare. Vale.

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40. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

1 Scribis pergratas tibi fuisse litteras meas, quibus cognovisti quemadmodum in Tuscis otium aestatis exigerem; requiris quid ex hoc in Laurentino hieme permutem. 2 Nihil, nisi quod meridianus somnus eximitur multumque de nocte vel ante vel post diem sumitur, et, si agendi necessitas instat, quae frequens hieme, non iam comoedo vel lyristae post cenam locus, sed illa, quae dictavi, identidem retractantur, ac simul memoriae frequenti emendatione proficitur. 3 Habes aestate hieme consuetudinem; addas huc licet ver et autumnum, quae inter hiemem aestatemque media, ut nihil de die perdunt, de nocte parvolum acquirunt. Vale.

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LIBER X. C. PLINII CAECILII SECVNDI EPISTVLARVM LIBER DECIMVS AD TRAIANVM IMPERATOREM CVM EIVSDEM RESPONSIS

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1. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Tua quidem pietas, imperator sanctissime, optaverat, ut quam tardissime succederes patri; sed di immortales festinaverunt virtutes tuas ad gubernacula rei publicae quam susceperas admovere. 2 Precor ergo ut tibi et per te generi humano prospera omnia, id est digna saeculo tuo contingant. Fortem te et hilarem, imperator optime, et privatim et publice opto.

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2. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Exprimere, domine, verbis non possum, quantum mihi gaudium attuleris, quod me dignum putasti iure trium liberorum. Quamvis enim Iuli Serviani, optimi viri tuique amantissimi, precibus indulseris, tamen etiam ex rescripto intellego libentius hoc ei te praestitisse, quia pro me rogabat. 2 Videor ergo summam voti mei consecutus, cum inter initia felicissimi principatus tui probaveris me ad peculiarem indulgentiam tuam pertinere; eoque magis liberos concupisco, quos habere etiam illo tristissimo saeculo volui, sicut potes duobus matrimoniis meis credere. 3 Sed di melius, qui omnia integra bonitati tuae reservarunt; malui hoc potius tempore me patrem fieri, quo futurus essem et securus et felix.

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3 A. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Ut primum me, domine, indulgentia vestra promovit ad praefecturam aerarii Saturni, omnibus advocationibus, quibus alioqui numquam eram promiscue functus, renuntiavi, ut toto animo delegato mihi officio vacarem. 2 Qua ex causa, cum patronum me provinciales optassent contra Marium Priscum, et petii veniam huius muneris et impetravi. Sed cum postea consul designatus censuisset agendum nobiscum, quorum erat excusatio recepta, ut essemus in senatus potestate pateremurque nomina nostra in urnam conici, convenientissimum esse tranquillitati saeculi tui putavi praesertim tam moderatae voluntati amplissimi ordinis non repugnare. 3 Cui obsequio meo opto, ut existimes constare rationem, cum omnia facta dictaque mea probare sanctissimis moribus tuis cupiam.

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3 B. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Et civis et senatoris boni partibus functus es obsequium amplissimi ordinis quod iustissime exigebat, praestando. Quas partes impleturum te secundum susceptam fidem confido.

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4. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Indulgentia tua, imperator optime, quam plenissimam experior, hortatur me, ut audeam tibi etiam pro amicis obligari; inter quos sibi vel praecipuum locum vindicat Voconius Romanus, ab ineunte aetate condiscipulus et contubernalis. 2 Quibus ex causis et a divo patre tuo petieram, ut illum in amplissimum ordinem promoveret. Sed hoc votum meum bonitati tuae reservatum est, quia mater Romani liberalitatem sestertii quadragies, quod conferre se filio codicillis ad patrem tuum scriptis professa fuerat, nondum satis legitime peregerat; quod postea fecit admonita a nobis. 3 Nam fundos emancipavit, et cetera quae in emancipatione implenda solent exigi consummavit. 4 Cum sit ergo finitum, quod spes nostras morabatur, non sine magna fiducia subsigno apud te fidem pro moribus Romani mei, quos et liberalia studia exornant et eximia pietas, quae hanc ipsam matris liberalitatem et statim patris hereditatem et adoptionem a vitrico meruit. 5 Auget haec et natalium et paternarum facultatium splendor; quibus singulis multum commendationis accessurum etiam ex meis precibus indulgentiae tuae credo. 6 Rogo ergo, domine, ut me exoptatissimae mihi gratulationis compotem facias et honestis, ut spero, affectibus meis praestes, ut non in me tantum verum et in amico gloriari iudiciis tuis possim.

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5. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Proximo anno, domine, gravissima valetudine usque ad periculum vitae vexatus iatralipten assumpsi; cuius sollicitudini et studio tuae tantum indulgentiae beneficio referre gratiam parem possum. 2 Quare rogo des ei civitatem Romanam. Est enim peregrinae condicionis manumissus a peregrina. Vocatur ipse Arpocras, patronam habuit Thermuthin Theonis, quae iam pridem defuncta est. Item rogo des ius Quiritium libertis Antoniae Maximillae, ornatissimae feminae, Hediae et Antoniae Harmeridi; quod a te petente patrona peto.

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6. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Ago gratias, domine, quod et ius Quiritium libertis necessariae mihi feminae et civitatem Romanam Arpocrati, iatraliptae meo, sine mora indulsisti. Sed cum annos eius et censum sicut praeceperas ederem, admonitus sum a peritioribus debuisse me ante ei Alexandrinam civitatem impetrare, deinde Romanam, quoniam esset Aegyptius. 2 Ego autem, quia inter Aegyptios ceterosque peregrinos nihil interesse credebam, contentus fueram hoc solum scribere tibi, esse eum a peregrina manumissum patronamque eius iam pridem decessisse. De qua ignorantia mea non queror, per quam stetit ut tibi pro eodem homine saepius obligarer. Rogo itaque, ut beneficio tuo legitime frui possim, tribuas ei et Alexandrinam civitatem [et Romanam]. Annos eius et censum, ne quid rursus indulgentiam tuam moraretur, libertis tuis quibus iusseras misi.

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7. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Civitatem Alexandrinam secundum institutionem principum non temere dare proposui. Sed cum Arpocrati, iatraliptae tuo, iam civitatem Romanam impetraveris, huic quoque petitioni tuae negare non sustineo. Tu, ex quo nomo sit, notum mihi facere debebis, ut epistulam tibi ad Pompeium Plantam praefectum Aegypti amicum meum mittam.

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8. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Cum divus pater tuus, domine, et oratione pulcherrima et honestissimo exemplo omnes cives ad munificentiam esset cohortatus, petii ab eo, ut statuas principum, quas in longinquis agris per plures successiones traditas mihi quales acceperam custodiebam, permitteret in municipium transferre adiecta sua statua. 2 Quod quidem ille mihi cum plenissimo testimonio indulserat; ego statim decurionibus scripseram, ut assignarent solum in quo templum pecunia mea exstruerem; illi in honorem operis ipsius electionem loci mihi obtulerant. 3 Sed primum mea, deinde patris tui valetudine, postea curis delegati a vobis officii retentus, nunc videor commodissime posse in rem praesentem excurrere. Nam et menstruum meum Kalendis Septembribus finitur, et sequens mensis complures dies feriatos habet. 4 Rogo ergo ante omnia permittas mihi opus quod incohaturus sum exornare et tua statua; deinde, ut hoc facere quam maturissime possim, indulgeas commeatum. 5 Non est autem simplicitatis meae dissimulare apud bonitatem tuam obiter te plurimum collaturum utilitatibus rei familiaris meae. Agrorum enim, quos in eadem regione possideo, locatio, cum alioqui CCCC excedat, adeo non potest differri, ut proximam putationem novus colonus facere debeat. Praeterea continuae sterilitates cogunt me de remissionibus cogitare; quarum rationem nisi praesens inire non possum. 6 Debebo ergo, domine, indulgentiae tuae et pietatis meae celeritatem et status ordinationem, si mihi ob utraque haec dederis commeatum XXX dierum. Neque enim angustius tempus praefinire possum, cum et municipium et agri de quibus loquor sint ultra centesimum et quinquagesimum lapidem.

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9. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Et multas et omnes publicas causas petendi commeatus reddidisti; mihi autem vel sola voluntas tua suffecisset. Neque enim dubito te, ut primum potueris, ad tam districtum officium reversurum. Statuam poni mihi a te eo quo desideras loco, quamquam eius modi honorum parcissimus tamen patior, ne impedisse cursum erga me pietatis tuae videar.

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10. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Exprimere, domine, verbis non possum, quanto me gaudio affecerint epistulae tuae, ex quibus cognovi te Arpocrati, iatraliptae meo, et Alexandrinam civitatem tribuisse, quamvis secundum institutionem principum non temere eam dare proposuisses. Esse autem Arpocran ‘nomou Memphitou’ indico tibi. 2 Rogo ergo, indulgentissime imperator, ut mihi ad Pompeium Plantam praefectum Aegypti amicum tuum, sicut promisisti, epistulam mittas. Obviam iturus, quo maturius, domine, exoptatissimi adventus tui gaudio frui possim, rogo permittas mihi quam longissime occurrere tibi.

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11. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Proxima infirmitas mea, domine, obligavit me Postumio Marino medico; cui parem gratiam referre beneficio tuo possum, si precibus meis ex consuetudine bonitatis tuae indulseris. 2 Rogo ergo, ut propinquis eius des civitatem, Chrysippo Mithridatis uxorique Chrysippi, Stratonicae Epigoni, item liberis eiusdem Chrysippi, Epigono et Mithridati, ita ut sint in patris potestate utque iis in libertos servetur ius patronorum. Item rogo indulgeas ius Quiritium L. Satrio Abascanto et P. Caesio Phosphoro et Panchariae Soteridi; quod a te volentibus patronis peto.

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12. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Scio, domine, memoriae tuae, quae est bene faciendi tenacissima, preces nostras inhaerere. Quia tamen in hoc quoque indulsisti, admoneo simul et impense rogo, ut Attium Suram praetura exornare digneris, cum locus vacet. 2 Ad quam spem alioqui quietissimum hortatur et natalium splendor et summa integritas in paupertate et ante omnia felicitas temporum, quae bonam conscientiam civium tuorum ad usum indulgentiae tuae provocat et attollit.

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13. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Cum sciam, domine, ad testimonium laudemque morum meorum pertinere tam boni principis iudicio exornari, rogo dignitati, ad quam me provexit indulgentia tua, vel auguratum vel septemviratum, quia vacant adicere digneris, ut iure sacerdotii precari deos pro te publice possim, quos nunc precor pietate privata.

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14. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Victoriae tuae, optime imperator, maximae, pulcherrimae, antiquissimae et tuo nomine et rei publicae gratulor, deosque immortales precor, ut omnes cogitationes tuas tam laetus sequatur eventus, cum virtutibus tantis gloria imperii et novetur et augeatur.

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15. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Quia confido, domine, ad curam tuam pertinere, nuntio tibi me Ephesum cum omnibus meis ‘hyper Malean’ navigasse quamvis contrariis ventis retentum. Nunc destino partim orariis navibus, partim vehiculis provinciam petere. Nam sicut itineri graues aestus, ita continuae navigationi etesiae reluctantur.

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16. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Recte renuntiasti, mi Secunde carissime. Pertinet enim ad animum meum, quali itinere provinciam pervenias. Prudenter autem constituis interim navibus, interim vehiculis uti, prout loca suaserint.

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17 A. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Sicut saluberrimam navigationem, domine, usque Ephesum expertus ita inde, postquam vehiculis iter facere coepi, gravissimis aestibus atque etiam febriculis vexatus Pergami substiti. 2 Rursus, cum transissem in orarias nauculas, contrariis ventis retentus aliquanto tardius quam speraveram, id est XV Kal. Octobres, Bithyniam intravi. Non possum tamen de mora queri, cum mihi contigerit, quod erat auspicatissimum, natalem tuum in provincia celebrare. 3 Nunc rei publicae Prusensium impendia, reditus, debitores excutio; quod ex ipso tractatu magis ac magis necessarium intellego. Multae enim pecuniae variis ex causis a privatis detinentur; praeterea quaedam minime legitimis sumptibus erogantur. 4 Haec tibi, domine, in ipso ingressu meo scripsi.

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17 B. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Quinto decimo Kal. Octob., domine, provinciam intravi, quam in eo obsequio, in ea erga te fide, quam de genere humano mereris, inveni. 2 Dispice, domine, an necessarium putes mittere huc mensorem. Videntur enim non mediocres pecuniae posse revocari a curatoribus operum, si mensurae fideliter agantur. Ita certe prospicio ex ratione Prusensium, quam cum maxime tracto.

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18. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Cuperem sine querela corpusculi tui et tuorum pervenire in Bithyniam potuisses, ac simile tibi iter ab Epheso ei navigationi fuisset, quam expertus usque illo eras. 2 Quo autem die pervenisses in Bithyniam, cognovi, Secunde carissime, litteris tuis. Provinciales, credo, prospectum sibi a me intellegent. Nam et tu dabis operam, ut manifestum sit illis electum te esse, qui ad eosdem mei loco mittereris. 3 Rationes autem in primis tibi rerum publicarum excutiendae sunt; nam et esse eas vexatas satis constat. Mensores vix etiam iis operibus, quae aut Romae aut in proximo fiunt, sufficientes habeo; sed in omni provincia inveniuntur, quibus credi possit, et ideo non deerunt tibi, modo velis diligenter excutere.

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19. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Rogo, domine, consilio me regas haesitantem, utrum per publicos civitatium servos, quod usque adhuc factum, an per milites asservare custodias debeam. Vereor enim, ne et per publicos parum fideliter custodiantur, et non exiguum militum numerum haec cura distringat. 2 Interim publicis servis paucos milites addidi. Video tamen periculum esse, ne id ipsum utrisque neglegentiae causa sit, dum communem culpam hi in illos, illi in hos regerere posse confidunt.

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20. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Nihil opus sit, mi Secunde carissime, ad continendas custodias plures commilitones converti. Perseveremus in ea consuetudine quae isti provinciae est, ut per publicos servos custodiantur. 2 Etenim, ut fideliter hoc faciant, in tua severitate ac diligentia positum est. In primis enim, sicut scribis, verendum est, ne, si permisceantur servis publicis milites, mutua inter se fiducia neglegentiores sint; sed et illud haereat nobis, quam paucissimos a signis avocandos esse.

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21. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Gavius Bassus praefectus orae Ponticae et reverentissime et officiosissime, domine, venit ad me et compluribus diebus fuit mecum, quantum perspicere potui, vir egregius et indulgentia tua dignus. Cui ego notum feci praecepisse te ut ex cohortibus, quibus me praeesse voluisti, contentus esset beneficiariis decem, equitibus duobus, centurione uno. 2 Respondit non sufficere sibi hunc numerum, idque se scripturum tibi. Hoc in causa fuit, quominus statim revocandos putarem, quos habet supra numerum.

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22. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Et mihi scripsit Gavius Bassus non sufficere sibi eum militum numerum, qui ut daretur illi, mandatis meis complexus sum. Cui quae rescripsissem, ut notum haberes, his litteris subici iussi. Multum interest, res poscat an hoc nomine eis uti latius velit. 2 Nobis autem utilitas demum spectanda est, et, quantum fieri potest, curandum ne milites a signis absint.

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23. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Prusenses, domine, balineum habent; est sordidum et vetus. Itaque magni aestimant novum fieri; quod videris mihi desiderio eorum indulgere posse. 2 Erit enim pecunia, ex qua fiat, primum ea quam revocare a privatis et exigere iam coepi; deinde quam ipsi erogare in oleum soliti parati sunt in opus balinei conferre; quod alioqui et dignitas civitatis et saeculi tui nitor postulat.

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24. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Si instructio novi balinei oneratura vires Prusensium non est, possumus desiderio eorum indulgere, modo ne quid ideo aut intribuatur aut minus illis in posterum fiat ad necessarias erogationes.

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25. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Servilius Pudens legatus, domine, VIII Kal. Decembres Nicomediam venit meque longae exspectationis sollicitudine liberavit.

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26. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Rosianum Geminum, domine, artissimo vinculo mecum tua in me beneficia iunxerunt; habui enim illum quaestorem in consulatu. Mei sum observantissimum expertus; tantam mihi post consulatum reverentiam praestat, et publicae necessitudinis pignera privatis cumulat officiis. 2 Rogo ergo, ut ipse apud te pro dignitate eius precibus meis faveas. Cui et, si quid mihi credis, indulgentiam tuam dabis; dabit ipse operam ut in iis, quae ei mandaveris, maiora mereatur. Parciorem me in laudando facit, quod spero tibi et integritatem eius et probitatem et industriam non solum ex eius honoribus, quos in urbe sub oculis tuis gessit, verum etiam ex commilitio esse notissimam. 3 Illud unum, quod propter caritatem eius nondum mihi videor satis plene fecisse, etiam atque etiam facio teque, domine, rogo, gaudere me exornata quaestoris mei dignitate, id est per illum mea, quam maturissime velis.

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27. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Maximus libertus et procurator tuus, domine, praeter decem beneficiarios, quos assignari a me Gemellino optimo viro iussisti, sibi quoque confirmat necessarios esse milites sex. Hos interim, sicut inveneram, in ministerio eius relinquendos existimavi, praesertim cum ad frumentum comparandum iret in Paphlagoniam. Quin etiam tutelae causa, quia ita desiderabat, addidi duos equites. In futurum, quid servari velis, rogo rescribas.

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28. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Nunc quidem proficiscentem ad comparationem frumentorum Maximum libertum meum recte militibus instruxisti. Fungebatur enim et ipse extraordinario munere. Cum ad pristinum actum reversus fuerit, sufficient illi duo a te dati milites et totidem a Virdio Gemellino procuratore meo, quem adiuvat.

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29. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Sempronius Caelianus, egregius iuvenis, repertos inter tirones duos servos misit ad me; quorum ego supplicium distuli, ut te conditorem disciplinae militaris firmatoremque consulerem de modo poenae. 2 Ipse enim dubito ob hoc maxime quod, ut iam dixerant sacramento, ita nondum distributi in numeros erant. Quid ergo debeam sequi rogo, domine, scribas, praesertim cum pertineat ad exemplum.

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30. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Secundum mandata mea fecit Sempronius Caelianus mittendo ad te eos, de quibus cognosci oportebit, an capitale supplicium meruisse videantur. Refert autem, voluntarii se obtulerint an lecti sint vel etiam vicarii dati. 2 Lecti <si> sunt, inquisitio peccavit; si vicarii dati, penes eos culpa est qui dederunt; si ipsi, cum haberent condicionis suae conscientiam, venerunt, animadvertendum in illos erit. Neque enim multum interest, quod nondum per numeros distributi sunt. Ille enim dies, quo primum probati sunt, veritatem ab iis originis suae exegit.

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31. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Salva magnitudine tua, domine, descendas oportet ad meas curas, cum ius mihi dederis referendi ad te, de quibus dubito. 2 In plerisque civitatibus, maxime Nicomediae et Nicaeae, quidam vel in opus damnati vel in ludum similiaque his genera poenarum publicorum servorum officio ministerioque funguntur, atque etiam ut publici servi annua accipiunt. Quod ego cum audissem, diu multumque haesitavi, quid facere deberem. 3 Nam et reddere poenae post longum tempus plerosque iam senes et, quantum affirmatur, frugaliter modesteque viventes nimis severum arbitrabar, et in publicis officiis retinere damnatos non satis honestum putabam; eosdem rursus a re publica pasci otiosos inutile, non pasci etiam periculosum existimabam. 4 Necessario ergo rem totam, dum te consulerem, in suspenso reliqui. Quaeres fortasse, quem ad modum evenerit, ut poenis in quas damnati erant exsolverentur: et ego quaesii, sed nihil comperi, quod affirmare tibi possim. Ut decreta quibus damnati erant proferebantur, ita nulla monumenta quibus liberati probarentur. 5 Erant tamen, qui dicerent deprecantes iussu proconsulum legatorumve dimissos. Addebat fidem, quod credibile erat neminem hoc ausum sine auctore.

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32. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Meminerimus idcirco te in istam provinciam missum, quoniam multa in ea emendanda apparuerint. Erit autem vel hoc maxime corrigendum, quod qui damnati ad poenam erant, non modo ea sine auctore, ut scribis, liberati sunt, sed etiam in condicionem proborum ministrorum retrahuntur. 2 Qui igitur intra hos proximos decem annos damnati nec ullo idoneo auctore liberati sunt, hos oportebit poenae suae reddi; si qui vetustiores invenientur et senes ante annos decem damnati, distribuamus illos in ea ministeria, quae non longe a poena sint. Solent et ad balineum, ad purgationes cloacarum, item munitiones viarum et vicorum dari.

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33. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Cum diversam partem provinciae circumirem, Nicomediae vastissimum incendium multas privatorum domos et duo publica opera, quamquam via interiacente, Gerusian et Iseon absumpsit. 2 Est autem latius sparsum, primum violentia venti, deinde inertia hominum quos satis constat otiosos et immobiles tanti mali spectatores perstitisse; et alioqui nullus usquam in publico sipo, nulla hama, nullum denique instrumentum ad incendia compescenda. Et haec quidem, ut iam praecepi, parabuntur; 3 tu, domine, dispice an instituendum putes collegium fabrorum dumtaxat hominum CL. Ego attendam, ne quis nisi faber recipiatur neve iure concesso in aliud utantur; nec erit difficile custodire tam paucos.

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34. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Tibi quidem secundum exempla complurium in mentem venit posse collegium fabrorum apud Nicomedenses constitui. Sed meminerimus provinciam istam et praecipue eas civitates eius modi factionibus esse vexatas. Quodcumque nomen ex quacumque causa dederimus iis, qui in idem contracti fuerint, hetaeriae eaeque brevi fient. 2 Satius itaque est comparari ea, quae ad coercendos ignes auxilio esse possint, admonerique dominos praediorum, ut et ipsi inhibeant ac, si res poposcerit, accursu populi ad hoc uti.

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35. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Sollemnia vota pro incolumitate tua, qua publica salus continetur, et suscepimus, domine, pariter et solvimus precati deos, ut velint ea semper solvi semperque signari.

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36. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Et solvisse vos cum provincialibus dis immortalibus vota pro mea salute et incolumitate et nuncupasse libenter, mi Secunde carissime, cognovi ex litteris tuis.

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37. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 In aquae ductum, domine, Nicomedenses impenderunt HS XXX CCCXVIII, qui imperfectus adhuc omissus, destructus etiam est; rursus in alium ductum erogata sunt CC. Hoc quoque relicto novo impendio est opus, ut aquam habeant, qui tantam pecuniam male perdiderunt. 2 Ipse perveni ad fontem purissimum, ex quo videtur aqua debere perduci, sicut initio temptatum erat, arcuato opere, ne tantum ad plana civitatis et humilia perveniat. Manent adhuc paucissimi arcus: possunt et erigi quidam lapide quadrato, qui ex superiore opere detractus est; aliqua pars, ut mihi videtur, testaceo opere agenda erit, id enim et facilius et vilius. 3 Sed in primis necessarium est mitti a te vel aquilegem vel architectum, ne rursus eveniat quod accidit. Ego illud unum affirmo, et utilitatem operis et pulchritudinem saeculo tuo esse dignissimam.

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38. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Curandum est, ut aqua in Nicomedensem civitatem perducatur. Vere credo te ea, qua debebis, diligentia hoc opus aggressurum. Sed medius fidius ad eandem diligentiam tuam pertinet inquirere, quorum vitio ad hoc tempus tantam pecuniam Nicomedenses perdiderint, ne, dum inter se gratificantur, et incohaverint aquae ductus et reliquerint. Quid itaque compereris, perfer in notitiam meam.

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39. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Theatrum, domine, Nicaeae maxima iam parte constructum, imperfectum tamen, sestertium - ut audio; neque enim ratio operis excussa est - amplius centies hausit: vereor ne frustra. 2 Ingentibus enim rimis desedit et hiat, sive in causa solum umidum et molle, sive lapis ipse gracilis et putris: dignum est certe deliberatione, sitne faciendum an sit relinquendum an etiam destruendum. Nam fulturae ac substructiones, quibus subinde suscipitur, non tam firmae mihi quam sumptuosae uidentur. 3 Huic theatro ex priuatorum pollicitationibus multa debentur, ut basilicae circa, ut porticus supra caveam. Quae nunc omnia differuntur cessante eo, quod ante peragendum est. 4 Iidem Nicaeenses gymnasium incendio amissum ante aduentum meum restituere coeperunt, longe numerosius laxiusque quam fuerat, et iam aliquantum erogauerunt; periculum est, ne parum utiliter; incompositum enim et sparsum est. Praeterea architectus, sane aemulus eius a quo opus incohatum est, adfirmat parietes quamquam uiginti et duos pedes latos imposita onera sustinere non posse, quia sine caemento medii farti nec testaceo opere praecincti.

5 Claudiopolitani quoque in depresso loco, imminente etiam monte ingens balineum defodiunt magis quam aedificant, et quidem ex ea pecunia, quam buleutae additi beneficio tuo aut iam obtulerunt ob introitum aut nobis exigentibus conferent. 6 Ergo cum timeam ne illic publica pecunia, hic, quod est omni pecunia pretiosius, munus tuum male collocetur, cogor petere a te non solum ob theatrum, uerum etiam ob haec balinea mittas architectum, dispecturum utrum sit utilius post sumptum qui factus est quoquo modo consummare opera? ut incohata sunt, an quae uidentur emendanda corrigere, quae transferenda transferre, ne dum servare uolumus quod impensum est, male impendamus quod addendum est.

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40. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Quid oporteat fieri circa theatrum, quod incohatum apud Nicaeenses est, in re praesenti optime deliberabis et constitues. Mihi sufficiet indicari, cui sententiae accesseris: Tunc autem a priuatis exige opera, cum theatrum, propter quod illa promissa sunt, factum erit. 2 Gymnasiis indulgent Graeculi; ideo forsitan Nicaeenses maiore animo constructionem eius aggressi sunt: sed oportet illos eo contentos esse, quod possit illis sufficere. 3 Quid Claudiopolitanis circa balineum quod parum, ut scribis, idoneo loco incohauerunt suadendum sit, tu constitues. Architecti tibi deesse non possunt. Nulla prouincia non et peritos et ingeniosos homines habet; modo ne existimes breuius esse ab urbe mitti, cum ex Graecia etiam ad nos uenire soliti sint.

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41. C. PLINIVS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Intuenti mihi et fortunae tuae et animi magnitudinem conuenientissimum uidetur demonstrari opera non minus aeternitate tua quam gloria digna, quantumque pulchritudinis tantum utilitatis habitura. 2 Est in Nicomedensium finibus amplissimus lacus. Per hunc marmora fructus ligna materiae et sumptu modico et labore usque ad uiam nauibus, inde magno labore maiore impendio uehiculis ad mare deuehuntur ... hoc opus multas manus poscit. At eae porro non desunt. Nam et in agris magna copia est hominum et maxima in civitate, certaque spes omnes libentissime aggressuros opus omnibus fructuosum. 3 Superest ut tu libratorem vel architectum si tibi videbitur mittas, qui diligenter exploret, sitne lacus altior mari, quem artifices regionis huius quadraginta cubitis altiorem esse contendunt. 4 Ego per eadem loca invenio fossam a rege percussam, sed incertum utrum ad colligendum umorem circumiacentium agrorum an ad committendum flumini lacum; est enim imperfecta. Hoc quoque dubium, intercepto rege mortalitate an desperato operis effectu. 5 Sed hoc ipso - feres enim me ambitiosum pro tua gloria - incitor et accendor, ut cupiam peragi a te quae tantum coeperant reges.

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42. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Potest nos sollicitare lacus iste, ut committere illum mari velimus; sed plane explorandum est diligenter, ne si emissus in mare fuerit totus effluat certe, quantum aquarum et unde accipiat. Poteris a Calpurnio Macro petere libratorem, et ego hinc aliquem tibi peritum eius modi operum mittam.

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43. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Requirenti mihi Byzantiorum rei publicae impendia, quae maxima fecit, indicatum est, domine, legatum ad te salutandum annis omnibus cum psephismate mitti, eique dari nummorum duodena milia. 2 Memor ergo propositi tui legatum quidem retinendum, psephisma autem mittendum putavi, ut simul et sumptus levaretur et impleretur publicum officium. 3 Eidem civitati imputata sunt terna milia, quae viatici nomine annua dabantur legato eunti ad eum qui Moesiae praeest publice salutandum. Haec ego in posterum circumcidenda existimavi. 4 Te, domine, rogo ut quid sentias rescribendo aut consilium meum confirmare aut errorem emendare digneris.

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44. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Optime fecisti, Secunde carissime, duodena ista Byzantiis quae ad salutandum me in legatum impendebantur remittendo. Fungentur his partibus, etsi solum psephisma per te missum fuerit. Ignoscet illis et Moesiae praeses, si minus illum sumptuose coluerint.

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45. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Diplomata, domine, quorum dies praeterit, an omnino observari et quam diu velis, rogo scribas meque haesitatione liberes. Vereor enim, ne in alterutram partem ignorantia lapsus aut illicita confirmem aut necessaria impediam.

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46. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Diplomata, quorum praeteritus est dies, non debent esse in usu. Ideo inter prima iniungo mihi, ut per omnes provincias ante mittam nova diplomata, quam desiderari possint.

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47. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Cum vellem, domine, Apameae cognoscere publicos debitores et reditum et impendia, responsum est mihi cupere quidem universos, ut a me rationes coloniae legerentur, numquam tamen esse lectas ab ullo proconsulum; habuisse privilegium et vetustissimum morem arbitrio suo rem publicam administrare. 2 Exegi ut quae dicebant quaeque recitabant libello complecterentur; quem tibi qualem acceperam misi, quamvis intellegerem pleraque ex illo ad id, de quo quaeritur, non pertinere. 3 Te rogo ut mihi praeire digneris, quid me putes observare debere. Vereor enim ne aut excessisse aut non implesse officii mei partes videar.

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48. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Libellus Apamenorum, quem epistulae tuae iunxeras, remisit mihi necessitatem perpendendi qualia essent, propter quae videri volunt eos, qui pro consulibus hanc provinciam obtinuerunt, abstinuisse inspectatione rationum suarum, cum ipse ut eas inspiceres non recusaverint. 2 Remuneranda est igitur probitas eorum, ut iam nunc sciant hoc, quod inspecturus es, ex mea voluntate salvis, quae habent, privilegiis esse facturum.

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49. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Ante adventum meum, domine, Nicomedenses priori foro novum adicere coeperunt, cuius in angulo est aedes vetustissima Matris Magnae aut reficienda aut transferenda, ob hoc praecipue quod est multo depressior opere eo quod cum maxime surgit. 2 Ego cum quaererem, num esset aliqua lex dicta templo, cognovi alium hic, alium apud nos esse morem dedicationis. Dispice ergo, domine, an putes aedem, cui nulla lex dicta est, salva religione posse transferri; alioqui commodissimum est, si religio non impedit.

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50. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Potes, mi Secunde carissime, sine sollicitudine religionis, si loci positio videtur hoc desiderare, aedem Matris Deum transferre in eam quae est accommodatior; nec te moveat, quod lex dedicationis nulla reperitur, cum solum peregrinae civitatis capax non sit dedicationis, quae fit nostro iure.

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51. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Difficile est, domine, exprimere verbis, quantam perceperim laetitiam, quod et mihi et socrui meae praestitisti, ut affinem eius Caelium Clementem in hanc provinciam transferres. 2 Ex illo enim et mensuram beneficii tui penitus intellego, cum tam plenam indulgentiam cum tota domo mea experiar, cui referre gratiam parem ne audeo quidem, quamvis maxime possim. Itaque ad vota confugio deosque precor, ut iis, quae in me assidue confers, non indignus existimer.

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52. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Diem, domine, quo servasti imperium, dum suscipis, quanta mereris laetitia celebravimus, precati deos ut te generi humano, cuius tutela et securitas saluti tuae innisa est, incolumem florentemque praestarent. Praeivimus et commilitonibus ius iurandum more sollemni, eadem provincialibus certatim pietate iurantibus.

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53. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Quanta religione et laetitia commilitones cum provincialibus te praeeunte diem imperii mei celebraverint, libenter, mi Secunde carissime, agnovi litteris tuis.

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54. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Pecuniae publicae, domine, providentia tua et ministerio nostro et iam exactae sunt et exiguntur; quae vereor ne otiosae iaceant. Nam et praediorum comparandorum aut nulla aut rarissima occasio est, nec inveniuntur qui velint debere rei publicae, praesertim duodenis assibus, quanti a privatis mutuantur. 2 Dispice ergo, domine, numquid minuendam usuram ac per hoc idoneos debitores invitandos putes, et, si nec sic reperiuntur, distribuendam inter decuriones pecuniam, ita ut recte rei publicae caveant; quod quamquam invitis et recusantibus minus acerbum erit leviore usura constituta.

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55. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Et ipse non aliud remedium dispicio, mi Secunde carissime, quam ut quantitas usurarum minuatur, quo facilius pecuniae publicae collocentur. Modum eius, ex copia eorum qui mutuabuntur, tu constitues. Invitos ad accipiendum compellere, quod fortassis ipsis otiosum futurum sit, non est ex iustitia nostrorum temporum.

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56. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Summas, domine, gratias ago, quod inter maximas occupationes <in> iis, de quibus te consului, me quoque regere dignatus es; quod nunc quoque facias rogo. 2 Adiit enim me quidam indicavitque adversarios suos a Servilio Calvo, clarissimo viro, in triennium relegatos in provincia morari: illi contra ab eodem se restitutos affirmaverunt edictumque recitaverunt. Qua causa necessarium credidi rem integram ad te referre. 3 Nam, sicut mandatis tuis cautum est, ne restituam ab alio aut a me relegatos, ita de iis, quos alius et relegaverit et restituerit, nihil comprehensum est. Ideo tu, domine, consulendus fuisti, quid observare me velles, tam hercule quam de iis qui in perpetuum relegati nec restituti in provincia deprehenduntur. 4 Nam haec quoque species incidit in cognitionem meam. Est enim adductus ad me in perpetuum relegatus <a> Iulio Basso proconsule. Ego, quia sciebam acta Bassi rescissa datumque a senatu ius omnibus, de quibus ille aliquid constituisset, ex integro agendi, dumtaxat per biennium, interrogavi hunc, quem relegaverat, an adisset docuissetque proconsulem. <Negavit.> 5 Per quod effectum est, ut te consulerem, reddendum eum poenae suae an gravius aliquid et quid potissimum constituendum putares et in hunc et in eos, si qui forte in simili condicione invenirentur. Decretum Calvi et edictum, item decretum Bassi his litteris subieci.

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57. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Quid in persona eorum statuendum sit, qui a P. Servilio Calvo proconsule in triennium relegati et mox eiusdem edicto restituti in provincia remanserunt, proxime tibi rescribam, cum causas eius facti a Calvo requisiero. 2 Qui a Iulio Basso in perpetuum relegatus est, cum per biennium agendi facultatem habuerit, si existimat se iniuria relegatum, neque id fecerit atque in provincia morari perseverarit, vinctus mitti ad praefectos praetorii mei debet. Neque enim sufficit eum poenae suae restitui, quam contumacia elusit.

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58. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Cum citarem iudices, domine, conventum incohaturus, Flavius Archippus vacationem petere coepit ut philosophus. 2 Fuerunt, qui dicerent non liberandum eum iudicandi necessitate, sed omnino tollendum de iudicum numero reddendumque poenae, quam fractis vinculis evasisset. 3 Recitata est sententia Veli Pauli proconsulis, qua probabatur Archippus crimine falsi damnatus in metallum: ille nihil proferebat, quo restitutum se doceret; allegabat tamen pro restitutione et libellum a se Domitiano datum et epistulas eius ad honorem suum pertinentes et decretum Prusensium. Addebat his et tuas litteras scriptas sibi, addebat et patris tui edictum et epistulam, quibus confirmasset beneficia a Domitiano data. 4 Itaque, quamvis eidem talia crimina applicarentur, nihil decernendum putavi, donec te consulerem de eo, quod mihi constitutione tua dignum videbatur. Ea quae sunt utrimque recitata his litteris subieci.

EPISTULA DOMITIANI AD TERENTIUM MAXIMUM

5 Flavius Archippus philosophus impetravit a me, ut agrum ei ad c circa PrusiadamÅ, patriam suam, emi iuberem, cuius reditu suos alere posset. Quod ei praestari volo. Summam expensam liberalitati meae feres.

EIUSDEM AD LAPPIUM MAXIMUM

6 Archippum philosophum, bonum virum et professioni suae etiam moribus respondentem, commendatum habeas velim, mi Maxime, et plenam ei humanitatem tuam praestes in iis, quae verecunde a te desideraverit.

EDICTUM DIVI NERVAE

7 Quaedam sine dubio, Quirites, ipsa felicitas temporum edicit, nec exspectandus est in iis bonus princeps, quibus illum intellegi satis est, cum hoc sibi civium meorum spondere possit vel non admonita persuasio, me securitatem omnium quieti meae praetulisse, ut et nova beneficia conferrem et ante me concessa servarem. 8 Ne tamen aliquam gaudiis publicis afferat haesitationem vel eorum qui impetraverunt diffidentia vel eius memoria qui praestitit, necessarium pariter credidi ac laetum obviam dubitantibus indulgentiam meam mittere. 9 Nolo existimet quisquam, quod alio principe vel privatim vel publice consecutus <sit> ideo saltem a me rescindi, ut potius mihi debeat. Sint rata et certa, nec gratulatio ullius instauratis egeat precibus, quem fortuna imperii vultu meliore respexit. le novis beneficiis vacare patiantur, et ea demum sciant roganda esse quae non habent.

EPISTULA EIUSDEM AD TULLIUM IUSTUM

10 Cum rerum omnium ordinatio, quae prioribus temporibus incohatae consummatae sunt, observanda sit, tum epistulis etiam Domitiani standum est.

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59. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Flavius Archippus per salutem tuam aeternitatemque petit a me, ut libellum quem mihi dedit mitterem tibi. Quod ego sic roganti praestandum putavi, ita tamen ut missurum me notum accusatrici eius facerem, a qua et ipsa acceptum libellum his epistulis iunxi, quo facilius velut audita utraque parte dispiceres, quid statuendum putares.

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60. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Potuit quidem ignorasse Domitianus, in quo statu esset Archippus, cum tam multa ad honorem eius pertinentia scriberet; sed meae naturae accommodatius est credere etiam statui eius subventum interventu principis, praesertim cum etiam statuarum ei honor totiens decretus sit ab iis, qui <non> ignorabant, quid de illo Paulus proconsul pronuntiasset. 2 Quae tamen, mi Secunde carissime, non eo pertinent, ut si quid illi novi criminis obicitur, minus de eo audiendum putes. Libellos Furiae Primae accusatricis, item ipsius Archippi, quos alteri epistulae tuae iunxeras, legi.

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61. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Tu quidem, domine, providentissime vereris,ne commissus flumini atque ita mari lacus effluat; sed ego in re praesenti invenisse videor, quem ad modum huic periculo occurrerem. 2 Potest enim lacus fossa usque ad flumen adduci nec tamen in flumen emitti, sed relicto quasi margine contineri pariter et dirimi. Sic consequemur, ut neque aqua viduetur flumini mixtus et sit perinde ac si misceatur. Erit enim facile per illam brevissimam terram, quae interiacebit, advecta fossa onera transponere in flumen. 3 Quod ita fiet si necessitas coget, et - spero - non coget. Est enim et lacus ipse satis altus et nunc in contrariam partem flumen emittit, quod interclusum inde et quo volumus aversum, sine ullo detrimento lacus tantum aquae quantum nunc portat effundet. Praeterea per id spatium, per quod fossa fodienda est, incidunt rivi; qui si diligenter colligantur, augebunt illud quod lacus dederit. 4 Enimvero, si placeat fossam longius ducere et altius pressam mari aequare nec in flumen, sed in ipsum mare emittere, repercussus maris servabit et reprimet, quidquid e lacu veniet. Quorum si nihil nobis loci natura praestaret, expeditum tamen erat cataractis aquae cursum temperare. 5 Verum et haec et alia multo sagacius conquiret explorabitque librator, quem plane, domine, debes mittere, ut polliceris. Est enim res digna et magnitudine tua et cura. Ego interim Calpurnio Macro clarissimo viro auctore te scripsi, ut libratorem quam maxime idoneum mitteret.

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62. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Manifestum, mi Secunde carissime, nec prudentiam nec diligentiam tibi defuisse circa istum lacum, cum tam multa provisa habeas, per quae nec periclitetur exhauriri et magis in usu nobis futurus sit. Elige igitur id quod praecipue res ipsa suaserit. Calpurnium Macrum credo facturum, ut te libratore instruat, neque provinciae istae his artificibus carent.

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63. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Scripsit mihi, domine, Lycormas libertus tuus ut, si qua legatio a Bosporo venisset urbem petitura, usque in adventum suum retineretur. Et legatio quidem, dumtaxat in eam civitatem, in qua ipse sum, nulla adhuc venit, sed venit tabellarius Sauromatae <regis>, quem ego usus opportunitate, quam mihi casus obtulerat, cum tabellario qui Lycormam ex itinere praecessit mittendum putavi, ut posses ex Lycormae et regis epistulis pariter cognoscere, quae fortasse pariter scire deberes.

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64. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Rex Sauromates scripsit mihi esse quaedam, quae deberes quam maturissime scire. Qua ex causa festinationem tabellarii, quem ad te cum epistulis misit, diplomate adiuvi.

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65. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Magna, domine, et ad totam provinciam pertinens quaestio est de condicione et alimentis eorum, quos vocant ‘threptous’. 2 In qua ego auditis constitutionibus principum, quia nihil inveniebam aut proprium aut universale, quod ad Bithynos referretur, consulendum te existimavi, quid observari velles; neque putavi posse me in eo, quod auctoritatem tuam posceret, exemplis esse contentum. 3 Recitabatur autem apud me edictum, quod dicebatur divi Augusti, ad Andaniam pertinens; recitatae et epistulae divi Vespasiani ad Lacedaemonios et divi Titi ad eosdem et Achaeos et Domitiani ad Avidium Tigrinum et Armenium Brocchum proconsules, item ad Lacedaemonios; quae ideo tibi non misi, quia et parum emendata et quaedam non certae fidei videbantur, et quia vera et emendata in scriniis tuis esse credebam.

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66. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Quaestio ista, quae pertinet ad eos qui liberi nati expositi, deinde sublati a quibusdam et in servitute educati sunt, saepe tractata est, nec quicquam invenitur in commentariis eorum principum, qui ante me fuerunt, quod ad omnes provincias sit constitutum. 2 Epistulae sane sunt Domitiani ad Avidium Nigrinum et Armenium Brocchum, quae fortasse debeant observari: sed inter eas provincias, de quibus rescripsit, non est Bithynia; et ideo nec assertionem denegandam iis qui ex eius modi causa in libertatem vindicabuntur puto, neque ipsam libertatem redimendam pretio alimentorum.

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67. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Legato Sauromatae regis; cum sua sponte Nicaeae, ubi me invenerat, biduo substitisset, longiorem moram faciendam, domine, non putavi, primum quod incertum adhuc erat, quando libertus tuus Lycormas venturus esset, deinde quod ipse proficiscebar in diversam provinciae partem, ita officii necessitate exigente. 2 Haec in notitiam tuam perferenda existimavi, quia proxime scripseram petisse Lycormam, ut legationem, si qua venisset a Bosporo, usque in adventum suum retinerem. Quod diutius faciendi nulla mihi probabilis ratio occurrit, praesertim cum epistulae Lycormae, quas detinere, ut ante praedixi, nolui, aliquot diebus hinc legatum antecessurae viderentur.

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68. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Petentibus quibusdam, ut sibi reliquias suorum aut propter iniuriam vetustatis aut propter fluminis incursum aliaque his similia quocumque secundum exemplum proconsulum transferre permitterem, quia sciebam in urbe nostra ex eius modi causa collegium pontificum adiri solere, te, domine, maximum pontificem consulendum putavi, quid observare me velis.

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69. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Durum est iniungere necessitatem provincialibus pontificum adeundorum, si reliquias suorum propter aliquas iustas causas transferre ex loco in alium locum velint. Sequenda ergo potius tibi exempla sunt eorum, qui isti provinciae praefuerunt, et ut causa cuique, ita aut permittendum aut negandum.

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70. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Quaerenti mihi, domine, Prusae ubi posset balineum quod indulsisti fieri, placuit locus in quo fuit aliquando domus, ut audio, pulchra, nunc deformis ruinis. Per hoc enim consequemur, ut foedissima facies civitatis ornetur, atque etiam ut ipsa civitas amplietur nec ulla aedificia tollantur, sed quae sunt vetustate sublapsa relaxentur in melius. 2 Est autem huius domus condicio talis: legaverat eam Claudius Polyaenus Claudio Caesari iussitque in peristylio templum ei fieri, reliqua ex domo locari. Ex ea reditum aliquamdiu civitas percepit; deinde paulatim partim spoliata, partim neglecta cum peristylio domus tota collapsa est, ac iam paene nihil ex ea nisi solum superest; quod tu, domine, sive donaveris civitati sive venire iusseris, propter opportunitatem loci pro summo munere accipiet. 3 Ego, si permiseris, cogito in area vacua balineum collocare, eum autem locum, in quo aedificia fuerunt, exedra et porticibus amplecti atque tibi consecrare, cuius beneficio elegans opus dignumque nomine tuo fiet. 4 Exemplar testamenti, quamquam mendosum, misi tibi; ex quo cognosces multa Polyaenum in eiusdem domus ornatum reliquisse, quae ut domus ipsa perierunt, a me tamen in quantum potuerit requirentur.

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71. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Possumus apud Prusenses area ista cum domo collapsa, quam vacare scribis, ad exstructionem balinei uti. Illud tamen parum expressisti, an aedes in peristylio Claudio facta esset. Nam, si facta est, licet collapsa sit, religio eius occupavit solum .

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72. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Postulantibus quibusdam, ut de agnoscendis liberis restituendisque natalibus et secundum epistulam Domitiani scriptam Minicio Rufo et secundum exempla proconsulum ipse cognoscerem, respexi ad senatus consultum pertinens ad eadem genera causarum, quod de iis tantum provinciis loquitur, quibus proconsules praesunt; ideoque rem integram distuli, dum <tu>, domine, praeceperis, quid observare me velis.

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73. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Si mihi senatus consultum miseris quod haesitationem tibi fecit, aestimabo an debeas cognoscere de agnoscendis liberis et natalibus veris restituendis.

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74. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Appuleius, domine, miles qui est in statione Nicomedensi, scripsit mihi quendam nomine Callidromum, cum detineretur a Maximo et Dionysio pistoribus, quibus operas suas locaverat, confugisse ad tuam statuam perductumque ad magistratus indicasse, servisse aliquando Laberio Maximo, captumque a Susago in Moesia et a Decibalo muneri missum Pacoro Parthiae regi, pluribusque annis in ministerio eius fuisse, deinde fugisse, atque ita in Nicomediam pervenisse. 2 Quem ego perductum ad me, cum eadem narrasset, mittendum ad te putavi; quod paulo tardius feci, dum requiro gemmam, quam sibi habentem imaginem Pacori et quibus ornatus fuisset subtractam indicabat. 3 Volui enim hanc quoque, si inveniri potuisset, simul mittere, sicut glebulam misi, quam se ex Parthico metallo attulisse dicebat. Signata est anulos meo, cuius est aposphragisma quadriga.

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75. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Iulius, domine, Largus ex Ponto nondum mihi visus ac ne auditus quidem - scilicet iudicio tuo credidit - dispensationem quandam mihi erga te pietatis suae ministeriumque mandavit. 2 Rogavit enim testamento, ut hereditatem suam adirem cerneremque, ac deinde praeceptis quinquaginta milibus nummum reliquum omne Heracleotarum et Tianorum civitatibus redderem, ita ut esset arbitrii mei utrum opera facienda, quae honori tuo consecrarentur, putarem an instituendos quinquennales agonas, qui Traiani appellarentur. Quod in notitiam tuam perferendum existimavi ob hoc maxime, ut dispiceres quid eligere debeam.

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76. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Iulius Largus fidem tuam quasi te bene nosset elegit. Quid ergo potissimum ad perpetuitatem memoriae eius faciat, secundum cuiusque loci condicionem ipse dispice et quod optimum existimaveris, id sequere.

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77. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Providentissime, domine, fecisti, quod praecepisti Calpurnio Macro clarissimo viro, ut legionarium centurionem Byzantium mitteret. 2 Dispice an etiam Iuliopolitanis simili ratione consulendum putes, quorum civitas, cum sit perexigua, onera maxima sustinet tantoque graviores iniurias quanto est infirmior patitur. 3 Quidquid autem Iuliopolitanis praestiteris, id etiam toti provinciae proderit. Sunt enim in capite Bithyniae, plurimisque per eam commeantibus transitum praebent.

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78. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Ea condicio est civitatis Byzantiorum confluente undique in eam commeantium turba, ut secundum consuetudinem praecedentium temporum honoribus eius praesidio centurionis legionarii consulendum habuerimus. <Si> 2 Iuliopolitanis succurrendum eodem modo putaverimus, onerabimus nos exemplo; plures enim eo quanto infirmiores erunt idem petent. Fiduciam <eam> diligentiae <tuae> habeo, ut credam te omni ratione id acturum, ne sint obnoxii iniuriis. 3 Si qui autem se contra disciplinam meam gesserint, statim coerceantur; aut, si plus admiserint quam ut in re praesenti satis puniantur, si milites erunt, legatis eorum quod deprehenderis notum facies aut, si in urbem versus venturi erunt, mihi scribes.

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79. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Cautum est, domine, Pompeia lege quae Bithynis data est, ne quis capiat magistratum neve sit in senatu minor annorum triginta. Eadem lege comprehensum est, ut qui ceperint magistratum sint in senatu. 2 Secutum est dein edictum divi Augusti, quo permisit minores magistratus ab annis duobus et viginti capere. 3 Quaeritur ergo an, qui minor triginta annorum gessit magistratum, possit a censoribus in senatum legi, et, si potest, an ii quoque, qui non gesserint, possint per eandem interpretationem ab ea aetate senatores legi, a qua illis magistratum gerere permissum est; quod alioqui factitatum adhuc et esse necessarium dicitur, quia sit aliquanto melius honestorum hominum liberos quam e plebe in curiam admitti. 4 Ego a destinatis censoribus quid sentirem interrogatus eos quidem, qui minores triginta annis gessissent magistratum, putabam posse in senatum et secundum edictum Augusti et secundum legem Pompeiam legi, quoniam Augustus gerere magistratus minoribus annis triginta permisisset, lex senatorem esse voluisset qui gessisset magistratum. 5 De iis autem qui non gessissent, quamvis essent aetatis eiusdem cuius illi quibus gerere permissum est, haesitabam; per quod effectum est ut te, domine, consulerem, quid observari velles. Capita legis, tum edictum Augusti litteris subieci.

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80. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Interpretationi tuae, mi Secunde carissime, idem existimo: hactenus edicto divi Augusti novatam esse legem Pompeiam, ut magistratum quidem capere possent ii, qui non minores duorum et viginti annorum essent, et qui cepissent, in senatum cuiusque civitatis pervenirent. Ceterum non capto magistratu eos, qui minores triginta annorum sint, quia magistratum capere possint, in curiam etiam loci cuiusque non existimo legi posse.

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81. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Cum Prusae ad Olympum, domine, publicis negotiis intra hospitium eodem die exiturus vacarem, Asclepiades magistratus indicavit appellatum me a Claudio Eumolpo. Cum Cocceianus Dion in bule assignari civitati opus cuius curam egerat vellet, tum Eumolpus assistens Flavio Archippo dixit exigendam esse a Dione rationem operis, ante quam rei publicae traderetur, quod aliter fecisset ac debuisset. 2 Adiecit etiam esse in eodem positam tuam statuam et corpora sepultorum, uxoris Dionis et filii, postulavitque ut cognoscerem pro tribunali. 3 Quod cum ego me protinus facturum dilaturumque profectionem dixissem, ut longiorem diem ad struendam causam darem utque in alia civitate cognoscerem petiit. 4 Ego me auditurum Nicaeae respondi. Ubi cum consedissem cogniturus, idem Eumolpus tamquam si adhuc parum instructus dilationem petere coepit, contra Dion ut audiretur exigere. 5 Dicta sunt utrimque multa, etiam de causa. Ego cum dandam dilationem et <te> consulendum existimarem in re ad exemplum pertinenti, dixi utrique parti ut postulationum suarum libellos darent. Volebam enim te ipsorum potissimum verbis ea quae erant proposita cognoscere. 6 Et Dion quidem se daturum dixit. Eumolpus respondit complexurum se libello quae rei publicae peteret, ceterum quod ad sepultos pertineret non accusatorem se sed advocatum Flavi Archippi, cuius mandata pertulisset. Archippus, cui Eumolpus sicut Prusiade assistebat, dixit se libellum daturum. At nec Eumolpus nec Archippus quam<quam> plurimis diebus exspectati adhuc mihi libellos dederunt; Dion dedit, quem huic epistulae iunxi. 7 Ipse in re praesenti fui et vidi tuam quoque statuam in bibliotheca positam, id autem in quo dicuntur sepulti filius et uxor Dionis in area collocatum, quae porticibus includitur. 8 Te, domine, rogo ut me in hoc praecipue genere cognitionis regere digneris, cum alioqui magna sit exspectatio, ut necesse est in ea re quae et in confessum venit et exemplis defenditur.

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82. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Potuisti non haerere, mi Secunde carissime, circa id de quo me consulendum existimasti, cum propositum meum optime nosses, non ex metu nec terrore hominum aut criminibus maiestatis reverentiam nomini meo acquiri. 2 Omissa ergo ea quaestione, quam non admitterem etiam si exemplis adiuvaretur, ratio totius operis effecti sub cura Cocceiani Dionis excutiatur, cum et utilitas civitatis exigat nec aut recuset Dion aut debeat recusare.

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83. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Rogatus, domine, a Nicaeensibus publice per ea, quae mihi et sunt et debent esse sanctissima, id est per aeternitatem tuam salutemque, ut preces suas ad te perferrem, fas non putavi negare acceptumque ab iis libellum huic epistulae iunxi.

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84. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Nicaeensibus, qui intestatorum civium suorum concessam vindicationem bonorum a divo Augusto affirmant, debebis vacare contractis omnibus personis ad idem negotium pertinentibus, adhibitis Virdio Gemellino et Epimacho liberto meo procuratoribus, ut aestimatis etiam iis, quae contra dicuntur, quod optimum credideritis, statuatis.

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85. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Maximum libertum et procuratorem tuum, domine, per omne tempus, quo fuimus una, probum et industrium et diligentem ac sicut rei tuae amantissimum ita disciplinae tenacissimum expertus, libenter apud te testimonio prosequor, ea fide quam tibi debeo.

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86 A. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Gavium Bassum, domine, praefectum orae Ponticae integrum probum industrium atque inter ista reverentissimum mei expertus, voto pariter et suffragio prosequor, ea fide quam tibi debeo.

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86 B. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

... quam ea quae speret instructum commilitio tuo, cuius disciplinae debet, quod indulgentia tua dignus est. Apud me et milites et pagani, a quibus iustitia eius et humanitas penitus inspecta est, certatim ei qua privatim qua publice testimonium perhibuerunt. Quod in notitiam tuam perfero, ea fide quam tibi debeo.

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87. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Nymphidium Lupum, domine, primipilarem commilitonem habui, cum ipse tribunus essem ille praefectus: inde familiariter diligere coepi. Crevit postea caritas ipsa mutuae vetustate amicitiae. 2 Itaque et quieti eius inieci manum et exegi, ut me in Bithynia consilio instrueret. Quod ille amicissime et otii et senectutis ratione postposita et iam fecit et facturus est. 3 Quibus ex causis necessitudines eius inter meas numero, filium in primis, Nymphidium Lupum, iuvenem probum industrium et egregio patre dignissimum, suffecturum indulgentiae tuae, sicut primis eius experimentis cognoscere potes, cum praefectus cohortis plenissimum testimonium meruerit Iuli Ferocis et Fusci Salinatoris clarissimorum virorum. Meum gaudium, domine, meamque gratulationem filii honore cumulabis.

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88. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Opto, domine, et hunc natalem et plurimos alios quam felicissimos agas aeternaque laude florentem virtutis tuae gloriam ... quam incolumis et fortis aliis super alia operibus augebis.

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89. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Agnosco vota tua, mi Secunde carissime, quibus precaris, ut plurimos et felicissimos natales florente statu rei publicae nostrae agam.

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90. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Sinopenses, domine, aqua deficiuntur; quae videtur et bona et copiosa ab sexto decimo miliario posse perduci. Est tamen statim ab capite paulo amplius passus mille locus suspectus et mollis, quem ego interim explorari modico impendio iussi, an recipere et sustinere opus possit. 2 Pecunia curantibus nobis contracta non deerit, si tu, domine, hoc genus operis et salubritati et amoenitati valde sitientis coloniae indulseris.

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91. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Ut coepisti, Secunde carissime, explora diligenter, an locus ille quem suspectum habes sustinere opus aquae ductus possit. Neque dubitandum puto, quin aqua perducenda sit in coloniam Sinopensem, si modo et viribus suis assequi potest, cum plurimum ea res et salubritati et voluptati eius collatura sit.

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92. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Amisenorum civitas libera et foederata beneficio indulgentiae tuae legibus suis utitur. In hac datum mihi libellum ad ‘epanous’ pertinentem his litteris subieci, ut tu, domine, dispiceres quid et quatenus aut permittendum aut prohibendum putares.

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93. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Amisenos, quorum libellum epistulae tuae iunxeras, si legibus istorum, quibus beneficio foederis utuntur, concessum est eranum habere, possumus quo minus habeant non impedire, eo facilius si tali collatione non ad turbas et ad illicitos coetus, sed ad sustinendam tenuiorum inopiam utuntur. In ceteris civitatibus, quae nostro iure obstrictae sunt, res huius modi prohibenda est.

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94. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Suetonium Tranquillum, probissimum honestissimum eruditissimum virum, et mores eius secutus et studia iam pridem, domine, in contubernium assumpsi, tantoque magis diligere coepi quanto nunc propius inspexi. 2 Huic ius trium liberorum necessarium faciunt duae causae; nam et iudicia amicorum promeretur et parum felix matrimonium expertus est, impetrandumque a bonitate tua per nos habet quod illi fortunae malignitas denegavit. 3 Scio, domine, quantum beneficium petam, sed peto a te cuius in omnibus desideriis meis indulgentiam experior. Potes enim colligere quanto opere cupiam, quod non rogarem absens si mediocriter cuperem.

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95. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Quam parce haec beneficia tribuam, utique, mi Secunde carissime, haeret tibi, cum etiam in senatu affirmare soleam non excessisse me numerum, quem apud amplissimum ordinem suffecturum mihi professus sum. Tuo tamen desiderio subscripsi et dedisse me ius trium liberorum Suetonio Tranquillo ea condicione, qua assuevi, referri in commentarios meos iussi.

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96. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Sollemne est mihi, domine, omnia de quibus dubito ad te referre. Quis enim potest melius vel cunctationem meam regere vel ignorantiam instruere? Cognitionibus de Christianis interfui numquam: ideo nescio quid et quatenus aut puniri soleat aut quaeri. 2 Nec mediocriter haesitavi, sitne aliquod discrimen aetatum, an quamlibet teneri nihil a robustioribus differant; detur paenitentiae venia, an ei, qui omnino Christianus fuit, desisse non prosit; nomen ipsum, si flagitiis careat, an flagitia cohaerentia nomini puniantur. Interim, <in> iis qui ad me tamquam Christiani deferebantur, hunc sum secutus modum. 3 Interrogavi ipsos an essent Christiani. Confitentes iterum ac tertio interrogavi supplicium minatus; perseverantes duci iussi. Neque enim dubitabam, qualecumque esset quod faterentur, pertinaciam certe et inflexibilem obstinationem debere puniri. 4 Fuerunt alii similis amentiae, quos, quia cives Romani erant, adnotavi in urbem remittendos.

Mox ipso tractatu, ut fieri solet, diffundente se crimine plures species inciderunt. 5 Propositus est libellus sine auctore multorum nomina continens. Qui negabant esse se Christianos aut fuisse, cum praeeunte me deos appellarent et imagini tuae, quam propter hoc iusseram cum simulacris numinum afferri, ture ac vino supplicarent, praeterea male dicerent Christo, quorum nihil cogi posse dicuntur qui sunt re vera Christiani, dimittendos putavi. 6 Alii ab indice nominati esse se Christianos dixerunt et mox negaverunt; fuisse quidem sed desisse, quidam ante triennium, quidam ante plures annos, non nemo etiam ante viginti. <Hi> quoque omnes et imaginem tuam deorumque simulacra venerati sunt et Christo male dixerunt. 7 Affirmabant autem hanc fuisse summam vel culpae suae vel erroris, quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire, carmenque Christo quasi deo dicere secum invicem seque sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere, sed ne furta ne latrocinia ne adulteria committerent, ne fidem fallerent, ne depositum appellati abnegarent. Quibus peractis morem sibi discedendi fuisse rursusque coeundi ad capiendum cibum, promiscuum tamen et innoxium; quod ipsum facere desisse post edictum meum, quo secundum mandata tua hetaerias esse vetueram. 8 Quo magis necessarium credidi ex duabus ancillis, quae ministrae dicebantur, quid esset veri, et per tormenta quaerere. Nihil aliud inveni quam superstitionem pravam et immodicam.

9 Ideo dilata cognitione ad consulendum te decucurri. Visa est enim mihi res digna consultatione, maxime propter periclitantium numerum. Multi enim omnis aetatis, omnis ordinis, utriusque sexus etiam vocantur in periculum et vocabuntur. Neque civitates tantum, sed vicos etiam atque agros superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est; quae videtur sisti et corrigi posse. 10 Certe satis constat prope iam desolata templa coepisse celebrari, et sacra sollemnia diu intermissa repeti passimque venire <carnem> victimarum, cuius adhuc rarissimus emptor inveniebatur. Ex quo facile est opinari, quae turba hominum emendari possit, si sit paenitentiae locus.

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97. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Actum quem debuisti, mi Secunde, in excutiendis causis eorum, qui Christiani ad te delati fuerant, secutus es. Neque enim in universum aliquid, quod quasi certam formam habeat, constitui potest. 2 Conquirendi non sunt; si deferantur et arguantur, puniendi sunt, ita tamen ut, qui negaverit se Christianum esse idque re ipsa manifestum fecerit, id est supplicando dis nostris, quamvis suspectus in praeteritum, veniam ex paenitentia impetret. Sine auctore vero propositi libelli <in> nullo crimine locum habere debent. Nam et pessimi exempli nec nostri saeculi est.

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98. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Amastrianorum civitas, domine, et elegans et ornata habet inter praecipua opera pulcherrimam eandemque longissimam plateam; cuius a latere per spatium omne porrigitur nomine quidem flumen, re vera cloaca foedissima, ac sicut turpis immundissimo aspectu, ita pestilens odore taeterrimo. 2 Quibus ex causis non minus salubritatis quam decoris interest eam contegi; quod fiet si permiseris curantibus nobis, ne desit quoque pecunia operi tam magno quam necessario.

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99. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Rationis est, mi Secunde carissime, contegi aquam istam, quae per civitatem Amastrianorum fluit, si intecta salubritati obest. Pecunia ne huic operi desit, curaturum te secundum diligentiam tuam certum habeo.

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100. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Vota, domine, priore anno nuncupata alacres laetique persolvimus novaque rursus certante commilitonum et provincialium pietate suscepimus, precati deos ut te remque publicam florentem et incolumem ea benignitate servarent, quam super magnas plurimasque virtutes praecipua sanctitate obsequio deorum honore meruisti.

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101. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Solvisse vota dis immortalibus te praeeunte pro mea incolumitate commilitones cum provincialibus laetissimo consensu et in futurum nuncupasse libenter, mi Secunde carissime, cognovi litteris tuis.

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102. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Diem, quo in te tutela generis humani felicissima successione translata est, debita religione celebravimus, commendantes dis imperii tui auctoribus et vota publica et gaudia.

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103. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Diem imperii mei debita laetitia et religione commilitonibus et provincialibus praeeunte te celebratum libenter cognovi litteris tuis.

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104. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Valerius, domine, Paulinus excepto Paulino ius Latinorum suorum mihi reliquit; ex quibus rogo tribus interim ius Quiritium des. Vereor enim, ne sit immodicum pro omnibus pariter invocare indulgentiam tuam, qua debeo tanto modestius uti, quanto pleniorem experior. Sunt autem pro quibus peto: C. Valerius Astraeus, C. Valerius Dionysius, C. Valerius Aper.

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105. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Cum honestissime iis, qui apud fidem tuam a Valerio Paulino depositi sunt, consultum velis mature per me, iis interim, quibus nunc petisti, dedisse me ius Quiritium referri in commentarios meos iussi idem facturus in ceteris, pro quibus petieris.

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106. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Rogatus, domine, a P. Accio Aquila, centurione cohortis sextae equestris, ut mitterem tibi libellum per quem indulgentiam pro statu filiae suae implorat, durum putavi negare, cum scirem quantam soleres militum precibus patientiam humanitatemque praestare.

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107. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Libellum P. Accii Aquilae, centurionis sextae equestris, quem mihi misisti, legi; cuius precibus motus dedi filiae eius civitatem Romanam. Libellum rescriptum, quem illi redderes, misi tibi.

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108. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Quid habere iuris velis et Bithynas et Ponticas civitates in exigendis pecuniis, quae illis vel ex locationibus vel ex venditionibus aliisve causis debeantur, rogo, domine, rescribas. Ego inveni a plerisque proconsulibus concessam iis protopraxian eamque pro lege valuisse. 2 Existimo tamen tua providentia constituendum aliquid et sanciendum per quod utilitatibus eorum in perpetuum consulatur. Nam quae sunt ab illis instituta, sint licet sapienter indulta, brevia tamen et infirma sunt, nisi illis tua contingit auctoritas.

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109. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Quo iure uti debeant Bithynae vel Ponticae civitates in iis pecuniis, quae ex quaque causa rei publicae debebuntur, ex lege cuiusque animadvertendum est. Nam, sive habent privilegium, quo ceteris creditoribus anteponantur, custodiendum est, sive non habent, in iniuriam privatorum id dari a me non oportebit.

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110. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Ecdicus, domine, Amisenorum civitatis petebat apud me a Iulio Pisone denariorum circiter quadraginta milia donata ei publice ante viginti annos bule et ecclesia consentiente, utebaturque mandatis tuis, quibus eius modi donationes vetantur. 2 Piso contra plurima se in rem publicam contulisse ac prope totas facultates erogasse dicebat. Addebat etiam temporis spatium postulabatque, ne id, quod pro multis et olim accepisset, cum eversione reliquae dignitatis reddere cogeretur. Quibus ex causis integram cognitionem differendam existimavi, ut te, domine, consulerem, quid sequendum putares.

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111. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Sicut largitiones ex publico fieri mandata prohibent, ita, ne multorum securitas subruatur, factas ante aliquantum temporis retractari atque in irritum vindicari non oportet. Quidquid ergo ex hac causa actum ante viginti annos erit, omittamus. Non minus enim hominibus cuiusque loci quam pecuniae publicae consultum volo.

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112. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Lex Pompeia, domine, qua Bithyni et Pontici utuntur, eos, qui in bulen a censoribus leguntur, dare pecuniam non iubet; sed ii, quos indulgentia tua quibusdam civitatibus super legitimum numerum adicere permisit, et singula milia denariorum et bina intulerunt. 2 Anicius deinde Maximus proconsul eos etiam, qui a censoribus legerentur, dumtaxat in paucissimis civitatibus aliud aliis iussit inferre. 3 Superest ergo, ut ipse dispicias, an in omnibus civitatibus certum aliquid omnes, qui deinde buleutae legentur, debeant pro introitu dare. Nam, quod in perpetuum mansurum est, a te constitui decet, cuius factis dictisque debetur aeternitas.

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113. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Honorarium decurionatus omnes, qui in quaque civitate Bithyniae decuriones fiunt, inferre debeant necne, in universum a me non potest statui. Id ergo, quod semper tutissimum est, sequendam cuiusque civitatis legem puto, sed verius eos, qui invitati fiunt decuriones, id existimo acturos, ut praestatione ceteris praeferantur.

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114. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Lege, domine, Pompeia permissum Bithynicis civitatibus ascribere sibi quos vellent cives, dum ne quem earum civitatium, quae sunt in Bithynia. Eadem lege sancitur, quibus de causis e senatu a censoribus eiciantur. 2 Inde me quidam ex censoribus consulendum putaverunt, an eicere deberent eum qui esset alterius civitatis. 3 Ego quia lex sicut ascribi civem alienum vetabat, ita eici e senatu ob hanc causam non iubebat, praeterea, quod affirmabatur mihi in omni civitate plurimos esse buleutas ex aliis civitatibus, futurumque ut multi homines multaeque civitates concuterentur ea parte legis, quae iam pridem consensu quodam exolevisset, necessarium existimavi consulere te, quid servandum putares. Capita legis his litteris subieci.

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115. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Merito haesisti, Secunde carissime, quid a te rescribi oporteret censoribus consulentibus, an <manere deberent> in senatu aliarum civitatium, eiusdem tamen provinciae cives. Nam et legis auctoritas et longa consuetudo usurpata contra legem in diversum movere te potuit. Mihi hoc temperamentum eius placuit, ut ex praeterito nihil novaremus, sed manerent quamvis contra legem asciti quarumcumque civitatium cives, in futurum autem lex Pompeia observaretur; cuius vim si retro quoque velimus custodire, multa necesse est perturbari.

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116. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Qui virilem togam sumunt vel nuptias faciunt vel ineunt magistratum vel opus publicum dedicant, solent totam bulen atque etiam e plebe non exiguum numerum vocare binosque denarios vel singulos dare. Quod an celebrandum et quatenus putes, rogo scribas. 2 Ipse enim, sicut arbitror, praesertim ex sollemnibus causis, concedendum ius istud invitationis, ita vereor ne ii qui mille homines, interdum etiam plures vocant, modum excedere et in speciem ‘dianomês’ incidere videantur.

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117. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Merito vereris, ne in speciem ‘dianomês’ incidat invitatio, quae et in numero modum excedit et quasi per corpora, non viritim singulos ex notitia ad sollemnes sportulas contrahit. Sed ego ideo prudentiam tuam elegi, ut formandis istius provinciae moribus ipse moderareris et ea constitueres, quae ad perpetuam eius provinciae quietem essent profutura.

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118. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Athletae, domine, ea quae pro iselasticis certaminibus constituisti, deberi sibi putant statim ex eo die, quo sunt coronati; nihil enim referre, quando sint patriam invecti, sed quando certamine vicerint, ex quo invehi possint. Ego contra scribo ‘iselastici nomine’: itaque Åeorum vehementer addubitem an sit potius id tempus, quo ‘eisêlasan’ intuendum. 2 Iidem obsonia petunt pro eo agone, qui a te iselasticus factus est, quamvis vicerint ante quam fieret. Aiunt enim congruens esse, sicut non detur sibi pro iis certaminibus, quae esse iselastica postquam vicerunt desierunt, ita pro iis dari quae esse coeperunt. 3 Hic quoque non mediocriter haereo, ne cuiusquam retro habeatur ratio dandumque, quod tunc cum vincerent non debebatur. Rogo ergo, ut dubitationem meam regere, id est beneficia tua interpretari ipse digneris.

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119. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Iselasticum tunc primum mihi videtur incipere deberi, cum quis in civitatem suam ipse ‘eisêlasen’. Obsonia eorum certaminum, quae iselastica esse placuit mihi, si ante iselastica non fuerunt, retro non debentur. Nec proficere pro desiderio athletarum potest, quod eorum, quae postea iselastica non esse constitui, quam vicerunt, accipere desierunt. Mutata enim condicione certaminum nihilo minus, quae ante perceperant, non revocantur.

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120. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Usque in hoc tempus, domine, neque cuiquam diplomata commodavi neque in rem ullam nisi tuam misi. Quam perpetuam servationem meam quaedam necessitas rupit. 2 Uxori enim meae audita morte avi volenti ad amitam suam excurrere usum eorum negare durum putavi, cum talis officii gratia in celeritate consisteret, sciremque te rationem itineris probaturum, cuius causa erat pietas. Haec tibi scripsi, quia mihi parum gratus fore videbar, si dissimulassem inter alia beneficia hoc unum quoque me debere indulgentiae tuae, quod fiducia eius quasi consulto te non dubitavi facere, quem si consuluissem, sero fecissem.

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121. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Merito habuisti, Secunde carissime, fiduciam animi mei nec dubitandum fuisset, si exspectasses donec me consuleres, an iter uxoris tuae diplomatibus, quae officio tuo dedi, adiuvandum esset, cum apud amitam suam uxor tua deberet etiam celeritate gratiam adventus sui augere.

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DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THE LETTERS IN LATIN

LIBER PRIMVS

1. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO <CLARO> SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS <MATURO> ARRIANO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS CANINIO RUFO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS POMPEIAE CELERINAE SOCRUI S.

5. C. PLINIUS VOCONIO ROMANO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS OCTAVIO RUFO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO SATURNINO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS MINICIO FUNDANO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS ATTIO CLEMENTI SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS FABIO IUSTO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS CALESTRIO TIRONI SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS SOSIO SENECIONI SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS IUNIO MAURICO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO CLARO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS ERUCIO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TITIANO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS ROMATIO FIRMO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS PLINIO PATERNO SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS CATILIO SEVERO SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO FALCONI SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS BAEBIO HISPANO SUO S.

LIBER SECVNDVS

1. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS CALVINAE SUAE S.

5. C. PLINIUS LUPERCO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS AVITO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS APOLLINARI SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS OCTAVIO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS VALERIANO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS GALLO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS MAURICO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS CERIALI SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS CALCISIO SUO S.

LIBER TERTIVS

1. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS VIBIO MAXIMO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS CORELLIAE HISPULLAE SUAE S.

4. C. PLINIUS CAECILIO MACRINO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS BAEBIO MACRO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SEVERO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS CANINIO RUFO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO MINICIANO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS VESTRICIO SPURINNAE SUO ET COTTIAE S.

11. C. PLINIUS IULIO GENITORI SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS CATILIO SEVERO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS VOCONIO ROMANO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS ACILIO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS SILIO PROCULO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS IULIO SERVIANO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS VIBIO SEVERO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS MAESIO MAXIMO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO PRISCO SUO S.

LIBER QVARTVS

1. C. PLINIUS <CALPURNIO> FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS ATTIO CLEMENTI SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS SOSIO SENECIONI SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS IULIO SPARSO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS IULIO NASONI SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS CATIO LEPIDO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS MATURO ARRIANO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO URSO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS STATIO SABINO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO MINICIANO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS MATURO ARRIANO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS [DECIMO] PATERNO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS MINICIO FUNDANO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS VALERIO PAULINO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS CLUSINIO GALLO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE HISPULLAE SUAE S.

20. C. PLINIUS NOVIO MAXIMO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS VELIO CERIALI SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS SEMPRONIO RUFO SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS POMPONIO BASSO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS FABIO VALENTI SUO S.

25. C. PLINIUS MAESIO MAXIMO SUO S.

26. C. PLINIUS MAECILIO NEPOTI SUO S.

27. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO FALCONI SUO S.

28. C. PLINIUS VIBIO SEVERO SUO S.

29. C. PLINIUS ROMATIO FIRMO SUO S.

30. C. PLINIUS LICINIO SURAE SUO S.

LIBER QVINTVS

1. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SEVERO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO FLACCO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS TITIO ARISTONI SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS IULIO VALERIANO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS NOVIO MAXIMO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS DOMITIO APOLLINARI SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS TITINIO CAPITONI SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS SEMPRONIO RUFO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS TERENTIO SCAURO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS <IULIO> VALERIANO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS PONTIO ALLIFANO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS AEFULANO MARCELLINO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS VESTRICIO SPURINNAE SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO MACRO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS VALERIO PAULINO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO URSO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO SATURNINO SUO S.

LIBER SEXTVS

1. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS VERO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

5. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS FUNDANO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

8. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS ALBINO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS MAURICO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS RESTITUTO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS TRIARIO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS MACRO SUO S.

25. C. PLINIUS HISPANO SUO S.

26. C. PLINIUS SERVIANO SUO S.

27. C. PLINIUS SEVERO SUO S.

28. C. PLINIUS PONTIO SUO S.

29. C. PLINIUS QUADRATO SUO S.

30. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

31. C. PLINIUS CORNELIANO SUO S.

32. C. PLINIUS QUINTILIANO SUO S.

33. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

34. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

LIBER SEPTIMVS

1. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS IUSTO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS PRAESENTI SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS PONTIO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

6. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS MINICIO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS FEROCI SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS CORELLIAE SUAE S.

15. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS CELERI SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS CORNUTO SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS FALCONI SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

25. C. PLINIUS RUFO SUO S.

26. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

27. C. PLINIUS SURAE SUO S.

28. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO SUO S.

29. C. PLINIUS MONTANO SUO S.

30. C. PLINIUS GENITORI SUO S.

31. C. PLINIUS CORNUTO SUO S.

32. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

33. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

LIBER OCTAVVS

1. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS SPARSO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS MONTANO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS HISPULLAE SUAE S.

12. C. PLINIUS MINICIANO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS GENIALI SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS ARISTONI SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS IUNIORI SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS PATERNO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS RUFINO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS GALLO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS MARCELLINO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

LIBER NONVS

1. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS AUGURINO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS COLONO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS IUNIORI SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS QUADRATO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS FALCONI SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS MAMILIANO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS GENITORI SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS RUSONI SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS VENATORI SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS SABINIANO SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS SEVERO SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS SABINIANO SUO S.

25. C. PLINIUS MAMILIANO SUO S.

26. C. PLINIUS LUPERCO SUO S.

27. C. PLINIUS PATERNO SUO S.

28. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

29. C. PLINIUS RUSTICO SUO S.

30. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

31. C. PLINIUS SARDO SUO S.

32. C. PLINIUS TITIANO SUO S.

33. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

34. C. PLINIUS TRANQUILLO SUO S.

35. C. PLINIUS ATRIO SUO S.

36. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

37. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

38. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

39. C. PLINIUS MUSTIO SUO S.

40. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

LIBER X. C. PLINII CAECILII SECVNDI EPISTVLARVM LIBER DECIMVS AD TRAIANVM IMPERATOREM CVM EIVSDEM RESPONSIS

1. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

2. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

3 A. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

3 B. TRAIANUS PLINIO

4. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

5. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

6. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

7. TRAIANUS PLINIO

8. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

9. TRAIANUS PLINIO

10. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

11. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

12. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

13. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

14. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

15. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

16. TRAIANUS PLINIO

17 A. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

17 B. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

18. TRAIANUS PLINIO

19. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

20. TRAIANUS PLINIO

21. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

22. TRAIANUS PLINIO

23. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

24. TRAIANUS PLINIO

25. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

26. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

27. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

28. TRAIANUS PLINIO

29. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

30. TRAIANUS PLINIO

31. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

32. TRAIANUS PLINIO

33. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

34. TRAIANUS PLINIO

35. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

36. TRAIANUS PLINIO

37. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

38. TRAIANUS PLINIO

39. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

40. TRAIANUS PLINIO

41. C. PLINIVS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

42. TRAIANUS PLINIO

43. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

44. TRAIANUS PLINIO

45. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

46. TRAIANUS PLINIO

47. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

48. TRAIANUS PLINIO

49. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

50. TRAIANUS PLINIO

51. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

52. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

53. TRAIANUS PLINIO

54. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

55. TRAIANUS PLINIO

56. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

57. TRAIANUS PLINIO

58. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

59. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

60. TRAIANUS PLINIO

61. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

62. TRAIANUS PLINIO

63. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

64. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

65. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

66. TRAIANUS PLINIO

67. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

68. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

69. TRAIANUS PLINIO

70. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

71. TRAIANUS PLINIO

72. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

73. TRAIANUS PLINIO

74. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

75. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

76. TRAIANUS PLINIO

77. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

78. TRAIANUS PLINIO

79. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

80. TRAIANUS PLINIO

81. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

82. TRAIANUS PLINIO

83. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

84. TRAIANUS PLINIO

85. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

86 A. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

86 B. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI>

87. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

88. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

89. TRAIANUS PLINIO

90. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

91. TRAIANUS PLINIO

92. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

93. TRAIANUS PLINIO

94. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

95. TRAIANUS PLINIO

96. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

97. TRAIANUS PLINIO

98. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

99. TRAIANUS PLINIO

100. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

101. TRAIANUS PLINIO

102. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

103. TRAIANUS PLINIO

104. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

105. TRAIANUS PLINIO

106. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

107. TRAIANUS PLINIO

108. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

109. TRAIANUS PLINIO

110. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

111. TRAIANUS PLINIO

112. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

113. TRAIANUS PLINIO

114. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

115. TRAIANUS PLINIO

116. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

117. TRAIANUS PLINIO

118. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

119. TRAIANUS PLINIO

120. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

121. TRAIANUS PLINIO

PANEGYRICUS TRAIANI

PANEGYRICUS TRAIANI

I.

Bene ac sapienter, Patres Conscripti, maiores instituerunt, ut rerum agendarum, ita dicendi initium a precationibus capere: quod nihil rite, nihilque providenter homines, sine deorum immortalium ope, consilio, honore, auspicarentur. Qui mos cui potius, quam consuli, aut quando magis usurpandus colendusque est, quam quum imperio senatus, auctoritate reipublicae, ad agendas optimo principi gratias excitamur? Quod enim praestabilius est aut pulchrius munus deorum, quam castus et sanctus et diis simillimus princeps? Ac si adhuc dubium fuisset, forte casuque rectores terris, an aliquo numine darentur: principem tamen nostrum liqueret divinitus constitutum. Non enim occulta potestate fatorum, sed ab Iove ipso coram ac palam repertus, electus est: quippe inter aras et altaria, eodemque loci, quem deus ille tam manifestus ac praesens, quam caelum ac sidera, insedit. Quo magis aptum piumque est, te, Iupiter optime maxime, antea conditiorem, nunc conservatorem imperii nostri, precari, ut mihi digna consule, digna senatu, digna principe contingat oratio: utque omnibus, quae dicentur a me, libertas, fides, veritas constet: tantumque a specie adulationis absit gratiarum actio mea, quantum abest a necessitate.

II.

Equidem non Consuli modo, sed omnibus civibus enitendum reor, ne quid de Principe nostro ita dicant, ut idem illud de alio dici potuisse videatur. Quare abeant ac recedant voces illae, quas metus exprimebat: nihil, quale ante, dicamus; nihil enim, quale antea, patimur: nec eadem de principe [palam], quae prius, praedicemus; neque enim eadem secreto loquimur, quae prius. Discernatur orationibus nostris diversitas temporum, et ex ipso genere gratiarum agendarum intelligatur, cui, quando sint actae. Nusquam ut deo, nusquam ut numini blandiamur: non enim de tyranno, sed de cive; non de domino, sed de parente loquimur. Unum ille se ex nobis, et hoc magis excellit atque eminet, quod unum ex nobis putat; nec minus hominem se, quam hominibus praeesse meminit. Intelligamus ergo bona nostra, dignosque nos illis usu probemus, atque identidem cogitemus, quam sit indignum, si maius principibus praestemus obsequium, qui servitute civium, quam qui libertate laetantur. Et populus quidem Romanus dilectum principum servat, quantoque paullo ante concentu formosum alium, hunc fortissimum personat; quibusque aliquando clamoribus gestum alterius et vocem, huius pietatem, abstinentiam, mansuetudinem laudat. Quid nos ipsi? divinitatem principis nostri, an humanitatem, temperantiam, facilitatem, ut amor et gaudium tulit, celebrare universi solemus? Iam quid tam civile, tam senatorium, quam illud additum a nobis OPTIMI cognomen? quod peculiare huius et proprium arrogantia priorum principum fecit. Enimvero quam commune, quam ex aequo, quod FELICES NOS, FELICEM ILLUM praedicamus? alternisque votis, HAEC FACIAT, HAEC AUDIAT, quasi non dicturi, nisi fecerit, comprecamur? Ad quas ille voces lacrymis etiam ac multo pudore suffunditur. Agnoscit enim sentitque, sibi, non principi, dici.

III.

Igitur quod temperamentum omnes in illo subito pietatis calore servavimus, hoc singuli quoque meditatique teneamus; sciamusque, nullum esse neque sincerius, neque acceptius genus gratiarum, quam quod illas acclamationes aemuletur, quae fingendi non habent tempus. Quantum ad me attinet, laborabo, ut orationem meam ad modestiam Principis moderationemque submittam, nec minus considerabo, quid aures eius pati possint, quam quid virtutibus debeatur. Magna et inusitata Principis gloria, cui gratias acturus, non tam vereor, ne me in laudibus suis parcum, quam ne nimium putet. Haec me cura, haec difficultas sola circumstat: nam merenti gratias agere facile est, Patres Conscripti. Non enim periculum est, ne, quum loquar de humanitate, exprobrari sibi superbiam credat; quum de frugalitate, luxuriam; quum de clementia, crudelitatem; quum de liberalitate, avaritiam; quum de benignitate, livorem; quum de continentia, libidinem; quum de labore, inertiam; quum de fortitudine, timorem. Ac ne illud quidem vereor, ne gratus ingratusve videar, prout satis aut parum dixero. Animadverto enim, etiam deos ipsos non tam accuratis adorantium precibus, quam innocentia et sanctitate, laetari; gratioremque existimari, qui delubris eorum puram castamquem mentem, quam qui meditatum carmen intulerit.

IV.

Sed parendum est Senatusconsulto, quo ex utilitate publica placuit, ut Consulis voce, sub titulo gratiarum agendarum, boni principes, quae facerent, recognoscerent; mali, quae facere deberent. Id nunc eo magis solemne ac necessarium est, quod parens noster privatas gratiarum actiones cohibet et comprimit, intercessurus etiam publicis, si permitteret sibi vetare, quod Senatus iuberet. Utrumque, Caesar Auguste, moderate, et quod alibi tibi gratias agi non sinis, et quod hic sinis. Non enim a te ipso tibi honor iste, sed agentibus habetur. Cedis affectibus nostris, nec nobis munera tua praedicare, sed audire tibi necesse est. Saepe ego mecum, Patres Conscripti, tacitus agitavi, qualem quantumque esse oporteret, cuius ditione nutuque maria, terrae, pax, bella regerentur: quum interea fingenti formantique mihi principem, quem aequata diis immortalibus potestas deceret, nunquam voto saltem concipere succurrit similem huic, quem videmus. Enituit aliquis in bello, sed obsolevit in pace: alium toga, sed non et arma honestarunt: reverentiam ille terrore, alius amorem humanitate captavit: ille quaesitam domi gloriam in publico, hic in publico partam domi perdidit. Postremo adhuc nemo exstitit, cuius virtutes nullo vitiorum confinio laederentur. At Principi nostro quanta concordia, quantusque concentus omnium laudum omnisque gloriae contigit! Ut nihil severitati eius hilaritate, nihil gravitati simplicitate, nihil maiestati humanitate detrahitur! Iam firmitas, iam proceritas corporis, iam honor capitis, et dignitas oris, ad hoc aetatis indeflexa maturitas, nec sine quodam munere deum festinatis senectutis insignibus ad augendam maiestatem ornata caesaries, nonne longe lateque principem ostentant?

V.

Talem esse oportuit, quem non bella civilia nec armis oppressa respublica, sed pax, et adoptio, et tandem exorata terris numina, dedissent. An fas erat, nihil differre inter imperatorem, quem homines, et quem dii fecissent? quorum quidem in te, Caesar Auguste, iudicium et favor, tunc statim, quum ad exercitum proficiscereris, et quidem inusitato indicio enituit. Nam ceteros principes aut largus cruor hostiarum, aut sinister volatus avium consulentibus nuntiavit: tibi ascendenti de more Capitolium, quamquam non id agentium civium clamor, ut iam principi, occurrit. Siquidem omnis turba, quae limen insederat, ad ingressum tuum foribus reclusis, illa quidem ut tunc arbitrabatur, deum, ceterum, ut docuit eventus, te consalutavit imperatorem. Nec aliter a cunctis omne acceptum est. Nam ipse intelligere nolebas: recusabas enim imperare, recusabas; quod bene erat imperaturi. Igitur cogendus fuisti. Cogi porro non poteras, nisi periculo patriae, et nutatione reipublicae. Obstinatum enim tibi non suscipere imperium, nisi servandum fuisset. Quare ego illum ipsum furorem motumque castrensem reor exstitisse, quia magna vi magnoque terrore modestia tua vincenda erat. Ac sicut maris coelique temperiem turbines tempestatesque commendant; ita ad augendam pacis tuae gratiam illum tumultum praecessisse crediderim. Habet has vices conditio mortalium, ut adversa ex secundis, ex adversis secunda nascantur. Occultat utrorumque semina deus, et plerumque bonorum malorumque caussae sub diversa specie latent.

VI.

Magnum quidem illud seculo dedecus, magnum reipublicae vulnus impressum est. Imperator, et parens generis humani, obsessus, captus, inclusus: ablata mitissimo seni servandorum hominum potestas; ereptumque principi illud in principatu beatissimum, quod nihil cogitur. Si tamen haec sola erat ratio, quae te publicae salutis gubernaculis admoveret; prope est ut exclamem, tanti fuisse. Corrupta est disciplina castrorum, ut tu corrector emendatorque contingeres: inductum pessimum exemplum, ut optimum opponeretur: postremo coactus princeps, quos nollet, occidere, ut daret principem, qui cogi non posset. Olim tu quidem adoptari merebare; sed nescissemus, quantum tibi deberet imperium, si ante adoptatus esses. Exspectatum est tempus, in quo liqueret, non tam accepisse te beneficium, quam dedisse. Confugit in sinum tuum concussa respublica, ruensque imperium super imperatorem imperatoris tibi voce delatum est. Imploratus adoptione, et accitus es, ut olim duces magni a peregrinis externisque bellis ad opem patriae ferendam revocari solebant. Ita filius ac parens uno eodemque momento rem maximam invicem praestitistis: ille tibi imperium dedit, tu illi reddidisti. Solus ergo ad hoc aevi pro munere tanto paria accipiendo fecisti, immo ultro dantem obligasti: communicato enim imperio, solicitior tu, ille securior factus est.

VII.

O novum atque inauditum ad principatum iter! Non te propria cupiditas, proprius metus; sed aliena utilitas, alienus timor principem fecit. Videaris licet quod est amplissimum consequutus inter homines; felicius tamen erat illud, quod reliquisti: sub bono principe privatus esse desiisti. Assumptus es in laborum curarumque consortium, nec te laeta et prospera stationis istius, sed aspera et dura ad capessendam eam compulerunt. Suscepisti imperium, postquam alium suscepti poenitebat. Nulla adoptati cum eo, qui adoptabat, cognatio, nulla necessitudo, nisi quod uterque optimus erat, dignusque alter eligi, alter eligere. Itaque adoptatus es, non, ut prius alius atque alius, in uxoris gratiam. Adscivit enim te filium non vitricus, sed princeps, eodemque animo divus Nerva pater tuus factus est, quo erat omnium. Nec decet aliter filium adsumi, si adsumatur a principe. An Senatum Populumque Romanum, exercitus, provincias, socios transmissurus uni, successorem e sinu uxoris accipias? summaeque potestatis heredem tantum intra domum tuam quaeras? non per totam civitatem circumferas oculos? et hunc tibi proximum, hunc coniunctissimum existimes, quem optimum, quem diis simillimum inveneris? Imperaturus omnibus, eligi debet ex omnibus. Non enim servulis tuis dominum, ut possis esse contentus quasi necessario herede, sed principem civibus daturus es imperator. Superbum istud et regium, nisi adoptes eum, quem constet imperaturum fuisse, etiamsi non adoptasses. Fecit hoc Nerva, nihil interesse arbitratus, genueris an elegeris, si perinde sine iudicio adoptentur liberi, ac nascuntur: nisi tamen quod aequiore animo ferunt homines, quem princeps parum feliciter genuit, quam quem male elegit.

VIII.

Sedulo ergo vitavit hunc casum, nec iudicia hominum, sed deorum etiam in consilium assumsit. Itaque non tua in cubiculo, sed in templo; nec ante genialem torum, sed ante pulvinar Iovis optimi maximi, adoptio peracta est: qua tandem non servitus nostra, sed libertas et salus et securitas fundabatur. Sibi enim dii gloriam illam vindicaverunt: horum opus, horum illud imperium; Nerva tantum minister fuit: teque qui adoptaret, tam paruit, quam tu, qui adoptabaris. Allata erat ex Pannonia laurea, id agentibus diis, ut invicti imperatoris exortum victoriae insigne decoraret. Hanc Imperator Nerva in gremio Iovis collocarat: quum repente solito maior et augustior, advocata hominum concione deorumque, te filium sibi, hoc est, unicum auxilium fessis rebus adsumsit. Inde quasi deposito imperio, qua securitate, qua gloria laetus (nam quantulum refert, deponas, an partiaris imperium, nisi quod difficilius hoc est?) non secus ac praesenti tibi innixus, tuis humeris se patriamque sustentans, tua iuventa, tuo robore invaluit! Statim consedit omnis tumultus. Non adoptionis opus istud fuit, sed adoptati: atque adeo temere fecerat Nerva, si adoptasset alium. Oblitine sumus, ut nuper post adoptionem non desierit seditio, sed coeperit? Irritamentum istud irarum et fax tumultus fuisset, nisi incidisset in te. An dubium est, ut dare posset imperium imperator, qui reverentiam amiserat, auctoritate eius effectum esse, cui dabatur? Simul filius, simul Caesar, mox Imperator, et consors Tribuniciae potestatis, et omnia pariter, et statim factus es: quae proxime parens verus tantum in alterum filium contulit.

IX.

Magnum hoc tuae moderationis indicium, quod non solum successor imperii, sed particeps etiam sociusque placuisti. Nam successor, etiamsi nolis, habendus est: non est habendus socius, nisi velis. Credentne posteri, patricio et consulari et triumphali patre genitum, quum fortissimum, amplissimum, amantissimum sui exercitum regeret, imperatorem non ab exercitu factum? eidem, quum Germaniae praesideret, Germanici nomen hinc missum? nihil ipsum, ut imperator fieret agitasse? nihil fecisse, nisi quod meruit et paruit? Paruisti enim, Caesar, et ad principatum obsequio pervenisti, nihilque magis a te subiecti animi factum est, quam quod imperare coepisti. Iam Caesar, iam imperator, iam Germanicus, absens et ignarus, et post tanta nomina, quantum ad te pertinet, privatus. Magnum videretur, si dicerem, Nescisti te imperatorem futurum: eras imperator, et esse te nesciebas. Ut vero ad te fortunae tuae nuntius venit, malebas quidem hoc esse, quod fueras, sed non erat liberum. Annon obsequereris principi civis, legatus imperatori, filius patri? Ubi deinde disciplina? ubi mos a maioribus traditus, quodcunque imperator munus iniungeret, aequo animo paratoque subeundi? Quid enim, si provincias ex provinciis, ex bellis bella mandaret? Eodem illum uti iure posse putes, quum ad imperium revocet, quo sit usus, quum ad exercitum miserit; nihilque interesse, ire legatum, an redire principem iubeat, nisi quod maior sit obsequii gloria in eo, quod quis minus velit.

X.

Augebat auctoritatem iubentis in summum discrimen auctoritas eius adducta: utque magis parendum imperanti putares, efficiebatur eo, quod ab aliis minus parebatur. Ad hoc audiebas Senatus Populique consensum. Non unius Nervae iudicium illud, illa electio fuit. Nam qui ubique sunt homines, hoc idem votis expetebant; ille tantum iure principis occupavit, primusque fecit, quod omnes facturi erant. Nec Hercule tantopere cunctis factum placeret, nisi placuisset, antequam fieret. At quo, dii boni, temperamento potestatem tuam fortunamque moderatus es! Imperator titulis et imaginibus et signis, ceterum modestia, labore, vigilantia dux et legatus et miles, quum iam tua vexilla, tuas aquilas magno gradu anteires, neque aliud tibi ex illa adoptione, quam filii pietatem, filii obsequium adsereres, longamque huic nomini aetatem, longamque gloriam precarere. Te providentia deorum primum in locum provexerat; tu adhuc in secundo resistere atque etiam senescere optabas: privatus tibi videbaris, quamdiu imperator et alius esset. Audita sunt vota tua, sed in quantum optimo illi et sanctissimo seni utile fuit, quem dii coelo vindicaverunt, ne quid post illud divinum et immortale factum mortale faceret. Deberi quippe maximo operi hanc venerationem, ut novissimum esset, auctoremque eius statim consecrandum, ut quandoque inter posteros quaereretur, an illud iam deus fecisset. Ita ille nullo magis nomine publicus parens, quam quia tuus. Ingens gloria, ingensque fama, quum abunde expertus esset, quam bene humeris tuis sederet imperium, tibi terras, te terris reliquit; eo ipso carus omnibus ac desiderandus, quod prospexerat, ne desideraretur.

XI.

Quem tu lacrymis primum, ita ut filium decuit, mox templis honestasti, non imitatus illos, qui hoc idem, sed alia mente, fecerunt. Dicavit coelo Tiberius Augustum, sed ut maiestatis crimen induceret: Claudium Nero, sed ut irrideret: Vespasianum Titus, Domitianus Titum: sed ille, ut dei filius, hic, ut frater videretur. Tu sideribus patrem intulisti, non ad metum civium, non in contumeliam numinum, non in honorem tuum, sed quia deum credis. Minus est hoc, quum fit ab his, qui et sese deos putant. Sed licet illum aris, pulvinaribus, flamine colas; non alio magis tamen deum et facis et probas, quam quod ipse talis es. In principe enim, qui electo successore fato concessit, una itemque certissima divinitatis fides est bonus successor. Num ergo tibi ex immortalitate patris aliquid arrogantiae accessit? num hos proximos divinitate parentum desides ac superbos potius, quam illos veteres et antiquos aemularis? qui hoc ipsum imperium peperere, quod modo hostes invaserant contemserantque; quoniam imperatoris pulsi fugatique non aliud maius habebatur indicium, quam si triumpharetur. Ergo sustulerant animos, et iugum excusserant: nec iam nobiscum de sua libertate, sed de nostra servitute, certabant: ac ne inducias quidem, nisi aequis conditionibus inibant, legesque ut acciperent, dabant.

XII.

At nunc rediit omnibus terror et metus, et votum imperata faciendi. Vident enim Romanum ducem, unum ex illis veteribus et priscis; quibus imperatorium nomen addebant contecti caedibus campi et infecta victoriis maria. Accipimus obsides ergo, non emimus: nec ingentibus damnis immensisque muneribus paciscimur, ut vicerimus. Rogant, supplicant; largimur, negamus, utrumque ex imperii maiestate: agunt gratias, qui impetraverunt; non audent queri, quibus negatum est. An audeant, qui sciant, te adsedisse ferocissimis populis eo ipso tempore, quod amicissimum illis, difficillimum nobis: quum Danubius ripas gelu iungit, duratusque glacie ingentia tergo bella transportat: quum ferae gentes non telis magis, quam suo coelo, suo sidere armantur? Sed ubi in proximo tu, non secus ac si mutatae temporum vices essent, illi quidem latibulis suis clausi tenebantur; nostra agmina percursare ripas, et aliena occasione, si permitteres, uti, ultroque hiemem suam barbaris inferre, gaudebant.

XIII.

Haec tibi apud hostes veneratio: quid apud milites? Quam admirationem quemadmodum comparasti? quum tecum inediam, tecum ferrent sitim; quum in illa meditatione campestri militaribus turmis imperatorium pulverem sudoremque misceres, nihil a ceteris, nisi robore ac praestantia differens; quum libero Marte nunc cominus tela vibrares, nunc vibrata susciperes, alacer virtute militum et laetus, quoties aut cassidi tuae aut clypeo gravior ictus incideret; (laudabas quippe ferientes, hortabarisque, ut auderent: et audebant iam:) quum spectator moderatorque ineuntium certamina virorum, arma componeres, tela tentares, ac si quid durius accipienti videretur, ipse vibrares. Quid quum solatium fessis, aegris opem ferres? Non tibi moris tua inire tentoria, nisi commilitonum ante lustrasses; nec requiem corpori, nisi post omnes, dare. Hac mihi admiratione dignus imperator non videretur, si inter Fabricios, et Scipiones, et Camillos talis esset. Tunc enim illum imitationis ardor, semperque melior aliquis accenderet. Postquam vero studium armorum a manibus ad oculos, ad voluptatem a labore translatum est; postquam exercitationibus nostris non veteranorum aliquis, cui decus muralis aut civica, sed Graeculus magister assistit: quam magnum est, [unum] ex omnibus patrio more, patria virtute laetari, et sine aemulo ac sine exemplo secum certare, secum contendere, ac sicut imperat solus, solum ita esse, qui debeat imperare!

XIV.

Nonne incunabula haec tibi, Caesar, et rudimenta, quum puer admodum Parthica lauro gloriam patris augeres, nomenque Germanici iam tum mererere, quum ferociam superbiamque barbarorum ex proximo auditus magno terrore cohiberes, Rhenumque et Euphratem admirationis tuae fama coniungeres? quum orbem terrarum non pedibus magis, quam laudibus peragrares? apud eos semper maior et clarior, quibus postea contigisses. Et necdum imperator, necdum dei filius eras. Germaniam quidem quum plurimae gentes, ac prope infinita vastitas interiacentis soli, tum Pyrenaeus, Alpes, immensique alii montes, nisi his comparentur, muniunt dirimuntque. Per hoc omne spatium quum legiones duceres, seu potius (tanta velocitas erat) raperes: non vehiculum unquam, non equum respexisti. Levis hic, non subsidium itineris, sed decus, et cum ceteris subsequebatur: ut cuius nullus tibi usus, nisi quum die stativorum proximum campum alacritate, discursu, pulvere attolleres. Initium laboris mirer, an finem? Multum est, quod perseverasti: plus tamen, quod non timuisti, ne perseverare non posses. Nec dubito, quin ille, qui te inter illa Germaniae bella ab Hispania usque, ut validissimum praesidium, exciverat, iners ipse alienisque virtutibus tunc quoque invidus imperator, quum ope earum indigeret, tantam admirationem tui non sine quodam timore conceperit, quantam ille genitus Iove post saevos labores duraque imperia regi suo indomitus semper indefessusque referebat; quum aliis super alias expeditionibus munere alio dignus invenireris.

XV.

Tribunus vero disiunctissimas terras, teneris adhuc annis, viri firmitate lustrasti: iam tunc praemonente Fortuna, ut diu penitus perdisceres, quae mox praecipere deberes. Neque enim prospexisse castra, brevemque militiam quasi transisse contentus, ita egisti tribunum, ut esse statim dux posses, nihilque discendum haberes tempore docendi. Cognovisti per stipendia decem mores gentium, regionum situs, opportunitates locorum, et diversam aquarum coelique temperiem, ut patrios fontes patriumque sidus, ferre consuesti. Quoties equos, quoties emerita arma mutasti! Veniet ergo tempus, quo posteri visere, visendum tradere minoribus suis gestient, quis sudores tuos hauserit campus, quae refectiones tuas arbores, quae somnum saxa praetexerint, quod denique tectum magnus hospes impleveris: ut tunc ipsi tibi ingentium ducum sacra vestigia, iisdem in locis, monstrabantur. Verum haec olim: in praesentia quidem, quisquis paullo vetustior miles, hic te commilitone censetur. Quotus enim quisque, cuius tu non ante commilito, quam imperator? Inde est, quod prope omnes nomine appellas: quod singulorum fortia facta commemoras: nec habent adnumeranda tibi pro republica vulnera, quibus statim laudator et testis contigisti.

XVI.

Sed magis praedicanda moderatio tua, quod innutritus bellicis laudibus pacem amas: nec quia vel pater tibi triumphalis, vel adoptionis tuae die dicata Capitolino Iovi laurus, idcirco ex occasione omni quaeris triumphos. Non times bella, nec provocas. Magnum est, Imperator Auguste, magnum est stare in Danubii ripa, si transeas, certum triumphi; nec decertare cupere cum recusantibus: quorum alterum fortitudine, alterum moderatione efficitur. Nam ut ipse nolis pugnare, moderatio; fortitudo tua praestat, ut neque hostes tui velint. Accipiet ergo aliquando Capitolium non mimicos currus, nec falsae simulacra victoriae; sed imperatorem veram ac solidam gloriam reportantem, pacem, tranquillitatem, et tam confessa hostium obsequia, ut vincendus nemo fuerit. Pulchrius hoc omnibus triumphis. Neque enim unquam, nisi ex contemptu imperii nostri factum est, ut vinceremus. Quod si quis barbarus rex eo insolentiae furorisque processerit, ut iram tuam indignationemque mereatur: nae ille, sive interfuso mari, seu fluminibus immensis, seu praecipiti monte defenditur, omnia haec tam prona, tamque cedentia virtutibus tuis sentiet, ut subsedisse montes, flumina exaruisse, interceptum mare, illatasque non classes nostras, sed terras ipsas arbitretur.

XVII.

Videor iam cernere non spoliis provinciarum, et extorto sociis auro, sed hostilibus armis captorumque regum catenis triumphum gravem. Videor ingentia ducum nomina, nec indecora nominibus corpora noscitare. Videor intueri immanibus ausis barbarorum onusta fercula, et sua quemque facta vinctis manibus sequentem: mox ipsum te sublimem, instantemque curru domitarum gentium tergo; ante currum autem clypeos, quos ipse perfoderis. Nec tibi opima defuerint, si quis regum venire in manus audeat, nec modo telorum tuorum, sed etiam oculorum minarumque coniectum toto campo, totoque exercitu opposito, perhorrescat. Meruisti proxima moderatione, ut, quandocunque te vel inferre vel propulsare bellum coegerit imperii dignitas, non ideo vicisse videaris, ut triumphares, sed triumphare, quia viceris.

XVIII.

Aliud ex alio mihi occurrit. Quam speciosum est enim, quod disciplinam castrorum lapsam exstinctamque refovisti, depulso prioris seculi malo, inertia et contumacia et dedignatione parendi? Tutum est reverentiam, tutum caritatem mereri: nec ducum quisquam, aut non amari a militibus, aut amari timet: et inde offensae gratiaeque pariter securi, instant operibus, adsunt exercitationibus, arma, moenia, viros aptant. Quippe non is princeps, qui sibi imminere, sibi intendi putet, quod in hostes paretur: quae persuasio fuit illorum, qui hostilia quum facerent, timebant. Iidem ergo torpere militaria studia, nec animos modo, sed et corpora ipsa languescere, gladios etiam incuria hebetari retundique gaudebant. Duces porro nostri, non tam regum exterorum, quam suorum principum insidias, nec tam hostium, quam commilitonum manus ferrumque metuebant.

XIX.

Est haec natura sideribus, ut parva et exilia validiorum exortus obscuret: similiter Imperatoris adventu Legatorum dignitas inumbratur. Tu tamen maior omnibus quidem eras, sed sine ullius deminutione maior: eandem auctoritatem praesente te quisque, quam absente, retinebat: quin etiam plerisque ex eo reverentia accesserat, quod tu quoque illos reverebare. Itaque perinde summis atque infimis carus, sic imperatorem commilitonemque miscueras, ut studium omnium laboremque, et tanquam exactor intenderes, et tanquam particeps sociusque relevares. Felices illos, quorum fides et industria non per internuntios et interpretes, sed ab ipso te, nec auribus tuis, sed oculis probabantur! Consecuti sunt, ut absens quoque de absentibus nemini magis, quam tibi crederes.

XX.

Iam te civium desideria revocabant, amoremque castrorum superabat caritas patriae. Iter inde placidum ac modestum, ut plane a pace redeuntis. Nec vero ego in laudibus tuis ponam, quod adventum tuum non pater quisquam, non maritus expavit. Affectata aliis castitas, tibi ingenita et innata, interque ea, quae imputare non possis. Nullus in exigendis vehiculis tumultus, nullum circa hospitia fastidium; annona, quae ceteris; ad hoc comitatus accinctus et parens: diceres magnum aliquem ducem, ac te potissimum, ad exercitus ire: adeo nihil, aut certe parum intererat inter imperatorem factum, et brevi futurum. Quam dissimilis nuper alterius principis transitus! si tamen transitus ille, non populatio fuit, cum abactus hospitum exerceret, omniaque dextra laevaque perusta et attrita, ut si vis aliqua, vel ipsi illi barbari, quos fugiebat, inciderent. Persuadendum provinciis erat, illud iter Domitiani fuisse, non principis. Itaque non tam pro tua gloria, quam pro utilitate communi, edicto subiecisti, quid in utrumque vestrum esset impensum. Adsuescat imperator cum imperio calculum ponere: sic exeat, sic redeat, tanquam rationem redditurus; edicat, quid absumpserit. Ita fiet, ut non absumat, quod pudeat dicere. Praeterea futuri principes, velint nolint, sciant tamen, propositisque duobus exemplis meminerint, perinde coniecturam de moribus suis homines esse facturos, prout hoc vel illud elegerint.

XXI.

Nonne his tot tantisque meritis novos aliquos honores, novos titulos merebare? At tu etiam nomen patris patriae recusabas. Quam longa nobis cum modestia tua pugna! quam tarde vicimus! Nomen illud, quod alii primo statim principatus die, ut Imperatoris et Caesaris, receperunt, tu usque eo distulisti, donec tu quoque, beneficiorum tuorum parcissimus aestimator, iam te mereri fatereris. Itaque soli omnium contigit tibi, ut pater patriae esses, ante quam fieres; eras enim in animis, in iudiciis nostris: nec publicae pietatis intererat, quid vocarere; nisi quod ingrata sibi videbatur, si te imperatorem potius vocaret et Caesarem, quum patrem experiretur. Quod quidem nomen qua benignitate, qua indulgentia exerces! ut cum civibus tuis, quasi cum liberis parens, vivis! ut reversus imperator, qui privatus exieras, agnoscis, agnosceris! Eosdem nos, eundem te putas: par omnibus, et hoc tantum ceteris maior, quo melior.

XXII.

Ac primum, qui dies ille, quo exspectatus desideratusque urbem tuam ingressus es! Iam hoc ipsum, quod ingressus es, quam mirum laetumque! Nam priores invehi et importari solebant: non dico quadriiugo curru, et albentibus equis, sed humeris hominum, quod arrogantius erat. Tu sola corporis proceritate elatior aliis et excelsior, non de patientia nostra quendam triumphum, sed de superbia principum egisti. Ergo non aetas quemquam, non valetudo, non sexus retardavit, quo minus oculos insolito spectaculo impleret. Te parvuli noscere, ostentare iuvenes, mirari senes; aegri quoque, neglecto medentium imperio, ad conspectum tui, quasi ad salutem sanitatemque prorepere. Inde alii, se satis vixisse te viso, te recepto; alii, nunc magis esse vivendum, praedicabant. Feminas etiam tunc foecunditatis suae maxima voluptas subiit, quum cernerent, cui principi cives, cui imperatori milites peperissent. Videres referta tecta ac laborantia, ac ne eum quidem vacantem locum, qui non nisi suspensum et instabile vestigium caperet; oppletas undique vias, angustumque tramitem relictum tibi; alacrem hinc atque inde populum, ubique par gaudium paremque clamorem. Tam aequaliter ab omnibus ex adventu tuo laetitia percepta est, quam omnibus venisti: quae tamen ipsa cum ingressu tuo crevit, ac prope in singulos gradus adaucta est.

XXIII.

Gratum erat cunctis, quod senatum osculo exciperes, ut dimissus osculo fueras; gratum, quod equestris ordinis decora honore nominum sine monitore signares; gratum, quod tantum non ultro clientibus salutatis quasdam familiaritatis notas adderes. Gratius tamen, quod sensim et placide, et quantum respectantium turba pateretur, incederes; quod occursantium populus te quoque, te immo maxime, adstaret; quod primo statim die latus tuum crederes omnibus. Neque enim stipatus satellitum manu, sed circumfusus undique nunc senatus, nunc equestris ordinis flore, prout alterutrum frequentiae genus invaluisset, silentes quietosque lictores tuos subsequebare: nam milites nihil a plebe habitu, tranquillitate, modestia differebant. Ubi vero coepisti Capitolium adscendere, quam laeta omnibus adoptionis tuae recordatio! quam peculiare gaudium eorum, qui te primi eodem loco salutaverant imperatorem! Quin etiam deum ipsum tuum praecipuam voluptatem operis sui percepisse crediderim. Ut quidem iisdem vestigiis institisti, quibus parens tuus ingens illud deorum prolaturus arcanum, quae circumstantium gaudia! quam recens clamor! quam similis illi dies, qui hunc genuit diem! ut plena altaribus, augusta victimis cuncta! ut in unius salutem collata omnium vota! quum sibi se ac liberis suis intelligerent precari, quae pro te precarentur. Inde tu in Palatium quidem, sed eo vultu, sed ea moderatione, ut si privatam domum peteres: ceteri ad penates suos quisque, iteraturus gaudii fidem, ubi nulla necessitas gaudendi est.

XXIV.

Onerasset alium eiusmodi introitus; tu quotidie admirabilior et melior, talis denique, qualis alii principes futuros se tantum pollicentur. Solum ergo te commendat augetque temporis spatium. Iunxisti enim ac miscuisti res diversissimas, securitatem olim imperantis, et incipientis pudorem. Non tu civium amplexus ad pedes tuos deprimis, nec osculum manu reddis. Manet Imperatori, quae prior oris humanitas, dexterae verecundia. Incedebas pedibus; incedis: laetabaris labore; laetaris: eademque omnia illa circa te, nihil in ipso te Fortuna mutavit. Liberum est, ingrediente per publicum principe, subsistere, occurrere, comitari, praeterire: ambulas inter nos, non quasi contingas; et copiam tui, non ut imputes, facis. Haeret lateri tuo, quisquis accessit, finemque sermoni suus cuique pudor, non tua superbia, facit. Regimur quidem a te, et subiecti tibi, sed quemadmodum legibus, sumus. Nam et illae cupiditates nostras libidinesque moderantur, nobiscum tamen et inter nos versantur. Emines, excellis, ut honor, ut potestas, quae super homines quidem, hominum sunt tamen. Ante te principes, fastidio nostri, et quodam aequalitatis metu, usum pedum amiserant. Illos ergo humeri cervicesque servorum super ora nostra; te fama, te gloria, te civium pietas super ipsos principes vehunt; te ad sidera tollit humus ita communis, et confusa principis vestigia.

XXV.

Nec vereor, Patres Conscripti, ne longior videar, quum sit maxime optandum, ut ea, pro quibus aguntur principi gratiae, multa sint: quae quidem reverentius fuerit integra illibataque cogitationibus vestris reservari, quam carptim breviterque perstringi; quia fere sequitur, ut illa quidem, de quibus taceas, tanta, quanta sunt, esse videantur. Nisi vero leviter attingi placet, locupletatas tribus, datumque congiarium populo, et datum totum, quum donativi partem milites accepissent. An mediocris animi est, his potius repraesentare, quibus magis negari potest? quamquam in hac quoque diversitate aequalitatis ratio servata est. Aequati sunt enim populo milites, eo quod partem, sed priores; populus militibus, quod posterior, sed totum statim accepit. Enimvero qua benignitate divisum est! quantae curae tibi fuit, ne quis expers liberalitatis tuae fieret! Datum est iis, qui post edictum tuum in locum erasorum subditi fuerant: aequatique sunt ceteris illi etiam, quibus non erat promissum. Negotiis aliquis, valetudine alius, hic mari, ille fluminibus distinebatur: exspectatum est provisumque, ne quis aeger, ne quis occupatus, ne quis denique longe fuisset: veniret quisque, quum vellet: veniret quisque, quum posset. Magnificum, Caesar, et tuum, disiunctissimas terras munificentiae ingenio velut admovere, immensaque spatia liberalitate contrahere: intercedere casibus, occursare fortunae, atque omni ope adniti, ne quis e plebe Romana, dante congiarium te, hominem magis sentiret se fuisse, quam civem.

XXVI.

Adventante congiarii die, observare principis egressum in publicum, insidere vias examina infantium futurusque populus solebat. Labor parentibus erat, ostentare parvulos, impositosque cervicibus adulantia verba blandasque voces edocere: reddebant illi, quae monebantur. Ac plerique irritis precibus surdas principis aures adstrepebant; ignarique quid rogassent, quid non impetrassent, donec plane scirent, differebantur. Tu ne rogari quidem sustinuisti, et quamquam laetissimum oculis tuis esset, conspectu Romanae sobolis impleri, omnes tamen, antequam te viderent adirentve, recipi, incidi iussisti: ut iam inde ab infantia parentem publicum munere educationis experirentur; crescerent de tuo, qui crescerent tibi, alimentisque tuis ad stipendia tua pervenirent, tantumque omnes uni tibi quantum parentibus suis quisque deberet. Recte, Caesar, quod spem Romani nominis sumptibus tuis suscipis. Nullum est enim magno principe immortalitatemque merituro impendii genus dignius, quam quod erogatur in posteros. Locupletes ad tollendos liberos ingentia praemia, et pares poenae, cohortantur; pauperibus educandis una ratio est, bonus princeps. Hic fiducia sui procreatos nisi larga manu fovet, auget, amplectitur, occasum imperii, occasum reipublicae accelerat, frustraque proceres, plebe neglecta, ut defectum corpore caput nutaturumque instabili pondere, tuetur. Facile est coniectare, quod perceperis gaudium, quum te parentum, liberorum, senum, infantium, puerorum clamor exciperet. Haec prima parvulorum civium vox aures tuas imbuit, quibus tu daturus alimenta, hoc maximum praestitisti, ne rogarent. Super omnia est tamen, quod talis es, ut sub te liberos tollere libeat, expediat.

XXVII.

Nemo iam parens filio, nisi fragilitatis humanae vices horret; nec inter insanabiles morbos principis ira numeratur. Magnum quidem est educandi incitamentum, tollere liberos in spem alimentorum, in spem congiariorum; maius tamen, in spem libertatis, in spem securitatis. Atque adeo nihil largiatur princeps, dum nihil auferat; non alat, dum non occidat: nec deerunt, qui filios concupiscant. Contra, largiatur et auferat; alat et occidat: nae ille iam brevi tempore effecerit, ut omnes non posterorum modo, sed sui parentumque poeniteat. Quocirca nihil magis in tua tota liberalitate laudaverim, quam quod congiarium das de tuo, alimenta de tuo: neque a te liberi civium, ut ferarum catuli, sanguine et caedibus nutriuntur: quodque gratissimum est accipientibus, sciunt dari sibi, quod nemini est ereptum, locupletatisque tam multis, pauperiorem esse factum principem tantum: quamquam nec hunc quidem. Nam cuius est, quidquid est omnium, tantum ipse, quantum omnes, habet.

XXVIII.

Alio me vocat numerosa gloria tua: alio autem? quasi vero iam satis veneratus miratusque sim, quod tantam pecuniam profudisti, non ut flagitii tibi conscius ab insectatione eius averteres famam; nec ut tristes hominum moestosque sermones laetiore materia detineres. Nullam congiario culpam, nullam alimentis crudelitatem redemisti, nec tibi bene faciendi fuit caussa, ut, quae male feceras, impune fecisses. Amor impendio isto, non venia quaesita est; populusque Romanus obligatus a tribunali tuo, non exoratus recessit. Obtulisti enim congiarium gaudentibus gaudens, securusque securis; quodque antea principes ad odium sui leniendum tumentibus plebis animis obiectabant, id tu tam innocens populo dedisti, quam populus accepit. Paullo minus, Patres Conscripti, quinque millia ingenuorum fuerunt, quae liberalitas principis nostri conquisivit, invenit, adscivit. Hi subsidium bellorum, ornamentum pacis, publicis sumptibus aluntur, patriamque non ut patriam tantum, verum ut altricem amare condiscunt. Ex his castra, ex his tribus replebuntur; ex his quandoque nascentur, quibus alimentis opus non sit. Dent tibi, Caesar, aetatem dii, quam mereris, serventque animum, quem dederunt: et quanto maiorem infantium turbam iterum atque iterum videbis incidi! Augetur enim quotidie et crescit: non quia cariores parentibus liberi; sed quia principi cives. Dabis congiaria, si voles; [praestabis alimenta, si voles:] illi tamen propter te nascuntur.

XXIX.

Instar ego perpetui congiarii reor affluentiam annonae. Huius aliquando cura Pompeio non minus addidit gloriae, quam pulsus ambitus campo, exactus hostis mari, Oriens triumphis Occidensque lustratus. Nec vero ille civilius, quam parens noster, auctoritate, consilio, fide reclusit vias, portus patefacit, itinera terris, litoribus mare, litora mari reddidit, diversasque gentes ita commercio miscuit, ut, quod genitum esset usquam, id apud omnes natum esse videretur. Nonne cernere datur, ut sine ullius iniuria omnis usibus nostris annus exuberet? Quippe non, ut ex hostico raptae perituraeque in horreis messes, nequidquam quiritantibus sociis auferuntur. Devehunt ipsi, quod terra genuit, quod sidus aluit, quod annus tulit: nec novis indictionibus pressi ad vetera tributa deficiunt. Emit fiscus, quidquid videtur emere. Inde copiae, inde annona, de qua inter licentem vendentemque conveniat: inde hic satietas, nec fames usquam.

XXX.

Aegyptus alendis augendisque seminibus ita gloriata est, ut nihil imbribus coeloque deberet: siquidem proprio semper amne perfusa, nec alio genere aquarum solita pinguescere, quam quas ipse devexerat, tantis segetibus induebatur, ut cum feracissimis terris, quasi nunquam cessura, certaret. Haec inopina siccitate usque ad iniuriam sterilitatis exaruit: quia piger Nilus cunctanter alveo sese ac languide extulerat, ingentibus quoque tunc quidem ille fluminibus conferendus. Hinc pars magna terrarum, mergi palanti amne consueta, alto pulvere incanduit. Frustra tunc Aegyptus nubila optavit, coelumque respexit, quum ipse foecunditatis parens contractior et exilior, iisdem ubertatem eius anni angustiis, quibus abundantiam suam, cohibuisset. Neque enim solum vagus ille, quum expanditur, amnis intra usurpata semper collium substiterat atque haeserat; sed supino etiam ac detinenti solo placido se mollique lapsu refugum abstulerat, necdum satis humentes terras addiderat arentibus. Igitur inundatione, id est ubertate, regio fraudata, sic opem Caesaris invocavit, ut solet amnem suum: nec longius illi adversorum fuit spatium, quam dum nuntiat. Tam velox, Caesar, potentia tua est, tamque in omnia pariter intenta bonitas et accincta, ut tristius aliquid seculo tuo passis, ad remedium salutemque sufficiat, ut scias.

XXXI.

Omnibus equidem gentibus fertiles annos gratasque terras precor: crediderim tamen per hunc Aegypti statum tuas Fortunam vires experiri, tuamque vigilantiam exspectare voluisse. Nam quum omnia ubique secunda merearis: nonne manifestum est, si quid adversi cadat, tuis laudibus, tuisque virtutibus materiem campumque prosterni, quum secunda felices, adversa magnos probent? Percrebuerat antiquitus, urbem nostram nisi opibus Aegypti ali sustentarique non posse. Superbiebat ventosa et insolens natio, quod victorem quidem populum, pasceret tamen; quodque in suo flumine, in suis navibus vel abundantia nostra vel fames esset. Refudimus Nilo suas copias: recepit frumenta, quae miserat, deportatasque messes revexit. Discat igitur Aegyptus, credatque experimento, non alimenta se nobis, sed tributa praestare: sciat, se non esse Populo R. necessariam, et tamen serviat. Post haec, si volet, Nilus amet alveum suum, et fluminis modum servet: nihil hoc ad urbem, ac ne ad Aegyptum quidem, nisi ut inde navigia inania et vacua et similia redeuntibus, hinc plena et onusta et qualia solent venire, mittantur; conversoque munere maris, hinc potius venti ferentes et brevis cursus optentur. Mirum, Caesar, videretur, si desidem Aegyptum cessantemque Nilum non sensisset urbis annona: quae tuis opibus, tua cura usque illuc redundavit, ut simul probaretur, et nos Aegypto posse, et nobis Aegyptum carere non posse. Actum erat de foecundissima gente, si libera fuisset: pudebat sterilitatis insolitae, nec minus erubescebat fame, quam torquebatur; quum pariter a te necessitatibus eius pudorique subventum est. Stupebant agricolae plena horrea, quae non ipsi refersissent, quibus de campis illa subvecta messis, quave in Aegypti parte alius amnis. Ita beneficio tuo, nec maligna tellus, et obsequens Nilus Aegypto quidem saepe, sed gloriae nostrae nunquam largior fluxit.

XXXII.

Quam nunc iuvat provincias omnes in fidem nostram ditionemque venisse, postquam contigit princeps, qui terrarum foecunditatem nunc huc, nunc illuc, ut tempus et necessitas posceret, transferret referretque! qui diremptam mari gentem, ut partem aliquam populi plebisque Romanae, aleret ac tueretur! Et coelo quidem nunquam benignitas tanta, ut omnes simul terras uberet foveatque: hic omnibus pariter, si non sterilitatem, at mala sterilitatis exturbat: hic, si non foecunditatem, at bona foecunditatis importat: hic alternis commeatibus orientem occidentemque connectit, ut, quae ubique feruntur, quaeque expetuntur, omnes gentes invicem capiant, et discant, quanto libertate discordi servientibus sit utilius, unum esse, cui serviant. Quippe discretis quidem bonis omnium, sua cuiusque ad singulos mala; sociatis autem atque permixtis, singulorum mala ad neminem, ad omnes omnium bona pertinent. Sed sive terris divinitas quaedam, sive aliquis amnibus genius, et solum illud et flumen ipsum precor, ut hac principis benignitate contentum, molli gremio semina recondat, multiplicata restituat. Non equidem reposcimus foenus: putet tamen esse solvendum, fallacemque unius anni fidem, omnibus annis, omnibusque postea seculis tanto magis, quia non exigimus, excuset.

XXXIII.

Satisfactum qua civium, qua sociorum utilitatibus. Visum est spectaculum inde non enerve, nec fluxum, nec quod animos virorum molliret et frangeret, sed quod ad pulchra vulnera contemptumque mortis accenderet: quum in servorum etiam noxiorumque corporibus amor laudis et cupido victoriae cerneretur. Quam deinde in edendo liberalitatem, quam iustitiam exhibuit, omni affectione aut intactus, aut maior! Impetratum est, quod postulabatur: oblatum, quod non postulabatur. Institit ultro, et, ut concupisceremus, admonuit: ac sic quoque plura inopinata, plura subita. Iam quam libera spectantium studia, quam securus favor! Nemini impietas, ut solebat, obiecta, quod odisset gladiatorem: nemo e spectatore spectaculum factus, miseras voluptates unco et ignibus expiavit. Demens ille, verique honoris ignarus, qui crimina maiestatis in arena colligebat, ac se despici et contemni, nisi etiam gladiatores eius veneraremur, sibi maledici in illis, suam divinitatem, suum numen violari, interpretabatur; quum se idem quod deos, idem gladiatores quod se putabat.

XXXIV.

At tu, Caesar, quam pulchrum spectaculum pro illo nobis exsecrabili reddidisti! Vidimus delatorum iudicium, quasi grassatorum quasi latronum. Non solitudinem illi, non iter, sed templum, sed forum insederant: nulla iam testamenta secura, nullus status certus: non orbitas, non liberi proderant. Auxerat hoc malum principum avaritia. Advertisti oculos, atque ut ante castris, ita postea pacem foro reddidisti: exscidisti intestinum malum: et provida severitate cavisti, ne fundata legibus civitas eversa legibus videretur. Licet ergo cum fortuna, tum liberalitas tua visenda nobis praebuerit, ut praebuit, nunc ingentia robora virorum, et pares animos, nunc immanitatem ferarum, nunc mansuetudinem incognitam; nunc secretas illas et arcanas, ac sub te primum communes opes: nihil tamen gratius, nihil seculo dignius, quam quod contigit desuper intueri delatorum supina ora, retortasque cervices. Agnoscebamus et fruebamur, quum velut piaculares publicae solicitudinis victimae, supra sanguinem noxiorum, ad lenta supplicia gravioresque poenas ducerentur. Congesti sunt in navigia raptim conquisita, ac tempestatibus dediti. Abirent, fugerentque vastatas delationibus terras: ac, si quem fluctus ac procellae scopulis reservassent, hic nuda saxa et inhospitale litus incoleret: ageret duram et anxiam vitam, relictaque post tergum totius generis humani securitate, moereret.

XXXV.

Memoranda facies, delatorum classis permissa omnibus ventis, coactaque vela tempestatibus pandere, iratosque fluctus sequi, quoscunque in scopulos detulissent. Iuvabat, prospectare statim a portu sparsa navigia, et apud illud ipsum mare agere principi gratias, qui, clementia sua salva, ultionem hominum terrarumque diis maris commendasset. Quantum diversitas temporum posset, tum maxime cognitum est, quum iisdem, quibus antea cautibus innocentissimus quisque, tunc nocentissimus affigeretur; quumque insulas omnes, quas modo senatorum, iam delatorum turba compleret, quos quidem non in praesens tantum, sed in aeternum repressisti, in illa poenarum indagine inclusos. Ereptum alienas pecunias eunt? perdant, quas habent: expellere penatibus gestiunt? suis exturbentur: neque, ut antea, exsanguem illam et ferream frontem nequidquam convulnerandam praebeant punctis, et notas suas rideant; sed spectent paria praemio damna, nec maiores spes, quam metus habeant, timeantque, quantum timebantur. Ingenti quidem animo divus Titus securitati nostrae ultionique prospexerat, ideoque numinibus aequatus est: sed quanto tu quandoque dignior caelo, qui tot res illis adiecisti, propter quas illum deum fecimus! Id hoc magis arduum fuit, quod imperator Nerva, te filio, te successore dignissimus, postquam magna quaedam edicto Titi adstruxerat, nihil reliquisse tibi videbatur, qui tam multa excogitasti, ut si ante te nihil esset inventum. Quae singula quantum tibi gratiae dispensata adiecissent! At tu simul omnia profudisti; ut sol et dies non parte aliqua, sed statim totus, nec uni aut alteri, sed omnibus in commune, profertur.

XXXVI.

Quam iuvat cernere aerarium silens et quietum, et quale ante delatores erat! Nunc templum illud, nunc vere deus, non spoliarium civium, cruentarumque praedarum saevum receptaculum, ac toto in orbe terrarum adhuc locus unus, in quo, optimo principe, boni malis impares essent. Manet tamen honor legum, nihilque ex publica utilitate convulsum: nec poena cuiquam remissa, sed addita est ultio, solumque mutatum, quod iam non delatores, sed leges timentur. At fortasse non eadem severitate fiscum, qua aerarium, cohibes. Immo tanto maiore, quanto plus tibi licere de tuo, quam de publico credis. Dicitur actori, atque etiam procuratori tuo: In ius veni: sequere ad tribunal. Nam tribunal quoque excogitatum principatui est, par ceteris, nisi illud litigatoris amplitudine metiaris. Sors et urna fisco iudicem assignat: licet reiicere, licet exclamare: Hunc nolo, timidus est, et bona seculi parum intelligit: illum nolo, quia Caesarem fortiter amat. Eodem foro utuntur principatus et libertas. Quae praecipua tua gloria est, saepius vincitur fiscus; cuius mala caussa nunquam est, nisi sub bono principe. Ingens hoc meritum: maius illud, quod eos procuratores habes, ut plerumque cives tui non alios iudices malint. Liberum est autem disceptanti dicere: Nolo eum eligere. Neque enim ullam necessitatem muneribus tuis addis, ut qui scias, hanc esse beneficiorum principalium summam, si illis et non uti licet.

XXXVII.

Onera imperii pleraque vectigalia institui, ut pro utilitate communi, ita singulorum iniuriis coegerunt. His Vicesima reperta est, tributum tolerabile et facile heredibus dumtaxat extraneis, domesticis grave. Itaque illis irrogatum est, his remissum: videlicet, quod manifestum erat, quanto cum dolore laturi, seu potius non laturi homines essent, destringi aliquid et abradi bonis, quae sanguine, gentilitate, sacrorum denique societate, meruissent, quaeque nunquam ut aliena et speranda, sed ut sua semperque possessa, ac deinceps proximo cuique transmittenda cepissent. Haec mansuetudo legis veteribus civibus servabatur: novi, seu per Latium in civitatem, seu beneficio principis venissent, nisi simul cognationis iura impetrassent, alienissimi habebantur, quibus coniunctissimi fuerant. Ita maximum beneficium vertebatur in gravissimam iniuriam, civitasque Romana instar erat odii et discordiae et orbitatis, quum carissima pignora, salva ipsorum pietate, distraheret. Inveniebantur tamen, quibus tantus amor nominis nostri inesset, ut Romanam civitatem non Vicesimae modo, verum etiam affinitatum damno bene compensari putarent; sed iis maxime debebat gratuita contingere, a quibus tam magno aestimabatur. Igitur pater tuus sanxit, ut, quod ex matris ad liberos, ex liberorum bonis pervenisset ad matrem, etiamsi cognationum iura non recepissent, quum civitatem adipiscerentur, eius Vicesimam ne darent. Eandem immunitatem in paternis bonis filio tribuit, si modo reductus esset in patris potestatem: ratus, improbe et insolenter ac paene impie his nominibus inseri publicanum, nec sine piaculo quodam sanctissimas necessitudines velut intercedente Vicesima scindi; nullum esse tanti vectigal, quod liberos ac parentes faceret extraneos.

XXXVIII.

Hactenus ille: parcius fortasse, quam decuit optimum principem, sed non parcius, quam optimum patrem, qui Optimum adoptaturus, hoc quoque parentis indulgentissimi fecit, quod delibasse quaedam, seu potius demonstrasse contentus, largam ac prope intactam benefaciendi materiam filio reservavit. Statim ergo muneri eius liberalitas tua adstruxit, ut, quemadmodum in patris filius, sic in hereditate filii pater esset immunis, nec eodem momento, quo pater esse desisset, hoc quoque amitteret, quod fuisset. Egregie, Caesar, quod lacrymas parentum vectigales esse non pateris. Bona filii pater sine deminutione possideat, nec socium hereditatis accipiat, qui non habet luctus: nemo recentem et attonitam orbitatem ad computationem vocet, cogatque patrem, quid reliquerit filius, scire. Augeo Patres Conscripti principis munus, quum ostendo, liberalitati eius inesse rationem. Ambitio enim et iactantia, et effusio, et quidvis potius, quam liberalitas existimanda est, cui ratio non constat. Dignum ergo, Imperator, mansuetudine tua, minuere orbitatis iniurias, nec pati quemquam, filio amisso, insuper affici alio dolore. Sic quoque abunde misera res est, pater filio solus heres: quid si coheredem non a filio accipiat? Adde, quod, quum divus Nerva sanxisset, ut in paternis bonis liberi necessitate Vicesimae solverentur, congruens erat, eandem immunitatem parentes in liberorum bonis obtinere. Cur enim posteris amplior honor, quam maioribus, haberetur? curve non retro quoque recurreret aequitas eadem? Tu quidem, Caesar, illam exceptionem removisti, si modo filius in potestate patris fuisset: intuitus, opinor, vim legemque naturae, quae semper in ditione parentum esse liberos iussit, nec, uti inter pecudes, sic inter homines potestatem et imperium valentioribus dedit.

XXXIX.

Nec vero contentus primum cognationis gradum abstulisse Vicesimae, secundum quoque exemit, cavitque, ut in sororis bonis frater, et contra, in fratris soror, utque avus, avia, in neptis nepotisque, et invicem illi, servarentur immunes. His quoque, quibus per Latium civitas Romana patuisset, idem indulsit, omnibusque inter se cognationum iura commisit, simul et pariter, et more naturae; quae priores principes a singulis rogari gestiebant, non tam praestandi animo, quam negandi. Ex quo intelligi potest, quantae benignitatis, quanti spiritus fuerit, sparsas, atque, ut ita dicam, laceras gentilitates colligere atque connectere, et quasi renasci iubere; deferre, quod negabatur, atque id praestare cunctis, quod saepe singuli non impetrassent, postremo, ipsum sibi eripere tot beneficiorum occasiones, tam numerosam obligandi imputandique materiam. Indignum credo ei visum, ab homine peti, quod dii dedissent. Sorores estis et frater, avus et nepotes, quid est ergo, cur rogetis, ut sitis? vobis estis. Quid? pro cetera sua moderatione non minus invidiosum putat dare hereditatem, quam auferre. Laeti ergo adite honores, capessite civitatem, neminem hoc necessitudinis abruptum, velut truncum amputatumque destituet: iisdem omnes quibus ante pignoribus, sed honestiores perfruentur. Ac ne remotus quidem, iamque deficientis affinitatis gradus, a qualibet quantitate Vicesimam inferre cogetur. Statuit enim communis omnium parens summam, quae publicanum pati possit.

XL.

Carebit onere Vicesimae parva et exilis hereditas: et si ita gratus heres volet, tota sepulcro, tota funeri serviet. Nemo observator, nemo castigator adsistet. Cuicumque modica pecunia ex hereditate alicuius obvenerit, securus habeat quietusque possideat. Ea lex Vicesimae dicta est, ut ad periculum eius perveniri, nisi opibus, non possit. Conversa est iniquitas in gratulationem; iniuria in votum: optat heres, ut Vicesimam debeat. Additum est, ut, qui eiusmodi ex caussis in diem edicti Vicesimam deberent, nondum tamen intulissent, non inferrent. At in praeteritum subvenire ne dii quidem possunt: tu tamen subvenisti, cavistique, ut desineret quisque debere, quod non esset postea debiturus. Idem effecisti, ne malos principes habuissemus; quo ingenio, si natura pateretur, quam libenter tot spoliatis, tot trucidatis sanguinem et bona refudisses! Vetuisti exigi, quod deberi non tuo seculo coeperat. Alius ut contumacibus irasceretur, tarditatemque solvendi dupli vel et quadrupli irrogatione mulctaret: tu nihil referre iniquitatis existimas, exigas, quod deberi non oportuerit, an constituas, ut debeatur?

XLI.

Feres, Caesar, curam et solicitudinem consularem. Nam mihi cogitanti, eundem te collationes remisisse, donativum reddidisse, congiarium obtulisse, delatores abegisse, vectigalia temperasse, interrogandus videris, satisne computaveris imperii reditus, an tantas vires habeat frugalitas principis, ut tot impendiis, tot erogationibus sola sufficiat. Nam quid est caussae, cur aliis quidem, quum omnia raperent, et rapta retinerent, ut si nihil rapuissent, defuerint omnia? tibi, quum tam multa largiaris, et nihil auferas, omnia supersint? Nunquam principibus defuerunt, qui fronte gravi et tristi supercilio utilitatibus fisci contumaciter adessent; et erant principes ipsi sua sponte avidi et rapaces, et qui magistris non egerent: plura tamen semper a nobis contra nos didicerunt. Sed ad tuas aures quum ceteris omnibus, tum vel maxime avaris adulationibus obstructus est aditus. Silent ergo et quiescunt, et postquam non est, cui suadeatur, qui suadeant, non sunt. Quo evenit, ut tibi quum plurimum pro tuis, plus tamen pro nostris moribus debeamus.

XLII.

Locupletabant et fiscum et aerarium non tam Voconiae et Iuliae leges, quam maiestatis singulare et unicum crimen eorum, qui crimine vacarent. Huius tu metum penitus sustulisti, contentus magnitudine, qua nulli magis caruerunt, quam qui sibi maiestatem vindicabant. Reddita est amicis fides, liberis pietas, obsequium servis: verentur, et parent, et dominos habent. Non enim iam servi nostri principis amici, sed nos sumus: nec pater patriae alienis se mancipiis cariorem, quam civibus suis credit. Omnes accusatore domestico liberasti, unoque salutis publicae signo illud, ut sic dixerim, servile bellum sustulisti, in quo non minus servis, quam dominis praestitisti. Hos enim securos, illos bonos fecisti. Non vis interea laudari; nec fortasse laudanda sint: grata sunt tamen recordantibus principem illum in capita dominorum servos subornantem, monstrantemque crimina, quae tanquam delata puniret magnum et inevitabile, ac toties cuique experiendum malum, quoties quisque similes principi servos haberet.

XLIII.

In eodem genere ponendum est, quod testamenta nostra secura sunt: nec unus omnium, nunc quia scriptus, nunc quia non scriptus, heres. Non tu falsis, non tu iniquis tabulis advocaris. Nullius ad te iracundia, nullius impietas, nullius furor confugit: nec quia offendit alius, nuncuparis, sed quia ipse meruisti. Scriberis ab amicis, ab ignotis praeteriris: nihilque inter privatum et principem interest, nisi quod nunc a pluribus amaris: nam et plures amas. Tene, Caesar, hunc cursum, et probabitur experimento, sitne feracius et uberius, non ad laudem modo, sed ad pecuniam, principi, si herede illo mori homines velint, quam si cogantur. Donavit pater tuus multa, et ipse donasti. Cesserit parum gratus: manent tamen ii, qui bonis eius fruantur, nihilque ex illis ad te nisi gloria redit. Nam liberalitatem iucundiorem debitor gratus, clariorem ingratus facit. Sed quis ante te laudem istam pecuniae praetulit? quotusquisque principum ne id quidem in patrimoniis nostris suum duxit, quod esset de suo? Nonne ut regum, ita Caesarum munera illitos cibis hamos, opertos praeda laqueos, aemulabantur; quum privatis facultatibus velut hausta et implicata, retro secum, quidquid attingerant, referrent?

XLIV.

Quam utile est, ad usum secundorum per adversa venisse! Vixisti nobiscum, periclitatus es, timuisti, quae tunc erat innocentium vita. Scis et expertus es, quantopere detestentur malos principes etiam, qui malos faciunt. Meministi, quae optare nobiscum, quae sis queri solitus. Nam privato iudicio principem geris, meliorem immo te praestas, quam tibi alium precabare. Itaque sic imbuti sumus, ut, quibus erat summa votorum melior pessimo princeps, iam non possimus nisi optimum ferre. Nemo est ergo tam tui, tam ignarus sui, ut locum istum post te concupiscat. Facilius est, ut esse aliquis successor tuus possit, quam ut velit. Quis enim curae tuae molem sponte subeat? quis comparari tibi non reformidet? Expertus et ipse es, quam sit onerosum succedere bono principi, et afferebas excusationem adoptanti. An prona parvaque sunt ad aemulandum, quod nemo incolumitatem turpitudine rependit? Salva est omnibus vita, et dignitas vitae: nec iam consideratus ac sapiens, qui aetatem in tenebris agit. Eadem quippe sub principe virtutibus praemia, quae in libertate: nec benefactis tantum ex conscientia merces. Amas constantiam civium, rectosque ac vividos animos non, ut alii, contundis ac deprimis, sed foves et attollis. Prodest bonos esse, quum sit satis abundeque, si non nocet: his honores, his sacerdotia, his provincias offers: hi amicitia tua, hi iudicio florent. Acuuntur isto integritatis et industriae pretio similes, dissimiles alliciuntur: nam praemia bonorum malorumque bonos ac malos faciunt. Pauci adeo ingenio valent, ut non turpe honestumque, prout bene ac secus cessit, expetant fugiantve; ceteri, ubi laboris inertiae, vigilantiae somno, frugalitatis luxuriae merces datur, eadem ista, quibus alios artibus assequutos vident, consectantur: qualesque sunt illi, tales esse et videri volunt; et dum volunt, fiunt.

XLV.

Et priores quidem principes, excepto patre tuo, praeterea uno aut altero, (et nimis dixi,) vitiis potius civium, quam virtutibus laetabantur: primum, quod in alio sua quemque natura delectat; deinde, quod patientiores servitutis arbitrabantur, quos non deceret esse nisi servos. Horum in sinum omnia congerebant: bonos autem otio aut situ abstrusos, et quasi sepultos, non nisi delationibus et periculis in lucem ac diem proferebant. Tu amicos ex optimis legis, et hercule aequum est, esse eos carissimos bono principi, qui invisi malo fuerint. Scis, ut sunt diversa natura dominatio et principatus, ita non aliis esse principem gratiorem, quam qui maxime dominum graventur. Hos ergo provehis, et ostentas quasi specimen et exemplar, quae tibi secta vitae, quod hominum genus placeat: et ideo non censuram adhuc, non praefecturam morum recepisti, quia tibi beneficiis potius, quam remediis ingenia nostra experiri placet. Et alioquin nescio, an plus moribus conferat princeps, qui bonos esse patitur, quam qui cogit. Flexibiles quamcunque in partem ducimur a principe, atque, ut ita dicam, sequaces sumus. Huic enim cari, huic probati esse cupimus; quod frustra speraverint dissimiles: eoque obsequii continuatione pervenimus, ut prope omnes homines unius moribus vivamus. Porro, non tam sinistre constitutum est, ut, qui malum principem possumus, bonum non possimus imitari. Perge modo, Caesar, et vim effectumque censurae tuum propositum, tui actus obtinebunt. Nam vita principis censura est, eaque perpetua: ad hanc dirigimur, ad hanc convertimur: nec tam imperio nobis opus est, quam exemplo. Quippe infidelis recti magister est metus. Melius homines exemplis docentur, quae in primis hoc in se boni habent, quod approbant, quae praecipiunt, fieri posse.

XLVI.

Et quis terror valuisset efficere, quod reverentia tui effecit? Obtinuit aliquis, ut spectaculum pantomimorum populus Romanus tolli pateretur; sed non obtinuit, ut vellet. Rogatus es tu, quod cogebat alius, coepitque esse beneficium, quod necessitas fuerat. Neque enim a te minore concentu, ut tolleres pantomimos, quam a patre tuo, ut restitueret, exactum est. Utrumque recte: nam et restitui oportebat, quos sustulerat malus princeps; et tolli restitutos. In his enim, quae a malis bene fiunt, hic tenendus est modus, ut appareat, auctorem displicuisse, non factum. Idem ergo populus ille aliquando scenici imperatoris spectator et applausor, nunc in pantomimis quoque aversatur et damnat effeminatas artes, et indecora seculo studia. Ex quo manifestum est, principum disciplinam capere etiam vulgus: quum rem, si ab uno fiat, severissimam, fecerint omnes. Macte hac gravitatis gloria, Caesar, qua consequutus es, ut, quod antea vis et imperium, nunc mores vocarentur. Castigaverunt vitia sua ipsi, qui castigari merebantur: iidemque emendatores, qui emendandi fuerunt. Itaque nemo de severitate tua queritur, et liberum est queri. Sed quum ita comparatum sit, ut de nullo minus principe querantur homines, quam de quo maxime licet; tuo in seculo nihil est, quo non omne hominum genus laetetur et gaudeat. Boni provehuntur; mali, qui est tranquillissimus status civitatis, nec timent nec timentur. Mederis erroribus, sed implorantibus: omnibusque, quos bonos facis, hanc adstruis laudem, ne coegisse videaris.

XLVII.

Quid vitam? quid mores iuventutis? quam principaliter formas! Quem honorem dicendi magistris, quam dignationem sapientiae doctoribus habes! Ut sub te spiritum et sanguinem et patriam receperunt studia! quae priorum temporum immanitas exsiliis puniebat, quum sibi vitiorum omnium conscius princeps inimicas vitiis artes non odio magis, quam reverentia, relegaret. At tu easdem artes in complexu, oculis, auribus habes. Praestas enim, quaecunque praecipiunt, tantumque eas diligis, quantum ab illis probaris. An quisquam studia humanitatis professus, non quum omnia tua, tum vel in primis laudibus ferat admissionum tuarum facilitatem? Magno quidem animo parens tuus hanc ante vos principes arcem PUBLICARUM AEDIUM nomine inscripserat; frustra tamen, nisi adoptasset, qui habitare, ut in publicis, posset. Quam bene cum titulo isto moribus tuis convenit! quamque omnia sic facis, tanquam non alius inscripserit! Quod enim forum, quae templa tam reserata? Non Capitolium, ipsaque illa adoptionis tuae sedes magis publica, magis omnium. Nullae obices, nulli contumeliarum gradus: superatisque iam mille liminibus, ultra semper aliqua dura et obstantia. Magna ante te, magna post te, iuxta tamen maxima quies: tantum ubique silentium, tam altus pudor, ut ad parvos penates et larem angustum ex domo principis, modestiae et tranquillitatis exempla referantur.

XLVIII.

Ipse autem ut excipis omnes! ut exspectas! ut magnam partem dierum inter tot imperii curas quasi per otium transigis! Itaque non ut alias attoniti, nec ut periculum capitis adituri tarditate, sed securi et hilares, quum commodum est, convenimus. Et admittente principe, interdum est aliquid, quod nos domi quasi magis necessarium teneat: excusati semper tibi, nec unquam excusandi sumus. Scis enim sibi quemque praestare, quod te videat, quod te frequentet: ac tanto liberalius ac diutius voluptatis huius copiam praebes. Nec salutationes tuas fuga et vastitas sequitur. Remoramur, resistimus, ut in communi domo, quam nuper immanissima bellua plurimo terrore munierat: quum velut quodam specu inclusa, nunc propinquorum sanguinem lamberet, nunc se ad clarissimorum civium strages caedesque proferret. Obversabantur foribus horror et minae, et par metus admissis et exclusis. Ad haec ipse occursu quoque visuque terribilis: superbia in fronte, ira in oculis, femineus pallor in corpore, in ore impudentia multo rubore suffusa. Non adire quisquam, non adloqui audebat tenebras semper secretumque captantem, nec unquam ex solitudine sua prodeuntem, nisi ut solitudinem faceret.

XLIX.

Ille tamen, quibus sibi parietibus et muris salutem suam tueri videbatur, dolum secum et insidias, et ultorem scelerum deum inclusit. Dimovit perfregitque custodias poena, angustosque per aditus et obstructos, non secus ac per apertas fores et invitantia limina, irrupit: longeque tunc illi divinitas sua, longe arcana illa cubilia saevique secessus, in quos timore, et superbia, et odio hominum agebatur. Quanto nunc tutior, quanto securior eadem domus, postquam non crudelitatis, sed amoris excubiis, non solitudine et claustris, sed civium celebritate defenditur! Ecquid ergo discimus experimento, fidissimam esse custodiam principis ipsius innocentiam? Haec arx inaccessa, hoc inexpugnabile munimentum, munimento non egere. Frustra se terrore succinxerit, qui septus caritate non fuerit: armis enim arma irritantur. Num autem serias tantum partes dierum in oculis nostris coetuque consumis? non remissionibus tuis eadem frequentia, eademque illa socialitas interest? Non tibi semper in medio cibus, semperque mensa communis? Non ex convictu nostro mutua voluptas? Non provocas reddisque sermones? Non ipsum tempus epularum tuarum, quum frugalitas contrahat, extendit humanitas? Non enim ante medium diem distentus solitaria coena spectator adnotatorque convivis tuis immines: nec ieiunis et inanibus plenus ipse et eructans, non tam apponis, quam obiicis cibos, quos dedigneris attingere, aegreque perpessus superbam illam convictus simulationem, rursus te ad clandestinam ganeam occultumque luxum refers. Ergo non aurum, nec argentum, nec exquisita ingenia coenarum, sed suavitatem tuam iucunditatemque miramur: quibus nulla satietas adest, quando sincera omnia, et vera, et ornata gravitate. Neque enim aut peregrinae superstitionis mysteria, aut obscena petulantia, mensis principis oberrat: sed benigna invitatio, et liberales ioci, et studiorum honor. Inde tibi parcus et brevis somnus, nullumque amore nostri angustius tempus, quam quod sine nobis agis.

L.

Sed quum rebus tuis ut participes perfruamur: quae habemus ipsi, quam propria, quam nostra sunt! Non enim exturbatis prioribus dominis, omne stagnum, omnem lacum, omnem etiam saltum, immensa possessione circumvenis: nec unius oculis flumina, fontes, maria deserviunt. Est, quod Caesar non suum videat; tandemque imperium principis, quam patrimonium, maius est. Multa enim ex patrimonio refert in imperium, quae priores principes occupabant, non ut ipsi fruerentur, sed ne quis alius. Ergo in vestigia sedesque nobilium immigrant pares domini, nec iam clarissimorum virorum receptacula habitatore servo teruntur aut foeda vastitate procumbunt. Datur intueri pulcherrimas aedes, deterso situ auctas ac vigentes. Magnum hoc tuum non erga homines modo, sed erga tecta ipsa meritum, sistere ruinas, solitudinem pellere, ingentia opera eodem quo exstructa sunt animo ab interitu vindicare. Muta quidem illa et anima carentia, sentire tamen et laetari videntur, quod niteant, quod frequententur, quod aliquando coeperint esse domini scientis. Circumfertur sub nomine Caesaris tabula ingens rerum venalium; quo sit detestanda avaritia illius, qui tam multa concupiscebat, quum haberet supervacua tam multa. Tum exitialis erat apud principem, huic laxior domus, illi amoenior villa. Nunc princeps in haec eadem dominos quaerit, ipse inducit: ipsos illos magni aliquando imperatoris hortos, illud nunquam nisi Caesaris suburbanum, licemur, emimus, implemus. Tanta benignitas principis, tanta securitas temporum est, ut ille nos principalibus rebus existimet dignos, nos non timeamus, quod digni esse videmur. Nec vero emendi tantum civibus tuis copiam praebes, sed amoenissima quaeque largiris et donas: ita, inquam, donas, in quae electus, in quae adoptatus es: transfers, quod iudicio accepisti, ac nihil magis tuum credis, quam quod per amicos habes.

LI.

Idem tam parcus in aedificando, quam diligens in tuendo. Itaque non, ut ante, immanium transvectione saxorum urbis tecta quatiuntur. Stant securae domus, nec iam templa nutantia. Satis est tibi, nimiumque, quum successeris frugalissimo principi; mavis recidere aliquid et amputare ex his, quae princeps tanquam necessaria reliquit. Praeterea pater tuus usibus suis detrahebat, quae fortuna imperii dederat: tu tuis, quod pater. At quam magnificus in publicum es? Hinc porticus, inde delubra occulta celeritate properantur, ut non consummata, sed tantum commutata videantur. Hic immensum latus Circi templorum pulchritudinem provocat, digna populo victore gentium sedes, nec minus ipsa visenda, quam quae ex illa spectabuntur: visenda autem cum cetera specie, tum quod aequatus plebis ac principis locus. Siquidem per omne spatium una facies, omnia continua et paria, nec magis proprius spectanti Caesari suggestus, quam propria, quae spectet. Licebit ergo civibus tuis invicem contueri: dabitur, non cubiculum principis, sed ipsum principem cernere: in publico, in populo sedentem: populo, cui locorum quinque millia adiecisti. Auxeras enim numerum eius congiarii facilitate, maioremque in posterum suscipi liberalitatis tuae fide iusseras.

LII.

Horum unum si praestitisset alius, illi iam dudum radiatum caput, et media inter deos sedes auro staret aut ebore, augustioribusque aris et grandioribus victimis invocaretur. Tu delubra non nisi adoraturus intras, tibi maximus honor excubare pro templis, postibusque praetexi. Sic fit, ut dei summum inter homines fastigium servent, quum deorum ipse non adpetas. Itaque tuam statuam in vestibulo Iovis Optimi Maximi unam alteramve, et hanc aeream, cernimus. At paullo ante aditus omnes, omnes gradus, totaque area hinc auro, hinc argento relucebat, seu potius polluebatur: quum incesti principis statuis permixta deorum simulacra sorderent. Ergo istae quidem aereae et paucae manent, manebuntque, quam diu templum ipsum: illae autem aureae et innumerabiles strage et ruina publico gaudio litaverunt. Iuvabat illidere solo superbissimos vultus, instare ferro, saevire securibus, ut si singulos ictus sanguis dolorque sequeretur. Nemo tam temperans gaudii seraeque laetitiae, quin instar ultionis videretur, cernere laceros artus, truncata membra, postremo truces horrendasque imagines abietas, excoctasque flammis; ut ex illo terrore et minis in usum hominum ac voluptates ignibus mutarentur. Simili reverentia, Caesar, non apud Genium tuum bonitati tuae gratias agi, sed apud numen Iovis Optimi Maximi pateris: illi debere nos, quidquid debeamus, illius, quod bene facias, muneris esse, qui te dedit. Ante quidem ingentes hostiarum greges per Capitolinum iter, magna sui parte velut intercepti, devertere via cogebantur: quum saevissimi domini atrocissima effigies tanto victimarum cruore coleretur, quantum ipse humani sanguinis profundebat.

LIII.

Omnia, Patres Conscripti, quae de aliis principibus a me aut dicuntur, aut dicta sunt, eo pertinent, ut ostendam, quam longa consuetudine corruptos depravatosque mores principatus parens noster reformet et corrigat. Alioqui nihil non parum grate sine comparatione laudatur. Praeterea hoc primum erga optimum imperatorem piorum civium officium est, insequi dissimiles. Neque enim satis amarit bonos principes, qui malos satis non oderit. Adiice, quod imperatoris nostri non aliud amplius ac diffusius meritum est, quam quod insectari malos principes tutum est. An excidit dolori nostro modo vindicatus Nero? Permitteret, credo, famam vitamque eius carpi, qui mortem ulciscebatur: nec ut in se dicta interpretaretur, quae de simillimo dicerentur. Quare ego, Caesar, muneribus tuis omnibus comparo, multis antepono, quod licet nobis et in praeteritum de malis imperatoribus quotidie vindicari, et futuros sub exemplo praemonere, nullum locum, nullum esse tempus, quo funestorum principum manes a posterorum exsecrationibus conquiescant. Quo constantius, Patres Conscripti, et dolores nostros et gaudia proferamus: laetemur his, quibus fruimur; ingemiscamus illis, quae patiebamur. Simul utrumque faciendum est sub bono principe. Hoc secreta nostra, hoc sermones, hoc ipsae gratiarum actiones agant; meminerintque, sic maxime laudari incolumem imperatorem, si priores secus meriti reprehendantur. Nam quum de malo principe posteri tacent, manifestum est, eadem facere praesentem.

LIV.

Et quis iam locus miserae adulationis manebat ignarus, quum laudes imperatorum ludis etiam et commissionibus celebrarentur, saltarentur, atque in omne ludibrium effeminatis vocibus, modis, gestibus, frangerentur? Sed illud indignum, quod eodem tempore in senatu et in scena, ab histrione et a consule laudabantur. Tu procul a tui cultu ludicras artes removisti. Seria ergo te carmina, honorque aeternus annalium, non haec brevis et pudenda praedicatio colit: quin etiam tanto maiore consensu in venerationem tui theatra ipsa consurgent, quanto magis de te scenae silebunt. Sed quid ego istud admiror, quum eos quoque honores, qui tibi a nobis offeruntur, aut delibare parcissime, aut omnino soleas recusare? Nihil ante tam vulgare, tam parvum in senatu agebatur, ut non laudibus principum immorarentur, quibuscumque censendi necessitas accidisset. De ampliando numero gladiatorum, aut de instituendo collegio fabrorum consulebamur: et quasi prolatis imperii finibus nunc ingentes arcus, excessurosque templorum fastigium titulos, nunc menses etiam, nec hos singulos, nomini Caesarum dicabamus. Patiebantur illi, et, quasi meruissent, laetabantur. At nunc quis nostrum, tanquam oblitus eius, de quo refertur, censendi officium principis honore consumit? Tuae moderationis laus haec constantia nostra: tibi obsequimur, quod in curiam non ad certamen adulationum, sed ad usum munusque iustitiae convenimus, hanc simplicitati tuae veritatique gratiam relaturi, ut te, quae vis, velle, quae non vis, nolle credamus. Incipimus inde, desinimus ibi, a quo incipi, in quo desini sub alio principe non posset. Nam plerosque ex decretis honoribus et alii non receperunt; nemo ante tantus fuit, ut crederetur noluisse decerni. Quod ego titulis omnibus speciosius reor, quando non trabibus aut saxis nomen tuum, sed monumentis aeternae laudis inciditur.

LV.

Ibit in secula, fuisse principem, cui florenti et incolumi, nunquam nisi modici honores, saepius nulli decernerentur. Et sane, si velimus cum priorum temporum necessitate certare, vincemur: ingeniosior est enim ad excogitandum simulatio veritate, servitus libertate, metus amore. Simul quum iampridem novitas omnis adulatione consumpta sit, non alius erga te novus honor superest, quam si aliquando de te tacere audeamus. Age, si quando pietas nostra silentium rupit, et verecundiam tuam vicit, quae qualiaque decernimus nos, tu non recusas! ut appareat, non superbia et fastidio te amplissimos honores repudiare, qui minores non dedigneris. Pulchrius hoc, Caesar, quam si recusares omnes: nam recusare omnes, ambitionis; moderationis est, eligere parcissimos. Quo temperamento et nobis et aerario consulis: nobis quidem, quod omni liberas suspicione; aerario autem, quod sumptibus eius adhibes modum, ut qui exhaustum non sis innocentium bonis repleturus. Stant igitur effigies tuae, quales olim ob egregia in rempublicam merita privatis dicabantur. Visuntur eadem e materia Caesaris statuae, qua Brutorum, qua Camillorum. Nec discrepat caussa. Illi enim reges hostemque victorem moenibus depulerunt: hic regnum ipsum, quaeque alia captivitas gignit, arcet ac submovet; sedemque obtinet principis, ne sit domino locus. Ac mihi, intuenti sapientiam tuam, minus mirum videtur, quod mortales istos caducosque titulos, aut depreceris, aut temperes. Scis enim, ubi vera principis, ubi sempiterna sit gloria: ubi sint honores, in quos nihil flammis, nihil senectuti, nihil successoribus liceat. Arcus enim et statuas, aras etiam templaque demolitur et obscurat oblivio, negligit carpitque posteritas: contra, contemptor ambitionis, et infinitae potestatis domitor ac frenator animus ipsa vetustate florescit, nec ab ullis magis laudatur, quam quibus minime necesse est. Praeterea, ut quisque factus est princeps, extemplo fama eius, incertum bona an mala, ceterum aeterna est. Non ergo perpetua principi fama quae invitum manet, sed bona concupiscenda est: ea porro non imaginibus et statuis, sed virtute ac meritis prorogatur. Quin etiam leviora haec, formam principis figuramque, non aurum melius, vel argentum, quam favor hominum exprimat teneatque. Quod quidem prolixe tibi cumulateque contingit, cuius laetissima facies et amabilis vultus in omnium civium ore, oculis, animo sedet.

LVI.

Adnotasse vos credo, Patres Conscripti, iamdudum me non eligere, quae referam: propositum est enim mihi, principem laudare, non principis facta. Nam laudabilia multa etiam mali faciunt; ipse laudari, nisi optimus, non potest. Quare non alia maior, imperator auguste, gloria tua, quam quod agentibus tibi gratias nihil velandum est, nihil omittendum est. Quid est enim in principatu tuo, quod cuiusquam praedicatio vel transsilire vel praetervehi debeat? Quod momentum, quod immo temporis punctum, aut beneficio sterile, aut vacuum laude? Nonne omnia eiusmodi, ut is optime te laudasse videatur, qui narraverit fidelissime? Quo fit, ut prope in immensum diffundatur oratio mea: et necdum de biennio loquor. Quam multa dixi de moderatione, et quanto plura adhuc restant! ut illud, quod secundum consulatum recepisti, quia princeps et pater deferebat. At postquam ad te imperii summam, et quum omnium rerum, tum etiam tui potestatem dii transtulerunt; tertium consulatum recusasti, quum agere tam bonum consulem posses. Magnum est, differre honorem: gloriam, maius. Gestum consulatum mirer, an non receptum? gestum non in hoc urbis otio, et intimo sinu pacis; sed iuxta barbaras gentes: ut illi solebant, quibus erat moris paludamento mutare praetextam, ignotasque terras victoria sequi. Pulchrum imperio, gloriosum tibi, quum te socii atque amici, sua in patria, suis in sedibus adierunt. Decora facies consulis: multa post secula tribunal viridi cespite exstructum, nec fascium tantum, sed pilorum signorumque honore circumdatum. Augebant maiestatem praesidentis, diversi postulantium habitus, ac dissonae voces, raraque sine interprete oratio. Magnificum est, civibus iura; quid, hostibus reddere? speciosum, certam fori partem; quid, immanes campos sella curuli victorisque vestigio premere? imminere minacibus ripis tutum quietumque; quid, spernere barbaros fremitus, hostilemque terrorem non armorum magis, quam togarum, ostentatione compescere? Itaque non te apud imagines, sed ipsum praesentem audientemque consalutabant imperatorem: nomenque, quod alii domitis hostibus, tu contemptis merebare.

LVII.

Haec laus acti consulatus; illa dilati, quod adhuc initio principatus, ut iam excusatus honoribus et expletus, consulatum recusasti: quem novi imperatores destinatum aliis, in se transferebant. Fuit etiam, qui in principatus sui fine consulatum, quem dederat ipse, magna ex parte iam gestum, extorqueret et raperet. Hoc ergo honore, quem et incipientes principes et desinentes adeo concupiscunt, ut auferant, tu, otioso ac vacante, privatis cessisti. Invidiosusne erat aut tibi tertius consulatus, aut principi primus? Nam secundum imperator quidem, sub imperatore tamen, inisti: nihilque imputari in eo vel honori potest, vel exemplo, nisi obsequium. Ita vero, quae civitas quinquies, atque etiam sexies, consules vidit, non illos, qui exspirante iam libertate per vim ac tumultum creabantur, sed quibus sepositis et absentibus, in rura sua consulatus ferebantur: in hac civitate tertium consulatum princeps generis humani, ut praegravem, recusasti? Tantone Papyriis etiam et Quinctiis moderatior Augustus, et Caesar, et Pater patriae? At illos respublica ciebat. Quid? te non eadem respublica? non senatus? non consulatus ipse? qui sibi tuis humeris attolli et augescere videtur?

LVIII.

Non te ad exemplar eius voco, qui continuis consulatibus fecerat longum quendam et sine discrimine annum: his te confero, quos certum est, quoties consules fuerunt, non sibi praestitisse. Erat in senatu ter consul, quum tu tertium consulatum recusabas. Onerosum nescio quid verecundiae tuae consensus noster indixerat, ut princeps toties consul esses, quoties senator tuus: nimia modestia istud, etiam privatus, recusasses. An consularis viri triumphalisque filius, quum tertio consul creatur, adscendit? non debitum hoc illi? non vel sola generis claritate promeritum? Contigit ergo privatis aperire annum, fastosque reserare: et hoc quoque redditae libertatis indicium fuit, quod consul alius, quam Caesar, esset. Sic exactis regibus coepit liber annus: sic olim servitus pulsa, privata fastis nomina induxit. Miseros ambitionis, qui ita consules semper, ut semper principes erant! Quamquam non ambitio magis, quam livor et malignitas videri potest, omnes annos possidere, summumque illud purpurae decus non nisi praecerptum praefloratumque transmittere. Tuam vero magnanimitatem, an modestiam, an benignitatem prius mirer? Magnanimitas fuit, expetito semper honore abstinere; modestia, cedere; benignitas, per alios frui.

LIX.

Sed iam tempus est, te ipsi consulatui praestare, ut maiorem eum suscipiendo gerendoque augustiorem facias. Nam saepius recursare, ambiguam ac potius illam interpretationem habet, tanquam minorem putes. Tu quidem ut maximum recusasti; sed hoc persuadere nemini poteris, nisi aliquando et non recusa veris. Quum arcus, quum tropaea, quum statuas deprecaris: tribuenda est verecundiae tuae venia; illa enim sane tibi dicantur: quum vero postulamus, [ut consulatum suscipias gerasque, postulamus,] ut futuros principes doceas inertiae renuntiare, paullisper delicias differre, paullisper et saltem ad brevissimum tempus, ex illo felicitatis somno velut excitatos, induere praetextam quam quum dare possent, occuparint; adscendere curulem, quam detineant; esse denique, quod concupierunt, nec ideo tantum velle consules fieri, ut fuerint. Gessisti alterum consulatum, scio: illum exercitibus, illum provinciis, illum etiam ceteris gentibus poteris imputare, non potes nobis. Audimus quidem, te omne munus consulis obiisse; sed audimus. Diceris iustissimus, humanissimus, patientissimus fuisse; sed diceris. Aequum est aliquando nos iudicio nostro, nostris oculis, non famae semper et rumoribus credere. Quousque absentes de absente gaudebimus? Liceat experiri, an aliquid superbiae tibi ille ipse secundus consulatus attulerit. Multum in commutandis moribus hominum medius annus valet, in principum plus. Didicimus quidem, cui virtus aliqua contingat, omnes inesse: cupimus tamen experiri, an nunc quoque una eademque res sit, bonus consul et bonus princeps. Nam praeter id, quod est arduum, duas, easque summas, simul capere potestates, tum inest utrique nonnulla diversitas, quum principem quam simillimum esse privato, consulem quam dissimillimum, deceat.

LX.

Atque ego video, proximo anno consulatus recusandi hanc praecipuam fuisse rationem, quod eum absens gerere non poteras: sed iam urbi votisque publicis redditus, quid est, in quo magis sis approbaturus, quae quantaque fuerint, quae desiderabamus? Parum est, ut in curiam venias, nisi et convocas: ut intersis senatui, nisi et praesides; ut censentes audias, nisi et perrogas. Vis illud augustissimum consulum aliquando tribunal maiestati suae reddere? adscende. Vis constare reverentiam magistratibus, legibus auctoritatem, modestiam postulantibus? adi. Quod enim interesset reipubliciae, si privatus esses, consulem te haberet tantum, an et senatorem; hoc nunc scito interesse, principem te habeat tantum, an et consulem. His tot tantisque rationibus, quamquam multum reluctata verecundia Principis nostri, tandem tamen cessit. At quemadmodum cessit? Non se ut privatis, sed ut privatos pares sibi faceret. Recepit enim tertium consulatum, ut daret. Noverat moderationem hominum, noverat pudorem, qui non sustinerent tertio consules esse, nisi cum ter consule. Bellorum istud sociis olim, periculorum consortibus, parce tamen tribuebatur; quod tu singularibus viris, ac de te quidem bene ac fortiter meritis praestitisti, sed in toga meritis. Utriusque cura, utriusque vigilantia obstrictus es, Caesar. Sed in principe rarum ac prope insolitum est, ut se putet obligatum, aut, si putet, amet. Debes ergo, Caesar, et solvis. Sed quum ter consules facis, non tibi magnus princeps, sed non ingratus amicus videris. Quin etiam perquam modica quaedam civium merita fortunae tuae viribus in maius extollis. Efficis enim, ut tantum tibi quisque praestitisse videatur, quantum a te recepit. Quid isti benignitati precer? nisi ut semper obliges, obligeris; incertumque facias, utrum magis expediat civibus tuis debere tibi, an praestitisse.

LXI.

Equidem illum antiquum senatum contueri videbar, quum ter consule assidente, tertio consulem designatum rogari sententiam cernerem. Quanti tunc illi, quantusque tu! Accidit quidem, ut corpora quamlibet ardua et excelsa, procerioribus admota, decrescant; item, ut altissimae civium dignitates collatione fastigii tui quasi deprimantur, quantoque propius ad magnitudinem tuam adscenderint, tantum etiam a sua descendisse videantur. Illos tamen tu, quamquam non potuisti tibi aequare, quum velles, adeo in edito collocasti, ut tantum super ceteros, quantum infra te cernerentur. Si unius tertium consulatum eundem in annum, in quem tuum, contulisses: ingentis animi specimen haberetur. Ut enim felicitatis est, quantum velis, posse: sic magnitudinis, velle, quantum possis. Laudandus quidem et ille, qui tertium consulatum meruit; sed magis, sub quo meruit: magnus memorandusque, qui tantum praemium cepit; sed maior, qui capienti dedit. Quid? quod duos pariter tertio consulatu collegii tui sanctitate decorasti? ut sit nemini dubium, hanc tibi praecipuam caussam fuisse extendendi consulatus tui, ut duorum consulatus amplecteretur, et collegam te non uni daret. Uterque nuper consulatum alterum gesserat a patre tuo, id est, quanto minus quam a te? datum: utriusque adhuc oculis paullo ante dimissi fasces oberrabant: utriusque solemnis ille lictorum et praenuntius clamor auribus insederat; quum rursus curulis, rursusque purpura: ut olim, quum hostis in proximo, et in summum discrimen adducta respublica, expertum honoribus virum posceret, non consulatus hominibus iisdem, sed iidem homines consulatibus reddebantur. Tanta tibi benefaciendi vis, ut indulgentia tua necessitates aemuletur. Modo praetextas exuerant; resumant: modo lictores abire iusserant; revocent: modo gratulantes amici recesserant; revertantur. Hominisne istud ingenium est? hominis potestas? renovare gaudia, redintegrare laetitiam, nullamque requiem gratulationibus dare, neque alia repetendis consulatibus intervalla permittere, nisi dum finiuntur? Facias ista semper, nec unquam in hoc opere aut animus tuus, aut fortuna lassetur. Des quam plurimis tertios consulatus, et, quum plurimis tertios consulatus dederis, semper tamen plures, quibus debeas dare, supersint.

LXII.

Omnium quidem beneficiorum, quae merentibus tribuuntur, non ad ipsos gaudium magis, quam ad similes redundat: praecipue tamen ex horum consulatu non ad partem aliquam senatus, sed ad totum senatum tanta laetitia pervenit, ut eundem honorem omnes sibi et dedisse et accepisse videantur. Nempe enim hi sunt, quos senatus, quum publicis sumptibus minuendis optimum quemque praeficeret, elegit, et quidem primos. Hoc est igitur, hoc est, quod penitus illos animo Caesaris insinuavit. An parum saepe experti sumus, hanc esse rerum conditionem, ut senatus favor apud principem aut prosit aut noceat? Nonne paullo ante nihil magis exitiale erat, quam illa principis cogitatio? Hunc senatus probat, hic senatui carus est. Oderat, quos nos amaremus; sed et nos, quos ille. Nunc inter principem senatumque dignissimi cuiusque caritate certatur. Demonstramus invicem, credimus invicem, quodque maximum amoris mutui signum est, eosdem amamus. Proinde, Patres Conscripti, favete aperte, diligite constanter. Non iam dissimulandus est amor, ne noceat: non premendum odium, ne prosit. Eadem Caesar, quae senatus, probat improbatque. Vos ille praesentes, vos etiam absentes in consilio habet. Tertio consules fecit, quos vos elegeratis: et fecit hoc ordine, quo electi a vobis erant. Magnus utique honor vester, sive eosdem maxime diligit, quos scit vobis esse carissimos: sive illis neminem praefert, quamvis aliquem magis amet. Proposita sunt senioribus praemia, iuvenibus exempla: adeant, frequentent securas tandem ac patentes domos: quisquis probatos senatui viros suspicit, hic maxime principem promeretur. Sibi enim accrescere putat, quod cuique adstruatur: nullamque in eo gloriam ponit, quod sit omnibus maior, nisi maximi fuerint, quibus maior est. Persta, Caesar, in ista ratione propositi, talesque nos crede, qualis fama cuiusque est. Huic aures, huic oculos intende: ne respexeris clandestinas existimationes, nullisque magis quam audientibus insidiantes susurros. Melius omnibus, quam singulis creditur: singuli enim decipere et decipi possunt: nemo omnes, neminem omnes fefellerunt.

LXIII.

Revertor iam ad consulatum tuum: etsi sunt quaedam ad consulatum quidem pertinentia, ante consulatum tamen. In primis quod comitiis tuis interfuisti, candidatus, non consulatus tantum, sed immortalitatis, et gloriae, et exempli, quod sequerentur boni principes, mali mirarentur. Vidit te populus Romanus in illa vetere potestatis suae sede: perpessus es longum illud carmen comitiorum, nec iam irridendam moram: consulque sic factus es, ut unus ex nobis, quos facis consules. Quotusquisque principum antecedentium honorem istum aut consulatui habuit, aut populo? Non alii marcidi somno hesternaque coena redundantes, comitiorum suorum nuntios opperiebantur? Alii sane pervigiles et insomnes, sed intra cubilia sua illis ipsis consulibus, a quibus consules renuntiabantur, exsilia et caedem machinabantur. O prava et inscia verae maiestatis ambitio, concupiscere honorem, quem dedigneris, dedignari, quem concupieris: quumque ex proximis hortis campum et comitia prospectes, sic ab illis abesse, tanquam Danubio Rhenoque dirimare! Averseris tu honori tuo sperata suffragia, renuntiarique te consulem iussisse contentus, liberae civitatis ne simulationem quidem serves? Abstineas denique comitiis, abstrusus atque abditus, quasi illic tibi non consulatus detur, sed abrogetur imperium? Haec persuasio superbissimis dominis erat, ut sibi viderentur principes esse desinere, si quid facerent tanquam senatores. Plerique tamen non tam superbia, quam metu quodam submovebantur. An stuprorum sibi incestarumque noctium conscii, auspicia polluere, sacratumque campum nefario auderent contaminare vestigio? Non adeo deos hominesque contemserant, ut in illa spatiosissima sede hominum deorumque coniectos in se oculos ferre ac perpeti possent. Tibi contra et moderatio tua suasit, et sanctitas, ut te et religioni deorum et iudiciis hominum exhiberes.

LXIV.

Alii consulatum ante quam acciperent, tu et dum accipis, meruisti. Peracta erant solennia comitiorum, si principem cogitares, iamque se omnis turba commoverat, quum tu, mirantibus cunctis, accedis ad consulis sellam: adigendum te praebes in verba principibus ignota, nisi quum iurare cogerent alios. Vides, quam necessarium fuerit consulatum non recusare? Non putassemus istud facturum te fuisse, si recusasses. Stupeo, Patres Conscripti, necdum satis aut oculis meis aut auribus credo: atque identidem me, an audierim, an viderim, interrogo. Imperator ergo, et Caesar, et Augustus, Pontifex maximus, stetit ante gremium consulis? seditque consul, principe ante se stante? et sedit inturbatus, interritus, et tanquam ita fieri soleret? Quin etiam sedens stanti praeivit iusiurandum, et ille iuravit, expressit, explanavitque verba, quibus caput suum, domum suam, si sciens fefellisset, deorum irae consecraret. Ingens, Caesar, et par gloria tua, sive fecerint istud postea principes, sive non fecerint. Ullane satis praedicatio digna est, idem tertio consulem fecisse, quod primo? idem principem, quod privatum? idem imperatorem, quod sub imperatore? Nescio iam, nescio, pulchriusne sit istud, quod praeeunte nullo, an hoc, quod alio praeeunte iurasti.

LXV.

In rostris quoque simili religione ipse te legibus subiecisti: legibus, Caesar, quas nemo principi scripsit. Sed tu nihil amplius vis tibi licere, quam nobis: sic fit, ut nos tibi plus velimus. Quod ego nunc primum audio, nunc primum disco: non est princeps supra leges, sed leges supra principem: idem Caesari consuli, quod ceteris, non licet. Iurat in legem attendentibus diis; nam cui magis quam Caesari attendant? Iurat observantibus his, quibus idem iurandum est: non ignarus alioqui, nemini religiosius, quod iuraverit, custodiendum, quam cuius maxime interest, non peierari. Itaque et abiturus consulatu iurasti, te nihil contra leges fecisse. Magnum hoc erat, quum promitteres; maius, postquam praestitisti. Iam toties procedere in rostra, inascensumque illum superbiae principum locum terere, hic suscipere, hic ponere magistratus, quam dignum te, quamque diversum consuetudine illorum, qui pauculis diebus gestum consulatum, immo non gestum, abiiciebant per edictum! Hoc pro concione, pro rostris, pro iureiurando: scilicet ut primis extrema congruerent: utque hoc solo intelligerentur ipsi consules fuisse, quod alii non fuissent.

LXVI.

Non transsilivi, Patres Conscripti, Principis nostri consulatum; sed eundem in locum contuli, quidquid de iureiurando dicendum erat. Neque enim, ut in sterili ieiunaque materia, eandem speciem laudis diducere ac spargere, atque identidem tractare debemus. Illuxerat primus consulatus tui dies, quo tu curiam ingressus, nunc singulos, nunc universos adhortatus es resumere libertatem, capessere quasi communis imperii curas, invigilare publicis utilitatibus et insurgere. Omnes ante te eadem ista dixerunt, nemini tamen ante te creditum est. Erant sub oculis naufragia multorum, quos insidiosa tranquillitate provectos improvisus turbo perculerat. Quod enim tam infidum mare, quam blanditiae principum illorum, quibus tanta levitas, tanta fraus, ut facilius esset iratos, quam propitios habere? Te vero securi et alacres, quo vocas, sequimur. Iubes esse liberos; erimus. Iubes, quae sentimus, promere in medium: proferemus. Neque enim adhuc ignavia quadam et insito torpore cessavimus: terror, et metus, et misera illa ex periculis facta prudentia monebat, ut a republica (erat autem omnino nulla respublica) oculos, aures, animos averteremus. At nunc tua dextera tuisque promissis freti et innixi, obsepta diutina servitute ora reseramus, frenatamque tot malis linguam resolvimus. Vis enim tales esse nos, quales iubes, nihilque exhortationibus tuis fucatum, nihil subdolum, denique nihil, quod credentem fallere paret, non sine periculo fallentis. Neque enim unquam deceptus est princeps, nisi qui prius ipse decepit.

LXVII.

Equidem hunc parentis publici sensum, cum ex oratione eius, tum pronuntiatione ipsa perspexisse videor. Quae enim illa gravitas sententiarum! quam inaffectata veritas verborum! quae asseveratio in voce! quae affirmatio in vultu! quanta in oculis, habitu, gestu, toto denique corpore fides! Tenebit ergo semper, quod suaserit: scietque nos, quoties libertatem, quam dedit, experiemur, sibi parere. Nec verendum est, ne incautos putet, si fidelitate temporum constanter utamur, quos meminit sub malo principe aliter vixisse. Nuncupare vota et pro aeternitate imperii, et pro salute civium? immo pro salute principum, ac propter illos pro aeternitate imperii solebamus. Haec pro imperio nostro, in quae sint verba suscepta, operae pretium est annotare: SI BENE REMPUBLICAM ET EX UTILITATE OMNIUM REXERIS. Digna vota, quae semper suscipiantur, semperque solvantur. Egit cum diis, ipso te auctore, Caesar, respublica, ut te sospitem incolumemque praestarent, si tu ceteros praestitisses: si contra, illi quoque a custodia tui [capitis] oculos dimoverent, teque relinquerent votis, quae non palam susciperentur. Alii se superstites reipublicae optabant, faciebantque: tibi salus tua invisa est, si non sit cum reipublicae salute coniuncta. Nihil pro te pateris optari, nisi expediat optantibus: omnibusque annis in consilium de te deos mittis; exigisque, ut sententiam suam mutent, si talis esse desieris, qualis electus es. Sed ingenti conscientia, Caesar, pacisceris cum diis, ut te, si mereberis, servent: quum scias, an merearis, neminem magis, quam deos scire. Nonne vobis, Patres Conscripti, haec diebus ac noctibus agitare secum videtur? Ego quidem in me, si omnium utilitas ita posceret, etiam praefecti manum armavi: sed ne deorum quidem aut iram aut negligentiam deprecor: quaeso immo et obtestor, ne unquam pro me vota respublica invita suscipiat; aut, si susceperit invita, ne debeat.

LXVIII.

Capis ergo, Caesar, salutis tuae gloriosissimum fructum ex consensu deorum. Nam quum excipias, ut ITA DEMUM TE DII SERVENT, SE BENE REMPUBLICAM ET EX UTILITATE OMNIUM REXERIS: certus es, te bene rempublicam gerere, cum servent. Itaque securus tibi et laetus dies exit, qui principes alios cura et metu distinebat: quum suspensi et attoniti, parumque confisi patientia nostra, hinc atque inde publicae servitutis nuntios exspectarent. Ac si forte aliquos flumina, nives, venti praepedissent, statim hoc illud esse credebant, quod merebantur; nec erat discrimen ullum pavoris: propterea quod, quum a malo principe tanquam successor timeatur, quisquis est dignior, quum sit nemo non dignior, omnes timentur. Tuam securitatem non mora nuntiorum, non literarum tarditas differt. Scis tibi ubique iurari, quum ipse iuraveris omnibus. Nemo hoc sibi non praestat. Amamus quidem te, in quantum mereris; istud tamen non tui facimus amore, sed nostri: nec unquam illucescat dies, quo pro te nuncupet vota non utilitas nostra, sed fides, Caesar. Turpis tutela principis, cui potest imputari. Queri libet, quod in secreta nostra non inquirant principes, nisi quos odimus. Nam si eadem cura bonis, quae malis essent, quam ubique admirationem tui, quod gaudium exsultationemque deprehenderes! quos omnium cum coniugibus ac liberis, quos etiam cum domesticis aris focisque sermones! Scires mollissimis illis auribus parci. Et alioqui, quum sint odium amorque contraria, hoc perquam simile habent, quod ibi intemperantius amamus bonos principes, ubi liberius malos odimus.

LXIX.

Cepisti tamen et affectus nostri et iudicii experimentum, quantum maximum praesens capere potuisti, illo die, quo solicitudini pudorique candidatorum ita consuluisti, ne ullius gaudium alterius tristitia turbaret. Alii cum laetitia, alii cum spe recesserunt: multis gratulandum, nemo consolandus fuit. Nec ideo segnius iuvenes nostros exhortatus es, senatum circumirent, senatui supplicarent, atque ita a principe sperarent honores, si a senatu petissent. Quo quidem in loco, si quibus opus exemplo, adiecisti, ut te imitarentur. Arduum, Caesar, exemplum, et quod imitari non magis quisque candidatorum, quam principum possit. Quis enim vel uno die reverentior senatus candidatus, quam tu, cum omni vita, tum illo ipso tempore, quo iudicas de candidatis? An aliud a te, quam senatus reverentia obtinuit, ut iuvenibus clarissimae gentis debitum generi honorem, sed antequam deberetur, offerres? Tandem ergo nobilitas non obscuratur, sed illustratur a principe: tandem illos ingentium virorum nepotes, illos posteros libertatis, nec terret Caesar, nec pavet: quin immo festinatis honoribus amplificat atque auget, et maioribus suis reddit. Si quid usquam stirpis antiquae, si quid residuae claritatis; hoc amplexatur, et refovet, et in usum reipublicae promit. Sunt in honore hominum, et in honore famae magna nomina ex tenebris oblivionis, indulgentia Caesaris, cuis est, ut nobiles et conservet et efficiat.

LXX.

Praefuerat provinciae quaestor unus ex candidatis, inque ea civitatis amplissimae reditus egregia constitutione fundaverat. Hoc senatui allegandum putasti. Cur enim te principe, qui generis tui claritatem virtute superasti, deterior esset conditio eorum, qui posteros habere nobiles mererentur, quam eorum, qui parentes habuissent? O de dignum, qui de magistratibus nostris semper haec nunties, nec poenis malorum, sed bonorum praemiis bonos facias! Accensa est iuventus, erexitque animos ad aemulandum, quod laudari videbat: nec fuit quisquam, quem non haec cogitatio subiret, quum sciret, quidquid a quoque in provinciis bene fieret, omnia te scire. Utile est, Caesar, et salutare praesidibus provinciarum, hanc habere fiduciam: paratum esse sanctitati, industriae suae maximum praemium, iudicium principis, suffragium principis. Adhuc autem quamlibet sincera rectaque ingenia, etsi non detorquebat, hebetabat tamen misera, sed vera reputatio. Vides enim: si quid bene fecero, nesciet Caesar; aut si scierit, testimonium non reddet. Ita eadem illa seu negligentia, seu malignitas principum, quum male consultis impunitatem, recte factis nullum praemium polliceretur, nec illos a crimine, et hos deterrebat a laude. At nunc, si bene aliquis provinciam rexerit, huic quaesita virtute dignitas offertur. Patet enim omnibus honoris et gloriae campus: ex hoc quisque, quod cupit, petat, et assecutus, sibi debeat. Provinciis quoque in posterum, et iniuriarum metum, et accusandi necessitatem remisisti. Nam si profuerint, quibus gratias egerint, de nullo queri cogentur. Et alioqui [liquet,] nihil magis prodesse candidato ad sequentes honores, quam peractos. Optime magistratus magistratu, honore honor petitur. Volo ego, qui provinciam rexerit, non tantum codicillos amicorum, nec urbana coniuratione eblanditas preces, sed decreta coloniarum, decreta civitatum alleget. Bene suffragiis consularium virorum urbes, populi, gentes inseruntur. Efficacissimum pro candidato genus est rogandi, gratias agere.

LXXI.

Iam quo assensu senatus, quo gaudio exceptum est, quum candidatis, ut quemque nominaveras, osculo occurreres! devexus quidem in planum, et quasi unus ex gratulantibus. Te mirer magis, an improbem illos, qui effecerunt, ut istud magnum videretur? quum velut affixi curulibus suis manum tantum, et hanc cunctanter et pigre, et imputantibus similes, promerent. Contigit ergo oculis nostris insolita facies, princeps et candidatus [equitis] simul stantes: [contigit] intueri parem accipientibus, honorem qui dabat. Quod factum tuum a cuncto senatu quam vera acclamatione celebratum est, TANTO MAIOR, TANTO AUGUSTIOR! Nam cui nihil ad augendum fastigium superest, hic uno modo crescere potest, si se ipse submittat, securus magnitudinis suae. Neque enim ab ullo periculo fortuna principum longius abest, quam ab humilitate. Mihi quidem non tam humanitas tua, quam intentio eius admirabilis videbatur. Quippe quum orationi oculos, vocem, manum commodares: ut si alii eadem ista mandasses, omnes comitatis numeros obibas. Atque etiam, quum suffragatores candidatorum nomina honore, quo solent, exciperent: tu quoque inter excipientes eras, et ex ore principis ille senatorius assensus audiebatur: quodque apud principem perhibere testimonium merentibus gaudebamus, perhibebatur a principe. Faciebas ergo, quum diceres, OPTIMOS: nec ipsorum modo vita a te, sed iudicium senatus comprobabatur, ornarique se non illos magis, quos laudabas, laetabatur.

LXXII.

Nam quod precatus es, ut illa ipsa ordinatio comitiorum bene ac feliciter eveniret NOBIS, REI PUBLICAE, TIBI; nonne tale est, ut nos hunc ordinem votorum convertere debeamus? deos denique obsecrare, ut omnia, quae facis quaeque facies, prospere cedant TIBI, REI PUBLICAE, NOBIS? vel, si brevius sit optandum, ut UNI TIBI? in quo et res publica et nos sumus. Fuit tempus, ac nimium diu fuit, quo alia adversa, alia secunda principi et nobis: nunc communia tibi nobiscum tam laeta, quam tristia: nec magis sine te nos esse felices, quam tu sine nobis potes. An, si posses, in fine votorum adiecises, UT ITA PRECIBUS TUIS DII ANNUERENT, SI IUDICIUM NOSTRUM MERERI PERSEVERASSES? Adeo nihil tibi amore civium antiquius, ut ante a nobis, deinde a diis, atque ita ab illis amari velis, si a nobis ameris. Et sane priorum principum exitus docuit, ne a diis quidem amari, nisi quos homines ament. Arduum erat, has precationes tuas laudibus adaequare: adaequavimus tamen. Qui amoris ardor, qui stimuli, quae faces illas nobis acclamationes subiecerunt! Non nostri, Caesar, ingenii, sed tuae virtutis tuorumque meritorum voces fuerunt: quas nulla unquam adulatio invenit, nullus cuiusquam terror expressit. Quem sic timuimus, ut haec fingeremus? quem sic amavimus, ut haec fateremur? Nosti necessitatem servitutis: quando simile aliquid audisti, et quando dixisti? Multa quidem excogitat metus, sed quae appareant quaesita ab invitis; aliud solicitudinis, aliud securitatis ingenium est; alia tristium inventio, alia gaudentium; neutrum simulationes expresserint. Habent sua verba miseri, sua verba felices: utque iam maxime eadem ab utrisque dicantur, aliter dicuntur.

LXXIII.

Testis ipse es, quae in omnium ore laetitia. Non amictus cuiquam, non habitus, quem modo extulerat. Inde resultantia vocibus tecta, nihilque tantis clamoribus satis clausum. Quis tunc non e vestigio suo exsiluit? quis exsiluisse sensit? Multa fecimus sponte, plura instinctu quodam et imperio. Nam gaudio quoque cogendi vis inest. Num ergo modum ei tua saltem modestia imposuit? Nam quanto magis a te reprimebatur, exarsimus, non contumacia, Caesar: sed ut in tua potestate est, an gaudeamus; ita, in quantum, nec in nostra. Comprobasti et ipse acclamationum nostrarum fidem lacrymarum tuarum veritate. Vidimus humescentes oculos tuos, demissumque gaudio vultum, tantumque sanguinis in ore, quantum in animo pudoris. Atque hoc magis incensi sumus, ut precaremur, ne quando tibi non eadem caussa lacrymarum, utque nunquam frontem tuam [abstergeres]. Hoc ipsum [templum], has sedes nobis quasi responsuras interrogemus, viderintne unquam principis lacrymas: at senatus saepe viderunt. Onerasti futuros principes: sed et posteros nostros. Nam et hi a principibus suis exigent, ut eadem audire mereantur: et illi, quod non audiant, indignabuntur.

LXXIV.

Nihil magis possum proprie dicere, quam quod dictum est a cuncto senatu: O TE FELICEM! Quod quum diceremus, non opes tuas, sed animum mirabamur. Est enim demum vera felicitas, felicitate dignum videri. Sed cum multa illo die dicta sunt sapienter et graviter, tum vel inprimis [hoc]: CREDE NOBIS, CREDE TIBI. Magna hoc fiducia nostri, maiore tamen tui diximus. Alius enim fortasse alium, ipsum se nemo deceperit. Introspiciat modo vitam, seque, quid mereatur, interroget. Proinde dabat vocibus nostris fidem apud optimum principem, quod apud malos detrahebat. Quamvis enim faceremus, quae amantes solent: illi tamen, non amari se, credebant sibi. Super haec precati sumus, ut SIC TE AMARENT DII, QUEMADMODUM TU NOS. Quis hoc aut de se, aut principi diceret mediocriter amanti? Pro nobis ipsis quidem haec fuit summa votorum, ut NOS SIC AMARENT DII, QUOMODO TU. Estne verum, quod inter ista clamavimus: O NOS FELICES! Quid enim felicius nobis, quibus non iam illud optandum est, ut nos diligat princeps, sed dii, quemadmodum princeps? Civitas religionibus dedita, semperque deorum indulgentiam pie merita, nihil felicitati suae putat adstrui posse, nisi ut dii Caesarem imitentur.

LXXV.

Sed quid singula consector et colligo? Quasi vero aut oratione complecti, aut memoria consequi possim, quae vos, Patres Conscripti, ne qua interciperet oblivio, et in publica acta mittenda, et incidenda in aere censuistis. Ante, orationes principum tantum eiusmodi genere monumentorum mandari aeternitati solebant: acclamationes quidem nostrae parietibus curiae claudebantur. Erant enim, quibus nec senatus gloriari nec principes possent. Has vero et in vulgus exire, et posteris prodi, cum ex utilitate, tum ex dignitate publica fuit: primum, ut orbis terrarum pietatis nostrae adhiberetur testis et conscius: deinde, ut manifestum esset, audere nos de bonis malisque principibus, non tantum post ipsos iudicare: postremo, ut experimento cognosceretur, et ante nos gratos, sed miseros fuisse; quibus esse nos gratos probare antea non licuit. At qua contentione, quo nisu, quibus clamoribus expostulatum est, ne affectus nostros, ne tua merita supprimeres! denique, ut in posterum exemplo provideres! Discant et principes acclamationes veras falsasque discernere, habeantque muneris tui, quod iam decipi non poterunt. Non instruendum illis iter ad bonam famam, sed non deserendum: non submovenda adulatio, sed non reducenda est. Certum est, et quae facere, et quae debeant audire, si faciant. Quid nunc ego super ea, quae sum cum toto senatu precatus, pro senatu precer, nisi ut haereat animo tuo gaudium, quod tunc oculis protulisti? Ames illum diem, et tamen vincas: nova merearis, nova audias: eadem enim dici, nisi ob eadem facta, non possunt.

LXXVI.

Iam quam antiquum, quam consulare, quod triduum totum senatus sub exemplo tui sedit, quum interea nihil praeter consulem ageres! Interrogavit quisque, quod placuit: dissentire, discedere, et copiam iudicii sui reipublicae facere, tutum fuit: consulti omnes, atque etiam dinumerati sumus: vicitque sententia non prima, sed melior. At quis antea loqui, quis hiscere audebat, praeter miseros illos, qui primi interrogabantur? Ceteri quidem defixi et attoniti ipsam illam mutam ac sedentariam assentiendi necessitatem, quo cum dolore animi, quo cum totius corporis horrore perpetiebantur! Unus solusque censebat, quod sequerentur omnes, et omnes improbarent, in primis ipse, qui censuerat. Adeo nulla magis omnibus displicent, quam quae sic fiunt, tanquam omnibus placeant. Fortasse imperator in senatu ad reverentiam eius componebatur: ceterum egressus, statim se recipiebat in principem, omniaque consularia officia abigere, negligere, contemnere solebat. Ille vero ita consul, ut si tantum consul foret: nihil infra se putabat, nisi quod infra consulem esset. Ac primum, ita domo progrediebatur, ut illum nullus apparatus arrogantiae principalis, nullus praecursorum tumultus detineret. Una erat in limine mora, consultare aves, revererique numinum monitus. Nemo proturbabatur, nemo submovebatur: tanta viatoribus quies, tantus pudor fascibus, ut plerumque aliena turba subsistere et consulem et principem cogeret. Ipsius quidem officium tam modicum, tam temperatum, ut antiquus aliquis magnusque consul sub bono principe incedere videretur. Iter illi saepius in forum, frequenter tamen et in campum.

LXXVII.

Nam comitia consulum obibat ipse; tantum ex renuntiatione eorum voluptatis, quantum prius ex destinatione capiebat. Stabant candidati ante curulem principis, ut ipse ante consulis steterat: adigebanturque in verba, in quae paullo ante ipse iuraverat princeps; qui tantum putat esse in iureiurando, ut illud et ab aliis exigat. Reliqua pars diei tribunali dabatur. Ibi vero quanta religio aequitatis! quanta legum reverentia! Adibat aliquis ut principem: respondebat, se consulem esse. Nullius ab eo magistratus ius, nullius auctoritas imminuta est: aucta etiam; siquidem pleraque ad praetores remittebat, atque ita, ut collegas vocaret: non quia populare gratumque audientibus, sed quia ita sentiebat. Tantum dignationis in ipso honore ponebat, ut non amplius esse censeret, quod aliquis collega appellaretur a principe, quam quod praetor esset. Ad haec tam assiduus in tribunali, ut labore refici ac reparari videretur. Quis nostrum idem curae, idem sudoris sumit? quis adeo expetitis honoribus aut deservit, aut sufficit? Et sane aequum est, tantum ceteris praestare consulibus ipsum, qui consules facit: quippe etiam Fortunae videbatur indignum, si posset honores dare, qui gerere non posset. Facturus consules doceat, accepturisque amplissimum honorem persuadeat, scire se, quid sit, quod daturus sit: sic fit, ut illi quoque sciant, quid acceperit.

LXXVIII.

Quo iustius senatus, ut susciperes quartum consulatum, et rogavit et iussit. Imperii hoc verbum, non adulationis esse, obsequio tuo crede: quod non alia in re magis aut senatus exigere a te, aut tu praestare senatui debes. Ut enim ceterorum hominum, ita principum, illorum etiam, qui dii sibi videntur, aevum omne ei breve et fragile est. Itaque optimum quemque niti et contendere decet, ut post se quoque reipublicae prosit, moderationis scilicet iustitiaeque monumentis, quae plurima statuere consul potest. Haec nempe intentio tua, ut libertatem revoces ac reducas. Quem ergo honorem magis amare, quod nomen usurpare saepius debes, quam quod primum invenit recuperata libertas? Non est minus civile, et principem esse pariter, et consulem, quam tantum consulem. Habe etiam rationem verecundiae collegarum tuorum; collegarum inquam: ita enim et ipse loqueris, et nos loqui vis. Onerosa erit modestiae illorum tertii consulatus sui recordatio, donec te consulem videant. Neque enim potest non nimium esse privatis, quod principi satis est. Annuas, Caesar, optantibus, quibusque apud deos adesse consuesti, quorum potens es ipse, votorum compotes facias.

LXXIX.

Fortasse sufficiat tibi tertius consulatus: sed nobis tanto minus sufficit. Ille nos instituit et induxit, ut te iterum interumque consulem habere cupiamus. Remissius istud contenderemus, si adhuc non sciremus, qualis esses futurus. Tolerabilius fuit, experimentum tui nobis, quam usum negari. Dabiturne rursus videre consulem illum? Audiet, reddet, quas proxime, voces? praestabitque gaudium, quantum ipse percipiet? Praesidebit laetitiae publicae, auctor eius et caussa? tentabitque affectus nostros, ut solet, cohibere, nec poterit? Erit pietati senatus cum modestia principis felix speciosumque certamen, seu fuerit victa, seu vicerit? Equidem incognitam quandam, proximaque maiorem praesumo laetitiam. Quis enim est tam imbecilli ingenio, qui non tanto meliorem consulem speret, quanto saepius fuerit? Alius labores, si non continuo se desidiae ac voluptati dedisset, otio tamen et quiete recreasset: hic consularibus curis exsolutus, principales resumpsit; tam diligens temperamenti, ut nec consulis officium princeps, nec principis consul appeteret. Videmus, ut provinciarum desideriis, ut singularum etiam civitatum precibus occurat. Nulla in audiendo difficultas, nulla in respondendo mora: adeunt statim, dimittuntur statim: tandemque principis fores exclusa legationum turba non obsidet.

LXXX.

Quid? in omnibus cognitionibus, quam mitis severitas, quam non dissoluta clementia! Non locupletando fisco sedes, nec aliud tibi sententiae tuae pretium, quam bene iudicasse. Stant ante te litigatores, non de fortunis suis, sed de tua aestimatione soliciti; nec tam verentur, quid de caussa sua, quam quid de moribus sentias. O vere principis, atque etiam consulis, reconciliare aemulas civitates, tumentesque populos non imperio magis, quam ratione compescere: intercedere iniquitatibus magistratuum, infectumque reddere, quidquid fieri non oportuerit: postremo, velocissimi sideris more, omnia invisere, omnia audire, et undecunque invocatum statim, velut numen, adesse et adsistere! Talia esse crediderim, quae ipse mundi parens temperat nutu, si quando oculos demisit in terras et fata mortalium inter divina opera numerare dignatus est: qua nunc parte curarum liber solutusque, caelo tantum vacat, postquam te dedit, qui erga omne hominum genus vice sua fungereris. Fungeris enim, sufficisque mandanti, quum tibi dies omnis summa cum utilitate nostra, cum tua laude, condatur.

LXXXI.

Quodsi quando cum influentibus negotiis paria fecisti, instar refectionis existimas mutationem laboris. Quae enim remissio tibi, nisi lustrare saltus, excutere cubilibus feras, superare immensa montium iuga, et horrentibus scopulis gradum inferre, nullius manu, nullius vestigio adiutum; atque inter haec pia mente adire lucos, et occursare numinibus? Olim haec experientia iuventutis, haec voluptas erat; his artibus futuri duces imbuebantur: certare cum fugacibus feris cursu, cum audacibus robore, cum callidis astu: nec mediocre pacis decus habebatur submota campis irruptio ferarum, et obsidione quadam liberatus agrestium labor. Usurpabant gloriam istam illi quoque principes, qui obire non poterant: usurpabant autem, ut domitas fractasque claustris feras, ac deinde in ipsorum quidem ludibrium emissas, mentita sagacitate colligerent. Huic par capiendi quaerendique sudor, summusque et idem gratissimus labor, invenire. Enim vero, si quando placuit idem corporis robur in maria proferre, non ille fluitantia vela aut oculis sequitur aut manibus: sed nunc gubernaculis assidet, nunc cum valentissimo quoque sodalium certat frangere fluctus, domitare ventos reluctantes, remisque transfretare obstantia freta.

LXXXII.

Quantum dissimilis illi, qui non Albani lacus otium, Baianique torporem et silentium ferre, non pulsum saltem fragoremque remorum perpeti poterat, quin ad singulos ictus turpi formidine horresceret. Itaque procul ab omni sono inconcussus ipse et immotus, religato revinctoque navigio, non secus ac piaculum aliquod, trahebatur. Foeda facies, quum Populi Romani Imperator alienum cursum, alienumque rectorem, velut capta nave, sequeretur. Nec deformitate ista saltem flumina carebant atque amnes. Danubius ac Rhenus tantum illud nostri decoris vehere gaudebant, non minore cum pudore imperii, quod haec Romanae aquilae, Romana signa, Romana denique ripa, quam quod hostium prospectarent: hostium, quibus moris est, eadem illa nunc rigentia gelu flumina, aut campis superflua, nunc liquida ac deferentia, lustrare navigiis, nandoque superare. Nec vero laudaverim per se magnopere duritiam corporis ac lacertorum: sed si his validior toto corpore animus imperitet, quem non fortunae indulgentia molliat, non copiae principales ad segnitiem luxumque detorqueant; tunc ego, seu montibus, seu mari exerceatur, et laetum opere corpus, et crescentia laboribus membra mirabor. Video enim iam inde antiquitus maritos dearum, ac deorum liberos, nec dignitate nuptiarum magis quam his artibus inclaruisse. Simul cogito, quum sint ista ludus et avocamentum huius, quae quantaeque sint illae seriae et intentae, et a quibus se in tale otium recipit, voluptates. Sunt enim voluptates, quibus optime de cuiusque gravitate, sanctitate, temperantia creditur. Nam quis adeo dissolutus, cuius non occupationibus aliqua species severitatis insidat? Otio prodimur. An non plerique principes hoc idem tempus in aleam, stupra, luxum conferebant, quum seriarum laxamenta curarum vitiorum contentione supplerent?

LXXXIII.

Habet hoc primum magna fortuna, quod nihil tectum, nihil occultum esse patitur: principum vero non modo domus, sed cubicula ipsa intimosque secessus recludit, omniaque arcana noscenda famae proponit atque explicat. Sed tibi, Caesar, nihil accommodatius fuerit ad gloriam, quam penitus inspici. Sunt quidem praeclara, quae in publicum profers; sed non minora ea, quae limine tenes. Est magnificum, quod te ab omni contagione vitiorum reprimis ac revocas, sed magnificentius, quod tuos. Quanto enim magis arduum est, alios praestare, quam se: tanto laudabilius, quod, quum ipse sis optimus, omnes circa te similes tui effecisti. Multis illustribus dedecori fuit aut inconsultius uxor assumpta, aut retenta patientius: ita foris claros domestica destruebat infamia: et ne maximi cives haberentur, hoc efficiebat, quod mariti minores erant. Tibi uxor in decus et gloriam cedit. Quid enim illa sanctius? quid antiquius? Nonne, si Pontifici Maximo deligenda sit coniux, aut hanc, aut similem (ubi est autem similis?) elegerit? Quam illa nihil sibi ex fortuna tua, nisi gaudium, vendicat! quam constanter, non potentiam tuam, sed ipsum te reveretur! Idem estis invicem, quod fuistis: probatis ex aequo: nihilque vobis felicitas addidit, nisi quod scire coepistis, quam bene uterque vestrum felicitatem ferat. Eadem quam modica cultu! quam parca comitatu! quam civilis incessu! Mariti hoc opus, qui ita imbuit, ita instituit: nam uxori sufficit obsequii gloria. An, quum videat, quam te nullus terror, nulla comitetur ambitio, non et ipsa cum silentio incedat? ingredientemque pedibus maritum, in quantum patitur sexus, imitetur? Decuerit hoc illam, etiamsi diversa tu facias. Sub hac vero modestia viri, quantam debet verecundiam uxor marito! femina sibi!

LXXXIV.

Soror autem tua, ut se sororem esse meminit! ut in illa tua simplicitas, tua veritas, tuus candor agnoscitur! ut, si quis eam uxori tuae conferat, dubitare cogatur, utrum sit efficacius ad recte vivendum, bene institui, aut feliciter nasci. Nihil est tam pronum ad simultates, quam aemulatio, in feminis praesertim: ea porro maxime nascitur ex coniunctione, aliter aequalitate, exardescit invidia, cuius finis est odium. Quo quidem admirabilius existimandum est, quod mulieribus duabus in una domo, parique fortuna, nullum certamen, nulla contentio est. Suspiciunt invicem, invicem cedunt: quumque te utraque effusissime diligat, nihil sua putant interesse, utram tu magis ames. Idem utrique propositum, idem tenor vitae, nihilque, ex quo sentias duas esse. Te enim imitari, te subsequi student. Ideo utraque mores eosdem, quia utraque tuos, habet: inde moderatio, inde etiam perpetua securitas. Neque enim unquam periclitabuntur esse privatae, quae non desierunt. Obtulerat illis senatus cognomen Augustarum, quod certatim deprecatae sunt, quam diu appellationem patris patriae tu recusasses: seu quod plus esse in eo iudicabant, si uxor et soror tua, quam si Augustae dicerentur. Sed quaecunque illis ratio tantam modestiam suasit, hoc magis dignae sunt, quae in animis nostris et sint et habeantur augustae, quia non vocantur. Quid enim laudabilius feminis, quam si verum honorem non in splendore titulorum, sed in iudiciis hominum reponant, magnisque nominibus pares se faciant, etiam dum recusant?

LXXXV.

Iam etiam et in privatorum animis exoleverat priscum mortalium bonum, amicitia, cuius in locum migraverant assentationes, blanditiae, et peior odio amoris simulatio. Etenim in principum domo nomen tantum amicitiae, inane scilicet irrisumque, manebat. Nam quae poterat esse inter eos amicitia, quorum sibi alii domini, alii servi videbantur? Tu hanc pulsam et errantem reduxisti: habes amicos, quia amicus ipse es. Neque enim, ut alia subiectis, ita amor imperatur: neque est ullus affectus tam erectus, et liber, et dominationis impatiens, nec qui magis vices exigat. Potest fortasse princeps inique, potest tamen odio esse nonnullis, etiamsi ipse non oderit: amari, nisi ipse amet, non potest. Diligis ergo, quum diligaris, et in eo, quod utrinque honestissimum est, tota gloria tua est, qui superior factus, descendis in omnia familiaritatis officia, et in amicum ex imperatore submitteris; immo tunc maxime imperator, quum amicum ex imperatore agis. Etenim quum plurimis amicitiis fortuna principum indigeat, praecipuum est principis opus, amicos parare. Placeat tibi semper haec secta, et cum alias virtutes tuas, tum hanc constantissime teneas: nec unquam persuadeatur, humile esse principi, nisi odisse. Iucundissimum est in rebus humanis amari, sed non minus amare: quorum utroque ita frueris, ut, quum ipse ardentissime diligas, adhuc tamen ardentius diligaris: primum, quia facilius est, unum amare, quam multos: deinde, quia tibi amicos tuos obligandi adest facultas tanta, ut nemo possit te, nisi ingratus, non magis amare.

LXXXVI.

Operae pretium est referre, quod tormentum tibi iniunxeris, ne quid amico negares. Dimisisti optimum virum tibique carissimum, invitus et tristis, et quasi retinere non posses. Quantum amares eum, desiderio expertus es, distractus separatusque, dum cedis et vinceris. Ita, quod fando inauditum, quum princeps et principis amicus diversa velletis, id potius factum est, quod amicus volebat. O rem memoriae literisque mandandam! praefectum praetorii non ex ingerentibus, sed ex subtrahentibus legere: eundemque otio, quod pertinaciter amet, reddere: quumque sis ipse distentus imperii curis, non quietis gloriam cuiquam invidere. Intelligimus, Caesar, quantum tibi pro laboriosa ista statione et exercita debeamus, quum otium a te, tanquam res optima, et petatur, et detur. Quam ego audio confusionem tuam fuisse, quum digredientem prosequeris! Prosequutus enim nec temperasti tibi, quo minus exeunti in litore amplexus osculum ferres. Stetit Caesar in illa amicitiae specula, precatusque maria, celeremque (si tamen ipse voluisset) recursum, nec sustinuit recedentem non etiam atque etiam votis, lacrymis, sequi. Nam de liberalitate taceo. Quibus enim muneribus aequari haec cura principis, haec patientia potest, qua meruisti, ut ille sibi nimium fortis, ac prope durus videretur? Nec dubito, quin agitaverit secum, an gubernacula retorqueret: et fecisset, nisi quod paene ipso contubernio principis felicius iucundiusque est, desiderare principem desiderantem. Et ille quidem, ut maximo fructu suscepti, ita maiore depositi officii gloria fruitur: tu autem facilitate ista consequutus es, ne quem retinere videaris invitum.

LXXXVII.

Civile hoc erat, et parenti publico convenientissimum, nihil cogere, semperque meminisse, nullam tantam potestatem cuiquam dari posse, ut non sit gratior potestate libertas. Dignus es, Caesar, qui officia mandes deponere optantibus; qui petentibus vacationem invitus quidem, sed tamen tribuas; qui ab amicis orantibus requiem non te relinqui putes; qui semper invenias, et quos ex otio revoces, et quos otio reddas. Vos quoque, quos parens noster familiariter inspicere dignatur, fovete iudicium eius, quod de vobis habet: hic vester labor est. Princeps enim, quum in uno probavit amare se scire, vacat culpa, si alios minus amat. Ipsum quidem quis mediocriter diligat, quum leges amandi non det, sed accipiat? Hic praesens, ille mavult absens amari: uterque ametur, ut mavult; nemo in taedium praesentia, nemo in oblivionem absentia veniat. Tenet quisque locum, quem semel meruit; faciliusque est, ut oculis eius vultus absentis, quam ut animo caritas excidat.

LXXXVIII.

Plerique principes, quum essent civium domini, libertorum erant servi: horum consiliis, horum nutu regebantur: per hos audiebant, per hos loquebantur: per hos praeturae etiam, et sacerdotia et consulatus, immo et ab his, petebantur. Tu libertis tuis summum quidem honorem, sed tamquam libertis, habes; abundeque sufficere his credis, si probi et frugi existimentur. Scis enim, praecipuum esse indicium non magni principis magnos libertos. Ac primum neminem in usu habes, nisi aut tibi, aut patri tuo, aut optimo cuiquam [principum] dilectum; statimque hos ipsos quotidie deinde ita formas, ut se non tua fortuna, sed sua, metiantur: et tanto magis digni, quibus honor omnis praestetur a nobis, quia non est necesse. Iustisne de causis Senatus Populusque Romanus OPTIMI tibi cognomen adiecit? Paratum id quidem, et in medio positum, novum tamen. Scias neminem ante meruisse, quod non erat excogitandum, si quis meruisset. An satius fuit, FELICEM vocare? quod non moribus, sed fortunae datum est: satius, MAGNUM? cui plus invidiae, quam pulchritudinis inest. Adoptavit te optimus princeps in suum, senatus in OPTIMI nomen. Hoc tibi tam proprium, quam paternum; nec magis definite distincteque designat, qui TRAIANUM, quam qui OPTIMUM appellat: ut olim frugalitate Pisones, sapientia Laelii, pietate Metelli monstrabantur. Quae simul omnia uno isto nomine continentur. Nec videri potest optimus, nisi qui est omnibus optimis in sua cuiusque laude praestantior. Merito tibi ergo post ceteras appellationes haec est addita, ut maior. Minus est enim, imperatorem et Caesarem et Augustum, quam omnibus imperatoribus et Caesaribus et Augustis esse meliorem. Ideoque ille parens hominum deorumque OPTIMI prius, deinde MAXIMI nomine colitur. Quo praeclarior laus tua, quem non minus constat optimum esse, quam maximum. Adsequutus es nomen, quod ad alium transire non possit, nisi ut appareat in bono principe alienum, in malo falsum: quod licet omnes postea usurpent, semper tamen agnoscetur ut tuum. Etenim, ut nomine AUGUSTI admonemur eius, cui primum dicatum est, ita haec OPTIMI appellatio nunquam memoriae hominum sine te recurret, quotiesque posteri nostri OPTIMUM aliquem vocare cogentur, toties recordabantur, quis meruerit vocari.

LXXXIX.

Quanto nunc, dive Nerva, gaudio frueris, quum vides, et esse OPTIMUM et dici, quem tamquam optimum elegisti! quam laetum tibi, quod comparatus filio tuo vinceris! Neque enim alio magis approbatur animi tui magnitudo, quam quod optimus ipse non timuisti eligere meliorem. Sed et tu, pater Traiane, (nam tu quoque, si non sidera, proximam tamen sideribus obtines sedem) quantam percipis voluptatem, quum illum tribunum, illum militem tuum, tantum imperatorem, tantum principem cernis! cumque eo, qui adoptavit, amicissime contendis, pulchrius fuisse genuisse talem, an elegisse! Macte uterque ingenti in rempublicam merito, cui hoc tantum boni contulistis! Licet alteri vestrum filii virtus triumphalia, coelum alteri dederit: non minor tamen vestra laus, quod ista per filium, quam si ipsi meruissetis.

XC.

Scio, Patres Conscripti, cum ceteros cives, tum praecipue consules, oportere sic affici, ut se publice magis, quam privatim, obligatos putent. Ut enim malos principes rectius pulchriusque est ex communibus iniuriis odisse, quam propriis: ita boni speciosius amantur ob ea, quae generi humano, quam quae hominibus praestant. Quia tamen in consuetudinem venit, ut consules, publica gratiarum actione perlata, suo quoque nomine, quantum debeant principi, profiteantur: concedite, me non pro me magis munere isto, quam pro collega meo, Cornuto Tertullo, clarissimo viro, fungi. Cur enim non pro illo quoque gratias agam, pro quo non minus debeo? praesertim quum indulgentissimus imperator in concordia nostra ea praestiterit ambobus, quae si tantum in alterum contulisset, ambos tamen aequaliter obligasset. Utrumque nostrum ille optimi cuiusque spoliator et carnifex stragibus amicorum, et in proximum iacto fulmine afflaverat. Iisdem enim amicis gloriabamur, eosdem amissos lugebamus: ac sicut nunc spes gaudiumque, ita tunc communis nobis dolor et metus erat. Habuerat hunc honorem periculis nostris divus Nerva, ut nos, etsi minus ut bonos, tamen promovere vellet: quia mutati seculi signum et hoc esset, quod florerent, quorum praecipuum votum ante fuerat, ut memoriae principis elaberentur.

XCI.

Nondum biennium compleramus in officio laboriosissimo et maximo, quum tu nobis, optime principum, fortissime imperatorum, consulatum obtulisti, ut ad summum honorem gloria celeritatis accederet. Tantum inter te et illos principes interest, qui beneficiis suis commendationem ex difficultate captabant, gratioresque accipientibus honores arbitrabantur, si prius illos desperatio, et taedium, et similis repulsae mora, in notam quandam pudoremque vertissent. Obstat verecundia, quo minus percenseamus, quo utrumque nostrum testimonio ornaris: ut amore recti, amore reipublicae, priscis illis consulibus aequaveris. Merito nec ne, neutram in partem decernere audeamus; quia nec fas est, affirmationi tuae derogare, et onerosum confiteri, vera esse, quae de nobis, praesertim tam magnifica, dixisti. Tu tamen dignus es, qui eos consules facias, de quibus possis ista praedicare. Tribuas veniam, quod inter haec beneficia tua gratissimum est nobis, quod nos rursus collegas esse voluisti. Ita caritas mutua, ita congruens tenor vitae, ita una eademque ratio propositi postulabat: cuius ea vis, ut morum similitudo concordiae nostrae gloriam minuat, ac perinde sit mirum, si alter nostrum a collega, ac si a seipso dissentiat. Non ergo temporarium et subitum est, quod uterque collegae consulatu, tamquam iterum suo gaudet; nisi quod tamen, qui rursus consules fiunt, bis quidem, sed temporibus diversis obligantur: nos duos consulatus accipimus simul, simul gerimus, alterque in altero consul, sed iterum et pariter sumus.

XCII.

Illud vero quam insigne, quod nobis praefectis aerario consulatum ante, quam successorem dedisti! Aucta est dignitas dignitate: neque continuatus tantum, sed geminatus est honor, finemque potestatis alterius, tamquam parum esset excipere, praevenit. Tanta tibi integritatis nostrae fiducia fuit, ut non dubitares, te salva diligentiae tuae ratione esse facturum, si nos post maximum officium privatos esse non sineres. Quid, quod eundem in annum consulatum nostrum contulisti? Ergo non alia nos pagina, quam quae te consulem accipiet, et nostra quoque nomina addentur fastis, quibus ipse praescriberis. Tu comitiis nostris praesidere, tu nobis sanctissimum illud carmen praeire dignatus es, tuo iudicio consules facti, tua voce renuntiati sumus: ut idem honoribus nostris suffragator in curia, in campo declarator exsisteres. Nam quod eum potissimum mensem attribuisti, quem tuus natalis exornat, quam pulchrum nobis! quibus edicto, quibus spectaculo celebrare continget diem illum, triplici gaudio laetum: qui principem abstulit pessimum, dedit optimum, meliorem optimo genuit. Nos sub oculis tuis augustior solito currus accipiet: nos inter secunda omina, et vota certantia, quae praesenti tibi conferentur, vehemur alacres, et incerti, ex utra parte maior auribus nostris accidat clamor.

XCIII.

Super omnia tamen praedicandum videtur, quod pateris consules esse, quos fecisti: quippe nullum periculum, nullus ex principe metus consulares animos debilitat et frangit: nihil invitis audiendum, nihil coactis decernendum erit. Manet manebitque honori veneratio sua, nec securitatem auctoritate perdemus. Ac si quid forte ex consulatus fastigio fuerit diminutum, nostra haec erit culpa, non seculi. Licet enim, quantum ad principem, licet tales consules agere, quales ante principes erant. Ullamne tibi pro beneficiis referre gratiam parem possumus? nisi tantum illam, ut semper nos meminerimus consules fuisse, et consules tuos; ea sentiamus, ea censeamus, quae consularibus digna sunt; ita versemur in republica, ut credamus esse rempublicam. Non consilium nostrum, non operam subtrahamus, nec disiunctos nos et quasi dimissos consulatu, sed quasi adstrictos et devinctos putemus; eundemque locum laboris et curae, quem reverentiae dignitatisque, teneamus.

XCIV.

In fine orationis praesides custodesque imperii deos, ego consul pro rebus humanis, ac te praecipue, Capitolone Iupiter, precor, ut beneficiis tuis faveas, tantisque addas muneribus perpetuitatem. Audisti, quae malo principi precabamur; exaudi, quae pro dissimillimo optamus. Non te distringimus votis. Non enim pacem, non concordiam, non securitatem, non opes oramus, non honores: simplex cunctaque ista complexum unum omnium votum est, SALUS PRINCIPIS. Nec vero nova tibi iniungimus. Tu enim iam tunc illum in tutelam recepisti, quum praedonis avidissimi faucibus eripuisti. Neque enim sine auxilio tuo, quum altissima quaeque quaterentur, hic, qui omnibus excelsior, inconcussus stetit. Praeteritus est a pessimo principe, qui praeteriri ab optimo non potuit. Tu clara iudicii tui signa misisti, quum proficiscenti ad exercitum tuo nomine, tuo honore cessisti. Tu voce imperatoris quid sentires locutus, filium illi, nobis parentem, tibi pontificem maximum elegisti. Quo maiore fiducia iisdem illis votis, quae ipse pro se nuncupari iubet, oro et obtestor, si bene rempublicam, si ex utilitate omnium regit, primum, ut illum nepotibus nostris ac pronepotibus serves: deinde, ut quandoque successorem ei tribuas, quem genuerit, quem formaverit, similemque fecerit adoptato; aut, si hoc fato negatur, in consilio sis eligenti, monstresque aliquem, quem adoptari in Capitolio deceat.

XCV.

Vobis, Patres Conscripti, quantum debeam, publicis etiam monimentis continetur. Vos mihi in tribunatu quietis, in praetura modestiae; vos in istis officiis etiam, quae e studiis nostris circa tuendos socios iniunxeratis, cuncti constantiae antiquissimum testimonium perhibuistis. Vos proxime destinationem consulatus mei his acclamationibus approbavistis, ut intelligam, etiam atque etiam enitendum mihi, ut hunc consensum vestrum complectar, et teneam, et in dies augeam. Etenim memini, tunc verissime iudicari, meruerit quis honorem, nec ne, quum adeptus est. Vos modo favete huic proposito, et credite, si cursu quodam provectus ab illo insidiosissimo principe, antequam profiteretur odium bonorum, postquam professus est, substiti; quum viderem, quae ad honores compendia paterent, longius iter malui; si malis temporibus inter moestos et paventes, bonis inter securos gaudentesque numeror; si denique in tantum diligo optimum principem, in quantum invisus pessimo fui. Ego reverentiae vestrae sic semper inserviam, non ut me consulem, et mox consularem, sed ut candidatum consulatus putem.

The Dual Text

Mt. Vesuvius as seen from the ruins of Pompeii, which was destroyed in the eruption of AD 79

DUAL LATIN AND ENGLISH TEXT

Translated by John B. Firth (Books I-V) and John Delaware Lewis (Books VI-X)

In this section, readers can view a letter by letter text, alternating between Pliny’s Latin and the English translations.

CONTENTS

LIBER PRIMVS

1. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO <CLARO> SUO S.

1. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO <CLARO> SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS <MATURO> ARRIANO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS <MATURO> ARRIANO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS CANINIO RUFO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS CANINIO RUFO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS POMPEIAE CELERINAE SOCRUI S.

4. C. PLINIUS POMPEIAE CELERINAE SOCRUI S.

5. C. PLINIUS VOCONIO ROMANO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS VOCONIO ROMANO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS OCTAVIO RUFO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS OCTAVIO RUFO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO SATURNINO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO SATURNINO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS MINICIO FUNDANO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS MINICIO FUNDANO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS ATTIO CLEMENTI SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS ATTIO CLEMENTI SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS FABIO IUSTO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS FABIO IUSTO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS CALESTRIO TIRONI SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS CALESTRIO TIRONI SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS SOSIO SENECIONI SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS SOSIO SENECIONI SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS IUNIO MAURICO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS IUNIO MAURICO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO CLARO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO CLARO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS ERUCIO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS ERUCIO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TITIANO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TITIANO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS ROMATIO FIRMO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS ROMATIO FIRMO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS PLINIO PATERNO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS PLINIO PATERNO SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS CATILIO SEVERO SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS CATILIO SEVERO SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO FALCONI SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO FALCONI SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS BAEBIO HISPANO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS BAEBIO HISPANO SUO S.

LIBER SECVNDVS

LIBER SECVNDVS

1. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

1. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS CALVINAE SUAE S.

4. C. PLINIUS CALVINAE SUAE S.

5. C. PLINIUS LUPERCO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS LUPERCO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS AVITO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS AVITO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS APOLLINARI SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS APOLLINARI SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS OCTAVIO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS OCTAVIO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS VALERIANO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS VALERIANO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS GALLO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS GALLO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS MAURICO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS MAURICO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS CERIALI SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS CERIALI SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS CALCISIO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS CALCISIO SUO S.

LIBER TERTIVS

LIBER TERTIVS

1. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

1. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS VIBIO MAXIMO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS VIBIO MAXIMO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS CORELLIAE HISPULLAE SUAE S.

3. C. PLINIUS CORELLIAE HISPULLAE SUAE S.

4. C. PLINIUS CAECILIO MACRINO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS CAECILIO MACRINO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS BAEBIO MACRO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS BAEBIO MACRO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SEVERO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SEVERO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS CANINIO RUFO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS CANINIO RUFO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO MINICIANO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO MINICIANO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS VESTRICIO SPURINNAE SUO ET COTTIAE S.

10. C. PLINIUS VESTRICIO SPURINNAE SUO ET COTTIAE S.

11. C. PLINIUS IULIO GENITORI SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS IULIO GENITORI SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS CATILIO SEVERO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS CATILIO SEVERO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS VOCONIO ROMANO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS VOCONIO ROMANO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS ACILIO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS ACILIO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS SILIO PROCULO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS SILIO PROCULO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS IULIO SERVIANO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS IULIO SERVIANO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS VIBIO SEVERO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS VIBIO SEVERO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS MAESIO MAXIMO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS MAESIO MAXIMO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO PRISCO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO PRISCO SUO S.

LIBER QVARTVS

LIBER QVARTVS

1. C. PLINIUS <CALPURNIO> FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1. C. PLINIUS <CALPURNIO> FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS ATTIO CLEMENTI SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS ATTIO CLEMENTI SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS SOSIO SENECIONI SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS SOSIO SENECIONI SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS IULIO SPARSO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS IULIO SPARSO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS IULIO NASONI SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS IULIO NASONI SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS CATIO LEPIDO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS CATIO LEPIDO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS MATURO ARRIANO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS MATURO ARRIANO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO URSO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO URSO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS STATIO SABINO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS STATIO SABINO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO MINICIANO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO MINICIANO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS MATURO ARRIANO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS MATURO ARRIANO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS [DECIMO] PATERNO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS [DECIMO] PATERNO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS MINICIO FUNDANO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS MINICIO FUNDANO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS VALERIO PAULINO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS VALERIO PAULINO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS CLUSINIO GALLO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS CLUSINIO GALLO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE HISPULLAE SUAE S.

19. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE HISPULLAE SUAE S.

20. C. PLINIUS NOVIO MAXIMO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS NOVIO MAXIMO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS VELIO CERIALI SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS VELIO CERIALI SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS SEMPRONIO RUFO SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS SEMPRONIO RUFO SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS POMPONIO BASSO SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS POMPONIO BASSO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS FABIO VALENTI SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS FABIO VALENTI SUO S.

25. C. PLINIUS MAESIO MAXIMO SUO S.

25. C. PLINIUS MAESIO MAXIMO SUO S.

26. C. PLINIUS MAECILIO NEPOTI SUO S.

26. C. PLINIUS MAECILIO NEPOTI SUO S.

27. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO FALCONI SUO S.

27. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO FALCONI SUO S.

28. C. PLINIUS VIBIO SEVERO SUO S.

28. C. PLINIUS VIBIO SEVERO SUO S.

29. C. PLINIUS ROMATIO FIRMO SUO S.

29. C. PLINIUS ROMATIO FIRMO SUO S.

30. C. PLINIUS LICINIO SURAE SUO S.

30. C. PLINIUS LICINIO SURAE SUO S.

LIBER QVINTVS

LIBER QVINTVS

1. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SEVERO SUO S.

1. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SEVERO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO FLACCO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO FLACCO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS TITIO ARISTONI SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS TITIO ARISTONI SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS IULIO VALERIANO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS IULIO VALERIANO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS NOVIO MAXIMO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS NOVIO MAXIMO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS DOMITIO APOLLINARI SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS DOMITIO APOLLINARI SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS TITINIO CAPITONI SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS TITINIO CAPITONI SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS SEMPRONIO RUFO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS SEMPRONIO RUFO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS TERENTIO SCAURO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS TERENTIO SCAURO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS <IULIO> VALERIANO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS <IULIO> VALERIANO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS PONTIO ALLIFANO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS PONTIO ALLIFANO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS AEFULANO MARCELLINO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS AEFULANO MARCELLINO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS VESTRICIO SPURINNAE SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS VESTRICIO SPURINNAE SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO MACRO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO MACRO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS VALERIO PAULINO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS VALERIO PAULINO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO URSO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO URSO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO SATURNINO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO SATURNINO SUO S.

LIBER SEXTVS

LIBER SEXTVS

1. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

1. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS VERO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS VERO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

4. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

5. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS FUNDANO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS FUNDANO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

7. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

8. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS ALBINO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS ALBINO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS MAURICO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS MAURICO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S. (Mount Vesuvius Eruption Account I)

16. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S. (Mount Vesuvius Eruption Account I)

17. C. PLINIUS RESTITUTO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS RESTITUTO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S. (Mount Vesuvius Eruption Account II)

20. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S. (Mount Vesuvius Eruption Account II)

21. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS TRIARIO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS TRIARIO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS MACRO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS MACRO SUO S.

25. C. PLINIUS HISPANO SUO S.

25. C. PLINIUS HISPANO SUO S.

26. C. PLINIUS SERVIANO SUO S.

26. C. PLINIUS SERVIANO SUO S.

27. C. PLINIUS SEVERO SUO S.

27. C. PLINIUS SEVERO SUO S.

28. C. PLINIUS PONTIO SUO S.

28. C. PLINIUS PONTIO SUO S.

29. C. PLINIUS QUADRATO SUO S.

29. C. PLINIUS QUADRATO SUO S.

30. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

30. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

31. C. PLINIUS CORNELIANO SUO S.

31. C. PLINIUS CORNELIANO SUO S.

32. C. PLINIUS QUINTILIANO SUO S.

32. C. PLINIUS QUINTILIANO SUO S.

33. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

33. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

34. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

34. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

LIBER SEPTIMVS

LIBER SEPTIMVS

1. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

1. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS IUSTO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS IUSTO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS PRAESENTI SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS PRAESENTI SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS PONTIO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS PONTIO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

5. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

6. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS MINICIO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS MINICIO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS FEROCI SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS FEROCI SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS CORELLIAE SUAE S.

14. C. PLINIUS CORELLIAE SUAE S.

15. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS CELERI SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS CELERI SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS CORNUTO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS CORNUTO SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS FALCONI SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS FALCONI SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

25. C. PLINIUS RUFO SUO S.

25. C. PLINIUS RUFO SUO S.

26. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

26. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

27. C. PLINIUS SURAE SUO S.

27. C. PLINIUS SURAE SUO S.

28. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO SUO S.

28. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO SUO S.

29. C. PLINIUS MONTANO SUO S.

29. C. PLINIUS MONTANO SUO S.

30. C. PLINIUS GENITORI SUO S.

30. C. PLINIUS GENITORI SUO S.

31. C. PLINIUS CORNUTO SUO S.

31. C. PLINIUS CORNUTO SUO S.

32. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

32. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

33. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

33. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

LIBER OCTAVVS

LIBER OCTAVVS

1. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO SUO S.

1. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS SPARSO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS SPARSO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS MONTANO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS MONTANO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS HISPULLAE SUAE S.

11. C. PLINIUS HISPULLAE SUAE S.

12. C. PLINIUS MINICIANO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS MINICIANO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS GENIALI SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS GENIALI SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS ARISTONI SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS ARISTONI SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS IUNIORI SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS IUNIORI SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS PATERNO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS PATERNO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS RUFINO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS RUFINO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS GALLO SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS GALLO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS MARCELLINO SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS MARCELLINO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

LIBER NONVS

LIBER NONVS

1. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

2. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

3. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

4. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

5. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO SUO S.

6. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

7. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS AUGURINO SUO S.

8. C. PLINIUS AUGURINO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS COLONO SUO S.

9. C. PLINIUS COLONO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

10. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

11. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS IUNIORI SUO S.

12. C. PLINIUS IUNIORI SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS QUADRATO SUO S.

13. C. PLINIUS QUADRATO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

14. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS FALCONI SUO S.

15. C. PLINIUS FALCONI SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS MAMILIANO SUO S.

16. C. PLINIUS MAMILIANO SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS GENITORI SUO S.

17. C. PLINIUS GENITORI SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

18. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS RUSONI SUO S.

19. C. PLINIUS RUSONI SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS VENATORI SUO S.

20. C. PLINIUS VENATORI SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS SABINIANO SUO S.

21. C. PLINIUS SABINIANO SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS SEVERO SUO S.

22. C. PLINIUS SEVERO SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

23. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS SABINIANO SUO S.

24. C. PLINIUS SABINIANO SUO S.

25. C. PLINIUS MAMILIANO SUO S.

25. C. PLINIUS MAMILIANO SUO S.

26. C. PLINIUS LUPERCO SUO S.

26. C. PLINIUS LUPERCO SUO S.

27. C. PLINIUS PATERNO SUO S.

27. C. PLINIUS PATERNO SUO S.

28. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

28. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

29. C. PLINIUS RUSTICO SUO S.

29. C. PLINIUS RUSTICO SUO S.

30. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

30. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

31. C. PLINIUS SARDO SUO S.

31. C. PLINIUS SARDO SUO S.

32. C. PLINIUS TITIANO SUO S.

32. C. PLINIUS TITIANO SUO S.

33. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

33. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

34. C. PLINIUS TRANQUILLO SUO S.

34. C. PLINIUS TRANQUILLO SUO S.

35. C. PLINIUS ATRIO SUO S.

35. C. PLINIUS ATRIO SUO S.

36. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

36. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

37. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

37. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

38. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

38. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

39. C. PLINIUS MUSTIO SUO S.

39. C. PLINIUS MUSTIO SUO S.

40. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

40. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

LIBER X. C. PLINII CAECILII SECVNDI EPISTVLARVM LIBER DECIMVS AD TRAIANVM IMPERATOREM CVM EIVSDEM RESPONSIS

LIBER X. C. PLINII CAECILII SECVNDI EPISTVLARVM LIBER DECIMVS AD TRAIANVM IMPERATOREM CVM EIVSDEM RESPONSIS

1. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

2. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

2. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

3 A. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

3 A. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

3 B. TRAIANUS PLINIO

3 B. TRAIANUS PLINIO

4. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

4. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

5. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

5. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

6. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

6. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

7. TRAIANUS PLINIO

7. TRAIANUS PLINIO

8. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

8. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

9. TRAIANUS PLINIO

9. TRAIANUS PLINIO

10. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

10. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

11. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

11. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

12. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

12. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

13. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

13. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

14. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

14. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

15. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

15. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

16. TRAIANUS PLINIO

16. TRAIANUS PLINIO

17 A. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

17 A. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

17 B. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

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LIBER PRIMVS

BOOK I.

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1. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO CLARO SUO S.

1 Frequenter hortatus es, ut epistulas, si quas paulo curatius scripsissem, colligerem publicaremque. Collegi non servato temporis ordine — neque enim historiam componebam -, sed ut quaeque in manus venerat. 2 Superest ut nec te consilii nec me paeniteat obsequii. Ita enim fiet, ut eas quae adhuc neglectae iacent requiram et si quas addidero non supprimam. Vale.

I. — TO SEPTICIUS.

You have constantly urged me to collect and publish the more highly finished of the letters that I may have written. I have made such a collection, but without preserving the order in which they were composed, as I was not writing a historical narrative. So I have taken them as they happened to come to hand. I can only hope that you will not have cause to regret the advice you gave, and that I shall not repent having followed it; for I shall set to work to recover such letters as have up to now been tossed on one side, and I shall not keep back any that I may write in the future. Farewell.

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2. C. PLINIUS MATURO ARRIANO SUO S.

1 Quia tardiorem adventum tuum prospicio, librum quem prioribus epistulis promiseram exhibeo. Hunc rogo ex consuetudine tua et legas et emendes, eo magis quod nihil ante peraeque eodem ‘zêlô’ scripsisse videor. 2 Temptavi enim imitari Demosthenen semper tuum, Calvum nuper meum, dumtaxat figuris orationis; nam vim tantorum virorum, ‘pauci quos aequus ...’ assequi possunt. 3 Nec materia ipsa huic — vereor ne improbe dicam — aemulationi repugnavit: erat enim prope tota in contentione dicendi, quod me longae desidiae indormientem excitavit, si modo is sum ego qui excitari possim. 4 Non tamen omnino Marci nostri ‘lêkythous’ fugimus, quotiens paulum itinere decedere non intempestivis amoenitatibus admonebamur: acres enim esse non tristes volebamus. 5 Nec est quod putes me sub hac exceptione veniam postulare. Nam quo magis intendam limam tuam, confitebor et ipsum me et contubernales ab editione non abhorrere, si modo tu fortasse errori nostro album calculum adieceris. 6 Est enim plane aliquid edendum — atque utinam hoc potissimum quod paratum est! Audis desidiae votum — edendum autem ex pluribus causis, maxime quod libelli quos emisimus dicuntur in manibus esse, quamvis iam gratiam novitatis exuerint; nisi tamen auribus nostris bibliopolae blandiuntur. Sed sane blandiantur, dum per hoc mendacium nobis studia nostra commendent. Vale.

II. — TO ARRIANUS.

As I see that your arrival is likely to be later than I expected, I forward you the speech which I promised in an earlier letter. I beg that you will read and revise it as you have done with other compositions of mine, because I think none of my previous works is written in quite the same style. I have tried to imitate, at least in manner and turns of phrase, your old favourite, Demosthenes, and Calvus, to whom I have recently taken a great fancy; for to catch the fire and power of such acknowledged stylists is only given to the heaven-inspired few. I hope you will not think me conceited if I say that the subject- matter was not unworthy of such imitation, for throughout the whole argument I found something that kept rousing me from my sleepy and confirmed indolence, that is to say, as far as a person of my temperament can be roused. Not that I abjured altogether the pigments of our master Cicero; when an opportunity arose for a pleasant little excursion from the main path of my argument I availed myself of it, as my object was to be terse without being unnecessarily dry. Nor must you think that I am apologising for these few passages. For just to make your eye for faults the keener, I will confess that both my friends here and myself have no fear of publishing the speech, if you will but set your mark of approval against the passages that possibly show my folly. I must publish something, and I only hope that the best thing for the purpose may be this volume which is ready finished. That is the prayer of a lazy man, is it not? but there are several reasons why I must publish, and the strongest is that the various copies I have lent out are said to still find readers, though by this time they have lost the charm of novelty. Of course, it may be that the booksellers say this to flatter me. Well, let them flatter, so long as fibs of this kind encourage me to study the harder. Farewell.

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3. C. PLINIUS CANINIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Quid agit Comum, tuae meaeque deliciae? quid suburbanum amoenissimum, quid illa porticus verna semper, quid platanon opacissimus, quid euripus viridis et gemmeus, quid subiectus et serviens lacus, quid illa mollis et tamen solida gestatio, quid balineum illud quod plurimus sol implet et circumit, quid triclinia illa popularia illa paucorum, quid cubicula diurna nocturna? Possident te et per vices partiuntur? 2 An, ut solebas, intentione rei familiaris obeundae crebris excursionibus avocaris? Si possident, felix beatusque es; si minus, ‘unus e multis’. 3 Quin tu — tempus enim — humiles et sordidas curas aliis mandas, et ipse te in alto isto pinguique secessu studiis asseris? Hoc sit negotium tuum hoc otium; hic labor haec quies; in his vigilia, in his etiam somnus reponatur. 4 Effinge aliquid et excude, quod sit perpetuo tuum. Nam reliqua rerum tuarum post te alium atque alium dominum sortientur, hoc numquam tuum desinet esse si semel coeperit. 5 Scio quem animum, quod horter ingenium; tu modo enitere ut tibi ipse sis tanti, quanti videberis aliis si tibi fueris. Vale.

III. — TO CANINIUS RUFUS.

How is Comum looking, your darling spot and mine? And that most charming villa of yours, what of it, and its portico where it is always spring, its shady clumps of plane trees, its fresh crystal canal, and the lake below that gives such a charming view? How is the exercise ground, so soft yet firm to the foot; how goes the bath that gets the sun’s rays so plentifully as he journeys round it? What too of the big banqueting halls and the little rooms just for a few, and the retiring rooms for night and day? Have they full possession of you, and do they share your company in turn? or are you, as usual, continually being called away to attend to private family business? You are indeed a lucky man if you can spend all your leisure there; if you cannot, your case is that of most of us. But really it is time that you passed on your unimportant and petty duties for others to look after, and buried yourself among your books in that secluded yet beautiful retreat. Make this at once the business and the leisure of your life, your occupation and your rest; let your waking hours be spent among your books, and your hours of sleep as well. Mould something, hammer out something that shall be known as yours for all time. Your other property will find a succession of heirs when you are gone; what I speak of will continue yours for ever — if once it begins to be. I know the capacity and inventive wit that I am spurring on. You have only to think of yourself as the able man others will think you when you have realised your ability. Farewell.

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4. C. PLINIUS POMPEIAE CELERINAE SOCRUI S.

1 Quantum copiarum in Ocriculano, in Narniensi, in Carsulano, in Perusino tuo, in Narniensi vero etiam balineum! Ex epistulis meis, nam iam tuis opus non est: una illa brevis et verus sufficit. 2 Non mehercule tam mea sunt quae mea sunt, quam quae tua; hoc tamen differunt, quod sollicitius et intentius tui me quam mei excipiunt. Idem fortasse eveniet tibi, si quando in nostra deverteris. 3 Quod velim facias, primum ut perinde nostris rebus ac nos tuis perfruaris, deinde ut mei expergiscantur aliquando, qui me secure ac prope neglegenter exspectant. 4 Nam mitium dominorum apud servos ipsa consuetudine metus exolescit; novitatibus excitantur, probarique dominis per alios magis quam per ipsos laborant. Vale.

IV. — TO POMPEIA CELERINA.

What treasures you have in your villas at Ocriculum, at Narnia, at Carsola and Perusia! Even a bathing place at Narnia! My letters — for now there is no need for you to write — will have shown you how pleased I am, or rather the short letter will which I wrote long ago. The fact is, that some of my own property is scarcely so completely mine as is some of yours; the only difference being that I get more thoroughly and attentively looked after by your servants than I do by my own. You will very likely find the same thing yourself when you come to stay in one of my villas. I hope you will, in the first place that you may get as much pleasure out of what belongs to me as I have from what belongs to you, and in the second that my people may be roused a little to a sense of their duties. I find them rather remiss in their behaviour and almost careless. But that is their way; if they have a considerate master, their fear of him grows less and less as they get to know him, while a new face sharpens their attention and they study to gain their master’s good opinion, not by looking after his wants but those of his guests. Farewell.

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5. C. PLINIUS VOCONIO ROMANO SUO S.

1 Vidistine quemquam M. Regulo timidiorem humiliorem post Domitiani mortem? Sub quo non minora flagitia commiserat quam sub Nerone sed tectiora. Coepit vereri ne sibi irascerer, nec fallebatur: irascebar. 2 Rustici Aruleni periculum foverat, exsultaverat morte; adeo ut librum recitaret publicaretque, in quo Rusticum insectatur atque etiam ‘Stoicorum simiam’ appellat, adicit ‘Vitelliana cicatrice stigmosum’ — agnoscis eloquentiam Reguli -, 3 lacerat Herennium Senecionem tam intemperanter quidem, ut dixerit ei Mettius Carus ‘Quid tibi cum meis mortuis? Numquid ego Crasso aut Camerino molestus sum?’ quos ille sub Nerone accusaverat. 4 Haec me Regulus dolenter tulisse credebat, ideoque etiam cum recitaret librum non adhibuerat. Praeterea reminiscebatur, quam capitaliter ipsum me apud centumviros lacessisset. 5 Aderam Arrionillae Timonis uxori, rogatu Aruleni Rustici; Regulus contra. Nitebamur nos in parte causae sententia Metti Modesti optimi viri: is tunc in exsilio erat, a Domitiano relegatus. Ecce tibi Regulus ‘Quaero,’ inquit, ‘Secunde, quid de Modesto sentias.’ Vides quod periculum, si respondissem ‘bene’; quod flagitium si ‘male’. Non possum dicere aliud tunc mihi quam deos adfuisse. ‘Respondebo’ inquam ‘si de hoc centumviri iudicaturi sunt.’ Rursus ille: ‘Quaero, quid de Modesto sentias.’ 6 Iterum ego: ‘Solebant testes in reos, non in damnatos interrogari.’ Tertio ille: ‘Non iam quid de Modesto, sed quid de pietate Modesti sentias quaero. 7 ‘Quaeris’ inquam ‘quid sentiam; at ego ne interrogare quidem fas puto, de quo pronuntiatum est.’ Conticuit; me laus et gratulatio secuta est, quod nec famam meam aliquo responso utili fortasse, inhonesto tamen laeseram, nec me laqueis tam insidiosae interrogationis involveram.

8 Nunc ergo conscientia exterritus apprehendit Caecilium Celerem, mox Fabium Iustum; rogat ut me sibi reconcilient. Nec contentus pervenit ad Spurinnam; huic suppliciter, ut est cum timet abiectissimus: ‘Rogo mane videas Plinium domi, sed plane mane — neque enim ferre diutius sollicitudinem possum -, et quoquo modo efficias, ne mihi irascatur.’ 9 Evigilaveram; nuntius a Spurinna: ‘Venio ad te.’ ‘Immo ego ad te.’ Coimus in porticum Liviae, cum alter ad alterum tenderemus. Exponit Reguli mandata, addit preces suas, ut decebat optimum virum pro dissimillimo, parce. Cui ego: ‘Dispicies ipse quid renuntiandum Regulo putes. 10 Te decipi a me non oportet. Exspecto Mauricum’ — nondum ab exsilio venerat -: ‘ideo nihil alterutram in partem respondere tibi possum, facturus quidquid ille decreverit; illum enim esse huius consilii ducem, me comitem decet.’ 11 Paucos post dies ipse me Regulus convenit in praetoris officio; illuc persecutus secretum petit; ait timere se ne animo meo penitus haereret, quod in centumvirali iudicio aliquando dixisset, cum responderet mihi et Satrio Rufo: ‘Satrius Rufus, cui non est cum Cicerone aemulatio et qui contentus est eloquentia saeculi nostri’. 12 Respondi nunc me intellegere maligne dictum quia ipse confiteretur, ceterum potuisse honorificum existimari. ‘Est enim’ inquam ‘mihi cum Cicerone aemulatio, nec sum contentus eloquentia saeculi nostri; 13 nam stultissimum credo ad imitandum non optima quaeque proponere. Sed tu qui huius iudicii meministi, cur illius oblitus es, in quo me interrogasti, quid de Metti Modesti pietate sentirem?’ Expalluit notabiliter, quamvis palleat semper, et haesitabundus: ‘Interrogavi non ut tibi nocerem, sed ut Modesto.’ Vide hominis crudelitatem, qui se non dissimulet exsuli nocere voluisse. 14 Subiunxit egregiam causam: ‘Scripsit’ inquit ‘in epistula quadam, quae apud Domitianum recitata est: “Regulus, omnium bipedum nequissimus”’; quod quidem Modestus verissime scripserat. 15 Hic fere nobis sermonis terminus; neque enim volui progredi longius, ut mihi omnia libera servarem dum Mauricus venit. Nec me praeterit esse Regulum ‘dyskathaireton’; est enim locuples factiosus, curatur a multis, timetur a pluribus, quod plerumque fortius amore est. 16 Potest tamen fieri ut haec concussa labantur; nam gratia malorum tam infida est quam ipsi. Verum, ut idem saepius dicam, exspecto Mauricum. Vir est gravis prudens, multis experimentis eruditus et qui futura possit ex praeteritis providere. Mihi et temptandi aliquid et quiescendi illo auctore ratio constabit. 17 Haec tibi scripsi, quia aequum erat te pro amore mutuo non solum omnia mea facta dictaque, verum etiam consilia cognoscere. Vale.

V. — TO VOCONIUS ROMANUS.

Did you ever see a man more abject and fawning than Marcus Regulus has been since the death of Domitian? His misdeeds were better concealed during that prince’s reign, but they were every bit as bad as they were in the time of Nero. He began to be afraid that I was angry with him and he was not mistaken, for I certainly was annoyed. After doing what he could to help those who were compassing the ruin of Rusticus Arulenus, he had openly exulted at his death, and went so far as to publicly read and then publish a pamphlet in which he violently attacks Rusticus and even calls him “the Stoics’ ape,” adding that “he is marked with the brand of Vitellius.” You recognise, of course, the Regulian style! He tears to pieces Herennius Senecio so savagely that Metius Carus said to him, “What have you to do with my dead men? Did I ever worry your Crassus or Camerinus?” — these being some of Regulus’s victims in the days of Nero. Regulus thought I bore him malice for this, and so he did not invite me when he read his pamphlet. Besides, he remembered that he once mortally attacked me in the Court of the Centumviri.

I was a witness on behalf of Arionilla, the wife of Timon, at the request of Rusticus Arulenus, and Regulus was conducting the prosecution. We on our side were relying for part of the defence on a decision of Metius Modestus, an excellent man who had been banished by Domitian and was at that moment in exile. This was Regulus’s opportunity. “Tell me, Secundus,” said he, “what you think of Modestus.” You see in what peril I should have placed myself if I had answered that I thought highly of him, and how disgraceful it would have been if I had said that I thought ill of him. I fancy it must have been the gods who came to my rescue. “I will tell you what I think of him,” I said, “when the Court has to give a decision on the point.” He returned to the charge: “My question is, what do you think of Modestus?” Again I replied: “Witnesses used to be interrogated about persons in the dock, not about those who are already convicted.” A third time he asked: “Well, I won’t ask you now what you think of Modestus, but what you think of his loyalty.” “You ask me,” said I, “for my opinion. But I do not think it is in order for you to ask an opinion on what the Court has already passed judgment.” He was silenced, while I was congratulated and praised for not having smirched my reputation by giving an answer that might have been discreet but would certainly have been dishonest, and for not having entangled myself in the meshes of such a crafty question.

Well, now the fellow is conscience-stricken, and buttonholes first Caecilius Celer and then implores Fabius Justsus to reconcile me to him. Not content with that, he makes his way in to see Spurinna, and begs and prays of him — you know what an abject coward he is when he is frightened — as follows. “Do go,” says he, “and call on Pliny in the morning — early in the morning, for my suspense is unbearable — and do what you can to remove his anger against me.” I was early awake that day, when a message came from Spurinna, “I am coming to see you.” I sent back word, “I will come and see you.” We met at the portico of Livia, just as we were each of us on the way to see the other. He explained his commission from Regulus and added his own entreaties, but did not press the point too strongly, as became a worthy gentleman asking a favour for a worthless acquaintance. This was my answer: “Well, you must see for yourself what message you think best to take back to Regulus; I should not like you to be under any misapprehension. I am waiting till Mauricus returns” — he had not yet returned from exile- -”and so I cannot give you an answer either way, for I shall do just what he thinks best. It is he who is principally interested in this matter, I am only secondarily concerned.” A few days afterwards Regulus himself met me when I was paying my respects to the new praetor. He followed me thither and asked for a private conversation. He said he was afraid that something he once said in the Court of the Centumviri rankled in my memory, when, in replying to Satrius Rufus and myself, he remarked, “Satrius Rufus, who is quite content with the eloquence of our days, and does not seek to rival Cicero.” I told him that as I had his own confession for it I could now see that the remark was a spiteful one, but that it was quite possible to put a complimentary construction upon it. “For,” said I, “I do try to rival Cicero, and I am not content with the eloquence of our own time. I think it is very stupid not to take as models the very best masters. But how is it that you remember this case and forget the other one in which you asked me what I thought of the loyalty of Metius Modestus?” As you know, he is always pale, but he grew perceptibly paler at this thrust. Then he stammered out, “I put the question not to damage you but Modestus.” Observe the man’s malignant nature who does not mind acknowledging that he wished to do an injury to an exile. Then he went on to make this fine excuse; “He wrote in a letter which was read aloud in Domitian’s presence, ‘Regulus is the vilest creature that walks on two legs.’” Modestus never wrote a truer word.

That practically closed the conversation. I did not wish it to go any further, so that I might not commit myself until Mauricus arrived. Moreover, I am quite aware that Regulus is a difficult bird to net. He is rich, he is a shrewd intriguer, he has no inconsiderable body of followers and a still larger circle of those who fear him, and fear is often a more powerful factor than affection. But, after all, these are bonds that may be shattered and weakened, for a bad man’s influence is as little to be relied upon as is the man himself. Moreover, let me repeat that I am waiting for Mauricus. He is a man of sound judgment and sagacity, which he has learned by experience, and he can gauge what is likely to happen in the future from what has occurred in the past. I shall be guided by him, and either strike a blow or put by my weapons just as he thinks best. I have written you this letter because it is only right, considering our regard for one another, that you should be acquainted not only with what I have said and done, but also with my plans for the future. Farewell.

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6. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

1 Ridebis, et licet rideas. Ego, ille quem nosti, apros tres et quidem pulcherrimos cepi. ‘Ipse?’ inquis. Ipse; non tamen ut omnino ab inertia mea et quiete discederem. Ad retia sedebam; erat in proximo non venabulum aut lancea, sed stilus et pugillares; meditabar aliquid enotabamque, ut si manus vacuas, plenas tamen ceras reportarem. 2 Non est quod contemnas hoc studendi genus; mirum est ut animus agitatione motuque corporis excitetur; iam undique silvae et solitudo ipsumque illud silentium quod venationi datur, magna cogitationis incitamenta sunt. 3 Proinde cum venabere, licebit auctore me ut panarium et lagunculam sic etiam pugillares feras: experieris non Dianam magis montibus quam Minervam inerrare. Vale.

VI. — TO CORNELIUS TACITUS.

You will laugh, and I give you leave to. You know what sort of sportsman I am, but I, even I, have bagged three boars, each one of them a perfect beauty. “What!” you will say, “YOU!” Yes, I, and that too without any violent departure from my usual lazy ways. I was sitting by the nets; I had by my side not a hunting spear and a dart, but my pen and writing tablets. I was engaged in some composition and jotting down notes, so that I might have full tablets to take home with me, even though my hands were empty. You need not shrug your shoulders at study under such conditions. It is really surprising how the mind is stimulated by bodily movement and exercise. I find the most powerful incentive to thought in having the woods all about me, in the solitude and the silence which is observed in hunting. So when next you go hunting, take my advice and carry your writing tablets with you as well as your luncheon basket and your flask. You will find that Minerva loves to wander on the mountains quite as much as Diana. Farewell.

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7. C. PLINIUS OCTAVIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Vide in quo me fastigio collocaris, cum mihi idem potestatis idemque regni dederis quod Homerus Iovi Optimo Maximo: ‘tô d’ heteron men edôke patêr, heteron d’ aneneusen.’ 2 Nam ego quoque simili nutu ac renutu respondere voto tuo possum. Etenim, sicut fas est mihi, praesertim te exigente, excusare Baeticis contra unum hominem advocationem, ita nec fidei nostrae nec constantiae quam diligis convenit, adesse contra provinciam quam tot officiis, tot laboribus, tot etiam periculis meis aliquando devinxerim. 3 Tenebo ergo hoc temperamentum, ut ex duobus, quorum alterutrum petis, eligam id potius, in quo non solum studio tuo verum etiam iudicio satisfaciam. Neque enim tantopere mihi considerandum est, quid vir optimus in praesentia velis, quam quid semper sis probaturus. 4 Me circa Idus Octobris spero Romae futurum, eademque haec praesentem quoque tua meaque fide Gallo confirmaturum; cui tamen iam nunc licet spondeas de animo meo ‘ê kai kyaneêsin ep’ ophrysi neuse’. 5 Cur enim non usquequaque Homericis versibus agam tecum? quatenus tu me tuis agere non pateris, quorum tanta cupiditate ardeo, ut videar mihi hac sola mercede posse corrumpi, ut vel contra Baeticos adsim. 6 Paene praeterii, quod minime praetereundum fuit, accepisse me careotas optimas, quae nunc cum ficis et boletis certandum habent. Vale.

VII. — TO OCTAVIUS RUFUS.

See on what a pinnacle you have placed me by giving me the same power and royal will that Homer attributed to Jupiter, Best and Greatest:— “One half his prayer the Father granted, the other half he refused.” For I too can answer your request by just nodding a yes or no. It is open to me, especially as you press me to do so, to decline to act on behalf of the Barbici against a single individual; but I should be violating the good faith and constancy that you admire in me, if I were to accept a brief against a province to which I am bound by many friendly ties, and by the work and dangers I have often undertaken in its behalf. So I will take a middle course, and of the alternative favours you ask I will choose the one which will commend itself both to your interest and your judgment. For what I have to consider is not so much what will meet your wishes of the moment, but how to do that which will win the steady approval of a man of your high character. I hope to be in Rome about the Ides of October and then join my credit with yours, and convince Gallus in person of the wisdom of my resolve, though even now you may assure him of my good intentions. “He spake, and Kronios nodded his dark brows.” Homer again, but why should I not go on plying you with Homeric lines? You will not let me ply you with verses of your own, though I love them so well that I think your permission to quote them would be the one bribe that would induce me to appear against the Barbici. I have almost made a shocking omission, and forgotten to thank you for the dates you sent me. They are very fine, and are likely to prove strong rivals of my figs and mushrooms. Farewell.

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8. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO SATURNINO SUO S.

1 Peropportune mihi redditae sunt litterae tuae quibus flagitabas, ut tibi aliquid ex scriptis meis mitterem, cum ego id ipsum destinassem. Addidisti ergo calcaria sponte currenti, pariterque et tibi veniam recusandi laboris et mihi exigendi verecundiam sustulisti. 2 Nam nec me timide uti decet eo quod oblatum est, nec te gravari quod depoposcisti. Non est tamen quod ab homine desidioso aliquid novi operis exspectes. Petiturus sum enim ut rursus vaces sermoni quem apud municipes meos habui bibliothecam dedicaturus. 3 Memini quidem te iam quaedam adnotasse, sed generaliter; ideo nunc rogo ut non tantum universitati eius attendas, verum etiam particulas qua soles lima persequaris. Erit enim et post emendationem liberum nobis vel publicare vel continere. 4 Quin immo fortasse hanc ipsam cunctationem nostram in alterutram sententiam emendationis ratio deducet, quae aut indignum editione dum saepius retractat inveniet, aut dignum dum id ipsum experitur efficiet. 5 Quamquam huius cunctationis meae causae non tam in scriptis quam in ipso materiae genere consistunt: est enim paulo quasi gloriosius et elatius. Onerabit hoc modestiam nostram, etiamsi stilus ipse pressus demissusque fuerit, propterea quod cogimur cum de munificentia parentum nostrorum tum de nostra disputare. 6 Anceps hic et lubricus locus est, etiam cum illi necessitas lenocinatur. Etenim si alienae quoque laudes parum aequis auribus accipi solent, quam difficile est obtinere, ne molesta videatur oratio de se aut de suis disserentis! Nam cum ipsi honestati tum aliquanto magis gloriae eius praedicationique invidemus, atque ea demum recte facta minus detorquemus et carpimus, quae in obscuritate et silentio reponuntur. 7 Qua ex causa saepe ipse mecum, nobisne tantum, quidquid est istud, composuisse an et aliis debeamus. Ut nobis, admonet illud, quod pleraque quae sunt agendae rei necessaria, eadem peracta nec utilitatem parem nec gratiam retinent.

8 Ac, ne longius exempla repetamus, quid utilius fuit quam munificentiae rationem etiam stilo prosequi? Per hoc enim assequebamur, primum ut honestis cogitationibus immoraremur, deinde ut pulchritudinem illarum longiore tractatu pervideremus, postremo ut subitae largitionis comitem paenitentiam caveremus. Nascebatur ex his exercitatio quaedam contemnendae pecuniae. 9 Nam cum omnes homines ad custodiam eius natura restrinxerit, nos contra multum ac diu pensitatus amor liberalitatis communibus avaritiae vinculis eximebat, tantoque laudabilior munificentia nostra fore videbatur, quod ad illam non impetu quodam, sed consilio trahebamur. 10 Accedebat his causis, quod non ludos aut gladiatores sed annuos sumptus in alimenta ingenuorum pollicebamur. Oculorum porro et aurium voluptates adeo non egent commendatione, ut non tam incitari debeant oratione quam reprimi; 11 ut vero aliquis libenter educationis taedium laboremque suscipiat, non praemiis modo verum etiam exquisitis adhortationibus impetrandum est. 12 Nam si medici salubres sed voluptate carentes cibos blandioribus alloquiis prosequuntur, quanto magis decuit publice consulentem utilissimum munus, sed non perinde populare, comitate orationis inducere? praesertim cum enitendum haberemus, ut quod parentibus dabatur et orbis probaretur, honoremque paucorum ceteri patienter et exspectarent et mererentur. 13 Sed ut tunc communibus magis commodis quam privatae iactantiae studebamus, cum intentionem effectumque muneris nostri vellemus intellegi, ita nunc in ratione edendi veremur, ne forte non aliorum utilitatibus sed propriae laudi servisse videamur.

14 Praeterea meminimus quanto maiore animo honestatis fructus in conscientia quam in fama reponatur. Sequi enim gloria, non appeti debet, nec, si casu aliquo non sequatur, idcirco quod gloriam meruit minus pulchrum est. 15 Ii vero, qui benefacta sua verbis adornant, non ideo praedicare quia fecerint, sed ut praedicarent fecisse creduntur. Sic quod magnificum referente alio fuisset, ipso qui gesserat recensente vanescit; homines enim cum rem destruere non possunt, iactationem eius incessunt. Ita si silenda feceris, factum ipsum, si laudanda non sileas, ipse culparis. 16 Me vero peculiaris quaedam impedit ratio. Etenim hunc ipsum sermonem non apud populum, sed apud decuriones habui, nec in propatulo sed in curia. 17 Vereor ergo ut sit satis congruens, cum in dicendo assentationem vulgi acclamationemque defugerim, nunc eadem illa editione sectari, cumque plebem ipsam, cui consulebatur, limine curiae parietibusque discreverim, ne quam in speciem ambitionis inciderem, nunc eos etiam, ad quos ex munere nostro nihil pertinet praeter exemplum, velut obvia ostentatione conquirere. 18 Habes cunctationis meae causas; obsequar tamen consilio tuo, cuius mihi auctoritas pro ratione sufficiet. Vale.

VIII. — TO POMPEIUS SATURNINUS.

Your letter, asking me to send you one of my compositions, came at an opportune moment, for I had just made up my mind to do so. So you were spurring a willing horse, and you have not only spoiled your only chance of making excuses for declining, but have enabled me to press work upon you without feeling ashamed at asking the favour. For it would be equally unbecoming for me to hesitate about accepting your offer as for you who made it to look upon it as a bore. However, you must not expect anything of an original kind from a lazy man like me. I shall only ask you to find time to again look through the speech which I made to my townsfolk at the dedication of the public library. I remember that you have already criticised a few points therein, but merely in a general way, and I now beg that you will not only criticise it as a whole, but will ply your pencil on particular passages as well, in your severest manner. For even after a thorough revision it will still be open to us to publish or suppress it as we think fit. Very likely the revision will help us out of our hesitation and enable us to decide one way or the other. By looking through it again and again we shall either find that it is not worth publication or we shall render it worthy by the way we revise it.

What makes me doubtful is rather the subject-matter than the actual composition. It is perhaps a shade too laudatory and ostentatious. And this will be more than our modesty can carry, however plain and unassuming the style in which it is written, especially as I have to enlarge on the munificence of my relatives as well as on my own. It is a ticklish and dangerous subject, even when one can flatter one’s self that there was no way of avoiding it. For if people grow impatient at hearing the praises of others, how much more difficult must it be to prevent a speech becoming tedious when we sing our own praises or those of our family? We look askance even at unpretentious honesty, and do so all the more when its fame is trumpeted abroad. In short, it is only the good action that is done by stealth and passes unapplauded which protects the doer from the carping criticism of the world. For this reason I have often debated whether I ought to have composed the speech, such as it is, simply to suit my own feelings, or whether I should have looked beyond myself to the public. I am inclined to the former alternative by the thought that many actions which are necessary to the performance of an object lose their point and appositeness when that object is attained. I will not weary you with examples further than to ask whether anything could have been more appropriate than my gracing in writing the reasons which prompted my generosity. By so doing, the result was that I grew familiar with generous sentiments; the more I discussed the virtue the more I saw its beauties, and above all I saved myself from the reaction that often follows a sudden fit of open- handedness. From all this there gradually grew up within me the habit of despising money, and whereas nature seems to have tied men down to their money bags to guard them, I was enabled to throw off the prevailing shackles of avarice by my long and carefully reasoned love of generosity. Consequently my munificence appeared to me to be all the more worthy of praise, inasmuch as I was drawn to it by reason and not by any sudden impulse.

Again, I also felt that I was promising not mere games or gladiatorial shows, but an annual subscription for the upbringing of freeborn youths. The pleasures of the eye and ear never lack eulogists; on the contrary, they need rather to be put in the background than in the foreground by speakers: but to obtain volunteers who will undertake the fatigue and hard work of self-culture, we have not only to offer rewards but to encourage them with the choicest addresses. For if doctors have to coax their patients into adopting an insipid but yet wholesome diet, how much the more ought the man who is giving his fellows good advice to use all the allurements of oratory to make his hearers adopt a course which, though most useful, is not generally popular? Especially is this the case when we have to try and convince men who have no children of the value of the boon which is bestowed on those who have, and to induce all the rest to wait patiently till their turn comes to receive the benefit now given to a few, and in the meantime show themselves fit recipients for it. But just as then, when we wished to explain the meaning and bearing of our bounty, we were studying the common good and not seeking an opportunity for self-boasting, so now in the matter of publication we are afraid lest people should think that we have had an eye not so much to the benefit of others as to our own glorification. Besides, we do not forget how much better it is to seek the reward of a good action in the testimony of one’s conscience than in fame. For glory ought to follow of its own accord, and not to be consciously sought for; nor, again, is a good deed any the less beautiful because owing to some chance or other no glory attends it. Those who boast of their own good deeds are credited not so much with boasting for having done them, but with having done them in order to be able to boast of them. Consequently what would have been considered a noble action if told of by a stranger, loses its striking qualities when recounted by the actual doer. For when men find that the deed itself is inassailable they attack the boastfulness of the doer, and hence if you commit anything to be ashamed of, the deed itself is blamed, while if you perform anything deserving of praise, you are blamed for not having kept silence upon it.

Beyond all this, however, there is a special obstacle in the way of publishing the speech. I delivered it not before the people but before the municipal corporation, not in public but in the Council Chamber. So I am afraid that it may look inconsistent if, after avoiding the applause and cheers of the crowd when I delivered the speech, I now seek for that applause by publishing it, and if, after getting the common people, whose interests I was seeking, removed from the threshold and the walls of the Chamber — to prevent the appearance of courting popularity — I should now seem to deliberately seek the acclamations of those who are only interested in my munificence to the extent of having a good example shown them. Well, I have told you the grounds of my hesitation, but I shall follow the advice you give me, for its weight will be reason sufficient for me. Farewell.

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9. C. PLINIUS MINICIO FUNDANO SUO S.

1 Mirum est quam singulis diebus in urbe ratio aut constet aut constare videatur, pluribus iunctisque non constet. 2 Nam si quem interroges ‘Hodie quid egisti?’, respondeat: ‘Officio togae virilis interfui, sponsalia aut nuptias frequentavi, ille me ad signandum testamentum, ille in advocationem, ille in consilium rogavit.’ 3 Haec quo die feceris, necessaria, eadem, si cotidie fecisse te reputes, inania videntur, multo magis cum secesseris. Tunc enim subit recordatio: ‘Quot dies quam frigidis rebus absumpsi!’ 4 Quod evenit mihi, postquam in Laurentino meo aut lego aliquid aut scribo aut etiam corpori vaco, cuius fulturis animus sustinetur. 5 Nihil audio quod audisse, nihil dico quod dixisse paeniteat; nemo apud me quemquam sinistris sermonibus carpit, neminem ipse reprehendo, nisi tamen me cum parum commode scribo; nulla spe nullo timore sollicitor, nullis rumoribus inquietor: mecum tantum et cum libellis loquor. 6 O rectam sinceramque vitam! O dulce otium honestumque ac paene omni negotio pulchrius! O mare, o litus, verum secretumque ‘mûseion’, quam multa invenitis, quam multa dictatis! 7 Proinde tu quoque strepitum istum inanemque discursum et multum ineptos labores, ut primum fuerit occasio, relinque teque studiis vel otio trade. 8 Satius est enim, ut Atilius noster eruditissime simul et facetissime dixit, otiosum esse quam nihil agere. Vale.

IX. — TO MINUTIUS FUNDANUS.

It is surprising how if you take each day singly here in the city you pass or seem to pass your time reasonably enough when you take stock thereof, but how, when you put the days together, you are dissatisfied with yourself. If you ask any one, “What have you been doing to-day?” he will say, “Oh, I have been attending a coming-of-age function; I was at a betrothal or a wedding; so-and-so asked me to witness the signing of a will; I have been acting as witness to A, or I have been in consultation with B.” All these occupations appear of paramount importance on the day in question, but if you remember that you repeat the round day after day, they seem a sheer waste of time, especially when you have got away from them into the country; for then the thought occurs to you, “What a number of days I have frittered away in these chilly formalities!” That is how I feel when I am at my Laurentine Villa and busy reading or writing, or even when I am giving my body a thorough rest and so repairing the pillars of my mind. I hear nothing and say nothing to give me vexation; no one comes backbiting a third party, and I myself have no fault to find with any one except it be with myself when my pen does not run to my liking. I have no hopes and fears to worry me, no rumours to disturb my rest. I hold converse with myself and with my books. ’Tis a genuine and honest life; such leisure is delicious and honourable, and one might say that it is much more attractive than any business. The sea, the shore, these are the true secret haunts of the Muses, and how many inspirations they give me, how they prompt my musings! Do, I beg of you, as soon as ever you can, turn your back on the din, the idle chatter, and the frivolous occupations of Rome, and give yourself up to study or recreation. It is better, as our friend Attilius once very wittily and very truly said, to have no occupation than to be occupied with nothingness. Farewell.

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10. C. PLINIUS ATTIO CLEMENTI SUO S.

1 Si quando urbs nostra liberalibus studiis floruit, nunc maxime floret. 2 Multa claraque exempla sunt; sufficeret unum, Euphrates philosophus. Hunc ego in Syria, cum adulescentulus militarem, penitus et domi inspexi, amarique ab eo laboravi, etsi non erat laborandum. Est enim obvius et expositus, plenusque humanitate quam praecipit. 3 Atque utinam sic ipse quam spem tunc ille de me concepit impleverim, ut ille multum virtutibus suis addidit! aut ego nunc illas magis miror quia magis intellego. 4 Quamquam ne nunc quidem satis intellego; ut enim de pictore scalptore fictore nisi artifex iudicare, ita nisi sapiens non potest perspicere sapientem. 5 Quantum tamen mihi cernere datur, multa in Euphrate sic eminent et elucent, ut mediocriter quoque doctos advertant et afficiant. Disputat subtiliter graviter ornate, frequenter etiam Platonicam illam sublimitatem et latitudinem effingit. Sermo est copiosus et varius, dulcis in primis, et qui repugnantes quoque ducat impellat. 6 Ad hoc proceritas corporis, decora facies, demissus capillus, ingens et cana barba; quae licet fortuita et inania putentur, illi tamen plurimum venerationis acquirunt. 7 Nullus horror in cultu, nulla tristitia, multum severitatis; reverearis occursum, non reformides. Vitae sanctitas summa; comitas par: insectatur vitia non homines, nec castigat errantes sed emendat. Sequaris monentem attentus et pendens, et persuaderi tibi etiam cum persuaserit cupias. 8 Iam vero liberi tres, duo mares, quos diligentissime instituit. Socer Pompeius Iulianus, cum cetera vita tum vel hoc uno magnus et clarus, quod ipse provinciae princeps inter altissimas condiciones generum non honoribus principem, sed sapientia elegit.

9 Quamquam quid ego plura de viro quo mihi frui non licet? An ut magis angar quod non licet? Nam distringor officio, ut maximo sic molestissimo: sedeo pro tribunali, subnoto libellos, conficio tabulas, scribo plurimas sed illitteratissimas litteras. 10 Soleo non numquam — nam id ipsum quando contingit! — de his occupationibus apud Euphraten queri. Ille me consolatur, affirmat etiam esse hanc philosophiae et quidem pulcherrimam partem, agere negotium publicum, cognoscere iudicare, promere et exercere iustitiam, quaeque ipsi doceant in usu habere. 11 Mihi tamen hoc unum non persuadet, satius esse ista facere quam cum illo dies totos audiendo discendoque consumere. Quo magis te cui vacat hortor, cum in urbem proxime veneris — venias autem ob hoc maturius -, illi te expoliendum limandumque permittas. 12 Neque enim ego ut multi invideo aliis bono quo ipse careo, sed contra: sensum quendam voluptatemque percipio, si ea quae mihi denegantur amicis video superesse. Vale.

X. — TO ATTIUS CLEMENS.

If ever there was a time when this Rome of ours was devoted to learning, it is now. There are many shining lights, of whom it will be enough to mention but one. I refer to Euphrates the philosopher. I saw a great deal of him, even in the privacy of his home life, during my young soldiering days in Syria, and I did my best to win his affection, though that was not a hard task, for he is ever easy of access, frank, and full of the humanities that he teaches. I only wish that I had been as successful in fulfilling the hopes he then formed of me as he has been increasing his large stock of virtues, though possibly it is I who now admire them the more because I can appreciate them the better. Even now my appreciation is not as complete as it might be. It is only an artist who can thoroughly judge another painter, sculptor, or image-maker, and so too it needs a philosopher to estimate another philosopher at his full merit. But so far as I can judge, Euphrates has many qualities so conspicuously brilliant that they arrest the eyes and attention even of those who have but modest pretensions to learning. His reasoning is acute, weighty, and elegant, often attaining to the breadth and loftiness that we find in Plato. His conversation flows in a copious yet varied stream, strikingly pleasant to the ear, and with a charm that seizes and carries away even the reluctant hearer. Add to this a tall, commanding presence, a handsome face, long flowing hair, a streaming white beard — all of which may be thought accidental adjuncts and without significance, but they do wonderfully increase the veneration he inspires. There is no studied negligence in his dress, it is severely plain but not austere; when you meet him you revere him without shrinking away in awe. His life is purity itself, but he is just as genial; his lash is not for men but for their vices; for the erring he has gentle words of correction rather than sharp rebuke. When he gives advice you cannot help listening in rapt attention, and you hope he will go on persuading you even when the persuasion is complete. He has three children, two of them sons, whom he has brought up with the strictest care. His father-in-law is Pompeius Julianus, a man of great distinction, but whose chief title to fame is that though, as ruler of a province, he might have chosen a son-in-law of the highest social rank, he preferred one who was distinguished not for social dignities but for wisdom.

Yet why describe at greater length a man whose society I can no longer enjoy? Is it to make myself feel my loss the more? For my time is all taken up by the duties of an office — important, no doubt, but tedious in the extreme. I sit at my magisterial desk; I countersign petitions, I make out the public accounts; I write hosts of letters, but what illiterary productions they are! Sometimes — but how seldom I get the opportunity — I complain to Euphrates about these uncongenial duties. He consoles me and even assures me that there is no more noble part in the whole of philosophy than to be a public official, to hear cases, pass judgment, explain the laws and administer justice, and so practise in short what the philosophers do but teach. But he never can persuade me of this, that it is better to be busy as I am than to spend whole days in listening to and acquiring knowledge from him. That makes me the readier to urge you, whose time is your own, to let him put a finish and polish upon you when you come to town, and I hope you will come all the sooner on that account. I am not one of those — and there are many of them — who grudge to others the happiness they are debarred from themselves; on the contrary, I feel a very lively sense of pleasure in seeing my friends abounding in joys that are denied to me. Farewell.

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11. C. PLINIUS FABIO IUSTO SUO S.

1 Olim mihi nullas epistulas mittis. Nihil est, inquis, quod scribam. At hoc ipsum scribe, nihil esse quod scribas, vel solum illud unde incipere priores solebant: ‘Si vales, bene est; ego valeo.’ 2 Hoc mihi sufficit; est enim maximum. Ludere me putas? serio peto. Fac sciam quid agas, quod sine sollicitudine summa nescire non possum. Vale.

XI. — TO FABIUS JUSTUS.

It is quite a long time since I had a letter from you. “Oh,” you say, “there has been nothing to write about.” But at least you might write and say just that, or you might send me the line with which our grandfathers used to begin their letters: “All is well if you are well, for I am well.” I should be quite satisfied with so much; for, after all, it is the heart of a letter. Do you think I am joking? I am perfectly serious. Pray, let me know of your doings. It makes me feel downright uneasy to be kept in ignorance. Farewell.

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12. C. PLINIUS CALESTRIO TIRONI SUO S.

Corellius überlebt Domitian um einen Tag.

1 Iacturam gravissimam feci, si iactura dicenda est tanti viri amissio. Decessit Corellius Rufus et quidem sponte, quod dolorem meum exulcerat. Est enim luctuosissimum genus mortis, quae non ex natura nec fatalis videtur. 2 Nam utcumque in illis qui morbo finiuntur, magnum ex ipsa necessitate solacium est; in iis vero quos accersita mors aufert, hic insanabilis dolor est, quod creduntur potuisse diu vivere. 3 Corellium quidem summa ratio, quae sapientibus pro necessitate est, ad hoc consilium compulit, quamquam plurimas vivendi causas habentem, optimam conscientiam optimam famam, maximam auctoritatem, praeterea filiam uxorem nepotem sorores, interque tot pignora veros amicos. 4 Sed tam longa, tam iniqua valetudine conflictabatur, ut haec tanta pretia vivendi mortis rationibus vincerentur. Tertio et tricensimo anno, ut ipsum audiebam, pedum dolore correptus est. Patrius hic illi; nam plerumque morbi quoque per successiones quasdam ut alia traduntur. 5 Hunc abstinentia sanctitate, quoad viridis aetas, vicit et fregit; novissime cum senectute ingravescentem viribus animi sustinebat, cum quidem incredibiles cruciatus et indignissima tormenta pateretur. 6 Iam enim dolor non pedibus solis ut prius insidebat, sed omnia membra pervagabatur. Veni ad eum Domitiani temporibus in suburbano iacentem. 7 Servi e cubiculo recesserunt — habebat hoc moris, quotiens intrasset fidelior amicus -; quin etiam uxor quamquam omnis secreti capacissima digrediebatur. 8 Circumtulit oculos et ‘Cur’ inquit ‘me putas hos tantos dolores tam diu sustinere? — ut scilicet isti latroni vel uno die supersim.’ Dedisses huic animo par corpus, fecisset quod optabat. Adfuit tamen deus voto, cuius ille compos ut iam securus liberque moriturus, multa illa vitae sed minora retinacula abrupit. 9 Increverat valetudo, quam temperantia mitigare temptavit; perseverantem constantia fugit. Iam dies alter tertius quartus: abstinebat cibo. Misit ad me uxor eius Hispulla communem amicum C. Geminium cum tristissimo nuntio, destinasse Corellium mori nec aut suis aut filiae precibus inflecti; solum superesse me, a quo revocari posset ad vitam. 10 Cucurri. Perveneram in proximum, cum mihi ab eadem Hispulla Iulius Atticus nuntiat nihil iam ne me quidem impetraturum: tam obstinate magis ac magis induruisse. Dixerat sane medico admoventi cibum: ‘Kekrika’, quae vox quantum admirationis in animo meo tantum desiderii reliquit. 11 Cogito quo amico, quo viro caream. Implevit quidem annum septimum et sexagensimum, quae aetas etiam robustissimis satis longa est; scio. Evasit perpetuam valetudinem; scio. Decessit superstitibus suis, florente re publica, quae illi omnibus carior erat; et hoc scio. 12 Ego tamen tamquam et iuvenis et firmissimi mortem doleo, doleo autem — licet me imbecillum putes — meo nomine. Amisi enim, amisi vitae meae testem rectorem magistrum. In summa dicam, quod recenti dolore contubernali meo Calvisio dixi: ‘Vereor ne neglegentius vivam.’ 13 Proinde adhibe solacia mihi, non haec: ‘Senex erat, infirmus erat’ — haec enim novi -, sed nova aliqua, sed magna, quae audierim numquam, legerim numquam. Nam quae audivi quae legi sponte succurrunt, sed tanto dolore superantur. Vale.

XII. — TO CALESTRIUS TIRO.

I have suffered a most grievous loss, if loss is a word that can be applied to my being bereft of so distinguished a man. Corellius Rufus is dead, and what makes my grief the more poignant is that he died by his own act. Such a death is always most lamentable, since neither natural causes nor Fate can be held responsible for it. When people die of disease there is a great consolation in the thought that no one could have prevented it; when they lay violent hands on themselves we feel a pang which nothing can assuage in the thought that they might have lived longer. Corellius, it is true, felt driven to take his own life by Reason — and Reason is always tantamount to Necessity with philosophers — and yet there were abundant inducements for him to live. His conscience was stainless, his reputation beyond reproach; he stood high in men’s esteem. Moreover, he had a daughter, a wife, a grandson, and sisters, and, besides all these relations, many genuine friends. But his battle against ill-health had been so long and hopeless that all these splendid rewards of living were outweighed by the reasons that urged him to die.

I have heard him say that he was first attacked by gout in the feet when he was thirty-three years of age. He had inherited the complaint, for it often happens that a tendency to disease is handed down like other qualities in a sort of succession. While he was in the prime of life he overcame his malady and kept it well in check by abstemious and pure living, and when it became sharper in its attacks as he grew old he bore up against it with great fortitude of mind. Even when he suffered incredible torture and the most horrible agony — for the pain was no longer confined, as before, to the feet, but had begun to spread over all his limbs — I went to see him in the time of Domitian when he was staying at his country house. His attendants withdrew from his chamber, as they always did whenever one of his more intimate friends entered the room. Even his wife, a lady who might have been trusted to keep any secret, also used to retire. Looking round the room, he said: “Why do you think I endure pain like this so long? It is that I may outlive that tyrant, even if only by a single day.” Could you but have given him a frame fit to support his resolution, he would have achieved the object of his desire. However, some god heard his prayer and granted it, and then feeling that he could die without anxiety and as a free man ought, he snapped the bonds that bound him to life. Though they were many, he preferred death.

His malady had become worse, though he tried to moderate it by his careful diet, and then, as it still continued to grow, he escaped from it by a fixed resolve. Two, three, four days passed and he refused all food. Then his wife Hispulla sent our mutual friend Caius Geminius to tell me the sad news that Corellius had determined to die, that he was not moved by the entreaties of his wife and daughter, and that I was the only one left who might possibly recall him to life. I flew to see him, and had almost reached the house when Hispulla sent me another message by Julius Atticus, saying that now even I could do nothing, for his resolve had become more and more fixed. When the doctor offered him nourishment he said, “My mind is made up,” and the word has awakened within me not only a sense of loss, but of admiration. I keep thinking what a friend, what a manly friend is now lost to me. He was at the end of his seventy-sixth year, an age long enough even for the stoutest of us. True. He has escaped a lifelong illness; he has died leaving children to survive him, and knowing that the State, which was dearer to him than everything else beside, was prospering well. Yes, yes, I know all this. And yet I grieve at his death as I should at the death of a young man in the full vigour of life; I grieve — you may think me weak for so doing — on my own account too. For I have lost, lost for ever, the guide, philosopher, and friend of my life. In short, I will say again what I said to my friend Calvisius, when my grief was fresh: “I am afraid I shall not live so well ordered a life now.” Send me a word of sympathy, but do not say, “He was an old man, or he was infirm.” These are hackneyed words; send me some that are new, that are potent to ease my trouble, that I cannot find in books or hear from my friends. For all that I have heard and read occur to me naturally, but they are powerless in the presence of my excessive sorrow. Farewell.

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13. C. PLINIUS SOSIO SENECIONI SUO S.

1 Magnum proventum poetarum annus hic attulit: toto mense Aprili nullus fere dies, quo non recitaret aliquis. Iuvat me quod vigent studia, proferunt se ingenia hominum et ostentant, tametsi ad audiendum pigre coitur. 2 Plerique in stationibus sedent tempusque audiendi fabulis conterunt, ac subinde sibi nuntiari iubent, an iam recitator intraverit, an dixerit praefationem, an e: magna parte evolucrit librum; tum demum ac tunc quoque Lente cunctanterque veniunt, nec tamen permanent, sed ante finem recedunt, alii dissimulanter et furtim, alii simpliciter et libere. 3 At hercule memoria parentum Claudium Caesarem ferunt, cum in Palatio spatiaretur audissetque clamorem, causam requisisse, cumque dictum esset recitare Nonianum, subitum recitanti inopinatumque venisse. 4 Nunc otiosissimus quisque multo ante rogatus et identidem admonitus aut non venit aut, si venit, queritur se diem — quia non perdidit — perdidisse. 5 Sed tanto magis laudandi probandique sunt, quos a scribendi recitandique studio haec auditorum vel desidia vel superbia non retardat. Equidem prope nemini defui. Erant sane plerique amici; 6 neque enim est fere quisquam, qui studia, ut non simul et nos amet. His ex causis longius quam destinaveram tempus in urbe consumpsi. Possum iam repetere secessum et scribere aliquid, quod non recitem, ne videar, quorum recitationibus adfui, non auditor fuisse sed creditor. Nam ut in ceteris rebus ita in audiendi officio perit gratia si reposcatur. Vale.

XIII. — TO SOSIUS SENECIO.

This year has brought us a fine crop of poets: right through April hardly a day passed without some recital or other. I am delighted that literature is so flourishing and that men are giving such open proofs of brains, even though audiences are found so slow in coming together. People as a rule lounge in the squares and waste the time in gossip when they should be listening to the recital. They get some one to come and tell them whether the reciter has entered the hall yet, whether he has got through his introduction, or whether he has nearly reached the end of his reading. Not until then do they enter the room, and even then they come in slowly and languidly. Nor do they sit it out; no, before the close of the recital they slip away, some sidling out so as not to attract attention, others rising openly and walking out boldly. And yet, by Hercules, our fathers tell a story of how Claudius Caesar one day, while walking up and down in the palace, happened to hear some clapping of hands, and on inquiring the cause and being told that Nonianus was giving a reading, he suddenly joined the company to every one’s surprise. But nowadays even those who have most time on their hands, after receiving early notices and frequent reminders, either fail to put in an appearance, or if they do come they complain that they have wasted a day just because they have not wasted it. All the more praise and credit, therefore, is due to those who do not allow their love of writing and reciting to be damped either by the laziness or the fastidiousness of their audiences. For my own part, I have hardly ever failed to attend. True, the authors are mostly my friends, for almost all the literary people are also friends of mine, and for this reason I have spent more time in Rome than I had intended. But now I can betake myself to my country retreat and compose something, though not for a public recital, lest those whose readings I attended should think I went not so much to hear their works as to get a claim on them to come and hear mine. As in everything else, if you lend a man your ears, all the grace of the act vanishes if you ask for his in return. Farewell.

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14. C. PLINIUS IUNIO MAURICO SUO S.

1 Petis ut fratris tui filiae prospiciam maritum; quod merito mihi potissimum iniungis. Scis enim quanto opere summum illum virum suspexerim dilexerimque, quibus ille adulescentiam meam exhortationibus foverit, quibus etiam laudibus ut laudandus viderer effecerit. 2 Nihil est quod a te mandari mihi aut maius aut gratius, nihil quod honestius a me suscipi possit, quam ut eligam iuvenem, ex quo nasci nepotes Aruleno Rustico deceat. 3 Qui quidem diu quaerendus fuisset, nisi paratus et quasi provisus esset Minicius Acilianus, qui me ut iuvenis iuvenem — est enim minor pauculis annis — familiarissime diligit, reveretur ut senem. 4 Nam ita formari a me et institui cupit, ut ego a vobis solebam. Patria est ei Brixia, ex illa nostra Italia quae multum adhuc verecundiae frugalitatis, atque etiam rusticitatis antiquae, retinet ac servat. 5 Pater Minicius Macrinus, equestris ordinis princeps, quia nihil altius volvit; allectus enim a Divo Vespasiano inter praetorios honestam quietem huic nostrae — ambitioni dicam an dignitati? — constantissime praetulit. 6 Habet aviam maternam Serranam Proculam e municipio Patavio. Nosti loci mores: Serrana tamen Patavinis quoque severitatis exemplum est. Contigit et avunculus ei P. Acilius gravitate prudentia fide prope singulari. In summa nihil erit in domo tota, quod non tibi tamquam in tua placeat. 7 Aciliano vero ipsi plurimum vigoris industriae, quamquam in maxima verecundia. Quaesturam tribunatum praeturam honestissime percucurrit, ac iam pro se tibi necessitatem ambiendi remisit. 8 Est illi facies liberalis, multo sanguine multo rubore suffusa, est ingenua totius corporis pulchritudo et quidam senatorius decor. Quae ego nequaquam arbitror neglegenda; debet enim hoc castitati puellarum quasi praemium dari. 9 Nescio an adiciam esse patri eius amplas facultates. Nam cum imaginor vos quibus quaerimus generum, silendum de facultatibus puto; cum publicos mores atque etiam leges civitatis intueor, quae vel in primis census hominum spectandos arbitrantur, ne id quidem praetereundum videtur. Et sane de posteris et his pluribus cogitanti, hic quoque in condicionibus deligendis ponendus est calculus. 10 Tu fortasse me putes indulsisse amori meo, supraque ista quam res patitur sustulisse. At ego fide mea spondeo futurum ut omnia longe ampliora quam a me praedicantur invenias. Diligo quidem adulescentem ardentissime sicut meretur; sed hoc ipsum amantis est, non onerare eum laudibus. Vale.

XIV. — TO JUNIUS MAURICUS.

You ask me to look out for a husband for your brother’s daughter, and you do well to select me for such a commission. For you know how I looked up to him, and what an affection I had for his splendid qualities; you know, too, what good advice he gave me in my salad days, and how by his warm praises he actually made it appear that I deserved them. You could not have given me a more important commission or one that I should be better pleased to undertake, and there is no charge that I could possibly accept as a greater compliment to myself than that of being set to choose a young man worthy of being the father of grandchildren to Arulenus Rusticus. I should have had to look carefully and long, had it not been that Minucius Acilianus was ready to hand, — one might almost say that Providence had prepared him for the purpose. He has for me the close and affectionate regard of one young man for another — for he is only a few years younger than myself — yet at the same time he pays me the deference due to a man of years, for he is as anxious that I should mould and form his character as I used to be that you and your son should mould mine. His native place is Brixia, a part of that Italy of ours which still retains and preserves much of the old- fashioned courtesy, frugality and even rusticity. His father, Minucius Macrinus, was one of the leaders of the Equestrian order, because he did not wish to attain higher rank; he was admitted by the divine Vespasian to Praetorian rank, and to the end of his days preferred this modest and honourable distinction to the — what shall I say? — ambitions or dignities for which we strive. His grandmother on his mother’s side was Serrana Procula, who belonged to the township of Patavia. You know the character of that place — well, Serrana was a model of austere living even to the people of Patavia. His uncle was Publius Acilius, a man of almost unique weight, judgment, and honour. In short, you will find nothing in the whole of his family which will fail to please you as much as if the family were your own.

As for Acilianus himself, he is an energetic and untiring worker, and the very pink of courtesy. He has already acquitted himself with great credit in the quaestorship, tribunate, and praetorship, and so he has thus spared you the trouble of having to canvass in his behalf. He has a frank, open countenance, fresh-coloured and blooming; a handsome, well-made figure, and an air that would become a senator. These are points which, in my opinion, are not to be neglected, for I regard them as meet rewards to a girl for her chastity. I don’t know whether I should add that his father is a well-to-do man, for when I think of you and your brother for whom we are looking out for a son-in-law, I feel disinclined to speak of money. On the other hand, when I consider the prevailing tendencies of the day and the laws of the state which lay such prominent stress upon the matter of income, I think it right not to overlook the point. Moreover, when I remember the possible issue of the marriage, I feel that in choosing a bridegroom one must take his income into account. Perhaps you will imagine that I have let my affection run away with me, and that I have exaggerated my friend’s merits beyond their due. But I pledge you my word of honour that you will find his virtues to be far in excess of my description of them. I have the most intense affection for the young man, and he deserves my love, but it is one of the proofs of a lover that you do not overburden the object of your regard with praise. Farewell.

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15. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO CLARO SUO S.

1 Heus tu! Promittis ad cenam, nec venis? Dicitur ius: ad assem impendium reddes, nec id modicum. 2 Paratae erant lactucae singulae, cochleae ternae, ova bina, halica cum mulso et nive — nam hanc quoque computabis, immo hanc in primis quae perit in ferculo -, olivae betacei cucurbitae bulbi, alia mille non minus lauta. Audisses comoedos vel lectorem vel lyristen vel — quae mea liberalitas — omnes. 3 At tu apud nescio quem ostrea vulvas echinos Gaditanas maluisti. Dabis poenas, non dico quas. Dure fecisti: invidisti, nescio an tibi, certe mihi, sed tamen et tibi. Quantum nos lusissemus risissemus studuissemus! 4 Potes apparatius cenare apud multos, nusquam hilarius simplicius incautius. In summa experire, et nisi postea te aliis potius excusaveris, mihi semper excusa. Vale.

XV. — TO SEPTICIUS CLARUS.

What a fellow you are! You promise to come to dinner and then fail to turn up! Well, here is my magisterial sentence upon you. You must pay the money I am out of pocket to the last farthing, and you will find the sum no small one. I had provided for each guest one lettuce, three snails, two eggs, spelt mixed with honey and snow (you will please reckon up the cost of the latter as among the costly of all, since it melts away in the dish), olives from Baetica, cucumbers, onions, and a thousand other equally expensive dainties. You would have listened to a comedian, or a reciter, or a harp-player, or perhaps to all, as I am such a lavish host. But you preferred to dine elsewhere, — where I know not — off oysters, sow’s matrices, sea-urchins, and to watch Spanish dancing girls! You will be paid out for it, though how I decline to say. You have done violence to yourself. You have grudged, possibly yourself, but certainly me, a fine treat. Yes, yourself! For how we should have enjoyed ourselves, how we should have laughed together, how we should have applied ourselves! You can dine at many houses in better style than at mine, but nowhere will you have a better time, or such a simple and free and easy entertainment. In short, give me a trial, and if afterwards you do not prefer to excuse yourself to others rather than to me, why then I give you leave to decline my invitations always. Farewell.

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16. C. PLINIUS ERUCIO SUO S.

1 Amabam Pompeium Saturninum — hunc dico nostrum — laudabamque eius ingenium, etiam antequam scirem, quam varium quam flexibile quam multiplex esset; nunc vero totum me tenet habet possidet. 2 Audivi causas agentem acriter et ardenter, nec minus polite et ornate, sive meditata sive subita proferret. Adsunt aptae crebraeque sententiae, gravis et decora constructio, sonantia verba et antiqua. Omnia haec mire placent cum impetu quodam et flumine pervehuntur, placent si retractentur. 3 Senties quod ego, cum orationes eius in manus sumpseris, quas facile cuilibet veterum, quorum est aemulus, comparabis. 4 Idem tamen in historia magis satisfaciet vel brevitate vel luce vel suavitate vel splendore etiam et sublimitate narrandi. Nam in contionibus eadem quae in orationibus vis est, pressior tantum et circumscriptior et adductior. 5 Praeterea facit versus, quales Catullus meus aut Calvus, re vera quales Catullus aut Calvus. Quantum illis leporis dulcedinis amaritudinis amoris! Inserit sane, sed data opera, mollibus levibusque duriusculos quosdam; et hoc quasi Catullus aut Calvus. 6 Legit mihi nuper epistulas; uxoris esse dicebat. Plautum vel Terentium metro solutum legi credidi. Quae sive uxoris sunt ut affirmat, sive ipsius ut negat, pari gloria dignus, qui aut illa componat, aut uxorem quam virginem accepit, tam doctam politamque reddiderit. 7 Est ergo mecum per diem totum; eundem antequam scribam, eundem cum scripsi, eundem etiam cum remittor, non tamquam eundem lego. 8 Quod te quoque ut facias et hortor et moneo; neque enim debet operibus eius obesse quod vivit. An si inter eos quos numquam vidimus floruisset, non solum libros eius verum etiam imagines conquireremus, eiusdem nunc honor praesentis et gratia quasi satietate languescit? 9 At hoc pravum malignumque est, non admirari hominem admiratione dignissimum, quia videre alloqui audire complecti, nec laudare tantum verum etiam amare contingit. Vale.

XVI. — TO ERUCIUS.

I used to be very fond of Pompeius Saturninus — our Saturninus, as I may call him — and to admire his intellectual powers, even before I knew him; they were so varied, so supple, so many-sided; but now I am devoted to him body and soul. I have heard him pleading in the Courts, always keen and empassioned, and his addresses are as polished and graceful when they are impromptu as when they have been carefully prepared. He has a never-failing flow of apt sentiment; his style is weighty and dignified, his language is of the sonorous, classical school. All these qualities charm me immensely when they come pouring forth in a streaming rush of eloquence, and they charm me too when I read them in book form. You will experience the same pleasure as I do when you take them up, and you will at once compare them with some one of the old masters whose rival indeed he is. You will find even greater charm in the style of his historical compositions, in its terseness, its lucidity, smoothness, brilliancy and stateliness, for there is the same vigour in the historical harangues as there is in his own orations, only rather more compressed, restricted, and epigrammatic.

Moreover, he writes verses that Catullus or Calvus might have composed. They are positively brimming over with grace, sweetness, irony and love. He occasionally, and of set design, interpolates among these smooth and easy-flowing verses others cast in a more rugged mould, and here again he is like Catullus and Calvus. A little while ago he read me some letters which he declared had been written by his wife. I thought, on hearing them, that they were either Plautus or Terence in prose, and whether they were composed, as he said, by his wife or by himself, as he denies, his credit is the same. It belongs to him either as the actual author of the letters or as the teacher who has made such a polished and learned lady of his wife — whom he married when she was a girl. So I pass the whole day in the company of Saturninus. I read him before I set pen to paper; I read him again after finishing my writing, and again when I am at leisure. He is always the same but never seems the same. Let me urge and beg of you to do likewise, for the fact that the author is still alive ought not to be of any detriment to his works. If he had been a contemporary of those on whom we have never set eyes, we should not only be seeking to procure copies of his books but also asking for busts of him. Why then, as he is still amongst us, should his credit and popularity dwindle, as though we were tired of him? Surely it is discreditable and scandalous that we should not give a man the due he richly deserves, simply because we can see him with our own eyes, speak to him, hear him, embrace him, and not only praise but love him. Farewell.

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17. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TITIANO SUO S.

1 Est adhuc curae hominibus fides et officium, sunt qui defunctorum quoque amicos agant. Titinius Capito ab imperatore nostro impetravit, ut sibi liceret statuam L. Silani in foro ponere. 2 Pulchrum et magna laude dignum amicitia principis in hoc uti, quantumque gratia valcas, aliorum honoribus experiri. 3 Est omnino Capitoni in usu claros viros colere; mirum est qua religione quo studio imagines Brutorum Cassiorum Catonum domi ubi potest habeat. Idem clarissimi cuiusque vitam egregiis carminibus exornat. 4 Scias ipsum plurimis virtutibus abundare, qui alienas sic amat. Redditus est Silano debitus honor, cuius immortalitati Capito prospexit pariter et suae. Neque enim magis decorum et insigne est statuam in foro populi Romani habere quam ponere. Vale.

XVII. — TO CORNELIUS TITIANUS.

Faith and loyalty are not yet extinct among men: there are still those to be found who keep friendly remembrances even of the dead. Titinius Capito has obtained permission from our Emperor to erect a statue of Lucius Silanus in the Forum. It is a graceful and entirely praiseworthy act to turn one’s friendship with a sovereign to such a purpose, and to use all the influence one possesses to obtain honours for others. But Capito is a devoted hero-worshipper; it is remarkable how religiously and enthusiastically he regards the busts of the Bruti, the Cassii, and the Catos in his own house, where he may do as he pleases in this matter. He even composes splendid lyrics on the lives of all the most famous men of the past. Surely a man who is such an intense admirer of the virtue of others must know how to exemplify a crowd of virtues in his own person. Lucius Silanus quite deserved the honour that has been paid to him, and Capito in seeking to immortalise his memory has immortalised his own quite as much. For it is not more honourable and distinguished to have a statue of one’s own in the Forum of the Roman People than to be the author of some one else’s statue being placed there. Farewell.

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18. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

1 Scribis te perterritum somnio vereri ne quid adversi in; actione patiaris; rogas ut dilationem petam, et pauculos dies, certe proximum, excusem. Difficile est, sed experiar, ‘kai gar t’ onar ek Dios estin’. 2 Refert tamen, eventura soleas an contraria somniare. Mihi reputanti somnium meum istud, quod times tu, egregiam actionem portendere videtur. 3 Susceperam causam Iuni Pastoris, cum mihi quiescenti visa est socrus mea advoluta genibus ne agerem obsecrare; et eram acturus adulescentulus adhuc, eram in quadruplici iudicio, eram contra potentissimos civitatis atque etiam Caesaris amicos, quae singula excutere mentem mihi post tam triste somnium poterant. 4 Egi tamen ‘logisamenos’ illud ‘heis oiônos aristos amynesthai peri patrês’. Nam mihi patria, et si quid carius patria, fides videbatur. Prospere cessit, atque adeo illa actio mihi aures hominum, illa ianuam famae patefecit. 5 Proinde dispice an tu quoque sub hoc exemplo somnium istud in bonum vertas; aut si tutius putas illud cautissimi cuiusque praeceptum ‘Quod dubites, ne feceris’, id ipsum rescribe. 6 Ego aliquam stropham inveniam agamque causam tuam, ut istam agere tu eum voles possis. Est enim sane alia ratio tua, alia mea fuit. Nam iudicium centumvirale differri nullo modo, istuc aegre quidem sed tamen potest. Vale.

XVIII. — TO SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS.

You say in your letter that you have been troubled by a dream, and are afraid lest your suit should go against you. So you ask me to try and get it postponed, and that I will have to put it off for a few days, or at least for one day. It is not an easy matter, but I will do my best, for, as Homer says, “A dream comes from Zeus.” However, it makes all the difference whether your dreams usually signify the course of future events or their opposite. When I think over a certain dream I once had, what causes you fear seems to me to promise a splendid termination to your case. I had undertaken a brief for Julius Pastor, when there appeared to me in my sleep a vision of my mother-in-law, who threw herself on her knees before me and begged that I would not plead. I was quite a young man at the time of the action, which was to be heard in the Fourfold Court, and I was appearing against the most powerful men of the State, including some of the Friends of Caesar. All these things or any one of them might well have shattered my resolution after such an ominous dream. Nevertheless, I went on with the case, remembering the well-known line of Homer: “But one omen is best, to fight on behalf of one’s country.” For in my case the keeping of my word seemed to me as important as fighting on behalf of my country or as any other still more pressing consideration — if any consideration more pressing can be imagined. Well, the action went off successfully, and it was the way that I conducted that case which got me a hearing with men and opened the door to fame. So I advise you to see whether you too cannot turn your dream, as I did mine, to a prosperous issue, or if you think that it is safer to follow the well-known proverb: “Never do anything if you feel the least hesitation,” write and tell me so. I will invent some excuse or other, and will so arrange matters that you can have your suit brought on when you like. For, after all, your position is not the same as mine was; a trial before the Centumvir’s Court cannot be postponed on any consideration, but an action like yours can be, although it is rather difficult to arrange. Farewell.

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19. C. PLINIUS ROMATIO FIRMO SUO S.

1 Municeps tu meus et condiscipulus et ab ineunte aetate contubernalis, pater tuus et matri et avunculo meo, mihi etiam quantum aetatis diversitas passa est, familiaris: magnae et graves causae, cur suscipere augere dignitatem tuam debeam. 2 Esse autem tibi centum milium censum, satis indicat quod apud nos decurio es. Igitur ut te non decurione solum verum etiam equite Romano perfruamur, offero tibi ad implendas equestres facultates trecenta milia nummum. 3 Te memorem huius muneris amicitiae nostrae diuturnitas spondet: ego ne illud quidem admoneo, quod admonere deberem, nisi scirem sponte facturum, ut dignitate a me data quam modestissime ut a me data utare. 4 Nam sollicitius custodiendus est honor, in quo etiam beneficium amici tuendum est. Vale.

XIX. — TO ROMANUS FIRMUS.

You and I were born in the same township, we went to school together, and shared quarters from an early age; your father was on terms of friendship with my mother and my uncle, and with me — as far as the disparity in our years allowed. These are overwhelming reasons why I ought to advance you as far as I can along the path of dignities. The fact of your being a decurio in our town shows that you have an income of a hundred thousand sesterces, and so, that we may have the pleasure of enjoying your society not only as a decurio, but as a Roman knight, I offer you 300,000 numm., to make up the equestrian qualification. The length of our friendship is sufficient guarantee that you will not forget this favour, and I do not even urge you to enjoy with modesty the dignity which I thus enable you to attain, as perhaps I ought, just because I know you will do so without any urging from without. People ought to guard an honour all the more carefully, when, in so doing, they are taking care of a gift bestowed by the kindness of a friend. Farewell.

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20. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

1 Frequens mihi disputatio est cum quodam docto homine et perito, cui nihil aeque in causis agendis ut brevitas placet. 2 Quam ego custodiendam esse confiteor, si causa permittat: alioqui praevaricatio est transire dicenda, praevaricatio etiam cursim et breviter attingere quae sint inculcanda infigenda repetenda. 3 Nam plerisque longiore tractatu vis quaedam et pondus accedit, utque corpori ferrum, sic oratio animo non ictu magis quam mira imprimitur. 4 Hic ille mecum auctoritatibus agit ac mihi ex Graecis orationes Lysiae ostentat, ex nostris Gracchorum Catonisque, quorum sane plurimae sunt circumcisae et breves: ego Lysiae Demosthenen Aeschinen Hyperiden multosque praeterea, Gracchis et Catoni Pollionem Caesarem Caelium, in primis M. Tullium oppono, cuius oratio optima fertur esse quae maxima. Et hercule ut aliae bonae res ita bonus liber melior est quisque quo maior. 5 Vides ut statuas signa picturas, hominum denique multorumque animalium formas, arborum etiam, si modo sint decorae, nihil magis quam amplitudo commendet. Idem orationibus evenit; quin etiam voluminibus ipsis auctoritatem quandam et pulchritudinem adicit magnitudo.

6 Haec ille multaque alia, quae a me in eandem sententiam solent dici, ut est in disputando incomprehensibilis et lubricus, ita eludit ut contendat hos ipsos, quorum orationibus nitar, pauciora dixisse quam ediderint. 7 Ego contra puto. Testes sunt multae multorum orationes et Ciceronis pro Murena pro Vareno, in quibus brevis et nuda quasi subscriptio quorundam criminum solis titulis indicatur. Ex his apparet illum permulta dixisse, cum ederet omisisse. 8 Idem pro Cluentio ait se totam causam vetere instituto solum perorasse, et pro C. Cornelio quadriduo egisse, ne dubitare possimus, quae per plures dies — ut necesse erat — latius dixerit, postea recisa ac repurgata in unum librum grandem quidem unum tamen coartasse. 9 At aliud est actio bona, aliud oratio. Scio nonnullis ita videri, sed ego — forsitan fallar — persuasum habeo posse fieri ut sit actio bona quae non sit bona oratio, non posse non bonam actionem esse quae sit bona oratio. Est enim oratio actionis exemplar et quasi ‘archetypon’. 10 Ideo in optima quaque mille figuras extemporales invenimus, in iis etiam quas tantum editas scimus, ut in Verrem: ‘artificem quem? quemnam? recte admones; Polyclitum esse dicebant.’ Sequitur ergo ut actio sit absolutissima, quae maxime orationis similitudinem expresserit, si modo iustum et debitum tempus accipiat; quod si negetur, nulla oratoris maxima iudicis culpa est. 11 Adsunt huic opinioni meae leges, quae longissima tempora largiuntur nec brevitatem dicentibus sed copiam — hoc est diligentiam — suadent; quam praestare nisi in angustissimis causis non potest brevitas. 12 Adiciam quod me docuit usus, magister egregius. Frequenter egi, frequenter iudicavi, frequenter in consilio fui: aliud alios movet, ac plerumque parvae res maximas trahunt. Varia sunt hominum iudicia, variae voluntates. Inde qui eandem causam simul audierunt, saepe diversum, interdum idem sed ex diversis animi motibus sentiunt. 13 Praeterea suae quisque inventioni favet, et quasi fortissimum amplectitur, cum ab alio dictum est quod ipse praevidit. Omnibus ergo dandum est aliquid quod teneant, quod agnoscant. 14 Dixit aliquando mihi Regulus, cum simul adessemus: ‘Tu omnia quae sunt in causa putas exsequenda; ego iugulum statim video, hunc premo.’ Premit sane quod elegit, sed in eligendo frequenter errat. 15 Respondi posse fieri, ut genu esset aut talus, ubi ille iugulum putaret. At ego, inquam, qui iugulum perspicere non possum, omnia pertempto, omnia experior, ‘panta’ denique ‘lithon kinô’; 16 utque in cultura agri non vineas tantum, verum etiam arbusta, nec arbusta tantum verum etiam campos curo et exerceo, utque in ipsis campis non far aut siliginem solam, sed hordeum fabam ceteraque legumina sero, sic in actione plura quasi semina latius spargo, ut quae provenerint colligam. 17 Neque enim minus imperspicua incerta fallacia sunt iudicum ingenia quam tempestatum terrarumque. Nec me praeterit summum oratorem Periclen sic a comico Eupolide laudari:

‘pros de g’ autou tô taxei
peithô tis epekathêto toisi cheilesin.
houtôs ekêlei, kai monos tôn rhêtorôn
to kentron enkateleipe tois akroômenois.’

18 Verum huic ipsi Pericli nec illa ‘peithô’ nec illud ‘ekêlei’ brevitate vel velocitate vel utraque — differunt enim — sine facultate summa contigisset. Nam delectare persuadere copiam dicendi spatiumque desiderat, relinquere vero aculeum in audientium animis is demum potest qui non pungit sed infigit. 19 Adde quae de eodem Pericle comicus alter:

‘hêstrapt’, ebronta, synekyka tên Hellada’

Non enim amputata oratio et abscisa, sed lata et magnifica et excelsa tonat fulgurat, omnia denique perturbat ac miscet. 20 ‘Optimus tamen modus est’: quis negat? sed non minus non servat modum qui infra rem quam qui supra, qui astrictius quam qui effusius dicit. 21 Itaque audis frequenter ut illud: ‘immodice et redundanter’, ita hoc: ‘ieiune et infirme’. Alius excessisse materiam, alius dicitur non implesse. Aeque uterque, sed ille imbecillitate hic viribus peccat; quod certe etsi non limatioris, maioris tamen ingeni vitium est. 22 Nec vero cum haec dico illum Homericum ‘ametroepê’ probo, sed hunc:

‘kai epea niphadessin eoikota cheimeriêsin’
non quia non et ille mihi valdissime placeat:
‘paura men, alla mala ligeôs’

si tamen detur electio, illam orationem similem nivibus hibernis, id est crebram et assiduam sed et largam, postremo divinam et caelestem volo. 23 ‘At est gratior multis actio brevis.’ Est, sed inertibus quorum delicias desidiamque quasi iudicium respicere ridiculum est. Nam si hos in consilio habeas, non solum satius breviter dicere, sed omnino non dicere.

24 Haec est adhuc sententia mea, quam mutabo si dissenseris tu; sed plane cur dissentias explices rogo. Quamvis enim cedere auctoritati tuae debeam, rectius tamen arbitror in tanta re ratione quam auctoritate superari. 25 Proinde, si non errare videor, id ipsum quam voles brevi epistula, sed tamen scribe — confirmabis enim iudicium meum -; si erraro, longissimam para. Num corrupi te, qui tibi si mihi accederes brevis epistulae necessitatem, si dissentires longissimae imposui? Vale.

XX. — TO CORNELIUS TACITUS.

I am constantly having arguments with a friend of mine who is a learned and practised speaker, but who admires in pleading nothing so much as brevity. I allow that brevity ought to be observed, if the case permits of it; but sometimes it is an act of collusion to pass over matters that ought to be mentioned, and it is even an act of collusion to run briefly and rapidly over points which ought to be dwelt upon, to be thoroughly driven home, and to be taken up and dealt with more than once. For very often an argument acquires strength and weight by being handled at some length, and a speech ought to be impressed on the mind, not by a short, sharp shock, but by measured blows, just as a sword should be used in dealing with the body of an opponent. Thereupon he plies me with authorities, and flourishes before me the speeches of Lysias among the Greeks, and those of the Gracchi and Cato from among Roman orators. The majority of these are certainly characterised by conciseness and brevity, but I quote against Lysias the examples of Demosthenes, Aeschines, Hyperides, and a multitude of others, while against the Gracchi and Cato I set Pollio, Caesar, Caelius, and, above all, Marcus Tullius, whose longest speech is generally considered to be his best. And upon my word, as with all other good things, the more there is of a good book, the better it is. You know how it is with statues, images, pictures, and the outlines of many animals and even trees, that if they are at all graceful nothing gives them a greater charm than size. It is just the same with speeches, — even the mere volumes themselves acquire a certain additional dignity and beauty from mere bulk.

These are but a few of the many arguments I usually employ to establish my point; but there is no pinning my friend down in an argument. He is such a slippery fellow that he wriggles off the pin and declares that these same orators, whose speeches I instance, spoke at less length than their published addresses seem to show. I hold the contrary to be the case, and there are many speeches of many orators in favour of my opinion, as, for example, the Pro Murena and the Pro Vareno of Cicero, in which he indicates by side-heads alone, and quite barely and briefly, how he dealt with certain charges against his clients. From these it is clear that he actually spoke at much greater length and left out a considerable number of passages when he published the addresses. Cicero indeed says that in his defence of Cluentius “he had simply followed the ancient custom and compressed his whole case into a peroration,” and that in defending Caius Cornelius “he had pleaded for four days.” Hence it cannot be questioned that after speaking somewhat discursively for several days, as he was bound to do, he subsequently trimmed and revised his oration and compressed it into a single book — a long one, it is true, but yet a single book.

But, argues my friend, a good indictment is a different thing from a good speech. I know some people hold that view, but I — of course I may be wrong — feel persuaded that though it is possible to have a good indictment without a good speech, it is not possible for a good speech not to be a good indictment. For a speech is the exemplar of an indictment — one might even call it its archetype. Hence in every first- class oration we find a thousand extempore figures of speech, even in those which we know to have been carefully edited. For example, in the Speech against Verres:—” — some artist. What was his name? Yes, you are quite right. My friends here tell me it was Polycletus.” It follows, therefore, that the most perfect indictment is that which most resembles a spoken speech, provided only that sufficiently adequate time is allowed for its delivery. If it is not, then the orator is not at fault, but the presiding magistrate is very much to blame. My opinion receives support from the laws, which are lavish in the amount of time they place at a pleader’s disposal. They do not inculcate brevity among counsel, but exhaustiveness — that is to say, they give them time for a painstaking statement of their case, and this is quite incompatible with brevity, except the most unimportant actions. I will add also what experience has taught me, and experience is the finest master. I have constantly acted as counsel, as presiding magistrate, and as one of the consulting bench. Different people are influenced by different things, and it often happens that unimportant details have important consequences. Men do not think alike, nor have they the same inclinations, and hence it comes about that though people have listened together to the same case being tried, they often form different opinions about it, and sometimes, though arriving at the same conclusion, they have been influenced by very different motives. Moreover, each one has a bias in favour of his own interpretation, and thus, when a second party enunciates an opinion which he himself has arrived at, he takes it for gospel and holds to it firmly. Consequently, a pleader should give each member of the jury something that he may get hold of and recognise as his own opinion.

Regulus once said to me when we were in Court together: “You think you ought to follow up every single point in the case: I lose no time in getting a view of my opponent’s throat, and consider only the easiest way of cutting it.” (I must admit that he does cut it when he gets hold of it, but often in trying to get a hold he makes a mistake.) Here was my answer to him: “Yes, but sometimes what you think is the throat is only the knee, or the shin bone or the ankle. As for myself, I may not be quick at getting a clear view of my enemy’s throat, but I keep feeling for a grip and try him at every point. In short, as the Greeks say, ‘I leave no stone unturned.’” I am like a husbandman, I look carefully after not only my vineyards but my orchards, not only my orchards but my meadows, while in the meadows I set seed for barley, beans, and other vegetables, as well as for spelt and the best white wheat. So when I plead in the Courts I scatter my arguments like seeds with a lavish hand, and reap the crop that they produce. For the minds of judges are as obscure, as little to be relied upon, and as deceptive as the dispositions of storms and soils.

Nor do I forget that in his eulogy of that consummate orator, Pericles, the comedy-writer Eupolis used the following language:— “But besides his keenness, Persuasion sate upon his lips. So he charmed all ears and, alone of all our orators, left his thrill behind him in his hearer’s minds.” But even Pericles would not have possessed the persuasion and charm of which Eupolis speaks merely owing to his conciseness or to his keenness, or to both (for they are different attributes), unless he had also possessed consummate oratorical power. In order to delight and carry conviction an orator must have ample time and room allowed him, for he alone can leave a thrill in his hearers’ minds who plants his weapon besides merely puncturing the skin. Again, see what another comic poet writes of the same Pericles: “He lightened, he thundered, he turned Hellas upside down.” Such metaphors as thunder, lightning, and chaos and confusion could not be used of abbreviated and compressed oratory, but only of oratory on a sweeping scale, pitched in a lofty and exalted key.

But, you say, the mean is the best. Quite so, but the mean is as much neglected by those who fail to do justice to their subject as by those who overdo it, by those who wear a bearing rein as by those who give themselves their heads. And so you often hear the criticism that a speech was “frigid and weak,” just as you hear that another was “overloaded and a mass of repetition.” The one speaker is said to have over-elaborated his subject, the other not to have risen to the occasion. Both are at fault; one through weakness, the other through too much strength, and the latter, though he may not show the more refined intellect, certainly shows the more robust mind. When I say this it must not be supposed that I am approving Homer’s Thersites — the man who was a torrent of words — but rather his Ulysses, whose “words were like snow-flakes in winter,” though at the same time I admire his Menelaus, who spoke “Few words, but well to the point.” Yet, if I had to choose, I should prefer the speech that is like the winter snow- storm — viz. fluent, flowing, and of generous width; and not only that, but divine and celestial. It may, I know, be said that many people prefer a short pleading. No doubt, but they are lazy creatures, and it is ridiculous to consult the tastes of such sloths as though they were critics. For if you take their opinion as worth anything, you will find that they not only prefer a short pleading, but no pleading at all.

Well, I have told you what I think. I shall change my opinion if you do not agree with me, but in that case I beg of you to give me clear reasons for your disagreement; for although I feel bound to bow to a man of your judgment, yet in a point of such importance, I consider that I ought to give way rather to a reasoned statement than to an ipse dixit. But even if you think I am right, still write and tell me so, and make the letter as short as you like — for you will thus confirm my judgment. If I am wrong, see that you write me a very long letter. I feel sure I have not estimated you wrongly in thus asking you for a short note if you agree with me, while laying on you the obligation of writing at length if you disagree. Farewell.

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21. C. PLINIUS PLINIO PATERNO SUO S.

1 Ut animi tui iudicio sic oculorum plurimum tribuo, non quia multum — ne tibi placeas — sed quia tantum quantum ego sapis; quamquam hoc quoque multum est. 2 Omissis iocis credo decentes esse servos, qui sunt empti mihi ex consilio tuo. Superest ut frugi sint, quod de venalibus melius auribus quam oculis iudicatur. Vale.

XXI. — TO PLINIUS PATERNUS.

Let me acknowledge not only the keenness of your judgment but the sharpness of your eyesight, not because you are full of wisdom — no, don’t plume yourself on that — but because you are just as wise as I am, and that is saying a great deal. Yet, joking apart, I think the slaves which I bought on your recommendation are a tidy-looking lot. It now remains to be seen whether they are honest; because in judging the value of a slave, it is better to trust one’s ears than one’s eyes. Farewell.

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22. C. PLINIUS CATILIO SEVERO SUO S.

1 Diu iam in urbe haereo et quidem attonitus. Perturbat me longa et pertinax valetudo Titi Aristonis, quem singulariter et miror et diligo. Nihil est enim illo gravius sanctius doctius, ut mihi non unus homo sed litterae ipsae omnesque bonae artes in uno homine summum periculum adire videantur. 2 Quam peritus ille et privati iuris et publici! quantum rerum, quantum exemplorum, quantum antiquitatis tenet! Nihil est quod discere velis quod ille docere non possit; mihi certe quotiens aliquid abditum quaero, ille thesaurus est. 3 Iam quanta sermonibus eius fides, quanta auctoritas, quam pressa et decora cunctatio! quid est quod non statim sciat? Et tamen plerumque haesitat dubitat, diversitate rationum, quas acri magnoque iudicio ab origine causisque primis repetit discernit expendit. 4 Ad hoc quam parcus in victu, quam modicus in cultu! Soleo ipsum cubiculum illius ipsumque lectum ut imaginem quandam priscae frugalitatis adspicere. 5 Ornat haec magnitudo animi, quae nihil ad ostentationem, omnia ad conscientiam refert recteque facti non ex populi sermone mercedem, sed ex facto petit. 6 In summa non facile quemquam ex istis qui sapientiae studium habitu corporis praeferunt, huic viro comparabis. Non quidem gymnasia sectatur aut porticus, nec disputationibus longis aliorum otium suumque delectat, sed in toga negotiisque versatur, multos advocatione plures consilio iuvat. 7 Nemini tamen istorum castitate pietate, iustitia, fortitudine etiam primo loco cesserit.

Mirareris si interesses, qua patientia hanc ipsam valetudinem toleret, ut dolori resistat, ut sitim differat, ut incredibilem febrium ardorem immotus opertusque transmittat. 8 Nuper me paucosque mecum, quos maxime diligit, advocavit rogavitque, ut medicos consuleremus de summa valetudinis, ut si esset insuperabilis sponte exiret e vita; si tantum difficilis et longa, resisteret maneretque: 9 dandum enim precibus uxoris, dandum filiae lacrimis, dandum etiam nobis amicis, ne spes nostras, si modo non essent inanes, voluntaria morte desereret. 10 Id ego arduum in primis et praecipua laude dignum puto. Nam impetu quodam et instinctu procurrere ad mortem commune cum multis, deliberare vero et causas eius expendere, utque suaserit ratio, vitae mortisque consilium vel suscipere vel ponere ingentis est animi. 11 Et medici quidem secunda nobis pollicentur: superest ut promissis deus adnuat tandemque me hac sollicitudine exsolvat; qua liberatus Laurentinum meum, hoc est libellos et pugillares, studiosumque otium repetam. Nunc enim nihil legere, nihil scribere aut assidenti vacat aut anxio libet. 12 Habes quid timeam, quid optem, quid etiam in posterum destinem: tu quid egeris, quid agas, quid velis agere invicem nobis, sed laetioribus epistulis scribe. Erit confusioni meae non mediocre solacium, si tu nihil quereris. Vale.

XXII. — TO CATILIUS SEVERUS.

Here am I still in Rome, and a good deal surprised to find myself here. But I am troubled at the long illness of Titus Aristo, which he cannot shake off. He is a man for whom I feel an extraordinary admiration and affection: search where you will, he is second to none in character, uprightness, and learning — so much so that I hardly look upon his illness as that of a mere individual being in danger. It is rather as if literature and all good arts were personified in him, and through him were in grievous peril. What a knowledge he has of private and public rights and the laws relating to them! What a mastery he has of things in general, what experience, what an acquaintance with the past! There is nothing you may wish to learn that he cannot teach you; to me, certainly, he is a perfect mine of learning whenever I am requiring any out-of-the-way information. Then again, how convincing his conversation is, how strongly it impresses you, how modest and becoming is his hesitation! What is there that he does not know straight away? And yet, often enough, he shows hesitation and doubt, from the very diversity of the reasons that come crowding into his mind, and upon these he brings to bear his keen and mighty intellect, and, going back to their fountain-head, reviews them, tests them, and weighs them in the balance. Again, how sparing he is in his manner of life, how unassuming in his dress! I often look at his bedroom and the bed itself, as though they were models of old-fashioned economy. However, they are adorned by his splendid mind, which has not a thought for ostentation, but refers everything to his conscience. He seeks his reward for a good deed not in the praise of the world, but in the deed itself. In short, you will not find it easy to discover any one, even among those who prefer to study wisdom rather than take heed to their bodily pleasures, worthy to be compared with him. He does not haunt the training grounds and the public porticos, nor does he charm the idle moments of others and his own by indulging in long talks; no, he is always in his toga and always at work; his services are at the disposal of many in the Courts, and he helps numbers more by his advice. Yet in chastity of life, in piety, in justice, in courage even, there is no one of all his acquaintance to whom he need give place.

You would marvel, if you were by his side, at the patience with which he endures his illness, how he fights against his suffering, how he resists his thirst, how, without moving and without throwing off his bed- clothes, he endures the dreadful burning heats of his fever. Just recently he sent for me and a few others of his especial friends with me, and begged us to consult his doctors and ask them about the termination of his illness, so that if there were no hope for him he might voluntarily give up his life, but might fight against it and hold out if the illness only threatened to be difficult and long. He owed it, he said, to the prayers of his wife, the tears of his daughter, and the regard of us who were his friends, not to cheat our hopes by a voluntary death, providing those hopes were not altogether futile. I think that such an acknowledgment as that must be especially difficult to make, and worthy of the highest praise; for many people are quite capable of hastening to death under the impulse of a sudden instinct, but only a truly noble mind can weigh up the pros and cons of the matter, and resolve to live or die according to the dictates of Reason. However, the doctors give us reassuring promises, and it now remains for the Deity to confirm and fulfil them, and so at length release me from my anxiety. The moment my mind is easy, I shall be off to my Laurentine Villa — that is to say, to my books and tablets, and to my studious ease. For now as I sit by my friend’s bedside I can neither read nor write, and I am so anxious that I have no inclination for such study.

Well, I have told you my fears, my hopes, and my future plans; it is your turn now to write and tell me what you have been doing, what you are doing now, and what your plans are, and I hope your letter will be a more cheerful one than mine. If you have nothing to complain about, it will be no small consolation to me in my general upset. Farewell.

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23. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO FALCONI SUO S.

1 Consulis an existimem te in tribunatu causas agere debere. Plurimum refert, quid esse tribunatum putes, inanem umbram et sine honore nomen an potestatem sacrosanctam, et quam in ordinem cogi ut a nullo ita ne a se quidem deceat. 2 Ipse cum tribunus essem, erraverim fortasse qui me esse aliquid putavi, sed tamquam essem abstinui causis agendis: primum quod deforme arbitrabar, cui assurge cui loco cedere omnes oporteret, hunc omnibus sedentibus stare, et qui iubere posset tacere quemcumque, huic silentium clepsydra indici, et quem interfari nefas esset, hunc etiam convicia audire et si inulta pateretur inertem, si ulcisceretur insolentem videri. 3 Erat hic quoque aestus ante oculos, si forte me appellasset vel ille cui adessem, vel ille quem contra, intercederem et auxilium ferrem an quiescerem sileremque, et quasi eiurato magistratu privatum ipse me facerem. 4 His rationibus motus malui me tribunum omnibus exhibere quam paucis advocatum. 5 Sed tu — iterum dicam — plurimum interest quid esse tribunatum putes, quam personam tibi imponas; quae sapienti viro ita aptanda est ut perferatur. Vale.

XXIII. — TO POMPEIUS FALCO.

You ask me whether I think you ought to practise in the courts while you are tribune. The answer entirely depends on the conception you have of the tribuneship, whether you think it is a mere empty honour, a name with no real dignity, or an office of the highest sanctity, and one that no one, not even the holder himself, ought to slight in the least degree. When I was tribune, I may have been wrong for thinking that I was somebody, but I acted as if I were, and I abstained from practising in the courts. In the first place, I thought it below my dignity that I, at whose entrance every one ought to rise and give way, should stand to plead while all others were sitting; or that I, who could impose silence on all and sundry, should be ordered to be silent by a water- clock; that I, whom it was a crime to interrupt, should be subjected even to abuse, and that I should make people think I was a spiritless fellow if I let an insult pass unnoticed, or proud and puffed up if I resented and avenged it. Again, there was this embarrassing thought always before me. Supposing appeal was made to me as tribune either by my client or by the other party to the suit, what should I do? Lend him aid, or keep silence and say not a word, and thus forswear my magistracy and reduce myself to a mere private citizen? Moved by these considerations, I preferred to be at the disposal of all men as a tribune rather than act as an advocate for a few. But, to repeat what I said before, it makes all the difference what conception you happen to have of the office, and what part you essay to play. Providing you carry it through to the end, either will be quite congruous with a man of wisdom. Farewell.

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24. C. PLINIUS BAEBIO HISPANO SUO S.

1 Tranquillus contubernalis meus vult emere agellum, quem venditare amicus tuus dicitur. 2 Rogo cures, quanti aequum est emat; ita enim delectabit emisse. Nam mala emptio semper ingrata, eo maxime quod exprobrare stultitiam domino videtur. 3 In hoc autem agello, si modo arriserit pretium, Tranquilli mei stomachum multa sollicitant, vicinitas urbis, opportunitas viae, mediocritas villae, modus ruris, qui avocet magis quam distringat. 4 Scholasticis porro dominis, ut hic est, sufficit abunde tantum soli, ut relevare caput, reficere oculos, reptare per limitem unamque semitam terere omnesque viteculas suas nosse et numerare arbusculas possint. Haec tibi exposui, quo magis scires, quantum esset ille mihi ego tibi debiturus, si praediolum istud, quod commendatur his dotibus, tam salubriter emerit ut paenitentiae locum non relinquat. Vale.

XXIV. — TO BAEBIUS HISPANUS.

My comrade Tranquillus wishes to buy a bit of land which your friend is said to be offering for sale. I beg that you will see that he purchases it at a fair price, for in that case he will be glad to have bought it. A bad bargain is always annoying, and especially so as it seems to show that the previous owner has played one a scurvy trick. As to the plot in question, if only the price is right, there are many reasons that tempt my friend Tranquillus to buy — the nearness of the city, the convenient road, the modest dimensions of his villa and the extent of the farm, which is just enough to pleasantly disengage his thoughts from other things, but not enough to give him any worry. In fact learned schoolmen, like Tranquillus, on turning land-owners, ought only to have just sufficient land to enable them to get rid of headaches, cure their eyes, walk lazily round their boundary paths, make one beaten track for themselves, get to know all their vines and count their trees. I have gone into these details that you might understand what a regard I have for Tranquillus, and how greatly I shall be indebted to you if he is enabled to purchase the estate which has all these advantages to commend it at such a reasonable price that he will not regret having bought it. Farewell.

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LIBER SECVNDVS

BOOK II.

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1. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

Post aliquot annos insigne atque etiam memorabile populi Romani oculis spectaculum exhibuit publicum funus Vergini Rufi, maximi et clarissimi civis, perinde felicis. 2 Triginta annis gloriae suae supervixit; legit scripta de se carmina, legit historias et posteritati suae interfuit. Perfunctus est tertio consulatu, ut summum fastigium privati hominis impleret, cum principis noluisset. 3 Caesares quibus suspectus atque etiam invisus virtutibus fuerat evasit, reliquit incolumem optimum atque amicissimum, tamquam ad hunc ipsum honorem publici funeris reservatus. 4 Annum tertium et octogensimum excessit in altissima tranquillitate, pari veneratione. Usus est firma valetudine, nisi quod solebant ei manus tremere, citra dolorem tamen. Aditus tantum mortis durior longiorque, sed hic ipse laudabilis. 5 Nam cum vocem praepararet acturus in consulatu principi gratias, liber quem forte acceperat grandiorem, et seni et stanti ipso pondere elapsus est. Hunc dum sequitur colligitque, per leve et lubricum pavimentum fallente vestigio cecidit coxamque fregit, quae parum apte collocata reluctante aetate male coiit.

6 Huius viri exsequiae magnum ornamentum principi magnum saeculo magnum etiam foro et rostris attulerunt. Laudatus est a consule Cornelio Tacito; nam hic supremus felicitati eius cumulus accessit, laudator eloquentissimus. 7 Et ille quidem plenus annis abit, plenus honoribus, illis etiam quos recusavit: nobis tamen quaerendus ac desiderandus est ut exemplar aevi prioris, mihi vero praecipue, qui illum non solum publice quantum admirabar tantum diligebam; 8 primum quod utrique eadem regio, municipia finitima, agri etiam possessionesque coniunctae, praeterea quod ille mihi tutor relictus affectum parentis exhibuit. Sic candidatum me suffragio ornavit; sic ad omnes honores meos ex secessibus accucurrit, cum iam pridem eiusmodi officiis renuntiasset; sic illo die quo sacerdotes solent nominare quos dignissimos sacerdotio iudicant, me semper nominabat. 9 Quin etiam in hac novissima valetudine, veritus ne forte inter quinqueviros crearetur, qui minuendis publicis sumptibus iudicio senatus constituebantur, cum illi tot amici senes consularesque superessent, me huius aetatis per quem excusaretur elegit, his quidem verbis: ‘Etiam si filium haberem, tibi mandarem.’

10 Quibus ex causis necesse est tamquam immaturam mortem eius in sinu tuo defleam, si tamen fas est aut flere aut omnino mortem vocare, qua tanti viri mortalitas magis finita quam vita est. 11 Vivit enim vivetque semper, atque etiam latius in memoria hominum et sermone versabitur, postquam ab oculis recessit. 12 Volo tibi multa alia scribere, sed totus animus in hac una contemplatione defixus est. Verginium cogito, Verginium video, Verginium iam vanis imaginibus, recentibus tamen, audio alloquor teneo; cui fortasse cives aliquos virtutibus pares et habemus et habebimus, gloria neminem. Vale.

I. — TO ROMANUS.

Not for many years have the Roman people seen so striking and even so memorable a spectacle as that provided by the public funeral of Virginius Rufus, one of our noblest and most distinguished citizens, and not less fortunate than distinguished. He lived in a blaze of glory for thirty years. He read poems and histories composed in his honour, and so enjoyed in life the fame that awaited him among posterity. He held the consulship three times, so that he might attain the highest distinction open to a private citizen, as he had declined to lay hands on the sovereign power. He escaped unscathed from the Emperors, who were suspicious of his motives and hated him for his virtues; while the best Emperor of them all, and the one who was his devoted friend, he left behind him safely installed on the throne, as though his life had been preserved for this very reason, that he might be honoured with a public funeral. He was eighty-three years of age when he died, sublimely calm, and respected by all. He enjoyed good health, for though his hands were palsied they gave him no pain: only the closing scenes were rather painful and prolonged, but even in them he won men’s praise. For while he was getting ready a speech, to return thanks to the Emperor during his consulship, he happened to take up a rather heavy book. As he was an old man and standing at the time, its weight caused it to fall from his hands, and while he was stooping to pick it up his foot slipped on the smooth and slippery floor, and he fell and broke his collar-bone. This was not very skilfully set for him, and owing to his old age it did not heal properly. But his funeral was a source of glory to the Emperor, to the age in which he lived, and even to the Roman Forum and the rostra. His panegyric was pronounced by Cornelius Tacitus, and Virginius’s good fortune was crowned by this, that he had the most eloquent man in Rome to speak his praises.

He died full of years, full of honours, full even of the honours he refused. We shall seek his like in vain; we shall lose in him a living example of an earlier age. I shall miss him most of all, for my affection equalled my admiration, not only of his public virtue but of his private life. In the first place, we came from the same district, we belonged to neighbouring municipalities, our estates and property lay alongside, and, moreover, he was left as my guardian and showed me all the affection of a parent. When I was a candidate for office he honoured me with his support; in all my elections he left his private retreat and hastened to escort me in all my entries upon office — though for years he had ceased to show his friends these attentions, — and on the day when the priests are accustomed to nominate those they think to be worthiest of the priesthood he always gave me his nomination. Even in his last illness, when he was afraid lest he should be appointed one of the commission of five who were being appointed on the decree of the Senate to lessen public expenditure, he chose me, young as I am — though he had a number of friends still surviving who were much older than I and men of consular rank — to act as his substitute, and he used these words: “Even if I had a son, I should give this commission to you.” Hence it is that I cannot help but mourn his death on your bosom, as though he had died before his time; if indeed it is right to mourn at all in such a case, or speak of death in connection with such a man, who has rather ceased to be mortal than ceased to live. For he still lives and will do for all time, and he will acquire a broader existence in the memories and conversation of mankind, now that he has gone from our sight.

I wished to write to you on many other subjects, but my whole mind is given up to and fixed on this one subject of thought. I keep thinking of Virginius, I dream of him, and, though my dreams are illusory, they are so vivid that I seem to hear his voice, to speak to him, to embrace him. It may be that we have other citizens like him in his virtues, and shall continue to have them, but there is none to equal with him in glory. Farewell.

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2. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

1 Irascor, nec liquet mihi an debeam, sed irascor. Scis, quam sit amor iniquus interdum, impotens saepe, ‘mikraitios’ semper. Haec tamen causa magna est, nescio an iusta; sed ego, tamquam non minus iusta quam magna sit, graviter irascor, quod a te tam diu litterae nullae. 2 Exorare me potes uno modo, si nunc saltem plurimas et longissimas miseris. Haec mihi sola excusatio vera, ceterae falsae videbuntur. Non sum auditurus ‘non eram Romae’ vel ‘occupatior eram’; illud enim nec di sinant, ut ‘infirmior’. Ipse ad villam partim studiis partim desidia fruor, quorum utrumque ex otio nascitur. Vale.

II. — TO PAULINUS.

I am angry with you; whether I ought to be I am not quite sure, but I am angry all the same. You know how affection is often biassed, how it is always liable to make a man unreasonable, and how it causes him to flare up on even small provocation. But I have serious grounds for my anger, whether they are just or not, and so I am assuming that they are as just as they are serious, and am downright cross with you because you have not sent me a line for such a long time. There is only one way that you can obtain forgiveness, and that is by your writing me at once a number of long letters. That will be the only excuse I shall take as genuine; any others you may send I shall regard as false. For I won’t listen to such stuff as “I was away from Rome,” or “I have been fearfully busy.” As for the plea, “I have not been at all well,” I hope Providence has been too kind to let you write that. I am at my country house, enjoying study and idleness in turns, and both of these delights are born of leisure-hours. Farewell.

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3. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

1 Magna Isaeum fama praecesserat, maior inventus est. Summa est facultas copia ubertas; dicit semper ex tempore, sed tamquam diu scripserit. Sermo Graecus, immo Atticus; praefationes tersae graciles dulces, graves interdum et erectae. 2 Poscit controversias plures; electionem auditoribus permittit, saepe etiam partes; surgit amicitur incipit; statim omnia ac paene pariter ad manum, sensus reconditi occursant, verba - sed qualia! - quaesita et exculta. Multa lectio in subitis, multa scriptio elucet. 3 Prohoemiatur apte, narrat aperte, pugnat acriter, colligit fortiter, ornat excelse. Postremo docet delectat afficit; quid maxime, dubites. Crebra ‘enthymêmata’ crebri syllogismi, circumscripti et effecti, quod stilo quoque assequi magnum est. Incredibilis memoria: repetit altius quae dixit ex tempore, ne verbo quidem labitur. 4 Ad tantam ‘hexin’ studio et exercitatione pervenit; nam diebus et noctibus nihil aliud agit nihil audit nihil loquitur. 5 Annum sexagensimum excessit et adhuc scholasticus tantum est: quo genere hominum nihil aut sincerius aut simplicius aut melius. Nos enim, qui in foro verisque litibus terimur, multum malitiae quamvis nolimus addiscimus: 6 schola et auditorium et ficta causa res inermis innoxia est, nec minus felix, senibus praesertim. Nam quid in senectute felicius, quam quod dulcissimum est in iuventa? 7 Quare ego Isaeum non disertissimum tantum, verum etiam beatissimum iudico. Quem tu nisi cognoscere concupiscis, saxeus ferreusque es. 8 Proinde si non ob alia nosque ipsos, at certe ut hunc audias veni. Numquamne legisti, Gaditanum quendam Titi Livi nomine gloriaque commotum ad visendum eum ab ultimo terrarum orbe venisse, statimque ut viderat abisse? ‘Aphilokalon’ illitteratum iners ac paene etiam turpe est, non putare tanti cognitionem qua nulla est iucundior, nulla pulchrior, nulla denique humanior. 9 Dices: ‘Habeo hic quos legam non minus disertos.’ Etiam; sed legendi semper occasio est, audiendi non semper. Praeterea multo magis, ut vulgo dicitur, viva vox afficit. Nam licet acriora sint quae legas, altius tamen in animo sedent, quae pronuntiatio vultus habitus gestus etiam dicentis affigit; 10 nisi vero falsum putamus illud Aeschinis, qui cum legisset Rhodiis orationem Demosthenis admirantibus cunctis, adiecisse fertur: ‘ti de, ei autou tou thêriou êkousate;’ et erat Aeschines si Demostheni credimus ‘lamprophônotatos’. Fatebatur tamen longe melius eadem illa pronuntiasse ipsum qui pepererat. 11 Quae omnia huc tendunt, ut audias Isaeum, vel ideo tantum ut audieris. Vale.

III. — TO NEPOS.

Isaeus’s reputation — and it was a great one — had preceded him to Rome, but it was found to fall short of his merits. He has consummate oratorical power, fluency and choice of expression, and though he always speaks extempore his speeches might have been carefully written out long beforehand. He speaks in Greek, and that the purest Attic; his prefatory remarks are polished, neat and agreeable, and occasionally stately and sparkling. He asks to be supplied with a number of subjects for discussion, and allows his audience to choose which they will have and often which side they would like him to take. Then he rises to his feet, wraps his gown round him, and begins. Without losing a moment he has everything at his fingers’ ends, irrespective of the subject selected. Deep thoughts come crowding into his mind and words flow to his lips. And such words — exquisitely choice! Every now and then there come flashes which show how widely he has read and how much he has written. He opens his case to the point; he states his position clearly; his arguments are incisive; his conclusions are forcible; his word-painting is magnificent. In a word, he instructs, delights, and impresses his hearers, so that you can hardly say wherein he most excels. He makes constant use of rhetorical arguments, his syllogisms are crisp and finished — though that is not an easy matter to attain even with a pen. He has a wonderful memory and can repeat, without missing a single word, even his extempore speeches. He has attained this facility by study and constant practice, for he does nothing else day or night: either as a listener or speaker he is for ever discussing. He has passed his sixtieth year and is still only a rhetorician, and there is no more honest and upright class of men living. For we who are always rubbing shoulders with others in the Forum and in the lawsuits of everyday life, cannot help picking up a good deal of roguery, while in the imaginary cases of the lecture hall and the schoolroom it is like fighting with the button on the foil and quite harmless, and is every whit as enjoyable, especially for men of years. For what can be more enjoyable for men in their old age than that which gave them the keenest pleasure in their youth?

Consequently, I look upon Isaeus not only as a wonderfully learned man but as one who possesses a most enviable lot, and you must be made of flint and iron if you do not burn to make his acquaintance. So if there is nothing else to draw you here, if I myself am not a sufficient attraction, do come to hear Isaeus. Have you never read of the man who lived at Gades who was so fired by the name and glory of Titus Livius that he came from the remotest corner of the world to see him, and returned the moment he had set eyes on him? It would stamp a man as an illiterate boor and a lazy idler, it would be disgraceful almost for any one not to think the journey worth the trouble when the reward is a study which is more delightful, more elegant, and has more of the humanities than any other. You will say: “But I have here authors just as learned, whose works I can read.” Granted, but you can always read an author, while you cannot always listen to him. Moreover, as the proverb goes, the spoken word is invariably much more impressive than the written one; for however lively what you read may be, it does not sink so deeply into the mind as what is pressed home by the accent, the expression, and the whole bearing and action of a speaker. This must be admitted unless we think the story of Aeschines untrue, when, after reading a speech of Demosthenes at Rhodes, he is said to have exclaimed to those who expressed their admiration of it: “Yes, but what would you have said if you had heard the beast himself?” And yet Aeschines himself, if we are to believe Demosthenes, had a very striking delivery! None the less he acknowledged that the author of the speech delivered it far better than he had done. All these things point to this, that you should hear Isaeus, if only to enable you to say that you have heard him. Farewell.

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4. C. PLINIUS CALVINAE SUAE S.

1 Si pluribus pater tuus vel uni cuilibet alii quam mihi debuisset, fuisset fortasse dubitandum, an adires hereditatem etiam viro gravem. 2 Cum vero ego ductus affinitatis officio, dimissis omnibus qui non dico molestiores sed diligentiores erant, creditor solus exstiterim, cumque vivente eo nubenti tibi in dotem centum milia contulerim, praeter eam summam quam pater tuus quasi de meo dixit - erat enim solvenda de meo -, magnum habes facilitatis meae pignus, cuius fiducia debes famam defuncti pudoremque suscipere. Ad quod te ne verbis magis quam rebus horter, quidquid mihi pater tuus debuit, acceptum tibi fieri iubebo. 3 Nec est quod verearis ne sit mihi onerosa ista donatio. Sunt quidem omnino nobis modicae facultates, dignitas sumptuosa, reditus propter condicionem agellorum nescio minor an incertior; sed quod cessat ex reditu, frugalitate suppletur, ex qua velut fonte liberalitas nostra decurrit. 4 Quae tamen ita temperanda est, ne nimia profusione inarescat; sed temperanda in aliis, in te vero facile ei ratio constabit, etiamsi modum excesserit. Vale.

IV. — TO CALVINA.

If your father had owed his other creditors, or any one of them, as much as he owed to me, there would perhaps have been good reason for you to hesitate about entering on the inheritance of an estate which even a man might find burdensome. However, I am now the sole creditor, for as we are relations I thought it my duty to pay off all those who were — I will not say importunate — but were rather more particular about getting their money. When your father was alive, and you were about to be married, I contributed 100,000 sesterces towards your dower, in addition to the sum which your father assigned as your wedding portion, out of my pocket — for it had to be paid out of my money, — so you have ample proof of my leniency towards you in money matters, and you may boldly rely thereon and defend the credit and honour of your dead father. Moreover, to show you that I can be generous with my purse as well as with my advice, I authorise you to enter as paid whatever sum was owing by your father to me. You need not be afraid that my generosity will embarrass my finances. Though my means are modest, though my position is expensive to keep up and my income is equally small and precarious owing to the state of the land market, my unemployed capital is increased by my economical living, and this is the source, as I may call it, from which I gratify my generosity. I have to husband it carefully lest the source should dry up if I draw on it too freely; but such caution is reserved for others. In your case I can easily justify my liberality, even though it be rather larger than usual. Farewell.

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5. C. PLINIUS LUPERCO SUO S.

1 Actionem et a te frequenter efflagitatam, et a me saepe promissam, exhibui tibi, nondum tamen totam; adhuc enim pars eius perpolitur. 2 Interim quae absolutiora mihi videbantur, non fuit alienum iudicio tuo tradi. His tu rogo intentionem scribentis accommodes. Nihil enim adhuc inter manus habui, cui maiorem sollicitudinem praestare deberem. 3 Nam in ceteris actionibus existimationi hominum diligentia tantum et fides nostra, in hac etiam pietas subicietur. Inde et liber crevit, dum ornare patriam et amplificare gaudemus, pariterque et defensioni eius servimus et gloriae. 4 Tu tamen haec ipsa quantum ratio exegerit reseca. Quotiens enim ad fastidium legentium deliciasque respicio, intellego nobis commendationem et ex ipsa mediocritate libri petendam. 5 Idem tamen qui a te hanc austeritatem exigo, cogor id quod diversum est postulare, ut in plerisque frontem remittas. Sunt enim quaedam adulescentium auribus danda, praesertim si materia non refragetur; nam descriptiones locorum, quae in hoc libro frequentiores erunt, non historice tantum sed prope poetice prosequi fas est. 6 Quod tamen si quis exstiterit, qui putet nos laetius fecisse quam orationis severitas exigat, huius - ut ita dixerim - tristitiam reliquae partes actionis exorare debebunt. 7 Adnisi certe sumus, ut quamlibet diversa genera lectorum per plures dicendi species teneremus, ac sicut veremur, ne quibusdam pars aliqua secundum suam cuiusque naturam non probetur, ita videmur posse confidere, ut universitatem omnibus varietas ipsa commendet. 8 Nam et in ratione conviviorum, quamvis a plerisque cibis singuli temperemus, totam tamen cenam laudare omnes solemus, nec ea quae stomachus noster recusat, adimunt gratiam illis quibus capitur. 9 Atque haec ego sic accipi volo, non tamquam assecutum esse me credam, sed tamquam assequi laboraverim, fortasse non frustra, si modo tu curam tuam admoveris interim istis, mox iis quae sequuntur. 10 Dices te non posse satis diligenter id facere, nisi prius totam actionem cognoveris: fateor. In praesentia tamen et ista tibi familiariora fient, et quaedam ex his talia erunt ut per partes emendari possint. 11 Etenim, si avulsum statuae caput aut membrum aliquod inspiceres, non tu quidem ex illo posses congruentiam aequalitatemque deprendere, posses tamen iudicare, an id ipsum satis elegans esset; 12 nec alia ex causa principiorum libri circumferuntur, quam quia existimatur pars aliqua etiam sine ceteris esse perfecta.

13 Longius me provexit dulcedo quaedam tecum loquendi; sed iam finem faciam ne modum, quem etiam orationi adhibendum puto, in epistula excedam. Vale.

V. — TO LUPERCUS.

I have forwarded to you the speech which you have often asked for, and which I have often promised to send, but not the whole of it. A portion thereof is still undergoing the polishing process. Meanwhile, I thought it would not be out of place to submit to your judgment the parts which seemed to me to be more finished. I hope you will bestow on them the same critical attention that the writer has given them. I have never handled any subject that demanded greater pains from me, for whereas in other speeches I have submitted merely my carefulness and good faith to men’s judgment, in this I submit my patriotism as well. It is out of that that the speech has grown, for it is a pleasure to sing the praises of one’s native place and at the same time to do what I could to help its interests and its fame. But be sure you prune even these passages according to your judgment. For when I think of the fastidiousness of the general reader and the niceties of his taste, I understand that the best way to win praise is to keep within moderate limits.

Yet at the same time, though I ask you to show this strictness, I feel bound to request you to display the opposite quality also and deal indulgently with many of the passages. For we must make certain concessions to our young readers, especially if the subject-matter allows of it. Descriptions of scenery, of which there are more than usual in this speech, should be treated not in a strict historical fashion, but with some approach to poetic licence. However, if any one thinks that I have written more ornately than is warranted by the serious nature of the subject, the remaining portions of the address ought to mollify what one may call the austerity of such a man. I have certainly tried, by varying the character of the style, to get hold of all sorts and conditions of readers, and though I am afraid that each individual reader will not find every single passage to his liking, yet I think I may be pretty confident that the variety of styles will recommend the whole to all classes. For at a banquet, though we each one of us taboo certain dishes, yet we all praise the banquet as a whole, nor do the dishes which our palate declines make those we like any less enjoyable. I want my speech to be taken in the same spirit, not because I think I have succeeded in my aim, but because I have tried to succeed therein, and I believe my efforts will not have been in vain if only you will take pains now with what I enclose in this letter and afterwards with the remaining portions.

You will say that you cannot do this sufficiently carefully until you have gone through the entire speech. That is so; but for the present you will be able to get a thorough acquaintance with what I send you, and there are sure to be certain passages that can be altered in part. For if you were to see the head or any limb of a statue torn from the trunk, though you might not be able to speak definitely of its symmetry and proportion to the rest of the body, you would at least be able to judge whether the part you were looking at was sufficiently well shaped. That is the only reason why authors send round to their friends specimens of their speeches, because any part can be judged to be perfect or not apart from the remainder. The pleasure of speaking with you has led me farther than I intended, but I will conclude for fear of exceeding in a letter the limits which I think ought to be set to a speech. Farewell.

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6. C. PLINIUS AVITO SUO S.

1 Longum est altius repetere nec refert, quemadmodum acciderit, ut homo minime familiaris cenarem apud quendam, ut sibi videbatur, lautum et diligentem, ut mihi, sordidum simul et sumptuosum. 2 Nam sibi et paucis opima quaedam, ceteris vilia et minuta ponebat. Vinum etiam parvolis lagunculis in tria genera discripserat, non ut potestas eligendi, sed ne ius esset recusandi, aliud sibi et nobis, aliud minoribus amicis - nam gradatim amicos habet -, aliud suis nostrisque libertis. 3 Animadvertit qui mihi proximus recumbebat, et an probarem interrogavit. Negavi. ‘Tu ergo’ inquit ‘quam consuetudinem sequeris?’ ‘Eadem omnibus pono; ad cenam enim, non ad notam invito cunctisque rebus exaequo, quos mensa et toro aequavi.’ 4 ‘Etiamne libertos?’ ‘Etiam; convictores enim tunc, non libertos puto.’ Et ille: ‘Magno tibi constat.’ ‘Minime.’ ‘Qui fieri potest?’ ‘Quia scilicet liberti mei non idem quod ego bibunt, sed idem ego quod liberti.’ 5 Et hercule si gulae temperes, non est onerosum quo utaris ipse communicare cum pluribus. Illa ergo reprimenda, illa quasi in ordinem redigenda est, si sumptibus parcas, quibus aliquanto rectius tua continentia quam aliena contumelia consulas.

6 Quorsus haec? ne tibi, optimae indolis iuveni, quorundam in mensa luxuria specie frugalitatis imponat. Convenit autem amori in te meo, quotiens tale aliquid inciderit, sub exemplo praemonere, quid debeas fugere. 7 Igitur memento nihil magis esse vitandum quam istam luxuriae et sordium novam societatem; quae cum sint turpissima discreta ac separata, turpius iunguntur. Vale.

VI. — TO AVITUS.

It would be a long story — and it is of no importance — to tell you how I came to be dining — for I am no particular friend of his — with a man who thought he combined elegance with economy, but who appeared to me to be both mean and lavish, for he set the best dishes before himself and a few others and treated the rest to cheap and scrappy food. He had apportioned the wine in small decanters of three different kinds, not in order to give his guests their choice but so that they might not refuse. He had one kind for himself and us, another for his less distinguished friends — for he is a man who classifies his acquaintances — and a third for his own freedmen and those of his guests. The man who sat next to me noticed this and asked me if I approved of it. I said no. “Then how do you arrange matters?” he asked. “I set the same before all,” I answered, “for I invite my friends to dine not to grade them one above the other, and those whom I have set at equal places at my board and on my couches I treat as equals in every respect.” What! even the freedmen?” he said. “Yes,” I replied, “for then I regard them as my guests at table, not as freedmen.” He went on: “It must cost you a lot.” “Not at all,” said I. “Then how do you manage it?” “It’s easily done; because my freedmen do not drink the same wine as I do, but I drink the same that they do.” And, by Jove, the fact is that if you keep off gluttony it is not at all ruinously expensive to entertain a number of people to the fare you have yourself. It is this gluttony which is to be put down, to be reduced as it were to the ranks, if you wish to cut down expenses, and you will find it better to consult your own moderate living than to care about the nasty things people may say of you. What then is my point? Just this, that I don’t want you, who are a young man of great promise, to be taken in by the extravagance with which some people load their tables under the guise of economy. Whenever such a concrete instance comes in my way it becomes the affection I bear you to warn you of what you ought to avoid by giving you an example. So remember that there is nothing you should eschew more than this new association of extravagance and meanness; they are abominable qualities when separated and single, and still more so when you get a combination of them. Farewell.

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7. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

1 Here a senatu Vesticio Spurinnae principe auctore triumphalis statua decreta est, non ita ut multis, qui numquam in acie steterunt, numquam castra viderunt, numquam denique tubarum sonum nisi in spectaculis audierunt, verum ut illis, qui decus istud sudore et sanguine et factis assequebantur. 2 Nam Spurinna Bructerum regem vi et armis induxit in regnum, ostentatoque bello ferocissimam gentem, quod est pulcherrimum victoriae genus, terrore perdomuit. 3 Et hoc quidem virtutis praemium, illud solacium doloris accepit, quod filio eius Cottio, quem amisit absens, habitus est honor statuae. Rarum id in iuvene; sed pater hoc quoque merebatur, cuius gravissimo vulneri magno aliquo fomento medendum fuit. 4 Praeterea Cottius ipse tam clarum specimen indolis dederat, ut vita eius brevis et angusta debuerit hac velut immortalitate proferri. Nam tanta ei sanctitas gravitas auctoritas etiam, ut posset senes illos provocare virtute, quibus nunc honore adaequatus est. 5 Quo quidem honore, quantum ego interpretor, non modo defuncti memoriae, dolori patris, verum etiam exemplo prospectum est. Acuent ad bonas artes iuventutem adulescentibus quoque, digni sint modo, tanta praemia constituta; acuent principes viros ad liberos suscipiendos et gaudia ex superstitibus et ex amissis tam gloriosa solacia. 6 His ex causis statua Cotti publice laetor, nec privatim minus. Amavi consummatissimum iuvenem, tam ardenter quam nunc impatienter requiro. Erit ergo pergratum mihi hanc effigiem eius subinde intueri subinde respicere, sub hac consistere praeter hanc commeare. 7 Etenim si defunctorum imagines domi positae dolorem nostrum levant, quanto magis hae quibus in celeberrimo loco non modo species et vultus illorum, sed honor etiam et gloria refertur! Vale.

VII. — TO MACRINUS.

Yesterday, on the motion of the Emperor, a triumphal statue was decreed to Vestricius Spurinna. He is not one of those heroes, of whom there have been many, who have never stood in battle, never seen a camp, and never heard the call of the trumpets except at the public shows: no, he is one of the real heroes who used to win that decoration by the sweat of their brow, by shedding their blood and doing mighty deeds. For Spurinna restored by force of arms the king of the Bructeri to his kingdom, and, after threatening war, subdued that savage race by the terror of his name, which is the noblest kind of victory. That was the reward of his valour, and the fact that his son Cottius, whom he lost while he was away on his duties, was deemed worthy of being honoured with a statue has solaced his grief for his loss. Young men rarely attain such distinction, but his father deserved this additional honour, for it required some considerable solace to heal his bitter wound. Moreover, Cottius himself had given such striking proofs of his splendid character that his short and narrow life ought to be prolonged by the immortality, so to speak, that a statue confers upon him; for his uprightness, his weight of character, his influence were such that his virtues served as a spur even to the older men with whom he has now been placed on an equality by the honour paid to him.

If I understand the matter aright, in conferring that dignity upon him, regard was had not only to the memory of the dead man and the grief of his father, but also to the effect it would have upon others. When such splendid rewards are bestowed upon young men — provided they deserve them — they will serve to sharpen the inclinations of the rising generation to the practice of the honourable arts; they will make our leading men more desirous of bringing up their children, increase the joy they will have in them if they survive, and provide a glorious consolation if they lose them. It is for these reasons that I rejoice on public grounds that a statue has been decreed to Cottius, and on personal grounds I am equally delighted. My affection for that most accomplished youth was as strong as is my ungovernable sorrow at his loss. So I shall find it soothing from time to time to gaze upon his statue, to look back upon it, to stand beneath it, and to walk past it. For if the busts of the dead that we set up in our private houses assuage our grief, how much more soothing should be the statues of our dead friends erected in the most frequented spots, which recall to us not only the form and face of our lost ones, but also their dignities and glory? Farewell.

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8. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

1 Studes an piscaris an venaris an simul omnia? Possunt enim omnia simul fieri ad Larium nostrum. Nam lacus piscem, feras silvae quibus lacus cingitur, studia altissimus iste secessus affatim suggerunt. 2 Sed sive omnia simul sive aliquid facis, non possum dicere ‘invideo’; angor tamen non et mihi licere, qui sic concupisco ut aegri vinum balinea fontes. Numquamne hos artissimos laqueos, si solvere negatur, abrumpam? Numquam, puto. 3 Nam veteribus negotiis nova accrescunt, nec tamen priora peraguntur: tot nexibus, tot quasi catenis maius in dies occupationum agmen extenditur. Vale.

VIII. — TO CANINIUS.

Are you at your books, or are you fishing, or hunting, or doing all three together? For the latter is possible in the neighbourhood of our Larian lake. The lake supplies fish in plenty, the woods that girdle its shores are full of game, and their secluded recesses inspire one to study. But whether you combine the three at once, or occupy yourself with either one of them, I cannot say “I grudge you your happiness,” though I feel annoyed to think that I am debarred from pleasures which I long for as ardently as an invalid longs for wine, and the baths, and the fountains. If I cannot unloose the close meshes of the net that enfolds me, shall I never snap them asunder? Never, I am afraid, for new business keeps piling up on top of the old, and that without even the old being got rid of. Every day the entangling chain of my engagements seems to lengthen by acquiring additional links. Farewell.

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9. C. PLINIUS APOLLINARI SUO S.

1 Anxium me et inquietum habet petitio Sexti Eruci mei. Afficior cura et, quam pro me sollicitudinem non adii, quasi pro me altero patior; et alioqui meus pudor, mea existimatio, mea dignitas in discrimen adducitur. 2 Ego Sexto latum clavum a Caesare nostro, ego quaesturam impetravi; meo suffragio pervenit ad ius tribunatus petendi, quem nisi obtinet in senatu, vereor ne decepisse Caesarem videar. 2 Proinde adnitendum est mihi, ut talem eum iudicent omnes, qualem esse princeps mihi credidit. Quae causa si studium meum non incitaret, adiutum tamen cuperem iuvenem probissimum gravissimum eruditissimum, omni denique laude dignissimum, et quidem cum tota domo. 4 Nam pater ei Erucius Clarus, vir sanctus antiquus disertus atque in agendis causis exercitatus, quas summa fide pari constantia nec verecundia minore defendit. Habet avunculum C. Septicium, quo nihil verius nihil simplicius nihil candidius nihil fidelius novi. 5 Omnes me certatim et tamen aequaliter amant, omnibus nunc ego in uno referre gratiam possum. Itaque prenso amicos, supplico, ambio, domos stationesque circumeo, quantumque vel auctoritate vel gratia valeam, precibus experior, teque obsecro ut aliquam oneris mei partem suscipere tanti putes. 6 Reddam vicem si reposces, reddam et si non reposces. Diligeris coleris frequentaris: ostende modo velle te, nec deerunt qui quod tu velis cupiant. Vale.

IX. — TO APOLLINARIS.

I am worried and anxious about the candidature of my friend Sextus Erucius. I am quite careworn, and feel for my second self, as it were, a solicitude that I did not feel on my own account. Besides, my honour, my reputation, my position are all at stake: for it was I who obtained from our Emperor for Sextus the right to wear the latus clavis, it was I who secured for him the quaestorship; it was owing to my interest that he was advanced to the right of standing for the tribunate, and unless he is elected by the Senate, I am afraid that it will look as if I had deceived the Emperor. Consequently, I have to do my best to induce all the senators to take the same favourable view of him that the Emperor did on my recommendation. If this were not reason sufficient to rouse my zeal in his behalf, yet I should like to see a young man helped on, who is of such sterling character, who is of such weight and learning, and is fully worthy of any and every praise, as indeed are all the members of his family.

His father, Erucius Clarus, is a man of probity of the old-fashioned sort, full of learning and an experienced counsel, conducting his cases with splendid honesty, perseverance, and modesty as well. His uncle is Caius Septicius, than whom I never met any one more sterling, simple, frank, and trustworthy. They all see who can shower most affection upon me, though they all love me equally, and now I can repay the love of all in the person of young Erucius. So I am button-holing all my friends, begging them for their support, going round to see them and haunting their houses and favourite resorts, and I am putting both my position and influence to the test by my entreaties. I beg of you to think it worth your while to relieve me of some part of my burden. I will do the same for you whenever you ask the return favour; nay I will do so even if you do not ask me. You are a favourite with many, people seek your society, and you have a wide circle of friends. Do you but give a hint that you have a wish, and there will be plenty who will make your wish their desire. Farewell.

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10. C. PLINIUS OCTAVIO SUO S.

1 Hominem te patientem vel potius durum ac paene crudelem, qui tam insignes libros tam diu teneas! 2 Quousque et tibi et nobis invidebis, tibi maxima laude, nobis voluptate? Sine per ora nominum ferantur isdemque quibus lingua Romana spatiis pervagentur. Magna et iam longa exspectatio est, quam frustrari adhuc et differre non debes. 3 Enotuerunt quidam tui versus, et invito te claustra sua refregerunt. Hos nisi retrahis in corpus, quandoque ut errones aliquem cuius dicantur invenient. 4 Habe ante oculos mortalitatem, a qua asserere te hoc uno monimento potes; nam cetera fragilia et caduca non minus quam ipsi homines occidunt desinuntque. 5 Dices, ut soles: ‘Amici mei viderint.’ Opto equidem amicos tibi tam fideles tam eruditos tam laboriosos, ut tantum curae intentionisque suscipere et possint et velint, sed dispice ne sit parum providum, sperare ex aliis quod tibi ipse non praestes. 6 Et de editione quidem interim ut voles: recita saltem quo magis libeat emittere, utque tandem percipias gaudium, quod ego olim pro te non temere praesumo. 7 Imaginor enim qui concursus quae admiratio te, qui clamor quod etiam silentium maneat; quo ego, cum dico vel recito, non minus quam clamore delector, sit modo silentium acre et intentum, et cupidum ulteriora audiendi. 8 Hoc fructu tanto tam parato desine studia tua infinita ista cunctatione fraudare; quae cum modum excedit, verendum est ne inertiae et desidiae vel etiam timiditatis nomen accipiat. Vale.

X. — TO OCTAVIUS.

What an indolent fellow you are, or perhaps I should say how hard- hearted you are and almost cruel to keep back so long such splendid volumes of verse! How long will you deprive yourself of the chorus of praise that awaits you, and us of the pleasure of reading them? Do let them be borne on the lips of men and circulate through all the wide regions where the Roman tongue is spoken. People have long been eagerly looking forward to your publishing them, and you really ought not to cheat and disappoint them any longer. Some of your verses have become known, and — no thanks to you — have broken down the barriers you set round them, and unless you rescue them and include them in the main body of your work they will one day, like vagrant slaves, find some one else to claim the ownership of them. Don’t lose sight of the fact that you are but mortal, and that you can only defend yourself from being forgotten by such a monument as this: all other titles to fame are fragile and perishable, and come to a sudden end as soon as the breath is out of your body. You will say, as usual, “Oh! my friends must see to that for me.” Well, I hope you have friends loyal enough, learned enough, painstaking enough, to be capable and desirous of undertaking such a responsible task, but I would have you consider whether it is altogether prudent to expect from other people the toil which you will not undergo for yourself. However, as to publishing, do as you please, but at least give some public readings, in order to stir you on to publishing, and that you may at length see how pleased people will be to hear you, as I have for a long time been bold enough to anticipate on your account. For I picture to myself what a run there will be to hear you, how they will admire your work, what applause is in store for you, and what a hush of attention. Personally, when I speak or recite I like a hush quite as much as loud applause, provided that the people are quiet, because they are keenly interested and eager to hear more. With such a reward before you so absolutely certain, do not go on chilling our enthusiasm by that never-ending hesitation of yours, for if it once gets over a certain line, there is a danger of people giving it another name and saying you are idle, slothful, or even nervous. Farewell.

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11. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

1 Solet esse gaudio tibi, si quid acti est in senatu dignum ordine illo. Quamvis enim quietis amore secesseris, insidet tamen animo tuo maiestatis publicae cura. Accipe ergo quod per hos dies actum est, personae claritate famosum, severitate exempli salubre, rei magnitudine aeternum. 2 Marius Priscus accusantibus Afris quibus pro consule praefuit, omissa defensione iudices petiit. Ego et Cornelius Tacitus, adesse provincialibus iussi, existimavimus fidei nostrae convenire notum senatui facere excessisse Priscum immanitate et saevitia crimina quibus dari iudices possent, cum ob innocentes condemnandos, interficiendos etiam, pecunias accepisset. 3 Respondit Fronto Catius deprecatusque est, ne quid ultra repetundarum legem quaereretur, omniaque actionis suae vela vir movendarum lacrimarum peritissimus quodam velut vento miserationis implevit. 4 Magna contentio, magni utrimque clamores aliis cognitionem senatus lege conclusam, aliis liberam solutamque dicentibus, quantumque admisisset reus, tantum vindicandum. 5 Novissime consul designatus Iulius Ferox, vir rectus et sanctus, Mario quidem iudices interim censuit dandos, evocandos autem quibus diceretur innocentium poenas vendidisse. 6 Quae sententia non praevaluit modo, sed omnino post tantas dissensiones fuit sola frequens, adnotatumque experimentis, quod favor et misericordia acres et vehementes primos impetus habent, paulatim consilio et ratione quasi restincta considunt. 7 Unde evenit ut, quod multi clamore permixto tuentur, nemo tacentibus ceteris dicere velit; patescit enim, cum separaris a turba, contemplatio rerum quae turba teguntur. 8 Venerunt qui adesse erant iussi, Vitellius Honoratus et Flavius Marcianus; ex quibus Honoratus trecentis milibus exsilium equitis Romani septemque amicorum eius ultimam poenam, Marcianus unius equitis Romani septingentis milibus plura supplicia arguebatur emisse; erat enim fustibus caesus, damnatus in metallum, strangulatus in carcere. 9 Sed Honoratum cognitioni senatus mors opportuna subtraxit, Marcianus inductus est absente Prisco. Itaque Tuccius Cerialis consularis iure senatorio postulavit, ut Priscus certior fieret, sive quia miserabiliorem sive quia invidiosiorem fore arbitrabatur, si praesens fuisset, sive - quod maxime credo - quia aequissimum erat commune crimen ab utroque defendi, et si dilui non potuisset in utroque puniri.

10 Dilata res est in proximum senatum, cuius ipse conspectus augustissimus fuit. Princeps praesidebat - erat enim consul -, ad hoc Ianuarius mensis cum cetera tum praecipue senatorum frequentia celeberrimus; praeterea causae amplitudo auctaque dilatione exspectatio et fama, insitumque mortalibus studium magna et inusitata noscendi, omnes undique exciverat. 11 Imaginare quae sollicitudo nobis, qui metus, quibus super tanta re in illo coetu praesente Caesare dicendum erat. Equidem in senatu non semel egi, quin immo nusquam audiri benignius soleo: tunc me tamen ut nova omnia novo metu permovebant. 12 Obversabatur praeter illa quae supra dixi causae difficultas: stabat modo consularis, modo septemvir epulonum, iam neutrum. 13 Erat ergo perquam onerosum accusare damnatum, quem ut premebat atrocitas criminis, ita quasi peractae damnationis miseratio tuebatur. 14 Utcumque tamen animum cogitationemque collegi, coepi dicere non minore audientium assensu quam sollicitudine mea. Dixi horis paene quinque; nam duodecim clepsydris, quas spatiosissimas acceperam, sunt additae quattuor. Adeo illa ipsa, quae dura et adversa dicturo videbantur, secunda dicenti fuerunt. 15 Caesar quidem tantum mihi studium, tantam etiam curam - nimium est enim dicere sollicitudinem - praestitit, ut libertum meum post me stantem saepius admoneret voci laterique consulerem, cum me vehementius putaret intendi, quam gracilitas mea perpeti posset. Respondit mihi pro Marciano Claudius Marcellinus. 16 Missus deinde senatus et revocatus in posterum; neque enim iam incohari poterat actio, nisi ut noctis interventu scinderetur.

17 Postero die dixit pro Mario Salvius Liberalis, vir subtilis dispositus acer disertus; in illa vero causa omnes artes suas protulit. Respondit Cornelius Tacitus eloquentissime et, quod eximium orationi eius inest, ‘semnôs’. 18 Dixit pro Mario rursus Fronto Catius insigniter, utque iam locus ille poscebat, plus in precibus temporis quam in defensione consumpsit. Huius actionem vespera inclusit, non tamen sic ut abrumperet. Itaque in tertium diem probationes exierunt. Iam hoc ipsum pulchrum et antiquum, senatum nocte dirimi, triduo vocari, triduo contineri. 19 Cornutus Tertullus consul designatus, vir egregius et pro veritate firmissimus, censuit septingenta milia quae acceperat Marius aerario inferenda, Mario urbe Italiaque interdicendum, Marciano hoc amplius Africa. In fine sententiae adiecit, quod ego et Tacitus iniuncta advocatione diligenter et fortiter functi essemus, arbitrari senatum ita nos fecisse ut dignum mandatis partibus fuerit. 20 Assenserunt consules designati, omnes etiam consulares usque ad Pompeium Collegam: ille et septingenta milia aerario inferenda et Marcianum in quinquennium relegandum, Marium repetundarum poenae quam iam passus esset censuit relinquendum. 21 Erant in utraque sententia multi, fortasse etiam plures in hac vel solutiore vel molliore. Nam quidam ex illis quoque, qui Cornuto videbantur assensi, hunc qui post ipsos censuerat sequebantur. 22 Sed cum fieret discessio, qui sellis consulum astiterant, in Cornuti sententiam ire coeperunt. Tum illi qui se Collegae adnumerari patiebantur in diversum transierunt; Collega cum paucis relictus. Multum postea de impulsoribus sis, praecipue de Regulo questus est, qui se in sententia quam ipse dictaverat deseruisset. Est alioqui Regulo tam mobile ingenium, ut plurimum audeat plurimum timeat.

23 Hic finis cognitionis amplissimae. Superest tamen ‘litourgion’ non leve, Hostilius Firminus legatus Mari Prisci, qui permixtus causae graviter vehementerque vexatus est. Nam et rationibus Marciani, et sermone quem ille habuerat in ordine Lepcitanorum, operam suam Prisco ad turpissimum ministerium commodasse, stipulatusque de Marciano quinquaginta milia denariorum probabatur, ipse praeterea accepisse sestertia decem milia foedissimo quidem titulo, nomine unguentarii, qui titulus a vita hominis compti semper et pumicati non abhorrebat. 24 Placuit censente Cornuto referri de eo proximo senatu; tunc enim, casu an conscientia, afuerat.

25 Habes res urbanas; invicem rusticas scribe. Quid arbusculae tuae, quid vineae, quid segetes agunt, quid oves delicatissimae? In summa, nisi aeque longam epistulam reddis, non est quod postea nisi brevissimam exspectes. Vale.

XI. — TO ARRIANUS.

I know you are always delighted when the Senate behaves in a way befitting its rank, for though your love of peace and quiet has caused you to withdraw from Rome, your anxiety that public life should be kept at a high level is as strong as it ever was. So let me tell you what has been going on during the last few days. The proceedings are memorable owing to the commanding position of the person most concerned; they will have a healthy influence because of the sharp lesson that has been administered; and the importance of the case will make them famous for all time.

Marius Priscus, on being accused by the people of Africa, whom he had governed as proconsul, declined to defend himself before the Senate and asked to have judges assigned to hear the case. Cornelius Tacitus and myself were instructed to appear for the provincials, and we came to the conclusion that we were bound in honesty to our clients to notify the Senate that the charges of inhumanity and cruelty brought against Priscus were too serious to be heard by a panel of judges, inasmuch as he was accused of having received bribes to condemn and even put to death innocent persons. Fronto Catius spoke in reply, and urged that the prosecution should be confined within the law dealing with extortion: he is wonderfully skilled at drawing tears, and throughout his speech he filled his sails with a breeze of pathos. Then a hubbub arose, and there were loud exclamations of applause and dissent; some held that a trial of the case by the Senate was barred by law; others declared that the Senate was quite competent and entitled to deal with it, and argued that the law should punish the whole guilt of the defendant. At length Julius Ferox, the consul-designate, a man of honour and probity, gave it as his opinion that judges should be assigned for the time being, and that those who were said to have bribed Priscus to punish innocent persons should be summoned to Rome. This proposal not only carried the day, but it was the only one that was numerously supported in spite of the previous fierce dissension, for it has often been remarked that though partisanship and pity lead men to make very keen and heated attacks in the first instance, they gradually sober down under the influence of further consideration and reason. Hence it comes about that no one cares to make the point, when the other people are sitting still, which a number of persons may be anxious to make if an uproar is going on all round them; for when you get away from the throng a quiet consideration of the subject at issue makes clear all the points that were lost sight of in the throng of speakers.

Well, the witnesses who were summoned came to Rome, viz., Vitellius Honoratus and Flavius Martianus. Honoratus was charged with having bribed Priscus to the tune of three hundred thousand sesterces to exile a Roman knight and put seven of his friends to death; Martianus was accused of having given Priscus seven hundred thousand sesterces to sentence a single Roman knight to still more grievous punishment, for he was beaten with rods, condemned to the mines, and then strangled in prison. Honoratus — luckily for him — escaped the investigation of the Senate by dying; Martianus was brought before them when Priscus was not present. Consequently Tuccius Cerealis, a man of consular rank, pleaded senatorial privileges and demanded that Priscus should be informed of the attendance of Martianus, either because he thought that Priscus by being present would have a better chance of awakening the compassion of the Senate or to increase the feeling against him, or possibly, and I think this was his real motive, because strict justice demanded that both should defend themselves against a charge that affected them both, and that both should be punished if they could not rebut the accusation.

The subject was postponed to the next meeting of the Senate, and a very august assembly it was. The Emperor presided in his capacity as consul; besides, the month of January brings crowds of people to Rome and especially senators, and moreover the importance of the case, the great notoriety it had obtained, which had been increased by the delays that had taken place, and the ingrained curiosity of all men to get to know all the details of an unusually important matter, had made everybody flock to Rome from all quarters. You can imagine how nervous and anxious we were in having to speak in such a gathering and in the presence of the Emperor on such an important case. It was not the first time that I had pleaded in the Senate, and there is nowhere where I get a more sympathetic hearing, but then the novelty of the whole position seemed to afflict me with a feeling of nervousness I had never felt before. For in addition to all that I have mentioned above I kept thinking of the difficulties of the case and was oppressed by the feeling that Priscus, the defendant, had once held consular rank and been one of the seven regulators of the sacred feasts, and was now deprived of both these dignities. So I found it a very trying task to accuse a man on whom sentence had already been passed, for though the shocking offences with which he was charged weighed heavily against him, he yet was protected to a certain extent by the commiseration felt for a man already condemned to punishment that one might have thought final.

However, as soon as I had pulled myself together and collected my thoughts, I began my address, and though I was nervous I was on the best of terms with my audience. I spoke for nearly five hours, for, in addition to the twelve water-clocks — the largest I could get — which had been assigned to me, I obtained four others. And, as matters turned out, everything that I thought before speaking would have proved an obstacle in the way of a good speech really helped me during my address. As for the Emperor, he showed me such kind attention and consideration — for it would be too much to call it anxiety on my behalf — that he frequently nodded to my freedman, who was standing just behind me, to give me a hint not to overtax my voice and lungs, when he thought that I was throwing myself too ardently into my pleading and imposing too great a burden on my slender frame. Claudius Marcellinus answered me on behalf of Martianus, and then the Senate was dismissed and met again on the following day. For there was no time to begin a fresh speech, as it would have had to be broken off by the fall of night. On the following day, Salvius Liberalis, a man of shrewd wit, careful in the arrangement of his speeches, with a pointed style and a fund of learning, spoke for Marius, and in his speech he certainly brought out all he knew. Cornelius Tacitus replied to him in a wonderfully eloquent address, characterised by that lofty dignity which is the chief charm of his oratory. Then Fronto Catius made another excellent speech on Marius’s behalf, and he spent more time in appeals for mercy than in rebutting evidence, as befitted the part of the case that he had then to deal with. The fall of night terminated his speech but did not break it off altogether, and so the proceedings lasted over into the third day. This was quite fine and just like it used to be for the Senate to be interrupted by nightfall, and for the members to be called and sit for three days running.

Cornutus Tertullus, the consul-designate, a man of high character and a devoted champion of justice, gave as his opinion that the seven hundred thousand sesterces which Marius had received should be confiscated to the Treasury, that Marius should be banished from Rome and Italy, and that Martianus should be banished from Rome, Italy, and Africa. Towards the conclusion of his speech he added the remark that the Senate considered that, since Tacitus and myself, who had been summoned to plead for the provincials, had fulfilled our duties with diligence and fearlessness, we had acted in a manner worthy of the commission entrusted to us. The consuls-designate agreed, and all the consulars did likewise, until it was Pompeius Collega’s turn to speak. He proposed that the seven hundred thousand sesterces received by Marius should be confiscated to the Treasury, that Martianus should be banished for five years, and that Marius should suffer no further penalty than that for extortion — which had already been passed upon him. Opinion was largely divided, and there was possibly a majority in favour of the latter proposal, which was the more lenient or less severe of the two, for even some of those who appeared to have supported Cornutus changed sides and were ready to vote for Collega, who had spoken after them. But when the House divided, those who stood near the seats of the consuls began to cross over to the side of Cornutus. Then those who were allowing themselves to be counted as supporters of Collega also crossed over, and Collega was left with a mere handful. He complained bitterly afterwards of those who had led him to make the proposal he did, especially of Regulus, who had failed to support him in the proposal that he himself had suggested. But Regulus is a fickle fellow, rash to a degree, yet a great coward as well.

Such was the close of this most important investigation; but there is still another bit of public business on hand of some consequence, for Hostilius Firminus, the lieutenant of Marius Priscus, who was implicated in the matter, had received a very rough handling. It was proved by the accounts of Martianus and a speech he made in the Council of the Town of Leptis that he had engaged with Priscus in a very shady transaction, that he had bargained to receive from Martianus 50,000 denarii and had received in addition ten million sesterces under the head of perfume money — a most disgraceful thing for a soldier, but one which was not at all inconsistent with his character as a man with well-trimmed hair and polished skin. It was agreed on the motion of Cornutus that the case should be investigated at the next meeting of the Senate, but at that meeting he did not put in an appearance, either from some accidental reason or because he knew he was guilty.

Well, I have told you the news of Rome, you must write and tell me the news of the country. How are your shrubs getting on, your vines and your crops, and those dainty sheep of yours? In short, unless you send me as long a letter I am sending you, you mustn’t expect anything more than the scrappiest note from me in the future. Farewell.

Detailed table of contents listing each letter

12. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

1 ‘Litourgion’ illud, quod superesse Mari Prisci causae proxime scripseram, nescio an satis, circumcisum tamen et adrasum est. 2 Firminus inductus in senatum respondit crimini noto. Secutae sunt diversae sententiae consulum designatorum. Cornutus Tertullus censuit ordine movendum, Acutius Nerva in sortitione provinciae rationem eius non habendam. Quae sententia tamquam mitior vicit, cum sit alioqui durior tristiorque. 3 Quid enim miserius quam exsectum et exemptum honoribus senatoriis, labore et molestia non carcere? quid gravius quam tanta ignominia affectum non in solitudine latere, sed in hac altissima specula conspiciendum se monstrandumque praebere? 4 Praeterea quid publice minus aut congruens aut decorum? notatum a senatu in senatu sedere, ipsisque illis a quibus sit notatus aequari; summotum a proconsulatu quia se in legatione turpiter gesserat, de proconsulibus iudicare, damnatumque sordium vel damnare alios vel absolvere! 5 Sed hoc pluribus visum est. Numerantur enim sententiae, non ponderantur; nec aliud in publico consilio potest fieri, in quo nihil est tam inaequale quam aequalitas ipsa. Nam cum sit impar prudentia, par omnium ius est. 6 Implevi promissum priorisque epistulae fidem exsolvi, quam ex spatio temporis iam recepisse te colligo; nam et festinanti et diligenti tabellario dedi, nisi quid impedimenti in via passus est. 7 Tuae nunc partes, ut primum illam, deinde hanc remunereris litteris, quales istinc redire uberrimae possunt. Vale.

XII. — TO ARRIANUS.

As for the bit of public business which, as I told you in my last letter, arose out of the case of Marius Priscus, I don’t know whether it has been thoroughly pruned, but it certainly has been trimmed. When Firminus was called before the Senate he replied to the charges brought against him. What they were you know. The two consuls-designate thereupon expressed their opinions as to the sentence and disagreed with one another. Cornutus Tertullus proposed that he should be degraded from his rank as senator; Acutius Nerva urged that when the provinces were allotted Firminus’s claim should not be allowed, and his suggestion, as being the least severe, carried the day, though on the whole I think it is the harsher and more vindictive of the two. For what could be more wretched than to be cut off and debarred from all the privileges of senatorship, and yet not to be freed from its toil and trouble? What position can be more trying for a man with such a stain on his name than not to be allowed to hide himself from public view, but to have to show himself in a position of eminence to the gaze and pointing fingers of the world? Moreover, can you imagine anything, from the point of view of the public interest, less congruous or becoming than that a member of the Senate who has been branded by that body should keep his seat among them, that he should retain equal rank with the very persons who branded him, that after being debarred from holding a governorship for disgraceful conduct as one of an embassy he should sit in judgment on other governors, and that after being found guilty of peculation he should pronounce the condemnation or acquittal of others? However, the majority approved this proposal, for votes are merely counted and are not weighed according to merit, and there is no other way possible in a public council. Yet in such cases this presumed equality of opinions is really most unequal, for all are equal in the right to vote though the judgment of the voters is a very unequal quantity. I have fulfilled my promise and made good my word contained in the earlier letter I sent you, which I reckon you will by this time have received, for I entrusted it to a fleet and conscientious messenger who must have reached you unless he has been hindered on the road. It now rests with you to recompense me for both these epistles with the very fullest letter that can be sent from where you are staying. Farewell.

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13. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

1 Et tu occasiones obligandi me avidissime amplecteris, et ego nemini libentius debeo. 2 Duabus ergo de causis a te potissimum petere constitui, quod impetratum maxime cupio. Regis exercitum amplissimum: hinc tibi beneficiorum larga materia, longum praeterea tempus, quo amicos tuos exornare potuisti. Convertere ad nostros nec hos multos. 3 Malles tu quidem multos; sed meae verecundiae sufficit unus aut alter, ac potius unus. 4 Is erit Voconius Romanus. Pater ei in equestri gradu clarus, clarior vitricu, immo pater alius - nam huic quoque nomini pietate successit -, mater e primi. Ipse citerioris Hispaniae - scis quod iudicium provinciae illius, quanta sit gravitas - flamen proxime fuit. 5 Hunc ego, cum simul studeremus, arte familiariterque dilexi; ille meus in urbe ille in secessu contubernalis, cum hoc seria cum hoc iocos miscui. 6 Quid enim illo aut fidelius amico aut sodale iucundius? Mira in sermone, mira etiam in ore ipso vultuque suavitas. 7 Ad hoc ingenium excelsum subtile dulce facile eruditum in causis agendis; epistulas quidem scribit, ut Musas ipsas Latine loqui credas. Amatur a me plurimum nec tamen vincitur. 8 Equidem iuvenis statim iuveni, quantum potui per aetatem, avidissime contuli, et nuper ab optimo principe trium liberorum ius impetravi; quod quamquam parce et cum delectu daret, mihi tamen tamquam eligeret indulsit. 9 Haec beneficia mea tueri nullo modo melius quam ut augeam possum, praesertim cum ipse illa tam grate interpretetur, ut dum priora accipit posteriora mereatur. 10 Habes qualis quam probatus carusque sit nobis, quem rogo pro ingenio pro fortuna tua exornes. In primis ama hominem; nam licet tribuas ei quantum amplissimum potes, nihil tamen amplius potes amicitia tua; cuius esse eum usque ad intimam familiaritatem capacem quo magis scires, breviter tibi studia mores omnem denique vitam eius expressi. 11 Extenderem preces nisi et tu rogari diu nolles et ego tota hoc epistula fecissem; rogat enim et quidem efficacissime, qui reddit causas rogandi. Vale.

XIII. — TO PRISCUS.

I know you are only too pleased to seize an opportunity for doing me a service, and for my own part I would rather be in your debt than in that of any one else. So, for both these reasons, I have decided to choose you of all people as the one from whom to ask a favour which I am very anxious to have granted me. You are in command of a magnificent army, which gives you abundant material for conferring favours, and, moreover, has provided you with ample time during which you have advanced the interests of your own friends. Now give my friends a turn, please. There are not many of them, though you doubtless wish there were. But I am too modest to ask favours for more than one or two. Indeed there is only one, and that is Voconius Romanus. His father held a distinguished position in the equestrian order; his stepfather, or rather his second father, an even more distinguished place, for Voconius took the name of the latter out of his regard for him, while his mother belonged to one of the leading families of Hither Spain. You know how sound and weighty the opinion of that province is — well, Voconius was quite recently its flamen. When we were students he and I were close and intimate friends; we spent our days together in Rome and in the country; he was my companion both in moments of work and play. You could not imagine a more trusty friend or a more delightful companion. He has wonderful conversational powers, and a remarkably sweet face and expression, and besides this he possesses a lofty intellect and is shrewd, pleasant, ready, and a clever advocate. The letters he writes are so good as to make you think the Muses speak Latin. I have the greatest affection for him, and he has the same for me. When we were both young I did all that I possibly could as a young man to advance him, and just lately I induced our excellent Emperor to grant him the privileges attached to the parentage of three children. That is a favour he bestows but sparingly and after careful choice, yet he acceded to my request as though the choice were his own. There is no better way by which I may keep up my services to him than by adding to their number, especially as he, the recipient, shows himself so grateful to me that by accepting former favours he earns others to come. I have told you what kind of a man he is, how thoroughly I esteem him and how dear he is to me, and I now ask you to use your wits and splendid opportunities for his advancement. Above all, give him your regard, for though you shower upon him your richest dignities you can give him nothing more valuable than your friendship. It was to assure you that he is worthy of even your closest intimacy that I have briefly set before you his tastes, his character and his whole life. I would spin out my request to greater length, but I know that you would rather I did not press you further and the whole of this letter is nothing but a request. For the best way of asking a favour is to give good reason for asking it. Farewell.

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14. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Verum opinaris: distringor centumviralibus causis, quae me exercent magis quam delectant. Sunt enim pleraeque parvae et exiles; raro incidit vel personarum claritate vel negotii magnitudine insignis. 2 Ad hoc pauci cum quibus iuvet dicere; ceteri audaces atque etiam magna ex parte adulescentuli obscuri ad declamandum huc transierunt, tam irreverenter et temere, ut mihi Atilius noster expresse dixisse videatur, sic in foro pueros a centumviralibus causis auspicari, ut ab Homero in scholis. Nam hic quoque ut illic primum coepit esse quod maximum est. 3 At hercule ante memoriam meam - ita maiores natu solent dicere -, ne nobilissimis quidem adulescentibus locus erat nisi aliquo consulari producente: tanta veneratione pulcherrimum opus colebatur. 4 Nunc refractis pudoris et reverentiae claustris, omnia patent omnibus, nec inducuntur sed irrumpunt. Sequuntur auditores actoribus similes, conducti et redempti. Manceps convenitur; in media basilica tam palam sportulae quam in triclinio dantur; ex iudicio in iudicium pari mercede transitur. 5 Inde iam non inurbane ‘Sophokleis’ vocantur ‘apo tou sophôs kai kaleisthai’, isdem Latinum nomen impositum est Laudiceni; 6 et tamen crescit in dies foeditas utraque lingua notata. Here duo nomenclatores mei - habent sane aetatem eorum qui nuper togas sumpserint - ternis denariis ad laudandum trahebantur. Tanti constat ut sis disertissimus. Hoc pretio quamlibet numerosa subsellia implentur, hoc ingens corona colligitur, hoc infiniti clamores commoventur, cum mesochorus dedit signum. 7 Opus est enim signo apud non intellegentes, ne audientes quidem; 8 nam plerique non audiunt, nec ulli magis laudant. Si quando transibis per basilicam et voles scire, quo modo quisque dicat, nihil est quod tribunal ascendas, nihil quod praebeas aurem; facilis divinatio: scito eum pessime dicere, qui laudabitur maxime.

9 Primus hunc audiendi morem induxit Larcius Licinus, hactenus tamen ut auditores corrogaret. Ita certe ex Quintiliano praeceptore meo audisse me memini. 10 Narrabat ille: ‘Assectabar Domitium Afrum. Cum apud centumviros diceret graviter et lente - hoc enim illi actionis genus erat -, audit ex proximo immodicum insolitumque clamorem. Admiratus reticuit; ubi silentium factum est, repetit quod abruperat. 11 Iterum clamor, iterum reticuit, et post silentium coepit. Idem tertio. Novissime quis diceret quaesiit. Responsum est: “Licinus.” Tum intermissa causa “Centumviri,” inquit, “hoc artificium periit.”’ 12 Quod alioqui perire incipiebat cum perisse Afro videretur, nunc vero prope funditus exstinctum et eversum est. Pudet referre quae quam fracta pronuntiatione dicantur, quibus quam teneris clamoribus excipiantur. 13 Plausus tantum ac potius sola cymbala et tympana illis canticis desunt: ululatus quidem - neque enim alio vocabulo potest exprimi theatris quoque indecora laudatio - large supersunt. 14 Nos tamen adhuc et utilitas amicorum et ratio aetatis moratur ac retinet; veremur enim ne forte non has indignitates reliquisse, sed laborem fugisse videamur. Sumus tamen solito rariores, quod initium est gradatim desinendi. Vale.

XIV. — TO MAXIMUS.

Yes, you are quite right; my time is fully taken up by cases in the Centumviral Court, but they give me more worry than pleasure, for most of them are of a minor and unimportant character. Only rarely does a case crop up that can be described as a cause celebre, owing either to the distinguished position of the persons in the suit or to the magnitude of the interests involved. Add to this that there are very few with whom I care to plead; all the other advocates are bumptious, and for the most part young men of no standing, who come over here to do their declamations with such utter want of respect and modesty that I think our friend Atilius just hit the nail on the head when he said that mere boys begin their forensic career with cases in the Centumviral Court, just as they begin with Homer in the schools. For here as there they make their first beginnings on the hardest subjects. Yet, by Heaven, before my time — to use an old man’s phrase — not even the highest-born youths had any standing here, unless they were introduced by a man of consular rank.

Such was the respect with which this noble profession was regarded, but now modesty and respect are thrown to the winds and one man is as good as another. So far from being introduced, they burst their way in. Their audiences follow them as if they were actors, bought and paid to do so; the agent is there to meet them in the middle of the basilica, where the doles of money are handed over as openly as the doles of food at a banquet; and they are ready to pass from one court to another for a similar bribe. So these hirelings have been rather wittily dubbed Zophokleis — from their readiness to call bravo, — and they have also been given the Latin name of Laudicaeni — from their eagerness to applaud for the sake of getting a dinner. Yet this disgraceful practice gets worse from day to day, in spite of the terms of opprobrium applied to it in both languages. Yesterday two of my own nomenclators — young men, I admit, about the age of those who have just assumed the toga — were enticed off to join the claque for three denarii apiece. Such is the outlay you must make to get a reputation for eloquence! At that price you can fill the benches, however many there are, you can collect a great throng of bystanders and obtain thunders of applause as soon as the conductor gives the signal. For a signal is absolutely necessary for people who do not understand and do not even listen to the speeches, and many of these fellows do not listen at all, though they applaud as heartily as any. If you happen to be crossing through the basilica and wish to know how any one is speaking, there is no need for you to mount to the Bench or listen. It is perfectly safe to guess on the principle that he is speaking worst who gets the most applause.

Largius Licinius was the first to introduce this new fashion of procuring an audience, but he went no further than asking people to go and hear him. At least I remember that Quintilian, my old tutor, used to tell me so. He told the story thus: “I was in attendance on Domitius Afer when he was pleading in the Centumviral Court in the deliberate and measured style with which he conducted all his cases. He happened to hear from a neighbouring court the sound of extravagant and unusual applause. Wondering what it could mean, he stopped, and then resumed where he had broken off as soon as quiet was restored. Again the shouts came, again he stopped, and after a short period of quiet it began again for the third time. In the end he inquired who was speaking, and was told that it was Licinius. At that he discontinued his case, exclaiming: ‘Centumvirs, this is death to our profession.’” Indeed, it was beginning to go to the bad in other ways when Afer thought that it had already gone to the bad, but it is now practically ruined and destroyed, root and branch. I am ashamed to tell you what an affected delivery these people have and with what unnatural cheering their speeches are greeted. Their sing-song style only wants clapping of hands, or rather cymbals and drums, to make them like the priests of Cybele, for as for howlings — there is no other word to express the unseemly applause in the theatres — they have enough and to spare. It is only a desire to save my friends and my age that has induced me to go on practising so long, for I am afraid people would think that if I retired my object was not to shun these indecent scenes but to escape hard work. Yet I am making fewer appearances than usual, and that is the beginning of gradually ceasing to attend altogether. Farewell.

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15. C. PLINIUS VALERIANO SUO S.

1 Quo modo te veteres Marsi tui? quo modo emptio nova Placent agri, postquam tui facti sunt? Rarum id quidem nihil enim aeque gratum est adeptis quam concupiscentibus. 2 Me praedia materna parum commode tractant, delectant tamen ut materna, et alioqui longa patientia occallui. Habent hunc finem assiduae querellae, quod queri pudet. Vale.

XV. — TO VALERIANUS.

How does your old Marsian property treat you? And your new purchase? Do you like the estate now that it is your own? It is rarely one does, for we never find things as nice when we have obtained them as when we wished to obtain them. My mother’s property is giving me considerable trouble, but I like it because it was my mother’s, and besides, I have put up with so much that I am now hardened. If people go on complaining long enough, they end in being ashamed to complain further. Farewell.

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16. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SUO S.

1 Tu quidem pro cetera tua diligentia admones me codicillos Aciliani, qui me ex parte instituit heredem, pro non scriptis habendos, quia non sint confirmati testamento; 2 quod ius ne mihi quidem ignotum est, cum sit iis etiam notum, qui nihil aliud sciunt. Sed ego propriam quandam legem mihi dixi, ut defunctorum voluntates, etiamsi iure deficerentur, quasi perfectas tuerer. Constat autem codicillos istos Aciliani manu scriptos. 3 Licet ergo non sint confirmati testamento, a me tamen ut confirmati observabuntur, praesertim cum delatori locus non sit. 4 Nam si verendum esset ne quod ego dedissem populus eriperet, cunctantior fortasse et cautior esse deberem; cum vero liceat heredi donare, quod in hereditate subsedit, nihil est quod obstet illi meae legi, cui publicae leges non repugnant. Vale.

XVI. — TO ANNIANUS.

You, with your usual watchfulness on my behalf, advise me that the codicils of Acilianus, who left me heir to half his estate, may be treated as though they were non-existent, because they are not confirmed by the will. I was quite aware of the law on the subject, for even those who know nothing else know as much as that. But I have made a law of my own for such cases, which leads me to treat as valid the wishes of a dead man, even though they are not legally binding upon me. It is beyond question that the codicils in question were drawn up by Acilianus in his own hand. So, even though they are not confirmed by the will, I shall carefully carry out their intentions as though they were, especially as there is no loophole for an informer to meddle in the matter. For if there were any reason to be afraid of the money I have given being confiscated, I ought to act with perhaps greater hesitation and caution; but since an heir is at perfect liberty to give away what has reverted to him under an inheritance, there is no reason why I should not abide by my own law, which does not clash with the regulations of the State. Farewell.

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17. C. PLINIUS GALLO SUO S.

1 Miraris cur me Laurentinum vel - si ita mavis -, Laurens meum tanto opere delectet; desines mirari, cum cognoveris gratiam villae, opportunitatem loci, litoris spatium. 2 Decem septem milibus passuum ab urbe secessit, ut peractis quae agenda fuerint salvo iam et composito die possis ibi manere. Aditur non una via; nam et Laurentina et Ostiensis eodem ferunt, sed Laurentina a quarto decimo lapide, Ostiensis ab undecimo relinquenda est. Utrimque excipit iter aliqua ex parte harenosum, iunctis paulo gravius et longius, equo breve et molle. 3 Varia hinc atque inde facies; nam modo occurrentibus silvis via coartatur, modo latissimis pratis diffunditur et patescit; multi greges ovium, multa ibi equorum boum armenta, quae montibus hieme depulsa herbis et tepore verno nitescunt. Villa usibus capax, non sumptuosa tutela. 4 Cuius in prima parte atrium frugi, nec tamen sordidum; deinde porticus in D litterae similitudinem circumactae, quibus parvola sed festiva area includitur. Egregium hac adversus tempestates receptaculum; nam specularibus ac multo magis imminentibus rectis muniuntur. 5 Est contra medias cavaedium hilare, mox triclinium satis pulchrum, quod in litus excurrit ac si quando Africo mare impulsum est, fractis iam et novissimis fluctibus leviter alluitur. Undique valvas aut fenestras non minores valvis habet atque ita a lateribus a fronte quasi tria maria prospectat; a tergo cavaedium porticum aream porticum rursus, mox atrium silvas et longinquos respicit montes. 6 Huius a laeva retractius paulo cubiculum est amplum, deinde aliud minus quod altera fenestra admittit orientem, occidentem altera retinet; hac et subiacens mare longius quidem sed securius intuetur. 7 Huius cubiculi et triclinii illius obiectu includitur angulus, qui purissimum solem continet et accendit. Hoc hibernaculum, hoc etiam gymnasium meorum est; ibi omnes silent venti, exceptis qui nubilum inducunt, et serenum ante quam usum loci eripiunt. 8 Annectitur angulo cubiculum in hapsida curvatum, quod ambitum solis fenestris omnibus sequitur. Parieti eius in bibliothecae speciem armarium insertum est, quod non legendos libros sed lectitandos capit. 9 Adhaeret dormitorium membrum transitu interiacente, qui suspensus et tubulatus conceptum vaporem salubri temperamento huc illuc digerit et ministrat. Reliqua pars lateris huius servorum libertorumque usibus detinetur, plerisque tam mundis, ut accipere hospites possint. 10 Ex alio latere cubiculum est politissimum; deinde vel cubiculum grande vel modica cenatio, quae plurimo sole, plurimo mari lucet; post hanc cubiculum cum procoetone, altitudine aestivum, munimentis hibernum; est enim subductum omnibus ventis. Huic cubiculo aliud et procoeton communi pariete iunguntur. 11 Inde balinei cella frigidaria spatiosa et effusa, cuius in contrariis parietibus duo baptisteria velut eiecta sinuantur, abunde capacia si mare in proximo cogites. Adiacet unctorium, hypocauston, adiacet propnigeon balinei, mox duae cellae magis elegantes quam sumptuosae; cohaeret calida piscina mirifica, ex qua natantes mare aspiciunt, 12 nec procul sphaeristerium quod calidissimo soli inclinato iam die occurrit. Hic turris erigitur, sub qua diaetae duae, totidem in ipsa, praeterea Chianti quae latissimum mare longissimum litus villas amoenissimas possidet. 13 Est et alia turris; in hac cubiculum, in quo sol nascitur conditurque; lata post apotheca et horreum, sub hoc triclinium, quod turbati maris non nisi fragorem et sonum patitur, eumque iam languidum ac desinentem; hortum et gestationem videt, qua hortus includitur. 14 Gestatio buxo aut rore marino, ubi deficit buxus, ambitur; nam buxus, qua parte defenditur tectis, abunde viret; aperto caelo apertoque vento et quamquam longinqua aspergine maris inarescit. 15 Adiacet gestationi interiore circumitu vinea tenera et umbrosa, nudisque etiam pedibus mollis et cedens. Hortum morus et ficus frequens vestit, quarum arborum illa vel maxime ferax terra est, malignior ceteris. Hac non deteriore quam maris facie Chianti remota a mari fruitur, cingitur diaetis duabus a tergo, quarum fenestris subiacet vestibulum villae et hortus alius pinguis et rusticus. 16 Hinc cryptoporticus prope publici operis extenditur. Utrimque fenestrae, a mari plures, ab horto singulae sed alternis pauciores. Hae cum serenus dies et immotus, omnes, cum hinc vel inde ventis inquietus, qua venti quiescunt sine iniuria patent. 17 Ante cryptoporticum xystus violis odoratus. Teporem solis infusi repercussu cryptoporticus auget, quae ut tenet solem sic aquilonem inhibet summovetque, quantumque caloris ante tantum retro frigoris; similiter africum sistit, atque ita diversissimos ventos alium alio latere frangit et finit. Haec iucunditas eius hieme, maior aestate. 18 Nam ante meridiem xystum, post meridiem gestationis hortique proximam partem umbra sua temperat, quae, ut dies crevit decrevitve, modo brevior modo longior hac vel illa cadit. 19 Ipsa vero cryptoporticus tum maxime caret sole, cum ardentissimus culmini eius insistit. Ad hoc patentibus fenestris favonios accipit transmittitque nec umquam aere pigro et manente ingravescit. 20 In capite xysti, deinceps cryptoporticus horti, diaeta est amores mei, re vera amores: ipse posui. In hac heliocaminus quidem alia xystum, alia mare, utraque solem, cubiculum autem valvis cryptoporticum, fenestra prospicit mare. 21 Contra parietem medium zotheca perquam eleganter recedit, quae specularibus et velis obductis reductisve modo adicitur cubiculo modo aufertur. Lectum et duas cathedras capit; a pedibus mare, a tergo villae, a capite silvae: tot facies locorum totidem fenestris et distinguit et miscet. 22 Iunctum est cubiculum noctis et somni. Non illud voces servolorum, non maris murmur, non tempestatum motus non fulgurum lumen, ac ne diem quidem sentit, nisi fenestris apertis. Tam alti abdicitque secreti illa ratio, quod interiacens andron parietem cubiculi hortique distinguit atque ita omnem sonum media inanitate consumit. 23 Applicitum est cubiculo hypocauston perexiguum, quod angusta fenestra suppositum calorem, ut ratio exigit, aut effundit aut retinet. Procoeton inde et cubiculum porrigitur in solem, quem orientem statim exceptum ultra meridiem oblicum quidem sed tamen servat. 24 In hanc ego diaetam cum me recepi, abesse mihi etiam a villa mea videor, magnamque eius voluptatem praecipue Saturnalibus capio, cum reliqua pars tecti licentia dierum festisque clamoribus personat; nam nec ipse meorum lusibus nec illi studiis meis obstrepunt. 25 Haec utilitas haec amoenitas deficitur aqua salienti, sed puteos ac potius fontes habet; sunt enim in summo. Et omnino litoris illius mira natura: quacumque loco moveris humum, obvius et paratus umor occurrit, isque sincerus ac ne leviter quidem tanta maris vicinitate corruptus. 26 Suggerunt affatim ligna proximae silvae; ceteras copias ostiensis colonia ministrat. Frugi quidem homini sufficit etiam vicus, quem una villa discernit. In hoc balinea meritoria tria, magna commoditas, si forte balineum domi vel subitus adventus vel brevior mora calfacere dissuadeat. 27 Litus ornant varietate gratissima nunc continua nunc intermissa tecta villarum, quae praestant multarum urbium faciem, sive mari sive ipso litore utare; quod non numquam longa tranquillitas mollit, saepius frequens et contrarius fluctus indurat. 28 Mare non sane pretiosis piscibus abundat, soleas tamen et squillas optimas egerit. Villa vero nostra etiam mediterraneas copias praestat, lac in primis; nam illuc e pascuis pecora conveniunt, si quando aquam umbramve sectantur.

29 Iustisne de causis iam tibi videor incolere inhabitare diligere secessum? quem tu nimis urbanus es nisi concupiscis. Atque utinam concupiscas! ut tot tantisque dotibus villulae nostrae maxima commendatio ex tuo contubernio accedat. Vale.

XVII. — TO GALLUS.

You are surprised, you say, at my infatuation for my Laurentine estate, or Laurentian if you prefer it so. You will cease to wonder when you are told the charms of the villa, the handiness of its site, and the stretch of shore it commands. It is seventeen miles distant from Rome, so that after getting through all your business, and without loss or curtailment of your working hours, you can go and stay there. It can be reached by more than one route, for the roads to Laurentium and Ostia both lead in the same direction, but you must branch off on the former at the fourth, and on the latter at the fourteenth milestone. From both of these points onward the road is for the most part rather sandy, which makes it a tedious and lengthy journey if you drive, but if you ride it is easy going and quickly covered. The scenery on either hand is full of variety. At places the path is a narrow one with woods running down to it on both sides, at other points it passes through spreading meadows and is wide and open. You will see abundant flocks of sheep and many herds of cattle and horses, which are driven down from the high ground in the winter and grow sleek in a pasturage and a temperature like those of spring.

The villa is large enough for all requirements, and is not expensive to keep in repair. At its entrance there is a modest but by no means mean- looking hall; then come the cloisters, which are rounded into the likeness of the letter D, and these enclose a smallish but handsome courtyard. They make a fine place of refuge in a storm, for they are protected by glazed windows and deep overhanging eaves. Facing the middle of the cloisters is a cheerful inner court, then comes a dining- room running down towards the shore, which is handsome enough for any one, and when the sea is disturbed by the south-west wind the room is just flecked by the spray of the spent waves. There are folding doors on all sides of it, or windows that are quite as large as such doors, and so from the two sides and the front it commands a prospect as it were of three seas, while at the back one can see through the inner court, the cloisters, the courtyard, then more cloisters and the hall, and through them the woods and the distant hills. A little farther back, on the left-hand side, is a spacious chamber; then a smaller one which admits the rising sun by one window and by another enjoys his last lingering rays as he sets, and this room also commands a view of the sea that lies beneath it, at a longer but more secure distance. An angle is formed by this chamber and the dining-room, which catches and concentrates the purest rays of the sun. This forms the winter apartments and exercise ground for my household. No wind penetrates thither except those which bring up rain-clouds and only prevent the place being used when they take away the fine weather. Adjoining this angle is a chamber with one wall rounded like a bay, which catches the sun on all its windows as he moves through the heavens. In the wall of this room I have had shelves placed like a library, which contains the volumes which I not only read, but read over and over again. Next to it is a sleeping chamber, through a passage supported by pillars and fitted with pipes which catch the hot air and circulate it from place to place, keeping the rooms at a healthy temperature. The remaining part of this side of the villa is appropriated to the use of my slaves and freedmen, most of the rooms being sufficiently well furnished for the reception of guests.

On the other side of the building there is a nicely decorated chamber, then another room which would serve either as a large bed-chamber or a moderate sized dining-room, as it enjoys plenty of sunshine and an extensive sea-view. Behind this is an apartment with an ante-room, suitable for summer use because of its height, and for winter use owing to it sheltered position, for it is out of reach of all winds. Another room with an ante-room is joined to this by a common wall. Next to it is the cold bath room, a spacious and wide chamber, with two curved swimming baths thrown out as it were from opposite sides of the room and facing one another. They hold plenty of water if you consider how close the sea is. Adjoining this room is the anointing room, then the sweating room, and then the heating room, from which you pass to two chambers of graceful rather than sumptuous proportions. Attached to these is a warm swimming bath which everybody admires, and from it those who are taking a swim can command a view of the sea. Close by is the tennis court, which receives the warmest rays of the afternoon sun; on one side a tower has been built with two sitting rooms on the ground floor, two more on the first floor, and above them a dining-room commanding a wide expanse of sea, a long stretch of shore, and the pleasantest villas of the neighbourhood. There is also a second tower, containing a bedroom which gets the sun morning and evening, and a spacious wine cellar and store-room at the back of it. On the floor beneath is a sitting-room where, even when the sea is stormy, you hear the roar and thunder only in subdued and dying murmurs. It looks out upon the exercise ground, which runs round the garden.

This exercise ground has a border of boxwood, or rosemary where the box does not grow well — for box thrives admirably when it is sheltered by buildings, but where it is fully exposed to wind and weather and to the spray of the sea, though it stands at a great distance therefrom, it is apt to shrivel. On the inside ring of the exercise ground is a pretty and shady alley of vines, which is soft and yielding even to the bare foot. The garden itself is clad with a number of mulberry and fig- trees, the soil being specially suitable for the former trees, though it is not so kindly to the others. On this side, the dining-room away from the sea commands as fine a view as that of the sea itself. It is closed in behind by two day-rooms, from the windows of which can be seen the entrance to the villa from the road and another garden as rich as the first one but not so ornamental.

Along its side stretches a covered portico, almost long enough for a public building. It has windows on both sides, most of them facing the sea; those looking on the garden are single ones, and less numerous than those on the other side, as every alternate window was left out. All these are kept open when it is a fine day and there is no wind; when the wind is high, the windows only on the sheltered side are opened and no harm is done. In front of the portico is a terrace walk that is fragrant with violets. The portico increases the warmth of the sun by radiation, and retains the heat just as it keeps off and breaks the force of the north wind. Hence it is as warm in front as it is cool behind. In the same way it checks the south-west winds, and similarly with all winds from whatever quarter they blow — it tempers them and stops them dead. This is its charm in winter, but in summer it is even greater, for in the mornings its shade tempers the heat of the terrace walk, and in the afternoon the heat of the exercise ground and the nearest part of the garden, the shadows falling longer and shorter on the two sides respectively as the sun rises to his meridian and sinks to his setting. Indeed, the portico has least sunshine when the sun is blazing down upon its roof. Consequently it receives the west winds through its open windows and circulates them through the building, and so never becomes oppressive through the stuffy air remaining within it.

At the head of the terrace and portico successively is a garden suite of rooms, my favourite spot and well worthy of being so. I had them built myself. In this is a sunny chamber which commands the terrace on one side, the sea on another, and the sun on both; besides an apartment which looks on the portico through folding doors and on the sea through a window. In the middle of the wall is a neat recess, which by means of glazed windows and curtains can either be thrown into the adjoining room or be cut off from it. It holds a couch and two easy-chairs, and as you lie on the couch you have the sea at your feet, the villa at your back, and the woods at your head, and all these views may be looked at separately from each window or blended into one prospect. Adjoining is a chamber for passing the night in or taking a nap, and unless the windows are open, you do not hear a sound either of your slaves talking, or the murmur of the sea, or the raging of the storms; nor do you see the flashes of the lightning or know that it is day. This deep seclusion and remoteness is due to the fact that an intervening passage separates the wall of the chamber from that of the garden, and so all the sound is dissipated in the empty space between. A very small heating apparatus has been fitted to the room, which, by means of a narrow trap-door, either diffuses or retains the hot air as may be required. Adjoining it is an ante-room and a chamber projected towards the sun, which the latter room catches immediately upon his rising, and retains his rays beyond mid-day though they fall aslant upon it. When I betake myself into this sitting-room, I seem to be quite away even from my villa, and I find it delightful to sit there, especially during the Saturnalia, when all the rest of the house rings with the merry riot and shouts of the festival-makers; for then I do not interfere with their amusements, and they do not distract me from my studies.

The convenience and charm of the situation of my villa have one drawback in that it contains no running water, but I draw my supply from wells or rather fountains, for they are situated at a high level. Indeed, it is one of the curious characteristics of the shore here that wherever you dig you find moisture ready to hand, and the water is quite fresh and not even brackish in the slightest degree, though the sea is so close by. The neighbouring woods furnish us with abundance of fuel, and other supplies we get from a colony of Ostia. The village, which is separated only by one residence from my own, supplies my modest wants; it boasts of three public baths, which are a great convenience, when you do not feel inclined to heat your own bath at home, if you arrive unexpectedly or wish to save time. The shore is beautified by a most pleasing variety of villa buildings, some of which are close together, while others have great intervals between them. They give the appearance of a number of cities, whether you view them from the sea or from the shore itself, and the sands of the latter are sometimes loosened by a long spell of quiet weather, or — as more often happens — are hardened by the constant beating of the waves. The sea does not indeed abound with fish of any value, but it yields excellent soles and prawns. Yet our villa provides us with plenty of inland produce and especially milk, for the herds come down to us from the pastures whenever they seek water or shade.

Well, do you think that I have just reasons for living here, for passing my time here, and for loving a retreat for which your mouth must be watering, unless you are a confirmed town-bird? I wish that your mouth did water! If it did, the many great charms of my little villa would be enhanced in the highest degree by your company. Farewell.

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18. C. PLINIUS MAURICO SUO S.

1 Quid a te mihi iucundius potuit iniungi, quam ut praeceptorem fratris tui liberis quaererem? Nam beneficio tuo in scholam redeo, et illam dulcissimam aetatem quasi resumo: sedeo inter iuvenes ut solebam, atque etiam experior quantum apud illos auctoritatis ex studiis habeam. 2 Nam proxime frequenti auditorio inter se coram multis ordinis nostri clare iocabantur; intravi, conticuerunt; quod non referrem, nisi ad illorum magis laudem quam ad meam pertineret, ac nisi sperare te vellem posse fratris tui filios probe discere. 3 Quod superest, cum omnes qui profitentur audiero, quid de quoque sentiam scribam, efficiamque quantum tamen epistula consequi potero, ut ipse omnes audisse videaris. 4 Debeo enim tibi, debeo memoriae fratris tui hanc fidem hoc studium, praesertim super tanta re. Nam quid magis interest vestra, quam ut liberi - dicerem tui, nisi nunc illos magis amares - digni illo patre, te patruo reperiantur? quam curam mihi etiam si non mandasses vindicassem. 5 Nec ignoro suscipiendas offensas in eligendo praeceptore, sed oportet me non modo offensas, verum etiam simultates pro fratris tui filiis tam aequo animo subire quam parentes pro suis. Vale.

XVIII. — TO MAURICUS.

No, you could not have given me a pleasanter commission than to find a teacher of rhetoric for your brother’s children. For, thanks to you, I go to school again, and, as it were, enjoy once more the happiest days of my life. I sit among young people, as I used to do, and I can judge what authority I have among them owing to my literary pursuits. Just recently in a full class-room, before a number of members of our order, the boys were joking among themselves quite loudly; the moment I entered they were quiet as mice. I should not mention the incident except that it redounded more to their credit than to mine, and that I wish you to feel sure that your brother’s sons can attend the lectures to their advantage. Moreover, when I have heard all the lectures, I will write and tell you what I think about each one of them, and so — as far as I can by a letter — I will make you think that you have heard them all yourself. I owe this to you, and I owe it to the memory of your brother to deal loyally by him and take this interest, especially on such an important subject. For what can touch you more closely than that these children — I should say your children, but that you love them more than if they were your own — should be found worthy of such a father and such an uncle as yourself. Even if you had not asked me to look after them, I should have done so on my own account. I do not forget that in choosing a public teacher one is apt to give offence, but on behalf of your brother’s sons I must risk giving offence and even incurring animosity with as little compunction as a parent would in looking after his own children. Farewell.

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19. C. PLINIUS CERIALI SUO S.

1 Hortaris ut orationem amicis pluribus recitem. Faciam quia hortaris, quamvis vehementer addubitem. 2 Neque enim me praeterit actiones, quae recitantur, impetum omnem caloremque ac prope nomen suum perdere, ut quas soleant commendare simul et accendere iudicum consessus, celebritas advocatorum, exspectatio eventus, fama non unius actoris, diductumque in partes audientium studium, ad hoc dicentis gestus incessus, discursus etiam omnibusque motibus animi consentaneus vigor corporis. 3 Unde accidit ut ii qui sedentes agunt, quamvis illis maxima ex parte supersint eadem illa quae stantibus, tamen hoc quod sedent quasi debilitentur et deprimantur. 4 Recitantium vero praecipua pronuntiationis adiumenta, oculi manus, praepediuntur. Quo minus mirum est, si auditorum intentio relanguescit, nullis extrinsecus aut blandimentis capta aut aculeis excitata. 5 Accedit his quod oratio de qua loquor pugnax et quasi contentiosa est. Porro ita natura comparatum est, ut ea quae scripsimus cum labore, cum labore etiam audiri putemus. 6 Et sane quotus quisque tam rectus auditor, quem non potius dulcia haec et sonantia quam austera et pressa delectent? Est quidem omnino turpis ista discordia, est tamen, quia plerumque evenit ut aliud auditores aliud iudices exigant, cum alioqui iis praecipue auditor affici debeat, quibus idem si foret iudex, maxime permoveretur. 7 Potest tamen fieri ut quamquam in his difficultatibus libro isti novitas lenocinetur, novitas apud nostros; apud Graecos enim est quiddam quamvis ex diverso, non tamen omnino dissimile. 8 Nam ut illis erat moris, leges quas ut contrarias prioribus legibus arguebant, aliarum collatione convincere, ita nobis inesse repetundarum legi quod postularemus, cum hac ipsa lege tum aliis colligendum fuit; quod nequaquam blandum auribus imperitorum, tanto maiorem apud doctos habere gratiam debet, quanto minorem apud indoctos habet. 9 Nos autem si placuerit recitare adhibituri sumus eruditissimum quemque. Sed plane adhuc an sit recitandum examina tecum, omnesque quos ego movi in utraque parte calculos pone, idque elige in quo vicerit ratio. A te enim ratio exigetur, nos excusabit obsequium. Vale.

XIX. — TO CERIALIS.

You urge me to recite my speech before a company of my friends. I will do so, because you ask me to, but I am exceedingly doubtful of the wisdom of the step. For I cannot help remembering that speeches which are recited lose all their spirit and passion and almost the right to the name of speeches — which are properly enhanced and fired by the bench of judges, the crowds of supporters, the waiting for the verdict, the reputation of the various counsel, and the divided partisanship of the audience. Besides all this, there are the gestures of the pleader, his moving to and fro, even his hurried strides, and every movement of his body which corresponds to some thought passing through his mind. Hence it is that those who plead sitting down, although they have practically the same environment as those who plead standing, are not so impressive and telling just because they happen to be seated. But when a man recites a speech, his eyes and hands — which are the most important aids to expression — are otherwise occupied, and so it is no wonder that the attention of the audience becomes languid, when there are no external graces to charm them and no thrills to stimulate them. Moreover, the address I am talking about is a fighting speech and full of contentious matter, and Nature has so ordained it that we think, if a subject has given us trouble to write, it will give an audience trouble to listen to it. How few conscientious listeners there are who prefer a stiff, closely-reasoned argument to honeyed and sonorous eloquence! It is wrong, I know, that there should be a difference of taste between judge and listener, but there is such a difference and it constantly crops up. The audience want one thing and the judges another, whereas, on the contrary, a listener ought to be impressed just by those points which would make most impression on him if he were judge. However, it is possible that in spite of these difficulties the speech may be recommended by a certain novelty — a novelty that is quite Roman, — for though the Greeks have a custom which does bear a remote resemblance to it, it is really quite different. For just as it was their practice, in showing that a law was opposed to earlier laws, to prove that it was so by comparing it with the others, so I had to show that my accusation was covered by the law against extortion by comparing it with other laws as well as by proving it from the law itself. Such a subject, though far from having any charm for the ears of the man in the street, ought to be as interesting to the learned as it is uninteresting to the unlearned. But if I make up my mind to recite the speech, I shall invite all the learned people to hear it. However, please think it over by all means and tell me whether you still consider that I ought to recite it; place on either side all the considerations I have raised, and choose the conclusion which has the weight of argument in its favour. It is from you, not from me, that a reason will be required; my apology will be that I did as I was told. Farewell.

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20. C. PLINIUS CALCISIO SUO S.

1 Assem para et accipe auream fabulam, fabulas immo; nam me priorum nova admonuit, nec refert a qua potissimum incipiam. 2 Verania Pisonis graviter iacebat, huius dico Pisonis, quem Galba adoptavit. Ad hanc Regulus venit. Primum impudentiam hominis, qui venerit ad aegram, cuius marito inimicissimus, ipsi invisissimus fuerat! 3 Esto, si venit tantum; at ille etiam proximus toro sedit, quo die qua hora nata esset interrogavit. Ubi audiit, componit vultum intendit oculos movet labra, agitat digitos computat. Nihil. Ut diu miseram exspectatione suspendit, ‘habes’ inquit ‘climacterium tempus sed evades. 4 Quod ut tibi magis liqueat, haruspicem consulam, quem sum frequenter expertus.’ 5 Nec mora, sacrificium facit, affirmat exta cum siderum significatione congruere. Illa ut in periculo credula poscit codicillos, legatum Regulo scribit. Mox ingravescit, clamat moriens hominem nequam perfidum ac plus etiam quam periurum, qui sibi per salutem filii peierasset. 6 Facit hoc Regulus non minus scelerate quam frequenter, quod iram deorum, quos ipse cotidie fallit, in caput infelicis pueri detestatur.

7 Velleius Blaesus ille locuples consularis novissima valetudine conflictabatur: cupiebat mutare testamentum. Regulus qui speraret aliquid ex novis tabulis, quia nuper captare eum coeperat, medicos hortari rogare, quoquo modo spiritum homini prorogarent. 8 Postquam signatum est testamentum, mutat personam, vertit allocutionem isdemque medicis: ‘Quousque miserum cruciatis? quid invidetis bona morte, cui dare vitam non potestis?’ Moritur Blaesus et, tamquam omnia audisset, Regulo ne tantulum quidem.

9 Sufficiunt duae fabulae, an scholastica lege tertiam poscis? est unde fiat. 10 Aurelia ornata femina signatura testamentum sumpserat pulcherrimas tunicas. Regulus cum venisset ad signandum, ‘Rogo’ inquit ‘has mihi leges.’ 11 Aurelia ludere hominem putabat, ille serio instabat; ne multa, coegit mulierem aperire tabulas ac sibi tunicas quas erat induta legare; observavit scribentem, inspexit an scripsisset. Et Aurelia quidem vivit, ille tamen istud tamquam morituram coegit. Et hic hereditates, hic legata quasi mereatur accipit.

12 ‘Alla ti diateinomai’ in ea civitate, in qua iam pridem non minora praemia, immo maiora nequitia et improbitas quam pudor et virtus habent? 13 Aspice Regulum, qui ex paupere et tenui ad tantas opes per flagitia processit, ut ipse mihi dixerit, cum consuleret quam cito sestertium sescentiens impleturus esset, invenisse se exta duplicia, quibus portendi miliens et ducentiens habiturum. 14 Et habebit, si modo ut coepit, aliena testamenta, quod est improbissimum genus falsi, ipsis quorum sunt illa dictaverit. Vale.

XX. — TO CALVISIUS.

Get ready your penny and I will tell you a golden story, nay, more than one, for the new one has reminded me of some old tales, and it does not matter with which I begin. Verania, the wife of Piso, was lying very ill — I mean the Piso who was adopted by Galba. Regulus paid her a visit. First mark the impudence of the man in coming to see the invalid, for he had been her husband’s bitter enemy and she loathed and detested him. However, that might pass if he had only called, but he actually sat down beside her on the couch and asked her on what day and at what hour she had been born. On being told he puts on a grave look, fixes his eyes hard, moves his lips, works his fingers and makes his reckoning, but says nothing. Then after keeping the poor lady on the tenter-hooks, wondering what he would say, he exclaims: “You are passing through a critical time, but you will pull through. Still, just to reassure you, I will go and consult a soothsayer with whom I have often had dealings.” He goes off at once; offers the sacrifice and swears that the appearance of the entrails corresponds with the warning of the stars. She, with all the credulity of an invalid, calls for her tablets and writes down a legacy for Regulus; subsequently she grows worse and exclaims as she dies, “What a rascal, what a lying and worse than perjured wretch, thus to have sworn falsely on the head of his son!”

That is Regulus’s trick, and he has recourse to the scandalous device constantly, for he calls down the anger of the gods, whom he daily outrages, upon the head of his luckless son. Velleius Blaesus, the rich Consular, was stricken with the illness which carried him off, and was desirous of changing his will. Regulus, who was capable of hoping for anything from an alteration of the will because he had lately begun to haunt him on the chance of a legacy, begged and prayed of the doctors to prolong Blaesus’s life by hook or by crook. But when the will was signed he took quite a different line. He changed his tone and said to the same doctors: “How long do you intend to torture the poor man? Why do you grudge him an easy death when you cannot give him life?” Blaesus dies, and, as though he had heard every word, he leaves Regulus not a brass farthing. Two stories are quite enough. Or do you ask for a third, on the rhetoricians’ principle? Well, I have one for you. When Aurelia, a lady of great means, was about to make her will, she put on for the occasion her most handsome tunics. When Regulus came to witness the signing he said, “I beg you to leave me these.” Aurelia thought the man was joking, but he was serious and pressed the matter. Well, to cut the story short, he compelled the poor woman to open the tablets and leave to him the tunics she was wearing at the time. He watched her as she wrote, and looked to see whether she had written it rightly. Aurelia still lives, but he forced her to make that legacy as if she had been on the point of death. Yet this is the fellow who receives inheritances and legacies as though he deserved them.

But why do I worry myself when I live in a country where villainy and rascality have long been getting not less but far more handsome rewards than modesty and virtue? Look at Regulus, for example, who, from being a pauper and without a shilling, has now become such a rich man by sheer villainy that he once told me that, when he was consulting the omens as to how soon he would be worth sixty millions of sesterces, he found double sets of entrails, which were a token that he would be worth 120 millions. So he will too, if only he goes on, as he has begun, dictating wills which are not their own to the very people who are making their wills, which is about the most disgraceful kind of forgery imaginable. Farewell.

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LIBER TERTIVS

BOOK III.

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1. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Nescio an ullum iucundius tempus exegerim, quam quo nuper apud Spurinnam fui, adeo quidem ut neminem magis in senectute, si modo senescere datum est, aemulari velim; nihil est enim illo vitae genere distinctius. 2 Me autem ut certus siderum cursus ita vita hominum disposita delectat. Senum praesertim: nam iuvenes confusa adhuc quaedam et quasi turbata non indecent, senibus placida omnia et ordinata conveniunt, quibus industria sera turpis ambitio est. 3 Hanc regulam Spurinna constantissime servat; quin etiam parva haec - parva si non cotidie fiant - ordine quodam et velut orbe circumagit. 4 Mane lectulo continetur, hora secunda calceos poscit, ambulat milia passuum tria nec minus animum quam corpus exercet. Si adsunt amici, honestissimi sermones explicantur; si non, liber legitur, interdum etiam praesentibus amicis, si tamen illi non gravantur. 5 Deinde considit, et liber rursus aut sermo libro potior; mox vehiculum ascendit, assumit uxorem singularis exempli vel aliquem amicorum, ut me proxime. 6 Quam pulchrum illud, quam dulce secretum! quantum ibi antiquitatis! quae facta, quos viros audias! quibus praeceptis imbuare! quamvis ille hoc temperamentum modestiae suae indixerit, ne praecipere videatur. 7 Peractis septem milibus passuum iterum ambulat mille, iterum residit vel se cubiculo ac stilo reddit. Scribit enim et quidem utraque lingua lyrica doctissima; mira illis dulcedo, mira suavitas, mira hilaritas, cuius gratiam cumulat sanctitas scribentis. 8 Ubi hora balinei nuntiata est - est autem hieme nona, aestate octava -, in sole, si caret vento, ambulat nudus. Deinde movetur pila vehementer et diu; nam hoc quoque exercitationis genere pugnat cum senectute. Lotus accubat et paulisper cibum differt; interim audit legentem remissius aliquid et dulcius. Per hoc omne tempus liberum est amicis vel eadem facere vel alia si malint. 9 Apponitur cena non minus nitida quam frugi, in argento puro et antiquo; sunt in usu et Corinthia, quibus delectatur nec afficitur. Frequenter comoedis cena distinguitur, ut voluptates quoque studiis condiantur. Sumit aliquid de nocte et aestate; nemini hoc longum est; tanta comitate convivium trahitur. 10 Inde illi post septimum et septuagensimum annum aurium oculorum vigor integer, inde agile et vividum corpus solaque ex senectute prudentia. 11 Hanc ego vitam voto et cogitatione praesumo, ingressurus avidissime, ut primum ratio aetatis receptui canere permiserit. Interim mille laboribus conteror, quorum mihi et solacium et exemplum est idem Spurinna; 12 nam ille quoque, quoad honestum fuit, obiit officia, gessit magistratus, provincias rexit, multoque labore hoc otium meruit. Igitur eundem mihi cursum, eundem terminum statuo, idque iam nunc apud te subsigno ut, si me longius evehi videris, in ius voces ad hanc epistulam meam et quiescere iubeas, cum inertiae crimen effugero. Vale.

I. — TO CALVISIUS.

I don’t think I ever spent a more delightful time than during my recent visit at Spurinna’s house; indeed, I enjoyed myself so much that, if it is my fortune to grow old, there is no one whom I should prefer to take as my model in old age, as there is nothing more methodical than that time of life. Personally, I like to see men map out their lives with the regularity of the fixed courses of the stars, and especially old men. For while one is young a little disorder and rush, so to speak, is not unbecoming; but for old folks, whose days of exertion are past and in whom personal ambition is disgraceful, a placid and well-ordered life is highly suitable. That is the principle upon which Spurinna acts most religiously; even trifles, or what would be trifles were they not of daily occurrence, he goes through in fixed order and, as it were, orbit.

In the morning he keeps his couch; at the second hour he calls for his shoes and walks three miles, exercising mind as well as body. If he has friends with him the time is passed in conversation on the noblest of themes, otherwise a book is read aloud, and sometimes this is done even when his friends are present, but never in such a way as to bore them. Then he sits down, and there is more reading aloud or more talk for preference; afterwards he enters his carriage, taking with him either his wife, who is a pattern lady, or one of his friends, a distinction I recently enjoyed. How delightful, how charming that privacy is! What glimpses of old times one gets! What noble deeds and noble men he tells you of! What lessons you drink in! Yet at the same time it is his custom so to blend his learning with modesty that he never seems to be playing the schoolmaster. After riding seven miles he walks another mile, then he again resumes his seat or betakes himself to his room and his pen. For he composes, both in Latin and Greek, the most scholarly lyrics. They have a wonderful grace, wonderful sweetness, and wonderful humour, and the chastity of the writer enhances its charm. When he is told that the bathing hour has come — which is the ninth hour in winter and the eighth in summer — he takes a walk naked in the sun, if there is no wind. Then he plays at ball for a long spell, throwing himself heartily into the game, for it is by means of this kind of active exercise that he battles with old age. After his bath he lies down and waits a little while before taking food, listening in the meantime to the reading of some light and pleasant book. All this time his friends are at perfect liberty to imitate his example or do anything else they prefer. Then dinner is served, the table being as bright as it is modest, and the silver plain and old-fashioned; he also has some Corinthian vases in use, for which he has a taste though not a mania. The dinner is often relieved by actors of comedy, so that the pleasures of the table may have a seasoning of letters. Even in the summer the meal lasts well into the night, but no one finds it long, for it is kept up with such good humour and charm. The consequence is that, though he has passed his seventy-seventh year, his hearing and eyesight are as good as ever, his body is still active and alert, and the only symptom of his age is his wisdom.

This is the sort of life that I have vowed and determined to forestall, and I shall enter upon it with zest as soon as my age justifies me in beating a retreat. Meanwhile, I am distracted with a thousand things to attend to, and my only solace therein is the example of Spurinna again, for he undertook official duties, held magistracies, and governed provinces as long as it became him to do so, and earned his present leisure by abundant toil. That is why I set myself the same race to run and the same goal to attain, and I now register the vow and place it in your hands, so that, if ever you see me being carried beyond the mark, you may bring me to book, quote this letter of mine against me and order me to take my ease, so soon as I shall have made it impossible for people to charge me with laziness. Farewell.

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2. C. PLINIUS VIBIO MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Quod ipse amicis tuis obtulissem, si mihi eadem materia suppeteret, id nunc iure videor a te meis petiturus. 2 Arrianus Maturus Altinatium est princeps; cum dico princeps, non de facultatibus loquor, quae illi large supersunt, sed de castitate iustitia, gravitate prudentia. 3 Huius ego consilio in negotiis, iudicio in studiis utor; nam plurimum fide, plurimum veritate, plurimum intellegentia praestat. 4 Amat me - nihil possum ardentius dicere - ut tu. Caret ambitu; ideo se in equestri gradu tenuit, cum facile possit ascendere altissimum. Mihi tamen ornandus excolendusque est. 5 Itaque magni aestimo dignitati eius aliquid astruere inopinantis nescientis, immo etiam fortasse nolentis; astruere autem quod sit splendidum nec molestum. 6 Cuius generis quae prima occasio tibi, conferas in eum rogo; habebis me, habebis ipsum gratissimum debitorem. Quamvis enim ista non appetat, tam grate tamen excipit, quam si concupiscat. Vale.

II. — TO MAXIMUS.

I think I am justified in asking you to grant to one of my friends a favour which I should certainly have offered to friends of yours, had I the same opportunity for conferring them as you have. Arrianus Maturus is the leading man in Altinum; and when I say that, I mean not that he is the richest man there — though he possesses considerable property — but I refer to his character, to his chastity, justice, weight, and wisdom. I turn to him in business for advice, and for criticism in literary matters, for he is wonderfully loyal, straightforward, and shrewd. He has the same regard for me as you have, and I cannot conceive a more ardent affection than that. He is by no means an ambitious man, and for that reason, though he might easily have attained the highest rank in the state, he has been content to remain in the equestrian order. Yet I feel that I must do something to add to his honours and give him some token of my regard. And so I am very anxious to heap some dignity upon him, though he does not expect it, knows nothing about it, and perhaps even would rather I did not — but it must be a real distinction and one that involves no troublesome responsibilities. So I ask you to confer upon him such a favour at your earliest opportunity, and I shall be profoundly obliged to you. And he will be also, for though he does not run after honours, he welcomes them as thankfully as if his heart were set upon them. Farewell.

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3. C. PLINIUS CORELLIAE HISPULLAE SUAE S.

1 Cum patrem tuum gravissimum et sanctissimum virum suspexerim magis an amaverim dubitem, teque et in memoriam eius et in honorem tuum unice diligam, cupiam necesse est atque etiam quantum in me fuerit enitar, ut filius tuus avo similis exsistat; equidem malo materno, quamquam illi paternus etiam clarus spectatusque contigerit, pater quoque et patruus illustri laude conspicui. 2 Quibus omnibus ita demum similis adolescet, si imbutus honestis artibus fuerit, quas plurimum refert a quo potissimum accipiat. 3 Adhuc illum pueritiae ratio intra contubernium tuum tenuit, praeceptores domi habuit, ubi est erroribus modica vel etiam nulla materia. Iam studia eius extra limen proferenda sunt, iam circumspiciendus rhetor Latinus, cuius scholae severitas pudor in primis castitas constet. 4 Adest enim adulescenti nostro cum ceteris naturae fortunaeque dotibus eximia corporis pulchritudo, cui in hoc lubrico aetatis non praeceptor modo sed custos etiam rectorque quaerendus est. 5 Videor ergo demonstrare tibi posse Iulium Genitorem. Amatur a me; iudicio tamen meo non obstat caritas hominis, quae ex iudicio nata est. Vir est emendatus et gravis, paulo etiam horridior et durior, ut in hac licentia temporum. 6 Quantum eloquentia valeat, pluribus credere potes, nam dicendi facultas aperta et exposita statim cernitur; vita hominum altos recessus magnasque latebras habet, cuius pro Genitore me sponsorem accipe. Nihil ex hoc viro filius tuus audiet nisi profuturum, nihil discet quod nescisse rectius fuerit, nec minus saepe ab illo quam a te meque admonebitur, quibus imaginibus oneretur, quae nomina et quanta sustineat. 7 Proinde faventibus dis trade eum praeceptori, a quo mores primum mox eloquentiam discat, quae male sine moribus discitur. Vale.

III. — TO CORELLIA HISPULLA.

I know not whether I regarded your father, who was a man of consummate judgment and rectitude of life, with greater love or reverence, and as I have a very special regard for you for his sake and also for your own, I feel bound to desire and even to do all that lies in my power to help your son to turn out like his grandfather. For choice, I should prefer him to be like his grandfather on his mother’s side, though his paternal grandfather was also a man of distinction and eminence, and his father and his uncle won conspicuous laurels. I feel sure that the only way to secure his growing up to be like them in all their good qualities is for him to drink deeply of the honourable arts, and the choice of a teacher from whom he may learn them is a matter of the highest importance. So far, his tender years have naturally kept him close by your side; he has had tutors at home, where there is little or no chance of his going wrong. But now his studies must take him out of doors, and we must look out for a Latin rhetorician with a good reputation for school discipline, for modesty, and above all, for good morals. For our young friend has been endowed, in addition to his other gifts of nature and fortune, with striking physical beauty, and at his slippery age we must find him not only a teacher but a guardian who will keep him straight.

Well, I fancy I can recommend to you Julius Genitor. I have a regard for him, and my affection, which was based on judgment, does not blind my judgment of him. He is without faults, a man of real character, perhaps a little over-rugged and austere for this libertine age. You can learn from others what an accomplished speaker he is, for ability to speak is an open gift and is recognised at once when the power is displayed, but a man’s private life is full of deep recesses and obscure mazes. For the latter in Genitor’s case you may hold me as guarantor. From a man like him your son will hear nothing but what will be to his profit; he will learn nothing of which he had better have remained in ignorance, and Genitor will remind him, as often as you or I would, of the special obligations in his case of “noblesse oblige” and the dignity of the names he has to worthily uphold. So bid him God-speed and entrust him to a tutor who will teach him morals first and eloquence afterwards, for it is but a poor thing to learn the latter without the former. Farewell.

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4. C. PLINIUS CAECILIO MACRINO SUO S.

1 Quamvis et amici quos praesentes habebam, et sermones hominum factum meum comprobasse videantur, magni tamen aestimo scire quid sentias tu. 2 Nam cuius integra re consilium exquirere optassem, huius etiam peracta iudicium nosse mire concupisco. Cum publicum opus mea pecunia incohaturus in Tuscos excucurrissem, accepto ut praefectus aerari commeatu, legati provinciae Baeticae, questuri de proconsulatu Caecili Classici, advocatum me a senatu petiverunt. 3 Collegae optimi meique amantissimi, de communis officii necessitatibus praelocuti, excusare me et eximere temptarunt. Factum est senatus consultum perquam honorificum, ut darer provincialibus patronus si ab ipso me impetrassent. 4 Legati rursus inducti iterum me iam praesentem advocatum postulaverunt, implorantes fidem meam quam essent contra Massam Baebium experti, allegantes patrocini foedus. Secuta est senatus clarissima assensio, quae solet decreta praecurrere. Tum ego ‘Desino’ inquam, ‘patres conscripti, putare me iustas excusationis causas attulisse.’ Placuit et modestia sermonis et ratio. 5 Compulit autem me ad hoc consilium non solum consensus senatus, quamquam hic maxime, verum et alii quidam minores, sed tamen numeri. Veniebat in mentem priores nostros etiam singulorum hospitum iniurias voluntariis accusationibus exsecutos, quo deformius arbitrabar publici hospitii iura neglegere. 6 Praeterea cum recordarer, quanta pro isdem Baeticis superiore advocatione etiam pericula subissem, conservandum veteris officii meritum novo videbatur. Est enim ita comparatum ut antiquiora beneficia subvertas, nisi illa posterioribus cumules. Nam quamlibet saepe obligati, si quid unum neges, hoc solum meminerunt quod negatum est. 7 Ducebar etiam quod decesserat Classicus, amotumque erat quod in eiusmodi causis solet esse tristissimum, periculum senatoris. Videbam ergo advocationi meae non minorem gratiam quam si viveret ille propositam, invidiam nullam. 8 In summa computabam, si munere hoc iam tertio fungerer, faciliorem mihi excusationem fore, si quis incidisset, quem non deberem accusare. Nam cum est omnium officiorum finis aliquis, tum optime libertati venia obsequio praeparatur. 9 Audisti consilii mei motus: superest alterutra ex parte iudicium tuum, in quo mihi aeque iucunda erit simplicitas dissentientis quam comprobantis auctoritas. Vale.

IV. — TO MACRINUS.

Although my course of action was approved in general estimation and by the friends who were with me at the time, I am anxious to know what you think of it. I should have liked to have had your opinion before finally deciding, so now that the matter is over I am exceedingly keen to hear your judgment. I had run down to my Tuscan estate to lay the foundations of a public building at my own expense, after obtaining leave of absence as Praefect of the Treasury, when a deputation from the province of Baetica, who were about to lodge complaints against the governorship of Caecilius Classicus, petitioned the Senate to appoint me to conduct their case for them. My colleagues, who are the best of fellows and devoted to my interests, pleaded the engagements and duties of the office we hold, and tried to get me off and make excuses for me. The Senate passed a handsome resolution, saying that I should be allowed to champion the cause of the provincials if they succeeded in persuading me to take up the brief. Then the deputation was again introduced, when I was in my place in the Senate, and asked my assistance, appealing to my loyalty, of which they had previous experience in the action against Massa Baebius, and adducing their legal right to a patronus. The Senate responded to the appeal with the loud applause which usually precedes a decree of that body.

Then I rose and said: “Conscript Fathers, I beg to withdraw my plea to be excused as inadequate,” and the House approved the modesty of the remark and the reason. However, I was drawn to act as I did not only by the applause of the Senate, though that had great weight with me, but by a variety of other reasons, less in themselves, but all telling in the account. I remembered that our forefathers used to voluntarily undertake the championship of individual private friends who had been wronged, and so I thought that it would be shameful for me to neglect the claims of an entire people who were my friends. Moreover, when I recollected what hazards I had run for the same people of Baetica in my earlier championship of them, I thought I had better preserve their gratitude for the old favour by granting them a new one. For it is a law of nature that people soon forget an old benefit, unless you keep on renewing it by later ones, for however often you oblige them, if you refuse them one request, they only remember the refusal. Another motive was that Classicus was dead, and so there was no fear of the odium of endangering a senator, which in these cases is usually the most serious objection. I saw, therefore, that if I undertook the case I should obtain just as much kudos as if he were alive, and yet escape all odium. In short, I reckoned that if I consented to appear a third time in a brief of this kind, I should have an easier task to excuse myself if a case turned up in which I felt I ought not to play the part of accuser. For as there is a limit to the granting of all favours, the best method of paving the way to obtain a right of refusal is by consenting to previous requests. I have now told you my reasons for acting as I did, and it is open to you to agree or dissent, but let me assure you that frank dissent will be no less agreeable to me than the sanction of your approval. Farewell.

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5. C. PLINIUS BAEBIO MACRO SUO S.

1 Pergratum est mihi quod tam diligenter libros avunculi mei lectitas, ut habere omnes velis quaerasque qui sint omnes. 2 Fungar indicis partibus, atque etiam quo sint ordine scripti notum tibi faciam; est enim haec quoque studiosis non iniucunda cognitio. 3 ‘De iaculatione equestri unus’; hunc cum praefectus alae militaret, pari ingenio curaque composuit. ‘De vita Pomponi Secundi duo’; a quo singulariter amatus hoc memoriae amici quasi debitum munus exsolvit. 4 ‘Bellorum Germaniae viginti’; quibus omnia quae cum Germanis gessimus bella collegit. Incohavit cum in Germania militaret, somnio monitus: astitit ei quiescenti Drusi Neronis effigies, qui Germaniae latissime victor ibi periit, commendabat memoriam suam orabatque ut se ab iniuria oblivionis assereret. 5 ‘Studiosi tres’, in sex volumina propter amplitudinem divisi, quibus oratorem ab incunabulis instituit et perficit. ‘Dubii sermonis octo’: scripsit sub Nerone novissimis annis, cum omne studiorum genus paulo liberius et erectius periculosum servitus fecisset. 6 ‘A fine Aufidi Bassi triginta unus.’ ‘Naturae historiarum triginta septem’, opus diffusum eruditum, nec minus varium quam ipsa natura.

7 Miraris quod tot volumina multaque in his tam scrupulosa homo occupatus absolverit? Magis miraberis si scieris illum aliquamdiu causas actitasse, decessisse anno sexto et quinquagensimo, medium tempus distentum impeditumque qua officiis maximis qua amicitia principum egisse. 8 Sed erat acre ingenium, incredibile studium, summa vigilantia. Lucubrare Vulcanalibus incipiebat non auspicandi causa sed studendi statim a nocte multa, hieme vero ab hora septima vel cum tardissime octava, saepe sexta. Erat sane somni paratissimi, non numquam etiam inter ipsa studia instantis et deserentis. 9 Ante lucem ibat ad Vespasianum imperatorem - nam ille quoque noctibus utebatur -, inde ad delegatum sibi officium. Reversus domum quod reliquum temporis studiis reddebat. 10 Post cibum saepe - quem interdiu levem et facilem veterum more sumebat - aestate si quid otii iacebat in sole, liber legebatur, adnotabat excerpebatque. Nihil enim legit quod non excerperet; dicere etiam solebat nullum esse librum tam malum ut non aliqua parte prodesset. 11 Post solem plerumque frigida lavabatur, deinde gustabat dormiebatque minimum; mox quasi alio die studebat in cenae tempus. Super hanc liber legebatur adnotabatur, et quidem cursim. 12 Memini quendam ex amicis, cum lector quaedam perperam pronuntiasset, revocasse et repeti coegisse; huic avunculum meum dixisse: ‘Intellexeras nempe?’ Cum ille adnuisset, ‘Cur ergo revocabas? decem amplius versus hac tua interpellatione perdidimus.’ 13 Tanta erat parsimonia temporis. Surgebat aestate a cena luce, hieme intra primam noctis et tamquam aliqua lege cogente.

14 Haec inter medios labores urbisque fremitum. In secessu solum balinei tempus studiis eximebatur - cum dico balinei, de interioribus loquor; nam dum destringitur tergiturque, audiebat aliquid aut dictabat -. 15 In itinere quasi solutus ceteris curis, huic uni vacabat: ad latus notarius cum libro et pugillaribus, cuius manus hieme manicis muniebantur, ut ne caeli quidem asperitas ullum studii tempus eriperet; qua ex causa Romae quoque sella vehebatur. 16 Repeto me correptum ab eo, cur ambularem: ‘poteras’ inquit ‘has horas non perdere’; nam perire omne tempus arbitrabatur, quod studiis non impenderetur. 17 Hac intentione tot ista volumina peregit electorumque commentarios centum sexaginta mihi reliquit, opisthographos quidem et minutissimis scriptos; qua ratione multiplicatur hic numerus. Referebat ipse potuisse se, cum procuraret in Hispania, vendere hos commentarios Larcio Licino quadringentis milibus nummum; et tunc aliquanto pauciores erant. 18 Nonne videtur tibi recordanti, quantum legerit quantum scripserit, nec in officiis ullis nec in amicitia principis fuisse; rursus cum audis quid studiis laboris impenderit, nec scripsisse satis nec legisse? Quid est enim quod non aut illae occupationes impedire aut haec instantia non possit efficere? 19 Itaque soleo ridere cum me quidam studiosum vocant, qui si comparer illi sum desidiosissimus. Ego autem tantum, quem partim publica partim amicorum officia distringunt? quis ex istis, qui tota vita litteris assident, collatus illi non quasi somno et inertiae deditus erubescat?

20 Extendi epistulam cum hoc solum quod requirebas scribere destinassem, quos libros reliquisset; confido tamen haec quoque tibi non minus grata quam ipsos libros futura, quae te non tantum ad legendos eos verum etiam ad simile aliquid elaborandum possunt aemulationis stimulis excitare. Vale.

V. — TO BAEBIUS MACER.

I was delighted to find that you are so zealous a student of my uncle’s books that you would like to possess copies of them all, and that you ask me to give you a complete list of them. I will play the part of an index for you, and tell you, moreover, the order in which they were written, for this is a point that students are interested to know. “Throwing the Javelin from Horseback,” one volume; this was composed, with considerable ingenuity and research, when he was on active service as a cavalry lieutenant. “The Life of Pomponius Secundus,” two volumes; — Pomponius was remarkably attached to my uncle, who, so to speak, composed this book to his friend’s memory in payment of his debt of gratitude. “The German Wars,” twenty volumes; — this comprises an account of all the wars we have waged with the German races. He commenced it, while on service in Germany, in obedience to the warning of a dream, for, while he was asleep, the shade of Drusus Nero, who had won sweeping victories in that country and died there, appeared to him and kept on entrusting his fame to my uncle, beseeching him to rescue his name from ill-deserved oblivion. “The Student,” three volumes, afterwards split up into six on account of their length; — in this he showed the proper training and equipment of an orator from his cradle up. “Ambiguity in Language,” in eight volumes, was written in the last years of Nero’s reign when tyranny had made it dangerous to write any book, no matter the subject, in anything like a free and candid style. “A Continuation of the History of Aufidius Bassus,” in thirty-one books, and a “Natural History,” in thirty-seven books; — the latter is a comprehensive and learned work, covering as wide a field as Nature herself.

Does it surprise you that a busy man found time to finish so many volumes, many of which deal with such minute details? You will wonder the more when I tell you that he for many years pleaded in the law courts, that he died in his fifty-seventh year, and that in the interval his time was taken up and his studies were hindered by the important offices he held and the duties arising out of his friendship with the Emperors. But he possessed a keen intellect; he had a marvellous capacity for work, and his powers of application were enormous. He used to begin to study at night on the Festival of Vulcan, not for luck but from his love of study, long before dawn; in winter he would commence at the seventh hour or at the eighth at the very latest, and often at the sixth. He could sleep at call, and it would come upon him and leave him in the middle of his work. Before daybreak he would go to Vespasian — for he too was a night-worker — and then set about his official duties. On his return home he would again give to study any time that he had free. Often in summer after taking a meal, which with him, as in the old days, was always a simple and light one, he would lie in the sun if he had any time to spare, and a book would be read aloud, from which he would take notes and extracts. For he never read without taking extracts, and used to say that there never was a book so bad that it was not good in some passage or another. After his sun bath he usually bathed in cold water, then he took a snack and a brief nap, and subsequently, as though another day had begun, he would study till dinner-time. After dinner a book would be read aloud, and he would take notes in a cursory way. I remember that one of his friends, when the reader pronounced a word wrongly, checked him and made him read it again, and my uncle said to him, “Did you not catch the meaning?” When his friend said “yes,” he remarked, “Why then did you make him turn back? We have lost more than ten lines through your interruption.” So jealous was he of every moment lost.

In summer he used to rise from the dinner-table while it was still light; in winter always before the first hour had passed, as though there was a law obliging him to do so. Such was his method of living when up to the eyes in work and amid the bustle of Rome. When he was in the country the only time snatched from his work was when he took his bath, and when I say bath I refer to the actual bathing, for while he was being scraped with the strigil or rubbed down, he used to listen to a reader or dictate. When he was travelling he cut himself aloof from every other thought and gave himself up to study alone. At his side he kept a shorthand writer with a book and tablets, who wore mittens on his hands in winter, so that not even the sharpness of the weather should rob him of a moment, and for the same reason, when in Rome, he used to be carried in a litter. I remember that once he rebuked me for walking, saying, “If you were a student, you could not waste your hours like that,” for he considered that all time was wasted which was not devoted to study.

Such was the application which enabled him to compile all those volumes I have enumerated, and he left me one hundred and sixty commonplace books, written on both sides of the scrolls, and in a very small handwriting, which really makes the number of the volumes considerably more. He used to say that when he was procurator in Spain he could have sold these commonplace books to Largius Licinus for four hundred thousand sestertia, and at that time they were much fewer in number. Do you not feel when you think of his voluminous writing and reading that he cannot have had any public duties to attend to, and that he cannot have been an intimate friend of the Emperors? Again, when you hear what an amount of work he put into his studies, does it not seem that he neither wrote nor read as much as he might? For his other duties might surely have prevented him from studying altogether, and a man with his application might have accomplished even more than he did. So I often smile when some of my friends call me a book-worm, for if I compare myself with him I am but a shocking idler. Yet am I quite as bad as that, considering the way I am distracted by my public and private duties? Who is there of all those who devote their whole life to literature, who, if compared with him, would not blush for himself as a sleepy-head and a lazy fellow? I have let my pen run on, though I had intended simply to answer your question and give you a list of my uncle’s works; but I trust that even my letter may give you as much pleasure as his books, and that it will spur you on not only to read them, but also to compose something worthy to be compared with them. Farewell.

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6. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SEVERO SUO S.

1 Ex hereditate quae mihi obvenit, emi proxime Corinthium signum, modicum quidem sed festivum et expressum, quantum ego sapio, qui fortasse in omni re, in hac certe perquam exiguum sapio: hoc tamen signum ego quoque intellego. 2 Est enim nudum, nec aut vitia si qua sunt celat, aut laudes parum ostentat. Effingit senem stantem; ossa musculi nervi, venae rugae etiam ut spirantis apparent; rari et cedentes capilli, lata frons, contracta facies, exile collum; pendent lacerti, papillae iacent, venter recessit; 3 a tergo quoque eadem aetas ut a tergo. Aes ipsum, quantum verus color indicat, vetus et antiquum; talia denique omnia, ut possint artificum oculos tenere, delectare imperitorum. 4 Quod me quamquam tirunculum sollicitavit ad emendum. Emi autem non ut haberem domi - neque enim ullum adhuc Corinthium domi habeo -, verum ut in patria nostra celebri loco ponerem, ac potissimum in Iovis templo; 5 videtur enim dignum templo dignum deo donum. Tu ergo, ut soles omnia quae a me tibi iniunguntur, suscipe hanc curam, et iam nunc iube basim fieri, ex quo voles marmore, quae nomen meum honoresque capiat, si hos quoque putabis addendos. 6 Ego signum ipsum, ut primum invenero aliquem qui non gravetur, mittam tibi vel ipse - quod mavis - afferam mecum. Destino enim, si tamen officii ratio permiserit, excurrere isto. 7 Gaudes quod me venturum esse polliceor, sed contrahes frontem, cum adiecero ‘ad paucos dies’: neque enim diutius abesse me eadem haec quae nondum exire patiuntur. Vale.

VI. — TO ANNIUS SEVERUS.

Out of a legacy which I have come in for I have just bought a Corinthian bronze, small it is true, but a charming and sharply-cut piece of work, so far as I have any knowledge of art, and that, as in everything else perhaps, is very slight. But as for the statue in question even I can appreciate its merits. For it is a nude, and neither conceals its faults, if there are any, nor hides at all its strong points. It represents an old man in a standing posture; the bones, muscles, nerves, veins, and even the wrinkles appear quite life-like; the hair is thin and scanty on the forehead; the brow is broad; the face wizened; the neck thin; the shoulders are bowed; the breast is flat, and the belly hollow. The back too gives the same impression of age, as far as a back view can. The bronze itself, judging by the genuine colour, is old and of great antiquity. In fact, in every respect it is a work calculated to catch the eye of a connoisseur and to delight the eye of an amateur, and this is what tempted me to purchase it, although I am the merest novice. But I bought it not to keep it at home — for as yet I have no Corinthian art work in my house — but that I might put it up in my native country in some frequented place, and I specially had in mind the Temple of Jupiter. For the statue seems to me to be worthy of the temple, and the gift to be worthy of the god. So I hope that you will show me your usual kindness when I give you a commission, and that you will undertake the following for me. Will you order a pedestal to be made, of any marble you like, to be inscribed with my name and titles, if you think the latter ought to be mentioned? I will send you the statue as soon as I can find any one who is not overburdened with luggage, or I will bring myself along with it, as I dare say you would prefer me to do. For, if only my duties allow me, I am intending to run down thither. You are glad that I promise to come, but you will frown when I add that I can only stay a few days. For the business which hitherto has kept me from getting away will not allow of my being absent any longer. Farewell.

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7. C. PLINIUS CANINIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Modo nuntiatus est Silius Italicus in Neapolitano suo inedia finisse vitam. 2 Causa mortis valetudo. Erat illi natus insanabilis clavus, cuius taedio ad mortem irrevocabili constantia decucurrit usque ad supremum diem beatus et felix, nisi quod minorem ex liberis duobus amisit, sed maiorem melioremque florentem atque etiam consularem reliquit. 3 Laeserat famam suam sub Nerone - credebatur sponte accusasse -, sed in Vitelli amicitia sapienter se et comiter gesserat, ex proconsulatu Asiae gloriam reportaverat, maculam veteris industriae laudabili otio abluerat. 4 Fuit inter principes civitatis sine potentia, sine invidia: salutabatur colebatur, multumque in lectulo iacens cubiculo semper, non ex fortuna frequenti, doctissimis sermonibus dies transigebat, eum a scribendo vacaret. 5 Scribebat carmina maiore cura quam ingenio, non numquam iudicia hominum recitationibus experiebatur. 6 Novissime ita suadentibus annis ab urbe secessit, seque in Campania tenuit, ac ne adventu quidem novi principis inde commotus est: 7 magna Caesaris laus sub quo hoc liberum fuit, magna illius qui hac libertate ausus est uti. 8 Erat ‘philokalos’ usque ad emacitatis reprehensionem. Plures isdem in locis villas possidebat, adamatisque novis priores neglegebat. Multum ubique librorum, multum statuarum, multum imaginum, quas non habebat modo, verum etiam venerabatur, Vergili ante omnes, cuius natalem religiosius quam suum celebrabat, Neapoli maxime, ubi monimentum eius adire ut templum solebat. 9 In hac tranquillitate annum quintum et septuagensimum excessit, delicato magis corpore quam infirmo; utque novissimus a Nerone factus est consul, ita postremus ex omnibus, quos Nero consules fecerat, decessit.

10 Illud etiam notabile: ultimus ex Neronianis consularibus obiit, quo consule Nero periit. Quod me recordantem fragilitatis humanae miseratio subit. 11 Quid enim tam circumcisum tam breve quam hominis vita longissima? An non videtur tibi Nero modo modo fuisse? cum interim ex iis, qui sub illo gesserant consulatum, nemo iam superest. 12 Quamquam quid hoc miror? Nuper L. Piso, pater Pisonis illius, qui Valerio Festo per summum facinus in Africa occisus est, dicere solebat neminem se videre in senatu, quem consul ipse sententiam rogavisset. 13 Tam angustis terminis tantae multitudinis vivacitas ipsa concluditur, ut mihi non venia solum dignae, verum etiam laude videantur illae regiae lacrimae; nam ferunt Xersen, cum immensum exercitum oculis obisset, illacrimasse, quod tot milibus tam brevis immineret occasus. 14 Sed tanto magis hoc, quidquid est temporis futilis et caduci, si non datur factis - nam horum materia in aliena manu -, certe studiis proferamus, et quatenus nobis denegatur diu vivere, relinquamus aliquid, quo nos vixisse testemur. 15 Scio te stimulis non egere: me tamen tui caritas evocat, ut currentem quoque instigem, sicut tu soles me. ‘Agathê d’ eris’ cum invicem se mutuis exhortationibus amici ad amorem immortalitatis exacuunt. Vale.

VII. — TO CANINIUS RUFUS.

News has just come that Silius Italicus has starved himself to death at his villa near Naples. Ill-health was the cause assigned. He had an incurable corn, which made him weary of life and resolved him to face death with a determination that nothing could shake, yet to his last day he was prosperous and happy, save that he lost the younger of his two children. The elder and the better of the two still survives him in prosperous circumstances and of consular rank. During Nero’s reign Silius had injured his reputation, for it was thought that he voluntarily informed against people, but he had conducted himself with prudence and courtesy as one of the friends of Vitellius; he had returned from his governorship of Asia covered with glory, and he had succeeded in obliterating the stains on his character, caused by his activity in his young days, by the admirable use he made of his retirement. He ranked among the leading men of the State, though he held no official position and excited no man’s envy. People paid their respects to him and courted his society, and, though he spent much of his time on his couch, his room was always full of company who were no mere chance callers, and he passed his days in learned and scholarly conversation, when he was not busy composing. He wrote verses which show abundant pains rather than genius, and sometimes he submitted them to general criticism by having them read in public.

At last he retired from the city, prompted thereto by his great age, and settled in Campania, nor did he stir from the spot, even at the accession of the new Emperor. A Caesar deserves great credit for allowing a subject such liberty, and Italicus deserves the same for venturing to avail himself of it. He was such a keen virtuoso that he got the reputation of always itching to buy new things. He owned a number of villas in the same neighbourhood, and used to neglect his old ones through his passion for his recent purchases. In each he had any quantity of books, statues and busts, which he not only kept by him but even treated with a sort of veneration, especially the busts of Virgil, whose birthday he kept up far more scrupulously than he did his own, principally at Naples, where he used to approach the poet’s monument as though it were a temple. In these peaceful surroundings he completed his seventy-fifth year, his health being delicate rather than weak, and just as he was the last consul appointed by Nero, so too in him died the sole survivor of all the consuls appointed by that Emperor. It is also a curious fact that, besides his being the last of Nero’s consuls, it was in his term of office that Nero perished. When I think of this, I feel a sort of compassion for the frailty of humanity. For what is so circumscribed and so short as even the longest human life? Does it not seem to you as if Nero were alive only the other day? Yet of all those who held the consulship during his reign not one survives at the present moment.

But, after all, what is there remarkable in that? Not so long ago Lucius Piso, the father of the Piso who was must shamefully put to death in Africa by Valerius Festus, used to say that he did not see a single soul in the Senate of all those whom he had called upon to speak during his consulship. Within such narrow limits are the powers of living of even the mightiest throng confined that it seems to me the royal tears are not only excusable but even praiseworthy. For the story goes that when Xerxes cast his eyes over his enormous host, he wept to think of the fate that in such brief space would lay so many thousands low. But that is all the more reason why we should apply all the fleeting, rushing moments at our disposal, if not to great achievements — for these may be destined for other hands than ours — at least to study, and why, as long life is denied us, we should leave behind us some memorial that we have lived. I know that you need no spurring on, yet the affection I have for you prompts me even to spur a willing horse, just as you do with me. Well, it is a noble contention when friends exhort one another to work and sharpen one another’s desires to win an immortal name. Farewell.

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8. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

1 Facis pro cetera reverentia quam mihi praestas, quod tam sollicite petis ut tribunatum, quem a Neratio Marcello clarissimo viro impetravi tibi, in Caesennium Silvanum propinquum tuum transferam. 2 Mihi autem sicut iucundissimum ipsum te tribunum, ita non minus gratum alium per te videre. Neque enim esse congruens arbitror, quem augere honoribus cupias, huic pietatis titulis invidere, qui sunt omnibus honoribus pulchriores. 3 Video etiam, cum sit egregium et mereri beneficia et dare, utramque te laudem simul assecuturum, si quod ipse meruisti alii tribuas. Praeterea intellego mihi quoque gloriae fore, si ex hoc tuo facto non fuerit ignotum amicos meos non gerere tantum tribunatus posse verum etiam dare. 4 Quare ego vero honestissimae voluntati tuae pareo. Neque enim adhuc nomen in numeros relatum est, ideoque liberum est nobis Silvanum in locum tuum subdere; cui cupio tam gratum esse munus tuum, quam tibi meum est. Vale.

VIII. — TO SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS.

It is just like your usual respectful regard for me that you beg me so earnestly to transfer the tribuneship, which I obtained for you from that noble man Neratius Marcellus, to your relative Caesennius Silvanus. I should have been delighted to see you as tribune, but I shall be equally pleased to see another take the post through your generosity, for I do not think it would be becoming in me to grudge a man whom you desire to advance in dignity the fame of family affection, which is a greater distinction than any honorific titles. Besides, as it is a splendid thing both to deserve benefits and to confer them, I see that you will at one and the same time receive credit for both, now that you bestow on another what your own merits have won. Moreover, I quite understand that I too shall come in for some glory when it is known through your generous deed that friends of mine can not only fill the office of tribune, but can bestow it on others. For these reasons I bow to the wishes which do you the greatest credit. No name has yet been placed on the lists, and so we can quite well substitute that of Silvanus for yours. I hope that he will show himself as grateful to you as you have to me. Farewell.

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9. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO MINICIANO SUO S.

1 Possum iam perscribere tibi quantum in publica provinciae Baeticae causa laboris exhauserim. 2 Nam fuit multiplex, actaque est saepius cum magna varietate. Unde varietas, unde plures actiones? Caecilius Classicus, homo foedus et aperte malus, proconsulatum in ea non minus violenter quam sordide gesserat, eodem anno quo in Africa Marius Priscus. 3 Erat autem Priscus ex Baetica, ex Africa Classicus. Inde dictum Baeticorum, ut plerumque dolor etiam venustos facit, non illepidum ferebatur: ‘Dedi malum et accepi.’ 4 Sed Marium una civitas publice multique privati reum peregerunt, in Classicum tota provincia incubuit. Ille accusationem vel fortuita vel voluntaria morte praevertit. Nam fuit mors eius infamis, ambigua tamen: ut enim credibile videbatur voluisse exire de vita, Cum defendi non posset, ita mirum pudorem damnationis morte fugisse, quem non puduisset damnanda committere. 6 Nihilo minus Baetica etiam in defuncti accusatione perstabat. Provisum hoc legibus, intermissum tamen et post longam intercapedinem tunc reductum. Addiderunt Baetici, quod simul socios ministrosque Classici detulerunt, nominatimque in eos inquisitionem postulaverunt. 7 Aderam Bacticis mecumque Lucceius Albinus, vir in dicendo copiosus ornatus; quem ego cum olim mutuo diligerem, ex hac officii societate amare ardentius coepi. 8 Habet quidem gloria, in studiis praesertim, quiddam ‘akoinônêton’ nobis tamen nullum certamen nulla contentio, cum uterque pari iugo non pro se sed pro causa niteretur, cuius et magnitudo et utilitas visa est postulare, ne tantum oneris singulis actionibus subiremus. 9 Verebamur ne nos dies ne vox ne latera deficerent, si tot crimina tot reos uno velut fasce complecteremur; deinde ne iudicum intentio multis nominibus multisque causis non lassaretur modo verum etiam confunderetur; mox ne gratia singulorum collata atque permixta pro singulis quoque vires omnium acciperet; postremo ne potentissimi vilissimo quoque quasi piaculari dato alienis poenis elaberentur. 10 Etenim tum maxime favor et ambitio dominatur, cum sub aliqua specie severitatis delitescere potest. 11 Erat in consilio Sertorianum illud exemplum, qui robustissimum et infirmissimum militem iussit caudam equi - reliqua nosti. Nam nos quoque tam numerosum agmen reorum ita demum videbamus posse superari, si per singulos carperetur.

12 Placuit in primis ipsum Classicum ostendere nocentem: hic aptissimus ad socios eius et ministros transitus erat, quia socii ministrique probari nisi illo nocente non poterant. Ex quibus duos statim Classico iunximus, Baebium Probum et Fabium Hispanum, utrumque gratia, Hispanum etiam facundia validum. Et circa Classicum quidem brevis et expeditus labor. 13 Sua manu reliquerat scriptum, quid ex quaque re, quid ex quaque causa accepisset; miserat etiam epistulas Romam ad amiculam quandam, iactantes et gloriosas, his quidem verbis: ‘Io io, liber ad te venio; iam sestertium quadragiens redegi parte vendita Baeticorum.’ 14 Circa Hispanum et Probum multum sudoris. Horum ante quam crimina ingrederer, necessarium credidi elaborare, ut constaret ministerium crimen esse: quod nisi fecissem, frustra ministros probassem. 15 Neque enim ita defendebantur, ut negarent, sed ut necessitati veniam precarentur; esse enim se provinciales et ad omne proconsulum imperium metu cogi. 16 Solet dicere Claudius Restitutus, qui mihi respondit, vir exercitatus et vigilans et quamlibet subitis paratus, numquam sibi tantum caliginis tantum perturbationis offusum, quam cum praerepta et extorta defensioni suae cerneret, in quibus omnem fiduciam reponebat. 17 Consilii nostri exitus fuit: bona Classici, quae habuisset ante provinciam, placuit senatui a reliquis separari, illa filiae haec spoliatis relinqui. Additum est, ut pecuniae quas creditoribus solverat revocarentur. Hispanus et Probus in quinquennium relegati; adeo grave visum est, quod initio dubitabatur an omnino crimen esset.

18 Post paucos dies Claudium Fuscum, Classici generum, et Stilonium Priscum, qui tribunus cohortis sub Classico fuerat, accusavimus dispari eventu: Prisco in biennium Italia interdictum, absolutus est Fuscus.

19 Actione tertia commodissimum putavimus plures congregare, ne si longius esset extracta cognitio, satietate et taedio quodam iustitia cognoscentium severitasque languesceret; et alioqui supererant minores rei data opera hunc in locum reservati, excepta tamen Classici uxore, quae sicut implicita suspicionibus ita non satis convinci probationibus visa est; 20 nam Classici filia, quae et ipsa inter reos erat, ne suspicionibus quidem haerebat. Itaque, cum ad nomen eius in extrema actione venissem - neque enim ut initio sic etiam in fine verendum erat, ne per hoc totius accusationis auctoritas minueretur -, honestissimum credidi non premere immerentem, idque ipsum dixi et libere et varie. 21 Nam modo legatos interrogabam, docuissentne me aliquid quod re probari posse confiderent; modo consilium a senatu petebam, putaretne debere me, si quam haberem in dicendo facultatem, in iugulum innocentis quasi telum aliquod intendere; postremo totum locum hoc fine conclusi: ‘Dicet aliquis: Iudicas ergo? Ego vero non iudico, memini tamen me advocatum ex iudicibus datum.’

22 Hic numerosissimae causae terminus fuit quibusdam absolutis, pluribus damnatis atque etiam relegatis, aliis in tempus aliis in perpetuum. 23 Eodem senatus consulto industria fides constantia nostra plenissimo testimonio comprobata est, dignum solumque par pretium tanti laboris. 24 Concipere animo potes quam simus fatigati, quibus totiens agendum totiens altercandum, tam multi testes interrogandi sublevandi refutandi. 25 Iam illa quam ardua quam molesta, tot reorum amicis secreto rogantibus negare, adversantibus palam obsistere! Referam unum aliquid ex iis quae dixi. Cum mihi quidam e iudicibus ipsis pro reo gratiosissimo reclamarent, ‘Non minus’ inquam ‘hic innocens erit, si ego omnia dixero.’ 26 Coniectabis ex hoc quantas contentiones, quantas etiam offensas subierimus dumtaxat ad breve tempus; nam fides in praesentia eos quibus resistit offendit, deinde ab illis ipsis suspicitur laudaturque. Non potui magis te in rem praesentem perducere. 27 Dices: ‘Non fuit tanti; quid enim mihi cum tam longa epistula?’ Nolito ergo identidem quaerere, quid Romae geratur. Et tamen memento non esse epistulam longam, quae tot dies tot cognitiones tot denique reos causasque complexa sit. 28 Quae omnia videor mihi non minus breviter quam diligenter persecutus.

Temere dixi ‘diligenter’: succurrit quod praeterieram et quidem sero, sed quamquam praepostere reddetur. Facit hoc Homerus multique illius exemplo; est alioqui perdecorum, a me tamen non ideo fiet. 29 E testibus quidam, sive iratus quod evocatus esset invitus, sive subornatus ab aliquo reorum, ut accusationem exarmaret, Norbanum Licinianum, legatum et inquisitorem, reum postulavit, tamquam in causa Castae - uxor haec Classici - praevaricaretur. 30 Est lege cautum ut reus ante peragatur, tunc de praevaricatore quaeratur, videlicet quia optime ex accusatione ipsa accusatoris fides aestimatur. 31 Norbano tamen non ordo legis, non legati nomen, non inquisitionis officium praesidio fuit; tanta conflagravit invidia homo alioqui flagitiosus et Domitiani temporibus usus ut multi, electusque tunc a provincia ad inquirendum non tamquam bonus et fidelis, sed tamquam Classici inimicus - erat ab illo relegatus -. 32 Dari sibi diem, edi crimina postulabat; neutrum impetravit, coactus est statim respondere. Respondit, malum pravumque ingenium hominis facit ut dubitem, confidenter an constanter, certe paratissime. 33 Obiecta sunt multa, quae magis quam praevaricatio nocuerunt; quin etiam duo consulares, Pomponius Rufus et Libo Frugi, laeserunt eum testimonio, tamquam apud iudicem sub Domitiano Salvi Liberalis accusatoribus adfuisset. 34 Damnatus et in insulam relegatus est. Itaque cum Castam accusarem nihil magis pressi, quam quod accusator eius praevaricationis crimine corruisset; pressi tamen frustra; accidit enim res contraria et nova, ut accusatore praevaricationis damnato rea absolveretur. 35 Quaeris, quid nos, dum haec aguntur? Indicavimus senatui ex Norbano didicisse nos publicam causam, rursusque debere ex integro discere, si ille praevaricator probaretur, atque ita, dum ille peragitur reus, sedimus. Postea Norbanus omnibus diebus cognitionis interfuit eandemque usque ad extremum vel constantiam vel audaciam pertulit.

36 Interrogo ipse me, an aliquid omiserim rursus, et rursus paene omisi. Summo die Salvius Liberalis reliquos legatos graviter increpuit, tamquam non omnes quos mandasset provincia reos peregissent, atque, ut est vehemens et disertus, in discrimen adduxit. Protexi viros optimos eosdemque gratissimos: mihi certe debere se praedicant, quod illum turbinem evaserint. 37 Hic erit epistulae finis, re vera finis; litteram non addam, etiamsi adhuc aliquid praeterisse me sensero. Vale.

IX. — TO CORNELIUS MINICIANUS.

I can now give you a full account of the enormous trouble entailed upon me in the public trial brought by the Province of Baetica. It was a complicated suit, and new issues kept constantly cropping up. Why this variety, and why these different pleadings? you well ask. Well, Caecilius Classicus — a low rascal who carries his villainy in his face — had during his proconsulship in Baetica, in the same year that Marius Priscus was Governor of Africa, behaved both with violence and rapacity. Now, Priscus came from Baetica and Classicus from Africa, and so there was a rather good saying among the people of Baetica, for even resentment often inspires wit: “It is give and take between us.” But in the case of Marius only one city publicly impeached him besides several private individuals, while the whole Province pressed the charges home against Classicus. He forestalled their accusation by a sudden death which may or may not have been self-inflicted, for there was some doubt about his dishonourable end. Men thought that though it was quite intelligible that he should have been willing to die as he had no defence to offer, yet they could hardly understand why he had died rather than undergo the shame of being condemned when he was not ashamed to commit the crime which merited the condemnation. None the less, the Province determined to go on with the accusation of the dead man. Provision had been made for such cases by the laws, but the custom had fallen into disuse and it was revived then for the first time after many years. Another argument urged by the Baetici for continuing the suit was that they had impeached not only Classicus, but his intimates and tools, and had demanded leave to prosecute them by name.

I was acting for the Province, assisted by Lucceius Albinus, an eloquent and ornate speaker, and though we have long been on terms of the closest regard for one another, our association in this suit has made me feel vastly more attached to him. As a rule, and especially in oratorical efforts, people do not run well in double harness in their striving for glory, but he and I were not in any sense rivals and there was no jealousy between us, as we both did our level best, not for our own hand, but for the common cause, which was of such a serious character and of such public importance that it seemed to demand from us that we should not over-elaborate each single pleading. We were afraid that time would fail us, and that our voices and lungs would break down if we tied up together so many charges and so many defendants into one bundle. Again, we feared that the attention of the judges would not only be wearied by the introduction of so many names and charges, but that they would be confused thereby, that the sum-total of the influence of each one of the accused might procure for each the strength of all, and finally we were afraid lest the most influential of the accused should make a scapegoat of the meanest among them, and so slip out of the hands of justice at the expense of some one else — for favour and personal interest are strongest when they can skulk behind some pretence of severity. Moreover, we were advised by the well-known story of Sertorius, who set two soldiers — one young and powerful, and the other old and weak — to pull off the tail of a horse. You know how it finishes. And so we too thought that we could get the better of even such a long array of defendants, provided we took them one by one.

Our plan was first to prove the guilt of Classicus himself; then it was a natural transition to his intimates and tools, because the latter could never be condemned unless Classicus were guilty. Consequently, we took two of them and closely connected them with Classicus, Baebius Probus and Fabius Hispanus, both men of some influence, while Hispanus possesses a strong gift of eloquence. To prove the guilt of Classicus was an easy and simple task that did not take us long. He had left in his own handwriting a document showing what profits he had made out of each transaction and case, and he had even despatched a letter couched in a boasting and impudent strain to one of his mistresses containing the words, “Hurrah! hurrah! I am coming back to you with my hands free; for I have already sold the interests of the Baetici to the tune of four million sesterces.” But we had to sweat to get a conviction against Hispanus and Probus. Before I dealt with the charges against them, I thought it necessary to establish the legal point that the execution of an unjust sentence is an indictable offence, for if I had not done this it would have been useless for me to prove that they had been the henchmen of Classicus. Moreover, their line of defence was not a denial. They pleaded that they could not help themselves and therefore were to be pardoned, arguing that they were mere provincials and were frightened into doing anything that a proconsul bade them do. Claudius Restitutus, who replied to me, a practised and watchful speaker who is equal to any emergency however suddenly sprung up upon him, is now going about saying that he never was so dumbfounded and thrown off his balance as when he discovered that the ground on which he placed full reliance for his defence had been cut from under him and stolen away from him.

Well, the outcome of our line of attack was as follows: the Senate decreed that the property owned by Classicus before he went to the Province should be set apart from that which he subsequently acquired, and that his daughter should receive the former and the rest be handed over to the victims of his extortion. It was also decreed that the sums which he had paid over to his creditors should be refunded. Hispanus and Probus were banished for five years. Such was the serious view taken of their conduct, about which at the outset there were doubts whether it was legally criminal at all. A few days afterwards we accused Claudius Fuscus, a son-in-law of Classicus, and Stilonius Priscus, who had acted under him as tribune of a cohort. Here the verdicts differed, for while Priscus was banished from Italy for two years, Fuscus was acquitted.

In the third action, we thought our best course was to lump the defendants together, fearing lest, if the trial were to be spun out to undue length, those who were hearing the case would grow sick and tired of it, and their zeal for strict justice and severity would abate. Besides, the accused persons, who had been designedly kept over till then, were all of comparatively little importance, except the wife of Classicus, and, although suspicion against her was strong, the proofs seemed rather weak. As for the daughter of Classicus, who was also among the defendants, she had cleared herself even of suspicion. Consequently, when I reached her name in the last trial — for there was no fear then as there had been at the beginning that such an admission would weaken the force of the prosecution — I thought the most honourable course was to refrain from pressing the charge against an innocent person, and I frankly said so, repeating the idea in various forms. For example, I asked the deputation of the Baetici whether they had given me definite instructions on any point which they felt confident they could prove against her; I turned to the senators and inquired whether they thought I ought to employ what eloquence I might possess against an innocent person, and hold, as it were, the knife to her throat; and, finally, I concluded the subject with these words: “Some one may say, ‘You are presuming to act as judge.’ No, I reply, I am not presuming to be a judge, but I cannot forget that the judges appointed me to act as counsel.”

Well, the conclusion of this trial, with its crowd of defendants, was that a certain few were acquitted, but the majority were condemned and banished, some for a fixed term of years, and others for life. In the same decree the Senate expressed in most handsome terms its appreciation of our industry, loyalty, and perseverance, and this was the only possible worthy and adequate reward for the trouble we had taken. You can imagine how worn out we were, when you think how often we had to plead, and answer the pleadings of our opponents, and how many witnesses we had to cross-question, encourage, and refute. Besides, you know how trying and vexatious it is to say “no” to the friends of the accused when they come pleading with you in private, and to stoutly oppose them when they confront you in open court. I will tell you one of the things I said. When one of those who were acting as judges interrupted me on behalf of one of the accused in whom he took a special interest, I replied: “He will be none the less innocent, if he be innocent, when I have had my full say.” You can guess from this sample what opposition we had to face, and how we could not avoid giving offence, — but that only lasted a short time, for though at the moment a loyal conduct of a case may offend those whom one is opposing, in the end it wins even their admiration and respect.

I have brought you up to date as well as I could. You will say, “It was not worth while, for what have I to do with such a long letter?” If you do, don’t ask again what is going on at Rome, and bear in mind that you cannot call a letter long which covers so many days, so many trials, and so many defendants and pleadings. I think I have dealt with all these subjects as briefly as I am sure they are exactly dealt with. But no, I was rash to say “exactly”; I remember a point which I had omitted, and I will tell you about it even now, though it is out of its proper place. Homer does this, and many other authors have followed his example — with very good effect too — though that is not my reason for so doing. One of the witnesses, annoyed at being summoned to appear, or bribed by some one of the defendants in order to weaken the prosecution, laid an accusation against Norbanus Licinianus, a member of the deputation, who had been instructed to get up the case, and charged him with having acted in collusion with the other side in relation to Casta, the wife of Classicus. It is a legal rule in such instances that the trial of the accused must be finished before inquiry is made into a charge of collusion, on the ground that one can best form an opinion on the bona fides of the prosecution by noticing how the case has been carried through. However, Norbanus reaped no advantage from this point of law, nor did his position as member of the deputation, nor his duties as one of those getting up the action stand him in good stead. A storm of prejudice broke out against him, and there is no denying that his hands were crime-stained, that he, like many others, had taken advantage of the evil times of Domitian, and that he had been selected by the provincials to get up the case, not as a man of probity and honour, but because he had been a personal enemy of Classicus, by whom, indeed, he had been banished.

He demanded that a day should be fixed for his trial, and that the charge against him should be published; both were refused, and he was obliged to answer on the spot. He did so, and though the thorough badness and depravity of the fellow make me hesitate to say whether he showed more impudence or resolution, he certainly replied with great readiness. There were sundry things brought against him which did him much greater damage than the charge of collusion, and two men of consular rank, Pomponius Rufus and Libo Frugi, severely damaged him by giving evidence to the effect that during the reign of Domitian he had assisted the prosecution of Salvius Liberalis before the judge. He was convicted and banished to an island. Consequently, when I was accusing Casta, I specially pressed the point that her accuser had been found guilty of collusion. But I did so in vain, and we had the novel and inconsistent result that the accused was acquitted though her accuser was found guilty of collusion with her. You may ask what we were about while this was going on. We told the Senate that we had received all our instructions for this public trial from Norbanus, and that the case ought to be tried afresh if he were proved guilty of collusion, and so, while his trial was proceeding, we sat still. Subsequently Norbanus was present every day the trial lasted, and showed right up to the end the same resolute or impudent front.

I wonder if I have forgotten anything else. Well, I almost did. On the last day Salvius Liberalis bitterly assailed the rest of the deputation on the ground that they had not brought accusations against all whom they were commissioned to accuse by the province. He is a powerful and able speaker, and he put them in some danger. However, I went to the protection of those excellent and most grateful men, and they declare that they owe it entirely to me that they safely weathered that storm. This is the end, positively the end of my letter: I will not add another syllable, even if I discover that I have still omitted to tell you something. Farewell.

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10. C. PLINIUS VESTRICIO SPURINNAE SUO ET COTTIAE S.

1 Composuisse me quaedam de filio vestro non dixi vobis, eum proxime apud vos fui, primum quia non ideo scripseram ut dicerem, sed ut meo amori meo dolori satisfacerem; deinde quia te, Spurinna, cum audisses recitasse me, ut mihi ipse dixisti, quid recitassem simul audisse credebam. 2 Praeterea veritus sum ne vos festis diebus confunderem, si in memoriam gravissimi luctus reduxissem. Nunc quoque paulisper haesitavi, id solum, quod recitavi, mitterem exigentibus vobis, an adicerem quae in aliud volumen cogito reservare. 3 Neque enim affectibus meis uno libello carissimam mihi et sanctissimam memoriam prosequi satis est, cuius famae latius consuletur, si dispensata et digesta fuerit. 4 Verum haesitanti mihi, omnia quae iam composui vobis exhiberem, an adhuc aliqua differrem, simplicius et amicius visum est omnia, praecipue cum affirmetis intra vos futura, donec placeat emittere. 5 Quod superest, rogo ut pari simplicitate, si qua existimabitis addenda commutanda omittenda, indicetis mihi. 6 Difficile est huc usque intendere animum in dolore; difficile, sed tamen, ut scalptorem, ut pictorem, qui filii vestri imaginem faceret, admoneretis, quid exprimere quid emendare deberet, ita me quoque formate regite, qui non fragilem et caducam, sed immortalem, ut vos putatis, effigiem conor efficere: quae hoc diuturnior erit, quo verior melior absolutior fuerit. Valete.

X. — TO VESTRICIUS SPURINNA AND HIS WIFE COTTIA.

When I was last at your house I did not tell you that I had composed some verses about your son. I refrained from so doing, first, because I had not written them simply for the sake of reciting them, but in order to relieve my feelings of love and sorrow; and, in the second place, Spurinna, I thought that when you were told that I had given a recitation — as you mentioned to me — you had also heard its subject. Moreover, I was afraid of troubling you in your happiness by recalling to your remembrance your bitter sorrow. Even now I have been hesitating somewhat as to whether I should send you at your request only the verses that I actually read, or whether I should also send those which I am thinking of reserving for another volume. For my love for him was such that I find it impossible to do justice to the memory of one who was so dear and precious to me in a single volume, and his fame will be best consulted if it is husbanded and carefully expressed. But though, as I say, I am doubtful whether to show you all that I have composed on the subject, or whether I should still keep back a part, it has seemed to me that frankness and our friendship demand that I should let you have the whole, especially as you promise that you will keep them strictly entre nous until I decide to publish them. The only other request I make is that you will be equally candid with me and tell me if you think any additions, alterations, or omissions should be made. It is difficult to focus the mind on such subjects when one is in trouble, but in spite of that I want you to deal with me as you would with a sculptor or a painter who was making a model or portrait of your son. In such a case, you would advise him as to the points he should bring out and alter, and similarly I hope you will guide and direct me, for I am essaying a likeness, neither frail nor perishable, but one, as you think, which will last for ever. It will be the more durable, according to its trueness to life and correctness of detail. Farewell.

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11. C. PLINIUS IULIO GENITORI SUO S.

1 Est omnino Artemidori nostri tam benigna natura, ut officia amicorum in maius extollat. Inde etiam meum meritum ut vera ita supra meritum praedicatione circumfert. 2 Equidem, cum essent philosophi ab urbe summoti, fui apud illum in suburbano, et quo notabilius - hoc est, periculosius - esset fui praetor. Pecuniam etiam, qua tunc illi ampliore opus erat, ut aes alienum exsolveret contractum ex pulcherrimis causis, mussantibus magnis quibusdam et locupletibus amicis mutuatus ipse gratuitam dedi. 3 Atque haec feci, cum septem amicis meis aut occisis aut relegatis, occisis Senecione Rustico Helvidio, relegatis Maurico Gratilla Arria Fannia, tot circa me iactis fulminibus quasi ambustus mihi quoque impendere idem exitium certis quibusdam notis augurarer. 4 Non ideo tamen eximiam gloriam meruisse me, ut ille praedicat, credo, sed tantum effugisse flagitium. 5 Nam et C. Musonium socerum eius, quantum licitum est per aetatem, cum admiratione dilexi et Artemidorum ipsum iam tum, cum in Syria tribunus militarem, arta familiaritate complexus sum, idque primum non nullius indolis dedi specimen, quod virum aut sapientem aut proximum simillimumque sapienti intellegere sum visus. 6 Nam ex omnibus, qui nunc se philosophos vocant, vix unum aut alterum invenies tanta sinceritate, tanta veritate. Mitto, qua patientia corporis hiemes iuxta et aestates ferat, ut nullis laboribus cedat, ut nihil in cibo in potu voluptatibus tribuat, ut oculos animumque contineat. 7 Sunt haec magna, sed in alio; in hoc vero minima, si ceteris virtutibus comparentur, quibus meruit, ut a C. Musonio ex omnibus omnium ordinum assectatoribus gener assumeretur. 8 Quae mihi recordanti est quidem iucundum, quod me cum apud alios tum apud te tantis laudibus cumulat; vereor tamen ne modum excedat, quem benignitas eius - illuc enim unde coepi revertor - solet non tenere. 9 Nam in hoc uno interdum vir alioqui prudentissimus honesto quidem sed tamen errore versatur, quod pluris amicos suos quam sunt arbitratur. Vale.

XI. — TO JULIUS GENITOR.

Our friend Artemidorus has so much goodness of heart that he always exaggerates the services his friends render him, and hence, in my case, though it is true that I have done him a good turn, he speaks of it in far too glowing language. When the philosophers were banished from the city I was staying with him in his suburban residence, and the visit was the more talked about and the more dangerous to me, because I was praetor at the time. Moreover, as he stood in need of a considerable sum of money to discharge some debts which he had incurred for the most honourable of reasons, I borrowed the sum and gave it to him as a free gift, when certain of his powerful and rich friends held aloof. I did so in spite of the fact that seven of my friends had been put to death or banished; Senecio, Rusticus, and Helvidius having suffered the former, and Mauricus, Gratilla, Arria, and Fannia the latter punishment. With all these thunderbolts falling round me, I felt scorched, and there were certain clear indications that a like fate was hanging over my head, but I do not on that account think I deserve the splendid credit which Artemidorus assigns me — I only claim to have avoided the disgrace of deserting my friends. For I loved and admired his father-in-law, Caius Musonius, as far as the difference in our ages would permit, while as for Artemidorus himself, even when I was on active service as tribune in Syria, I was on terms of close intimacy with him, and the first sign I gave of possessing any brains at all was that I appeared to appreciate a man who was either the absolute sage, or the nearest possible approximation to such a character. For, of all those who nowadays call themselves philosophers, you will hardly find another to match him in the qualities of sincerity and truth. I say nothing of the physical fortitude with which he bears the extremes both of summer and winter, or of the way in which he never shrinks from work, never indulges himself in the pleasures of eating and drinking, and keeps constant restraint over his appetites and desires. In another man these would appear great virtues, but in Artemidorus they appear mere trifles compared with his other noble qualities, which obtained for him the distinction of being chosen by Caius Musonius as his son-in-law amid a crowd of disciples belonging to all ranks of society. As I think of all these things it is pleasant to know that he sings my praises so loudly, not only to others but also to you, but I am afraid he overdoes them, for — to go back again to the point whence I started — he is so good-hearted that he is given to exaggeration. It is one of his faults — an honourable one, no doubt, but still a fault — that, though he is otherwise most level-headed, he entertains a higher opinion of his friends than they deserve. Farewell.

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12. C. PLINIUS CATILIO SEVERO SUO S.

1 Veniam ad cenam, sed iam nunc paciscor, sit expedita sit parca, Socraticis tantum sermonibus abundet, in his quoque teneat modum. 2 Erunt officia antelucana, in quae incidere impune ne Catoni quidem licuit, quem tamen C. Caesar ita reprehendit ut laudet. 3 Describit enim eos, quibus obvius fuerit, cum caput ebrii retexissent, erubuisse; deinde adicit: ‘Putares non ab illis Catonem, sed illos a Catone deprehensos.’ Potuitne plus auctoritatis tribui Catoni, quam si ebrius quoque tam venerabilis erat? 4 Nostrae tamen cenae, ut apparatus et impendii, sic temporis modus constet. Neque enim ii sumus quos vituperare ne inimici quidem possint, nisi ut simul laudent. Vale.

XII. — TO CATILIUS SEVERUS.

Yes, I will come to dinner, but even now I must stipulate that the meal be short and frugal, and brimming over only with Socratic talk. Nay, even in this respect there must be a limit fixed, for there will be crowds of people going to make calls before day breaks, and even Cato did not escape when he fell in with them, though Caius Caesar, in telling the story, blames him in such a way that it redounds to his praise. For he says that when those who met him drunk uncovered his head and saw who it was, they blushed at the sight, and he adds: “You would think it was not they who had caught Cato, but Cato who had caught them.” What greater testimony could there be to Cato’s character than that men respected him even when he was in liquor? But for our dinner let us agree not only to have a modest and inexpensive feast but to break up in good time, for we are not Catos that our enemies cannot censure us without praising us in the same breath. Farewell.

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13. C. PLINIUS VOCONIO ROMANO SUO S.

1 Librum, quo nuper optimo principi consul gratias egi, misi exigenti tibi, missurus etsi non exegisses. 2 In hoc consideres velim ut pulchritudinem materiae ita difficultatem. In ceteris enim lectorem novitas ipsa intentum habet, in hac nota vulgata dicta sunt omnia; quo fit ut quasi otiosus securusque lector tantum elocutioni vacet, in qua satisfacere difficilius est cum sola aestimatur. 3 Atque utinam ordo saltem et transitus et figurae simul spectarentur! Nam invenire praeclare, enuntiare magnifice interdum etiam barbari solent, disponere apte, figurare varie nisi eruditis negatum est. 4 Nec vero affectanda sunt semper elata et excelsa. Nam ut in pictura lumen non alia res magis quam umbra commendat, ita orationem tam summittere quam attollere decet. 5 Sed quid ego haec doctissimo viro? Quin potius illud: adnota, quae putaveris corrigenda. Ita enim magis credam cetera tibi placere, si quaedam displicuisse cognovero. Vale.

XII. — TO VOCONIUS ROMANUS.

I am sending you, at your request, the speech in which I lately thanked our best of emperors for my nomination as Consul, and I should have sent it to you even though you had not asked for it. I hope you will take into consideration both the beauty and the difficulty of the theme. For in other speeches the attention of the reader is kept fixed by the novelty of the subject, but in this case every detail is familiar, a matter of common knowledge, and has been said before. Consequently the reader will be lazy and careless and will only pay attention to the diction, and when merely the diction is attended to, it is not easy to give satisfaction. I wish that people would pay equal regard to the arrangement of the speech, to its transitions, and the figures of speech employed. For even the unlearned sometimes manage to get a noble inspiration and express it in powerful language, but skilful arrangement and variety of metaphor are only attained by the scholarly. Besides, one must not for ever keep at the same high and lofty level. For, just as in painting there is nothing like shadow to bring out the effect of light, so in a speech it is as important on occasions to reduce the treatment to an ordinary level as to raise it to a high one. But why do I talk of first principles to a man of your accomplishments? What I do wish to insist upon is to ask you to mark the passages which you think should be corrected. For I shall think that you are all the better pleased with the remainder if I find that there are certain portions that you do not like. Farewell.

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14. C. PLINIUS ACILIO SUO S.

1 Rem atrocem nec tantum epistula dignam Larcius Macedo vir praetorius a servis suis passus est, superbus alioqui dominus et saevus, et qui servisse patrem suum parum, immo nimium meminisset. 2 Lavabatur in villa Formiana. Repente eum servi circumsistunt. Alius fauces invadit, alius os verberat, alius pectus et ventrem, atque etiam - foedum dictu - verenda contundit; et cum exanimem putarent, abiciunt in fervens pavimentum, ut experirentur an viveret. Ille sive quia non sentiebat, sive quia se non sentire simulabat, immobilis et extentus fidem peractae mortis implevit. 3 Tum demum quasi aestu solutus effertur; excipiunt servi fideliores, concubinae cum ululatu et clamore concurrunt. Ita et vocibus excitatus et recreatus loci frigore sublatis oculis agitatoque corpore vivere se - et iam tutum erat - confitetur. 4 Diffugiunt servi; quorum magna pars comprehensa est, ceteri requiruntur. Ipse paucis diebus aegre focilatus non sine ultionis solacio decessit ita vivus vindicatus, ut occisi solent. 5 Vides quot periculis quot contumeliis quot ludibriis simus obnoxii; nec est quod quisquam possit esse securus, quia sit remissus et mitis; non enim iudicio domini sed scelere perimuntur.

6 Verum haec hactenus. Quid praeterea novi? Quid? Nihil, alioqui subiungerem; nam et charta adhuc superest, et dies feriatus patitur plura contexi. Addam quod opportune de eodem Macedone succurrit. Cum in publico Romae lavaretur, notabilis atque etiam, ut exitus docuit, ominosa res accidit. 7 Eques Romanus a servo eius, ut transitum daret, manu leviter admonitus convertit se nec servum, a quo erat tactus, sed ipsum Macedonem tam graviter palma percussit ut paene concideret. 8 Ita balineum illi quasi per gradus quosdam primum contumeliae locus, deinde exitii fuit. Vale.

XIV. — TO ACILIUS.

A shocking affair, worthy of more publicity than a letter can bestow, has befallen Largius Macedo, a man of praetorian rank, at the hands of his own slaves. He was known to be an overbearing and cruel master, and one who forgot — or rather remembered to keenly — that his own father had been a slave. He was bathing at his villa near Formiae, when he was suddenly surrounded by his slaves. One seized him by the throat, another struck him on the forehead, and others smote him in the chest, belly, and even — I am shocked to say — in the private parts. When they thought the breath had left his body they flung him on to the hot tiled floor to see if he was still alive. Whether he was insensible, or merely pretended to be so, he certainly did not move, and lying there at full length, he made them think that he was actually dead. At length they carried him out as though he had been overcome by the heat and handed him over to his more trusty servants, while his mistresses ran shrieking and wailing to his side. Aroused by their cries and restored by the coolness of the room where he lay, he opened his eyes and moved his limbs, betraying thereby that he was still alive, as it was then safe to do so. His slaves took to flight; most of them have been captured, but some are still being hunted for. Thanks to the attentions he received, Macedo was kept alive for a few days and had the satisfaction of full vengeance before he died, for he exacted the same punishment while he still lived as is usually taken when the victim of a murder dies. You see the dangers, the affronts and insults we are exposed to, and no one can feel at all secure because he is an easy and mild-tempered master, for villainy not deliberation murders masters.

But enough of that subject! Have I any other news to tell you? Let me see! No, there is nothing. If there were, I would tell you, for I have room enough on this sheet, and, as to-day is a holiday, I should have plenty of time to write more. But I will just add an incident which I chance to recall that happened to the same Macedo. When he was in one of the public baths in Rome, a curious and — the event has shown — an ominous accident happened to him. Macedo’s servant lightly tapped a Roman knight with his hand to induce him to make room for them to pass, and the knight turned round and struck, not the slave who had touched him but Macedo himself, such a heavy blow with his fist that he almost felled him. So one may say that the bath has been by certain stages the scene first of humiliation to him and then of death. Farewell.

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15. C. PLINIUS SILIO PROCULO SUO S.

1 Petis ut libellos tuos in secessu legam examinem, an editione sint digni; adhibes preces, allegas exemplum: rogas enim, ut aliquid subsicivi temporis studiis meis subtraham, impertiam tuis, adicis M. Tullium mira benignitate poetarum ingenia fovisse. 2 Sed ego nec rogandus sum nec hortandus; nam et poeticen ipsam religiosissime veneror et te valdissime diligo. Faciam ergo quod desideras tam diligenter quam libenter. 3 Videor autem iam nunc posse rescribere esse opus pulchrum nec supprimendum, quantum aestimare licuit ex iis quae me praesente recitasti, si modo mihi non imposuit recitatio tua; legis enim suavissime et peritissime. 4 Confido tamen me non sic auribus duci, ut omnes aculei iudicii mei illarum delenimentis refringantur: hebetentur fortasse et paulum retundantur, evelli quidem extorquerique non possunt. 5 Igitur non temere iam nunc de universitate pronuntio, de partibus experiar legendo. Vale.

XV. — TO SILIUS PROCULUS.

You ask me to read your poems while I am in the country, and see whether I think they are worth publishing; you even add entreaties, and quote an authority for the request; for you beg me to take a few holiday hours from my own studies and spend them on your efforts, and you say that Marcus Tullius showed wonderful good nature in encouraging the talent of poets. Well, there was no need to beg and pray of me to do such a thing, for I have the most profound regard for the poetic art and I have a very strong affection for you, so I will comply with your request and give them a careful and willing reading. But even now I think I am justified in writing and telling you that your work is charming and should on no account be kept from publication, as far as I could judge from the pieces that you read aloud in my hearing — unless, indeed, your delivery took me in, for you read with great charm and skill. But I feel pretty sure that I am not so completely led away by the mere pleasures of the ear that my critical powers are wholly disarmed by the pleasure of listening — they might be blunted possibly and have their edge turned somewhat, but they certainly could not be subverted or destroyed. Consequently, I am not rash in pronouncing a general verdict on the whole even now, but in order to judge of them in detail, I must read them through. Farewell.

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16. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

1 Adnotasse videor facta dictaque virorum feminarumque alia clariora esse alia maiora. Confirmata est opinio mea hesterno Fanniae sermone. Neptis haec Arriae illius, quae marito et solacium mortis et exemplum fuit. Multa referebat aviae suae non minora hoc sed obscuriora; quae tibi existimo tam mirabilia legenti fore, quam mihi audienti fuerunt. 3 Aegrotabat Caecina Paetus maritus eius, aegrotabat et filius, uterque mortifere, ut videbatur. Filius decessit eximia pulchritudine pari verecundia, et parentibus non minus ob alia carus quam quod filius erat. Huic illa ita funus paravit, ita duxit exsequias, ut ignoraret maritus; quin immo quotiens cubiculum eius intraret, vivere filium atque etiam commodiorem esse simulabat, ac persaepe interroganti, quid ageret puer, respondebat; ‘Bene quievit, libenter cibum sumpsit.’ Deinde, cum diu cohibitae lacrimae vincerent prorumperentque, egrediebatur; tunc se dolori dabat; satiata siccis oculis composito vultu redibat, tamquam orbitatem foris reliquisset. Praeclarum quidem illud eiusdem, ferrum stringere, perfodere pectus, extrahere pugionem, porrigere marito, addere vocem immortalem ac paene divinam: ‘Paete, non dolet.’ Sed tamen ista facienti, ista dicenti, gloria et aeternitas ante oculos erant; quo maius est sine praemio aeternitatis, sine praemio gloriae, abdere lacrimas operire luctum, amissoque filio matrem adhuc agere.

7 Scribonianus arma in Illyrico contra Claudium moverat; fuerat Paetus in partibus, et occiso Scriboniano Romam trahebatur. Erat ascensurus navem; Arria milites orabat, ut simul imponeretur. ‘Nempe enim’ inquit ‘daturi estis consulari viro servolos aliquos, quorum e manu cibum capiat, a quibus vestiatur, a quibus calcietur; omnia sola praestabo.’ Non impetravit: conduxit piscatoriam nauculam, ingensque navigium minimo secuta est. Eadem apud Claudium uxori Scriboniani, cum illa profiteretur indicium, ‘Ego’ inquit ‘te audiam, cuius in gremio Scribonianus occisus est, et vivis?’ Ex quo manifestum est ei consilium pulcherrimae mortis non subitum fuisse. Quin etiam, cum Thrasea gener eius deprecaretur, ne mori pergeret, interque alia dixisset: ‘Vis ergo filiam tuam, si mihi pereundum fuerit, mori mecum?’, respondit: ‘Si tam diu tantaque concordia vixerit tecum quam ego cum Paeto, volo.’ Auxerat hoc responso curam suorum; attentius custodiebatur; sensit et ‘Nihil agitis’ inquit; ‘potestis enim efficere ut male moriar, ut non moriar non potestis.’ Dum haec dicit, exsiluit cathedra adversoque parieti caput ingenti impetu impegit et corruit. Focilata ‘Dixeram’ inquit ‘vobis inventuram me quamlibet duram ad mortem viam, si vos facilem negassetis.’ Videnturne haec tibi maiora illo ‘Paete, non dolet’, ad quod per haec perventum est? cum interim illud quidem ingens fama, haec nulla circumfert. Unde colligitur, quod initio dixi, alia esse clariora alia maiora. Vale.

XVI. — TO NEPOS.

I have often observed that the greatest words and deeds, both of men and women, are not always the most famous, and my opinion has been confirmed by a talk I had with Fannia yesterday. She is a granddaughter of the Arria who comforted her husband in his dying moments and showed him how to die. She told me many stories of her grandmother, just as heroic but not so well known as the manner of her death, and I think they will seem to you as you read them quite as remarkable as they did to me as I listened to them.

Her husband, Caecina Paetus, was lying ill, and so too was their son, both, it was thought, without chance of recovery. The son died. He was a strikingly handsome lad, modest as he was handsome, and endeared to his parents for his other virtues quite as much as because he was their son. Arria made all the arrangements for the funeral and attended it in person, without her husband knowing anything of it. When she entered his room she pretended that the boy was still alive and even much better, and when her husband constantly asked how the lad was getting on, she replied: “He has had a good sleep, and has taken food with a good appetite.” Then when the tears, which she had long forced back, overcame her and burst their way out, she would leave the room, and not till then give grief its course, returning when the flood of tears was over, with dry eyes and composed look, as though she had left her bereavement at the door of the chamber. It was indeed a splendid deed of hers to unsheath the sword, to plunge it into her breast, then to draw it out and offer it to her husband, with the words which will live for ever and seem to have been more than mortal, “Paetus, it does not hurt.” But at that moment, while speaking and acting thus, there was fame and immortality before her eyes, and I think it an even nobler deed for her without looking for any reward of glory or immortality to force back her tears, to hide her grief, and, even when her son was lost to her, to continue to act a mother’s part.

When Scribonianus had started a rebellion in Illyricum against Claudius, Paetus joined his party, and, on the death of Scribonianus, he was brought prisoner to Rome. As he was about to embark, Arria implored the soldiers to take her on board with him. “For,” she pleaded, “as he is of consular rank, you will assign him some servants to serve his meals, to valet him and put on his shoes. I will perform all these offices for him.” When they refused her, she hired a fishing-boat and in that tiny vessel followed the big ship. Again, in the presence of Claudius she said to the wife of Scribonianus, when that woman was voluntarily giving evidence of the rebellion, “What, shall I listen to you in whose bosom Scribonianus was killed and yet you still live?” Those words showed that her resolve to die gloriously was due to no sudden impulse. Moreover, when her son-in-law Thrasea sought to dissuade her from carrying out her purpose, and urged among his other entreaties the following argument: “If I had to die, would you wish your daughter to die with me?” she replied, “If she had lived as long and as happily with you as I have lived with Paetus, yes.” This answer increased the anxiety of her friends, and she was watched with greater care. Noticing this, she said, “Your endeavours are vain. You can make me die hard, but you cannot prevent me from dying.” As she spoke she jumped from her chair and dashed her head with great force against the wall of the chamber, and fell to the ground. When she came to herself again, she said, “I told you that I should find a difficult way of dying if you denied me an easy one.”

Do not sentences like these seem to you more noble than the “Paetus, it does not hurt,” to which they gradually led up? Yet, while that saying is famous all over the world, the others are unknown. But they confirm what I said at the outset, that the noblest words and deeds are not always the most famous. Farewell.

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17. C. PLINIUS IULIO SERVIANO SUO S.

1 Rectene omnia, quod iam pridem epistulae tuae cessant? An omnia recte, sed occupatus es tu? An tu non occupatus, sed occasio scribendi vel rara vel nulla? 2 Exime hunc mihi scrupulum, cui par esse non possum, exime autem vel data opera tabellario misso. Ego viaticum, ego etiam praemium dabo, nuntiet modo quod opto. 3 Ipse valeo, si valere est suspensum et anxium vivere, exspectantem in horas timentemque pro capite amicissimo, quidquid accidere homini potest. Vale.

XVII. — TO JULIUS SERVIANUS.

Is everything quite well with you, that I have not had a letter from you for so long? Or if all is well, are you busy? Or if you are not busy, is it that you rarely get a chance of writing, or never a chance at all? Relieve my anxiety, which is altogether too much for me, and do so even if you have to send a special messenger. I will pay the travelling expenses and give him a present for himself, provided only he brings me the news I wish to hear. I am in good health if being in good health is to live in a state of constant anxiety, expecting and fearing every hour to hear that my dearest friend has met with any one of the dreadful accidents to which men are liable. Farewell.

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18. C. PLINIUS VIBIO SEVERO SUO S.

1 Officium consulatus iniunxit mihi, ut rei publicae nomine principi gratias agerem. Quod ego in senatu cum ad rationem et loci et temporis ex more fecissem, bono civi convenientissimum credidi eadem illa spatiosius et uberius volumine amplecti, 2 primum ut imperatori nostro virtutes suae veris laudibus commendarentur, deinde ut futuri principes non quasi a magistro sed tamen sub exemplo praemonerentur, qua potissimum via possent ad eandem gloriam niti. 3 Nam praecipere qualis esse debeat princeps, pulchrum quidem sed onerosum ac prope superbum est; laudare vero optimum principem ac per hoc posteris velut e specula lumen quod sequantur ostendere, idem utilitatis habet arrogantiae nihil. 4 Cepi autem non mediocrem voluptatem, quod hunc librum cum amicis recitare voluissem, non per codicillos, non per libellos, sed ‘si commodum’ et ‘si valde vacaret’ admoniti - numquam porro aut valde vacat Romae aut commodum est audire recitantem -, foedissimis insuper tempestatibus per biduum convenerunt, cumque modestia mea finem recitationi facere voluisset, ut adicerem tertium diem exegerunt. 5 Mihi hunc honorem habitum putem an studiis? studiis malo, quae prope exstincta refoventur. 6 At cui materiae hanc sedulitatem praestiterunt? nempe quam in senatu quoque, ubi perpeti necesse erat, gravari tamen vel puncto temporis solebamus, eandem nunc et qui recitare et qui audire triduo velint inveniuntur, non quia eloquentius quam prius, sed quia liberius ideoque etiam libentius scribitur. 7 Accedet ergo hoc quoque laudibus principis nostri, quod res antea tam invisa quam falsa, nunc ut vera ita amabilis facta est. 8 Sed ego cum studium audientium tum iudicium mire probavi: animadverti enim severissima quaeque vel maxime satisfacere. 9 Memini quidem me non multis recitasse quod omnibus scripsi, nihilo minus tamen, tamquam sit eadem omnium futura sententia, hac severitate aurium laetor, ac sicut olim theatra male musicos canere docuerunt, ita nunc in spem adducor posse fieri, ut eadem theatra bene canere musicos doceant. 10 Omnes enim, qui placendi causa scribunt, qualia placere viderint scribent. Ac mihi quidem confido in hoc genere materiae laetioris stili constare rationem, cum ea potius quae pressius et astrictius, quam illa quae hilarius et quasi exsultantius scripsi, possint videri accersita et inducta. Non ideo tamen segnius precor, ut quandoque veniat dies - utinamque iam venerit! -, quo austeris illis severisque dulcia haec blandaque vel iusta possessione decedant.

11 Habes acta mea tridui; quibus cognitis volui tantum te voluptatis absentem et studiorum nomine et meo capere, quantum praesens percipere potuisses. Vale.

XVIII. — TO CURIUS SEVERUS.

As Consul, it naturally devolved upon me to thank the Emperor in the name of the State. After doing so in the Senate in the usual way and in a speech befitting the place and the occasion, I thought that it would highly become me, as a good citizen, to cover the same ground in greater detail and much more fully in a book. In the first place, I desired that the Emperor might be encouraged by well-deserved praise of his virtues; and, secondly, that future Emperors might be shown how best to attain similar glory by having such an example before them, rather than by any precepts of a teacher. For though it is a very proper thing to point out to an Emperor the virtues he ought to display, it involves a heavy responsibility to do so and it has rather a presumptuous look, whereas to eulogise an excellent ruler and so hold up a beacon to his successors by which they may steer their path, is not only an act of public service but involves no assumption of superiority.

But I have been more than a little pleased to find that when I proposed to give a public reading of this speech, my friends, whom I invited not by letters and personal notes, but in general terms, such as “if you find it convenient,” or “if you have plenty of time” — for no one has ever plenty of time at Rome, nor is it ever convenient to listen to a recital — attended two days running, in spite of shockingly bad weather, and when my modesty would have brought the recital to an end, they forced me to continue it for another day. Am I to take this as a compliment to myself or to learning? I should prefer to think to the latter, for learning, after having almost drooped to death, is now reviving a little. Yet consider the subject which occasioned all this enthusiasm! Why, in the Senate, when we had to listen to these panegyrics we used to be bored to death after the first moment; yet now there are people to be found who are willing to read and listen to the readings for three days, not because the subject is dealt with more eloquently than before, but because it is treated with greater freedom, and therefore the work is more willingly undertaken. This will be another feather in the cap of our Emperor, that those speeches which used to be as odious as they were unreal are now as popular as they are true to facts.

But I especially noticed with pleasure both the attention and the critical faculties of the audience, for I remarked that they seemed most pleased with the passages which were least adorned. I do not forget that I have read only to a few what I have written for all the reading public, yet none the less I take for granted that the multitude will pass a similar judgment, and I am delighted with their taste for simple passages. Just as the audience in the theatres made the musicians cultivate a false taste in playing, so now I am encouraged to hope that they will encourage the players to cultivate a good taste. For all who write to please will write in the style which they see is popular. As for myself, I hope that with such a subject a luxuriant style may pass muster, inasmuch as the passages which are closely reasoned and stripped of all ornament are more likely to seem forced and far-fetched than those treated in a more buoyant and, as it were, more exultant strain. Nevertheless, I am just as anxious for the day to come (I hope it has come already!) when mere charming and honeyed words, however justly applied, shall give way to a chaste simplicity. Well, I have told you all about my three days’ work; when you read it I hope that, though you were absent at the time, you may be as pleased at the compliment paid to learning and to me as you would have been if you had been there. Farewell.

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19. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Assumo te in consilium rei familiaris, ut soleo. Praedia agris meis vicina atque etiam inserta venalia sunt. In his me multa sollicitant, aliqua nec minora deterrent. 2 Sollicitat primum ipsa pulchritudo iungendi; deinde, quod non minus utile quam voluptuosum, posse utraque eadem opera eodem viatico invisere, sub eodem procuratore ac paene isdem actoribus habere, unam villam colere et ornare, alteram tantum tueri. 3 Inest huic computationi sumptus supellectilis, sumptus atriensium topiariorum fabrorum atque etiam venatorii instrumenti; quae plurimum refert unum in locum conferas an in diversa dispergas. 4 Contra vereor ne sit incautum, rem tam magnam isdem tempestatibus isdem casibus subdere; tutius videtur incerta fortunae possessionum varietatibus experiri. Habet etiam multum iucunditatis soli caelique mutatio, ipsaque illa peregrinatio inter sua. 5 Iam, quod deliberationis nostrae caput est, agri sunt fertiles pingues aquosi; constant campis vineis silvis, quae materiam et ex ea reditum sicut modicum ita statum praestant. 6 Sed haec felicitas terrae imbecillis cultoribus fatigatur. Nam possessor prior saepius vendidit pignora, et dum reliqua colonorum minuit ad tempus, vires in posterum exhausit, quarum defectione rursus reliqua creverunt. 7 Sunt ergo instruendi, eo pluris quod frugi, mancipiis; nam nec ipse usquam vinctos habeo nec ibi quisquam. Superest ut scias quanti videantur posse emi. Sestertio triciens, non quia non aliquando quinquagiens fuerint, verum et hac penuria colonorum et communi temporis iniquitate ut reditus agrorum sic etiam pretium retro abiit. 8 Quaeris an hoc ipsum triciens facile colligere possimus. Sum quidem prope totus in praediis, aliquid tamen fenero, nec molestum erit mutuari; accipiam a socru, cuius arca non secus ac mea utor. 9 Proinde hoc te non moveat, si cetera non refragantur, quae velim quam diligentissime examines. Nam cum in omnibus rebus tum in disponendis facultatibus plurimum tibi et usus et providentiae superest. Vale.

XIX. — TO CALVISIUS RUFUS.

I want to ask your advice, as I have often done, on a matter of private business. Some land adjoining my own, and even running into mine, is for sale, and while there are many considerations tempting me to buy it, there are equally weighty reasons to dissuade me. I feel tempted to purchase, first, because the estate will look well if rounded off, and, secondly, because the conveniences resulting therefrom would be as great as the pleasures it would give me. The same work could be carried on at both places, they could be visited at the same cost of travelling, they could be put under one steward and practically one set of managers, and, while one villa was kept up in style, the other house might be just kept in repair. Moreover, one must take into account the cost of furniture and head-servants, besides gardeners, smiths, and even the gamekeepers, and it makes a great difference whether you have all these in one place or have them distributed in several. Yet, on the other hand, I am afraid it may be rash to risk so much of one’s property to the same storms and the same accidents, and it seems safer to meet the caprices of Fortune by not putting all one’s eggs into the same basket. Again, there is something exceedingly pleasant in changing one’s air and place, and in the travelling from one estate to another.

However, the chief reason why I hesitate is as follows: — The land in question is fertile, rich and well-watered; it consists of meadows, vineyards and woods, which are productive and guarantee an income, not large, it is true, but yet sure. But the fertility of the land is overtaxed by the lack of capital of the tenants. For the last proprietor constantly sold the whole stock, and, though he reduced the arrears of the tenants for the time, he weakened their efficiency for the future, and as their capital failed them their arrears once more began to mount up. I must therefore set them up again, and it will cost me the more because I must provide them with honest slaves, for I have no slaves working in chains in my possession, nor has any landowner in that part of the country. Now, let me tell you the price at which I think I can purchase the property. It is three million sesterces, though at one time the price was five, but owing to the lack of capital of the tenants and the general badness of the times the rents have fallen off and the price has therefore dropped also. Perhaps you will ask whether I can raise these three millions without difficulty. Well, nearly all my capital is invested in land, but I have some money out at interest and I can borrow without any trouble. I can get money from my mother-in-law, whose purse I use as freely as if it were my own. So don’t let this consideration trouble you, if the other objections can be got over, and I hope you will give these your most careful attention. For, as in everything else, so too in the matter of investments, your experience and shrewdness are unexceptionable. Farewell.

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20. C. PLINIUS MAESIO MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Meministine te saepe legisse, quantas contentiones excitarit lex tabellaria, quantumque ipsi latori vel gloriae vel reprehensionis attulerit? 2 At nunc in senatu sine ulla dissensione hoc idem ut optimum placuit: omnes comitiorum die tabellas postulaverunt. 3 Excesseramus sane manifestis illis apertisque suffragiis licentiam contionum. Non tempus loquendi, non tacendi modestia, non denique sedendi dignitas custodiebatur. 4 Magni undique dissonique clamores, procurrebant omnes cum suis candidatis, multa agmina in medio multique circuli et indecora confusio; adeo desciveramus a consuetudine parentum, apud quos omnia disposita moderata tranquilla maiestatem loci pudoremque retinebant. 5 Supersunt senes ex quibus audire soleo hunc ordinem comitiorum: citato nomine candidati silentium summum; dicebat ipse pro se; explicabat vitam suam, testes et laudatores dabat vel eum sub quo militaverat, vel eum cui quaestor fuerat, vel utrumque si poterat; addebat quosdam ex suffragatoribus; illi graviter et paucis loquebantur. Plus hoc quam preces proderat. 6 Non numquam candidatus aut natales competitoris aut annos aut etiam mores arguebat. Audiebat senatus gravitate censoria. Ita saepius digni quam gratiosi praevalebant. 7 Quae nunc immodico favore corrupta ad tacita suffragia quasi ad remedium decucurrerunt; quod interim plane remedium fuit - erat enim novum et subitum -, 8 sed vereor ne procedente tempore ex ipso remedio vitia nascantur. Est enim periculum ne tacitis suffragiis impudentia irrepat. Nam quoto cuique eadem honestatis cura secreto quae palam? 9 Multi famam, conscientiam pauci verentur. Sed nimis cito de futuris: interim beneficio tabellarum habebimus magistratus, qui maxime fieri debuerunt. Nam ut in reciperatoriis iudiciis, sic nos in his comitiis quasi repente apprehensi sinceri iudices fuimus.

10 Haec tibi scripsi, primum ut aliquid novi scriberem, deinde ut non numquam de re publica loquerer, cuius materiae nobis quanto rarior quam veteribus occasio, tanto minus omittenda est. 11 Et hercule quousque illa vulgaria? ‘Quid agis? ecquid commode vales?’ Habeant nostrae quoque litterae aliquid non humile nec sordidum, nec privatis rebus inclusum. 12 Sunt quidem cuncta sub unius arbitrio, qui pro utilitate communi solus omnium curas laboresque suscepit; quidam tamen salubri temperamento ad nos quoque velut rivi ex illo benignissimo fonte decurrunt, quos et haurire ipsi et absentibus amicis quasi ministrare epistulis possumus. Vale.

XX. — TO MESSIUS MAXIMUS.

Do you remember that you often read of the fierce controversies excited by the Ballot Act, and the praises and denunciations that it brought upon the head of the man who introduced it? Yet, nowadays in the Senate its merits are universally acknowledged, and on the last election day all the candidates demanded the ballot. For when the voting was open and members publicly recorded their votes, the confusion was worse than that which prevails at public meetings. No one paid any heed to the time allotted to speeches; there was no respectful silence, and members did not even remember their dignity and keep their seats. On all sides there was tumult and uproar; all were running to and fro with their candidates; they clustered in knots and rings on the floor of the house, and there was the most unseemly disorder. To such an extent had we degenerated from the customs of our forefathers, who observed in all things order, moderation, and quiet, and never forgot the dignity of the place and the attitude proper to it.

There are still old men living who tell me that elections in their time were conducted as follows: — When a candidate’s name was read out the deepest silence was observed. Then he addressed the House in his own interest, gave an account of his life, and produced witnesses to speak in his favour. He would call upon the general under whom he had served, or the governor to whom he had been quaestor, or both if possible, and then he mentioned certain of his supporters, who would speak for him in a few weighty sentences. These had far more effect than entreaties. Sometimes a candidate would lay objections to the pedigree, age, or character of a rival, and the Senate would listen with gravity befitting a censor. Consequently, merit told as a rule more than influence. But when this laudable practice was spoilt by excessive partisanship the House had recourse to the silence of the ballot-box in order to cure the evil, and for a time it did act as a remedy, owing to the novelty of the sudden change. But I am afraid that as time goes on abuses will arise even out of this remedy, for there is a danger that the ballot may be invaded by shameless partiality. How few there are who are as careful of acting honourably in secret as in public! While many people are afraid of what others will say, few are afraid of their own conscience. But it is too early yet to speak of the future, and in the meantime, thanks to the ballot, we shall have as magistrates men who pre-eminently deserve the honour. For in this election we have proved honest judges, like those who are hastily empanelled to serve in the Court of the Recuperators — where the decision is so speedy that those who try the case have no time to be bribed.

I have written this letter, firstly to tell you the news, and secondly to say a word on the general political outlook, and, as opportunities for discussing the latter are much less frequent than they were in the old days, we should seize those which present themselves all the more eagerly. Besides, how long shall we go on using the hackneyed phrases, “How do you spend your time?” and “Are you quite well?” Let us in our correspondence rise above the ordinary poor level and petty details confined to our private affairs. It is true that all political power lies in the hands of one person, who for the common good has taken upon himself the cares and labours of the whole State, yet, thanks to his beneficent moderation, some rills from that bounteous source flow down even to us, and these we may draw for ourselves and serve up, as it were, to our absent friends in letters. Farewell.

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21. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO PRISCO SUO S.

1 Audio Valerium Martialem decessisse et moleste fero. Erat homo ingeniosus acutus acer, et qui plurimum in scribendo et salis haberet et fellis nec candoris minus. 2 Prosecutus eram viatico secedentem; dederam hoc amicitiae, dederam etiam versiculis, quos de me composuit. 3 Fuit moris antiqui eos, qui vel singulorum laudes vel urbium scripserant, aut honoribus aut pecunia honorare; nostris vero temporibus ut alia speciosa et egregia ita hoc in primis exolevit. Nam postquam desiimus facere laudanda, laudari quoque ineptum putamus. 4 Quaeris, qui sint versiculi, quibus gratiam rettuli? Remitterem te ad ipsum volumen, nisi quosdam tenerem; tu, si placuerint hi, ceteros in libro requires. 5 Alloquitur Musam, mandat, ut domum meam Esquiliis quaerat, adeat reverenter:

Sed ne tempore non tuo disertam
pulses ebria ianuam videto;
totos dat tetricae dies Minervae,
dum centum studet auribus virorum
hoc, quod saecula posterique possint
Arpinis quoque comparare chartis.
Seras tutior ibis ad lucernas;
haec hora est tua, cum furit Lyaeus,
cum regnat rosa, cum madent capilli.
Tunc me vel rigidi legant Catones.

6 Meritone eum, qui haec de me scripsit, et tunc dimisi amicissime et nunc ut amicissimum defunctum esse doleo? Dedit enim mihi, quantum maximum potuit, daturus amplius, si potuisset. Tametsi, quid homini potest dari maius quam gloria et laus et aeternitas? At non erunt aeterna, quae scripsit; non erunt fortasse, ille tamen scripsit, tamquam essent futura. Vale.

XXI. — TO CORNELIUS PRISCUS.

I hear that Valerius Martial is dead, and I am much troubled at the news. He was a man of genius, witty and caustic, yet one who in his writings showed as much candour as he did biting wit and ability to sting. When he left Rome I made him a present to help to defray his travelling expenses, as a tribute to the friendship I bore him and to the verses he had composed about me. It was the custom in the old days to reward with offices of distinction or money grants those who had composed eulogies of private individuals or cities, but in our day this custom, like many other honourable and excellent practices, was one of the first to fall into disuse. For when we cease to do deeds worthy of praise, we think it is folly to be praised. Do you ask what the verses are which excited my gratitude? I would refer you to the volume itself, but that I have some by heart, and if you like these, you may look out the others for yourself in the book. He addresses the Muse and bids her seek my house on the Esquiline and approach it with great respect:— “But take care that you do not knock at his learned door at a time when you should not. He devotes whole days together to crabbed Minerva, while he prepares for the ears of the Court of the Hundred speeches which posterity and the ages to come may compare even with the pages of Arpinum’s Cicero. “Twill be better if you go late in the day, when the evening lamps are lit; that is YOUR hour, when the Wine God is at his revels, when the rose is Queen of the feast, when men’s locks drip perfume. At such an hour even unbending Catos may read my poems.” Was I not right to take a most friendly farewell of a man who wrote a poem like that about me, and do I do wrong if I now bewail his death as that of a bosom-friend? For he gave me the best he could, and would have given me more if he had had it in his power. And yet what more can be given to a man than glory and praise and immortality? But you may say that Martial’s poems will not live for ever. Well, perhaps not, yet at least he wrote them in the hope that they would. Farewell.

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LIBER QVARTVS

BOOK IV.

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1. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Cupis post longum tempus neptem tuam meque una videre. Gratum est utrique nostrum quod cupis, mutuo mehercule. 2 Nam invicem nos incredibili quodam desiderio vestri tenemur, quod non ultra differemus. Atque adeo iam sarcinulas alligamus, festinaturi quantum itineris ratio permiserit. 3 Erit una sed brevis mora: deflectemus in Tuscos, non ut agros remque familiarem oculis subiciamus - id enim postponi potest -, sed ut fungamur necessario officio. 4 Oppidum est praediis nostris vicinum - nomen Tiferni Tiberini -, quod me paene adhuc puerum patronum cooptavit, tanto maiore studio quanto minore iudicio. Adventus meos celebrat, profectionibus angitur, honoribus gaudet. 5 In hoc ego, ut referrem gratiam - nam vinci in amore turpissimum est -, templum pecunia mea exstruxi, cuius dedicationem, cum sit paratum, differre longius irreligiosum est. 6 Erimus ergo ibi dedicationis die, quem epulo celebrare constitui. Subsistemus fortasse et sequenti, sed tanto magis viam ipsam corripiemus. 7 Contingat modo te filiamque tuam fortes invenire! nam continget hilares, si nos incolumes receperitis. Vale.

I. — TO FABATUS.

You say you wish to see your granddaughter again, and me with her, after not having seen us for so long. Both of us are charmed to hear you say so, and, believe me, we are equally anxious to see you. For I cannot tell you how we long to see you, and we shall no longer delay our visit. To that end we are even now getting our luggage together, and we shall push on as fast as the state of the roads will permit. There will be one delay, but it will not detain us long. We shall branch off to see my Tuscan estate — not to inspect the farms and go into accounts, as that can be postponed — but merely to perform a necessary duty. There is a village near my property called Tifernum Tiberinum, which selected me as its patron when I was still almost a boy, and showed, by so doing, more affection than judgment. The people there flock to meet me when I approach, are distressed when I leave them, and rejoice at my preferment. In this village, as a return for their kindness — for it would never do to be outdone in affection — I have, at my own expense, built a temple, and now that it is completed it would be hardly respectful to the gods to put off its dedication any longer. So we shall be present on the dedication day, which I have arranged to celebrate with a banquet. We may possibly stay there for the following day as well, but, if we do, we shall get over the ground with increased speed to make up for lost time. I only hope that we shall find you and your daughter in good health, for I know we shall find you in good spirits if we arrive in safety. Farewell.

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2. C. PLINIUS ATTIO CLEMENTI SUO S.

1 Regulus filium amisit, hoc uno malo indignus, quod nescio an malum putet. Erat puer acris ingenii sed ambigui, qui tamen posset recta sectari, si patrem non referret. 2 Hunc Regulus emancipavit, ut heres matris exsisteret; mancipatum - ita vulgo ex moribus hominis loquebantur - foeda et insolita parentibus indulgentiae simulatione captabat. Incredibile, sed Regulum cogita. 3 Amissum tamen luget insane. Habebat puer mannulos multos et iunctos et solutos, habebat canes maiores minoresque, habebat luscinias psittacos merulas: omnes Regulus circa rogum trucidavit. 4 Nec dolor erat ille, sed ostentatio doloris. Convenitur ad eum mira celebritate. Cuncti detestantur oderunt, et quasi probent quasi diligant, cursant frequentant, utque breviter quod sentio enuntiem, in Regulo demerendo Regulum imitantur. 5 Tenet se trans Tiberim in hortis, in quibus latissimum solum porticibus immensis, ripam statuis suis occupavit, ut est in summa avaritia sumptuosus, in summa infamia gloriosus. 6 Vexat ergo civitatem insaluberrimo tempore et, quod vexat, solacium putat. Dicit se velle ducere uxorem, hoc quoque sicut alia perverse. 7 Audies brevi nuptias lugentis nuptias senis; quorum alterum immaturum alterum serum est. Unde hoc augurer quaeris? 8 Non quia affirmat ipse, quo mendacius nihil est, sed quia certum est Regulum esse facturum, quidquid fieri non oportet. Vale.

II. — TO ATTIUS CLEMENS.

Regulus has lost his son — the only misfortune he did not deserve, because I doubt whether he considers it as such. He was a sharp-witted youth, whatever use he might have made of his talents, though he might have followed honourable courses if he did not take after his father. Regulus freed him from his parental control in order that he might succeed to his mother’s property, but after freeing him — and those who knew the character of the man spoke of it as a release from slavery — he endeavoured to win his affections by treating him with a pretended indulgence which was as disgraceful as it was unusual in a father. It seems incredible, but remember that it was Regulus. Yet now that his son is dead, he is mad with grief at his loss. The boy had a number of ponies, some in harness and others not broken in, dogs both great and small, nightingales, parrots and blackbirds — all these Regulus slaughtered at his pyre. Yet an act like that was no token of grief; it was but a mere parade of it. It is strange how people are flocking to call upon him. Every one detests and hates him, yet they run to visit him in shoals as though they both admired and loved him. To put in a nutshell what I mean, people in paying court to Regulus are copying the example he set. He does not move from his gardens across the Tiber, where he has covered an immense quantity of ground with colossal porticos and littered the river bank with his statues, for, though he is the meanest of misers, he flings his money broadcast, and though his name is a byword, he is for ever vaunting his glories. Consequently, in this the most sickly season of the year, he is upsetting every one’s arrangements, and thinks it soothes his grief to inconvenience everybody. He says he is desirous of taking a wife, and here again, as in other matters, he shows the perversity of his nature. You will hear soon that the mourner is married, that the old man has taken a wife, displaying unseemly haste as the former and undue delay as the latter. If you ask what makes me think he will take this step, I reply that it is not because he says he will — for there is no greater liar than he — but because it is quite certain that Regulus will do what he ought not to do. Farewell.

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3. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

1 Quod semel atque iterum consul fuisti similis antiquis, quod proconsul Asiae qualis ante te qualis post te vix unus aut alter - non sinit enim me verecundia tua dicere nemo -, quod sanctitate quod auctoritate, aetate quoque princeps civitatis, est quidem venerabile et pulchrum; ego tamen te vel magis in remissionibus miror. 2 Nam severitatem istam pari iucunditate condire, summaeque gravitati tantum comitatis adiungere, non minus difficile quam magnum est. Id tu cum incredibili quadam suavitate sermonum, tum vel praecipue stilo assequeris. 3 Nam et loquenti tibi illa Homerici senis mella profluere et, quae scribis, complere apes floribus et innectere videntur. Ita certe sum affectus ipse, cum Graeca epigrammata tua, cum mimiambos proxime legerem. 4 Quantum ibi humanitatis venustatis, quam dulcia illa quam amantia quam arguta quam recta! Callimachum me vel Heroden, vel si quid his melius, tenere credebam; quorum tamen neuter utrumque aut absolvit aut attigit. 5 Hominemne Romanum tam Graece loqui? Non medius fidius ipsas Athenas tam Atticas dixerim. Quid multa? Invideo Graecis quod illorum lingua scribere maluisti. Neque enim coniectura eget, quid sermone patrio exprimere possis, Cum hoc insiticio et inducto tam praeclara opera perfeceris. Vale.

III. — TO ANTONIUS.

That you, like your ancestors of old, have been twice consul, that you have been proconsul of Asia with a record such as not more than one or two of your predecessors and successors have enjoyed — for your modesty is such that I do not like to say that no one has equalled you — that in purity of life, influence and age, you are the principal man of the State, — all these things inspire respect and give distinction, and yet I admire you even more in your retirement. For to season, as you do, all your strict uprightness with charm of manner equally striking, and to be such an agreeable companion as well as such a man of weight, that is no less difficult than it is desirable. Yet you succeed in so doing with wonderful sweetness both in your conversation and above all, when you set pen to paper. For when you talk, all the honey of Homer’s old man eloquent seems to flow from your tongue, and when you write, the bees seem to be busy pouring into every line their choicest essences and charging them with sweetness. That certainly was my impression when I recently read your Greek epigrams and iambics. What breadth of feeling they contain, what choice expressions, how graceful they are, how musical, how exact! I thought I was holding in my hands Callimachus or Herodes, or even a greater poet than these, if greater there be, yet neither of these two poets attempted or excelled in both these forms of verse. Is it possible for a Roman to write such Greek? I do not believe that even Athens has so pure an Attic touch. But why go on? I am jealous of the Greeks that you should have elected to write in their language, for it is easy to guess what choice work you could turn out in your mother-tongue, when you have produced such splendid results with an exotic language which has been transplanted into our midst. Farewell.

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4. C. PLINIUS SOSIO SENECIONI SUO S.

1 Varisidium Nepotem valdissime diligo, virum industrium rectum disertum, quod apud me vel potentissimum est. Idem C. Calvisium, contubernalem meum amicum tuum, arta propinquitate complectitur; est enim filius sororis. 2 Hunc rogo semestri tribunatu splendidiorem et sibi et avunculo suo facias. Obligabis me, obligabis Calvisium nostrum, obligabis ipsum, non minus idoneum debitorem quam nos putas. 3 Multa beneficia in multos contulisti: ausim contendere nullum te melius, aeque bene unum aut alterum collocasse. Vale.

IV. — TO SOSIUS SENECIO.

I have the greatest regard for Varisidius Nepos; he is hardworking, upright, and a scholar — a point which with me outweighs almost any other. He is a near relative and, in fact, a son of the sister of Caius Calvisius, my old companion and a friend too of yours. I beg that you will give him a tribuneship for six months and so advance him in dignity, both for his own and for his uncle’s sake. By so doing you will confer a favour on me, on our friend Calvisius, and on Varisidius himself, who is quite as worthy to be under an obligation to you as we are. You have showered kindnesses on numbers of people, and I will venture to say that you have never bestowed one that was better deserved, and have but rarely granted one that was deserved so well. Farewell.

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5. C. PLINIUS IULIO SPARSO SUO S.

1 Aeschinen aiunt petentibus Rhodiis legisse orationem suam, deinde Demosthenis, summis utramque clamoribus. 2 Quod tantorum virorum scriptis contigisse non miror, cum orationem meam proxime doctissimi homines hoc studio, hoc assensu, hoc etiam labore per biduum audierint, quamvis intentionem eorum nulla hinc et inde collatio, nullum quasi certamen accenderet. 3 Nam Rhodii cum ipsis orationum virtutibus tum etiam comparationis aculeis excitabantur, nostra oratio sine aemulationis gratia probabatur. An merito, scies cum legeris librum, cuius amplitudo non sinit me longiore epistula praeloqui. 4 Oportet enim nos in hac certe in qua possumus breves esse, quo sit excusatius quod librum ipsum, non tamen ultra causae amplitudinem, extendimus. Vale.

V. — TO SPARSUS.

There is a story that Aeschines was once asked by the Rhodians to read them one of his speeches, that he afterwards read them one of Demosthenes’ as well, and that both were received with great applause. I cannot wonder that the orations of such distinguished men were applauded, when I think that just recently the most learned men in Rome listened for two days together to a speech of mine, with such earnestness, applause, and concentration of attention, though there was nothing to stir their blood, no other speech with which to compare mine, and not a trace of the acharnement of debate. While the Rhodians had not only the beauties of the two speeches to kindle them but also the charm of comparison, my speech was approved though it lacked the advantages of being controversial. Whether it deserved its reception you will be able to judge when you have read it, and its bulk does not allow of my making a longer preface. For I ought certainly to be brief here where brevity is possible, so that I may be the more readily excused for the length of the speech itself, though it is not longer than the subject required. Farewell.

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6. C. PLINIUS IULIO NASONI SUO S.

1 Tusci grandine excussi, in regione Transpadana summa abundantia, sed par vilitas nuntiatur: solum mihi Laurentinum meum in reditu. 2 Nihil quidem ibi possideo praeter tectum et hortum statimque harenas, solum tamen mihi in reditu. Ibi enim plurimum scribo, nec agrum quem non habeo sed ipsum me studiis excolo; ac iam possum tibi ut aliis in locis horreum plenum, sic ibi scrinium ostendere. 3 Igitur tu quoque, si certa et fructuosa praedia concupiscis, aliquid in hoc litore para. Vale.

VI. — TO JULIUS NASO.

My Tuscan farms have been lashed by hail; from my property in the Transpadane region I get news that the crops are very heavy but the prices rule equally low, and it is only my Laurentian estate that makes me any return. It is true that all my belongings there consist of but a house and a garden, yet it is the only property which brings me in any revenue. For while I am there I write hard and I till — not fields, for I have none — but my own wits, and so I can show you there a full granary of MSS., as elsewhere I can show you full barns of wheat. Hence if you are anxious for sure and fruitful farms, you too should sow your grain on the same kind of shore. Farewell.

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7. C. PLINIUS CATIO LEPIDO SUO S.

1 Saepe tibi dico inesse vim Regulo. Mirum est quam efficiat in quod incubuit. Placuit ei lugere filium: luget ut nemo. Placuit statuas eius et imagines quam plurimas facere: hoc omnibus officinis agit, illum coloribus illum cera illum aere illum argento illum auro ebore marmore effingit. 2 Ipse vero nuper adhibito ingenti auditorio librum de vita eius recitavit; de vita pueri, recitavit tamen. Eundem in exemplaria mille transcriptum per totam Italiam provinciasque dimisit. Scripsit publice, ut a decurionibus eligeretur vocalissimus aliquis ex ipsis, qui legeret eum populo: factum est. 3 Hanc ille vim, seu quo alio nomine vocanda est intentio quidquid velis optinendi, si ad potiora vertisset, quantum boni efficere potuisset! Quamquam minor vis bonis quam malis inest, ac sicut ‘amathia men thrasos, logismos de oknon pherei’, ita recta ingenia debilitat verecundia, perversa confirmat audacia. 4 Exemplo est Regulus. Imbecillum latus, os confusum, haesitans lingua, tardissima inventio, memoria nulla, nihil denique praeter ingenium insanum, et tamen eo impudentia ipsoque illo furore pervenit, ut orator habeatur. 5 Itaque Herennius Senecio mirifice Catonis illud de oratore in hunc e contrario vertit: ‘Orator est vir malus dicendi imperitus.’ Non mehercule Cato ipse tam bene verum oratorem quam hic Regulum expressit. 6 Habesne quo tali epistulae parem gratiam referas? Habes, si scripseris num aliquis in municipio vestro ex sodalibus meis, num etiam ipse tu hunc luctuosum Reguli librum ut circulator in foro legeris, ‘eparas’ scilicet, ut ait Demosthenes, ‘tên phônên kai gegêthôs kai laryngizôn’. 7 Est enim tam ineptus ut risum magis possit exprimere quam gemitum: credas non de puero scriptum sed a puero. Vale.

VII. — TO CATIUS LEPIDUS.

I am constantly writing to tell you what energy Regulus possesses. It is wonderful the way he carries through anything which he has set his mind upon. It pleased him to mourn for his son — and never man mourned like him; it pleased him to erect a number of statues and busts to his memory, and the result is that he is keeping all the workshops busy; he is having his boy represented in colours, in wax, in bronze, in silver, in gold, ivory, and marble — always his boy. He himself just lately got together a large audience and read a memoir of his life — of the boy’s life; he read it aloud, and yet had a thousand copies written out which he has scattered broadcast over Italy and the provinces. He wrote at large to the decurions and asked them to choose one of their number with the best voice to read the memoir to the people, and it was done. What good he might have effected with this energy of his — or whatever name we should give to such dauntless determination on his part to get his own way — if he had only turned it into a better channel! But then, as you know, good men rarely have this faculty so well developed as bad men; the Greeks say, “Ignorance makes a man bold; calculation gives him pause,” and just in the same way modesty cripples the force of an upright mind, while unblushing confidence is a source of strength to a man without conscience. Regulus is a case in point. He has weak lungs, he never looks you straight in the face, he stammers, he has no imaginative power, absolutely no memory, no quality at all, in short, except a wild, frantic genius, and yet, thanks to his effrontery, and even just to this frenzy of his, he has got people to regard him as an orator. Herennius Senecio very neatly turned against him Cato’s well- known definition of an orator by saying, “An orator is a bad man who knows nothing of the art of speaking,” and I really think that he thereby gave a better definition of Regulus than Cato did of the really true orator.

Have you any equivalent to send me for a letter like this? Yes, indeed, you have, if you will write and say whether any one of my friends in your township, or whether you yourself have read this pitiful production of Regulus in the Forum, like a Cheap Jack, pitching your voice high, as Demosthenes says, shouting with delight, and straining every muscle in your throat. For it is so absurd that it will make you laugh rather than sigh, and you would think it was written not about a boy but by a boy. Farewell.

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8. C. PLINIUS MATURO ARRIANO SUO S.

1 Gratularis mihi quod acceperim auguratum: iure, gratularis, primum quod gravissimi principis iudicium in minoribus etiam rebus consequi pulchrum est, deinde quod sacerdotium ipsum cum priscum et religiosum tum hoc quoque sacrum plane et insigne est, quod non adimitur viventi. 2 Nam alia quamquam dignitate propemodum paria ut tribuuntur sic auferuntur; in hoc fortunae hactenus licet ut dari possit. 3 Mihi vero illud etiam gratulatione dignum videtur, quod successi Iulio Frontino principi viro, qui me nominationis die per hos continuos annos inter sacerdotes nominabat, tamquam in locum suum cooptaret; quod nunc eventus ita comprobavit, ut non fortuitum videretur. 4 Te quidem, ut scribis, ob hoc maxime delectat auguratus meus, quod M. Tullius augur fuit. Laetaris enim quod honoribus eius insistam, quem aemulari in studiis cupio. 5 Sed utinam ut sacerdotium idem, ut consulatum multo etiam iuvenior quam ille sum consecutus, ita senex saltem ingenium eius aliqua ex parte assequi possim! 6 Sed nimirum quae sunt in manu hominum et mihi et multis contigerunt; illud vero ut adipisci arduum sic etiam sperare nimium est, quod dari non nisi a dis potest. Vale.

VIII. — TO MATURUS ARRIANUS.

You congratulate me on accepting the office of augur. You are right in so doing, first, because it is a proper thing to obey the wishes of an emperor with a character like ours, and, secondly, because the priestly office is in itself an ancient and sacred one, and inspires respect and dignity from the very fact that it is held for life. For other offices, though almost equal in point of dignity to this, may be bestowed one day and taken away the next, while with the augurship the element of chance only enters into the bestowal of it. I think too that I have special reasons for congratulating myself in that I have succeeded Julius Frontinus, one of the leading men of his day, who for many years running used to bring forward my name, whenever the nomination day for the priesthoods came round, as though he wished to coopt me to fill his place. Now events have turned out in such a way that my election does not seem to have been the work of chance. I can only hope that as I have attained to the priesthood and the consulship at a much earlier age than he did, I may, when I am old, at least in some degree acquire his serenity of mind. But all that man can give has fallen to my lot and to many another; the other thing, which can only be bestowed by the gods, is as difficult to attain to as it is presumptuous to hope for it. Farewell.

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9. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO URSO SUO S.

1 Causam per hos dies dixit Iulius Bassus, homo laboriosus et adversis suis clarus. Accusatus est sub Vespasiano a privatis duobus; ad senatum remissus diu pependit, tandem absolutus vindicatusque. 2 Titum timuit ut Domitiani amicus, a Domitiano relegatus est; revocatus a Nerva sortitusque Bithyniam rediit reus, accusatus non minus acriter quam fideliter defensus. Varias sententias habuit, plures tamen quasi mitiores. 3 Egit contra eum Pomponius Rufus, vir paratus et vehemens; Rufo successit Theophanes, unus ex legatis, fax accusationis et origo. 4 Respondi ego. Nam mihi Bassus iniunxerat, totius defensionis fundamenta iacerem, dicerem de ornamentis suis quae illi et ex generis claritate et ex periculis ipsis magna erant, 5 dicerem de conspiratione delatorum quam in quaestu habebant, dicerem causas quibus factiosissimum quemque ut illum ipsum Theophanen offendisset. Eundem me volverat occurrere crimini quo maxime premebatur. In aliis enim quamvis auditu gravioribus non absolutionem modo verum etiam laudem merebatur; 6 hoc illum onerabat quod homo simplex et incautus quaedam a provincialibus ut amicus acceperat - nam fuerat in eadem provincia quaestor -. Haec accusatores furta ac rapinas, ipse munera vocabat. Sed lex munera quoque accipi vetat. 7 Hic ego quid agerem, quod iter defensionis ingrederer? Negarem? Verebar ne plane furtum videretur, quod confiteri timerem. Praeterea rem manifestam infitiari augentis erat crimen non diluentis, praesertim cum reus ipse nihil integrum advocatis reliquisset. Multis enim atque etiam principi dixerat, sola se munuscula dumtaxat natali suo aut Saturnalibus accepisse et plerisque misisse. 8 Veniam ergo peterem? Iugulassem reum, quem ita deliquisse concederem, ut servari nisi venia non posset. Tamquam recte factum tuerer? Non illi profuissem, sed ipse impudens exstitissem. 9 In hac difficultate placuit medium quiddam tenere: videor tenuisse.

Actionem meam, ut proelia solet, nox diremit. Egeram horis tribus et dimidia, supererat sesquihora. Nam cum e lege accusator sex horas, novem reus accepisset, ita diviserat tempora reus inter me et eum qui dicturus post erat, ut ego quinque horis ille reliquis uteretur. 10 Mihi successus actionis silentium finemque suadebat; temerarium est enim secundis non esse contentum. Ad hoc verebar ne me corporis vires iterato labore desererent, quem difficilius est repetere quam iungere. 11 Erat etiam periculum ne reliqua actio mea et frigus ut deposita et taedium ut resumpta pateretur. UT enim faces ignem assidua concussione custodiunt, dimissum aegerrime reparant, sic et dicentis calor et audientis intentio continuatione servatur, intercapedine et quasi remissione languescit. 12 Sed Bassus multis precibus, paene etiam lacrimis obsecrabat, implerem meum tempus. Parui utilitatemque eius praetuli meae. Bene cessit: inveni ita erectos animos senatus, ita recentes, ut priore actione incitati magis quam satiati viderentur. 13 Successit mihi Lucceius Albinus, tam apte ut orationes nostrae varietatem duarum, contextum unius habuisse credantur. 14 Respondit Herennius Pollio instanter et graviter, deinde Theophanes rursus. Fecit enim hoc quoque ut cetera impudentissime, quod post duos et consulares et disertos tempus sibi et quidem laxius vindicavit. Dixit in noctem atque etiam nocte illatis lucernis. 15 Postero die egerunt pro Basso Homullus et Fronto mirifice; quartum diem probationes occuparunt.

16 Censuit Baebius Macer consul designatus lege repetundarum Bassum teneri, Caepio Hispo salva dignitate iudices dandos; uterque recte. 17 ‘Qui fieri potest’ inquis, ‘cum tam diversa censuerint?’ Quia scilicet et Macro legem intuenti consentaneum fuit damnare eum qui contra legem munera acceperat, et Caepio cum putaret licere senatui - sicut licet - et mitigare leges et intendere, non sine ratione veniam dedit facto vetito quidem, non tamen inusitato. 18 Praevaluit sententia Caepionis, quin immo consurgenti ei ad censendum acclamatum est, quod solet residentibus. Ex quo potes aestimare, quanto consensu sit exceptum, cum diceret, quod tam favorabile fuit cum dicturus videretur. 19 Sunt tamen ut in senatu ita in civitate in duas partes hominum iudicia divisa. Nam quibus sententia Caepionis placuit, sententiam Macri ut rigidam duramque reprehendunt; quibus Macri, illam alteram dissolutam atque etiam incongruentem vocant; negant enim congruens esse retinere in senatu, cui iudices dederis. 20 Fuit et tertia sententia: Valerius Paulinus assensus Caepioni hoc amplius censuit, referendum de Theophane cum legationem renuntiasset. Arguebatur enim multa in accusatione fecisse, quae illa ipsa lege qua Bassum accusaverat tenerentur. 21 Sed hanc sententiam consules, quamquam maximae parti senatus mire probabatur, non sunt persecuti. 22 Paulinus tamen et iustitiae famam et constantiae tulit. Misso senatu Bassus magna hominum frequentia, magno clamore, magno gaudio exceptus est. Fecerat eum favorabilem renovata discriminum vetus fama, notumque periculis nomen, et in procero corpore maesta et squalida senectus. 23 Habebis hanc interim epistulam ut ‘prodromon’, exspectabis orationem plenam onustamque. Exspectabis diu; neque enim leviter et cursim, ut de re tanta retractanda est. Vale.

IX. — TO CORNELIUS URSUS.

For some days past Julius Bassus has been on his defence. He is a much harassed man whose misfortunes have made him famous. An accusation was lodged against him in Vespasian’s reign by two private individuals; the case was referred to the Senate, and for a long time he has been on the tenter-hooks, but at last he has been acquitted and his character cleared. He was afraid of Titus because he had been a friend of Domitian, yet he had been banished by the latter, was recalled by Nerva, and, after being appointed by lot to the governorship of Bithynia, returned from the province to stand his trial. The case against him was keenly pressed, but he was no less loyally defended.

Pomponius Rufus, a ready and impetuous speaker, opened against him and was followed by Theophanes, one of the deputation from the province, who was the very life and soul of the prosecution, and indeed the originator of it. I replied on Bassus’ behalf, for he had instructed me to lay the foundations of his whole defence, to give an account of his distinctions, which were very considerable — as he was a man of good family, and had been in many tight places — to dilate upon the conspiracy of the informers and the gains they counted upon, and to explain how it was that Bassus had roused the resentment of all the restless spirits of the province, and notably of Theophanes himself. He had expressed a wish that I too should controvert the charge which was damaging him most. For as to the others, though they sounded to be even more serious, he deserved not only acquittal but approbation, and the only thing that troubled him was that, in an unguarded moment and in perfect innocence, he had received certain presents from the provincials as a token of friendship, for he had served in the same province previously as quaestor. His accusers stigmatised these gifts as thefts and plunder: he called them presents, but the law forbids even presents to be accepted by a governor.

In such a case what was I to do, what line of defence was I to take up? If I denied them in toto, I was afraid that people would immediately regard as a theft the presents which I was afraid to confess had been received. Moreover, to deny the obvious truth would have been to aggravate and not lessen the gravity of the charge, especially as the accused himself had cut the ground away from under the feet of his counsel. For he had told many people, and even the Emperor, that he had accepted, but only on his birthday or at the feast of the Saturnalia, some few trifling presents, and had also sent similar gifts to some of his friends. Was I then to acknowledge this and plead for clemency? Had I done so, I should have put a knife to my client’s throat by confessing that he had committed offences and could only be acquitted by an act of clemency. Was I to defend his conduct and justify it? That would have done him no good, and would have stamped me as an unblushing advocate.

In this difficult position I resolved to take a middle course, and I think I succeeded in so doing. Night interrupted my pleading, as it so often interrupts battles. I had been speaking for three hours and a half, and I had another hour and a half still left me. The law allowed the accuser six hours and the defendant nine, and Bassus had arranged the time at his disposal by giving me five hours, and the remainder to the advocate who was to speak after me. The success of my pleading persuaded me to say no more and make an end, for it is rash not to rest content when things are going well. Besides, I was afraid I might break down physically if I went over the ground again, as it is more difficult to pick up the threads of a speech than to go straight on. There was also the risk of the remainer of my speech meeting with a chilly reception, owing to the threads being dropped, or of it boring the judges if I gathered them up anew. For, just as the flame of a torch is kept alight if you wave it continually up and down, but is difficult to resuscitate when it has been allowed to go out, so the warmth of a speaker and the attention of his audience are kept alive if he goes on speaking, but cool off at any interruption which causes interest to flag. But Bassus begged and prayed of me, almost with tears in his eyes, to take my full time. I gave way, and preferred his interests to my own. It turned out well, for I found that the senators were so attentive and so fresh that, instead of having had quite enough of my speech of the day before, it seemed to have only whetted their appetites for more.

Lucceius Albinus followed me and spoke so much to the point that our speeches were considered to have all the diversity of two addresses but the cohesion of one. Herennius Pollio replied with force and dignity, and then Theophanes again rose. He showed his usual effrontery in demanding a more liberal allowance of time than is usually granted — even after two advocates of ability and consular rank had concluded — and he went on speaking until nightfall, an actually continued after that, when lights had been brought into court.

On the following day Titius Homullus and Fronto made a splendid effort on behalf of Bassus, and the hearing of the evidence took up the fourth day. Baebius Macer, the consul-designate, proposed that Bassus should be dealt with under the law relating to extortion, while Caepio Hispo was in favour of appointing judges to hear the case, but urged that Bassus should retain his place in the Senate. Both were in the right. How can that be? you may ask. For this reason, because Macer, looking at the letter of the law, was justified in condemning a man who had broken the law by receiving presents; while Caepio, acting on the assumption that the Senate has the right — which it certainly has — both to mitigate the severity of the laws and to rigorously put them in force, was not unreasonably desirous of excusing an offence which, though illegal, is very often committed. Caepio’s proposal carried the day; indeed, when he rose to speak he was greeted with the applause which is usually reserved for speakers upon resuming their seats. This will enable you to judge how unanimously the motion was received while he was speaking, when it met with such a reception on his rising to put it.

However, just as there was difference of opinion in the Senate, so there is the same with the general public. Those who approved the proposal of Caepio find fault with that of Macer as being vindictive and severe; those who agree with Macer condemn Caepio’s motion as lax and even inconsistent, for they say it is incongruous to allow a man to keep his place in the Senate when judges have been allotted to try him. There was also a third proposal. Valerius Paulinus, who agreed in the main with Caepio, proposed that an inquiry should be instituted into the case of Theophanes, as soon as he had concluded his work on the deputation. It was urged that during his conduct of the prosecution he had committed a number of offences which came within the scope of the law under which he had accused Bassus. However, the consuls did not approve this proposal, though it found great favour with a large proportion of the Senate. None the less, Paulinus gained a reputation thereby for justice and consistency. When the Senate rose, Bassus came in for an ovation; crowds gathered round him and greeted him with a remarkable demonstration of their joy. Public sympathy had been aroused in his favour by the old story of the hazards he had gone through being told over again, by the association of his name with grave perils, by his tall physique and the sadness and poverty of his old age. You must consider this letter as the forerunner of another: you will be looking out for my speech in full and with every detail, and you will have to look out for it for some time to come, because, owing to the importance of the subject, it will require more than a mere brief and cursory revision. Farewell.

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10. C. PLINIUS STATIO SABINO SUO S.

1 Scribis mihi Sabinam, quae nos reliquit heredes, Modestum servum suum nusquam liberum esse iussisse, eidem tamen sic ascripsisse legatum: ‘Modesto quem liberum esse iussi’. 2 Quaeris quid sentiam. Contuli cum peritis iuris. Convenit inter omnes nec libertatem deberi quia non sit data, nec legatum quia servo suo dederit. Sed mihi manifestus error videtur, ideoque puto nobis quasi scripserit Sabina faciendum, quod ipsa scripsisse se credidit. 3 Confido accessurum te sententiae meae, cum religiosissime soleas custodire defunctorum voluntatem, quam bonis heredibus intellexisse pro iure est. Neque enim minus apud nos honestas quam apud alios necessitas valet. 4 Moretur ergo in libertate sinentibus nobis, fruatur legato quasi omnia diligentissime caverit. Cavit enim, quae heredes bene elegit. Vale.

X. — TO STATIUS SABINUS.

You tell me that Sabina, who left us her heirs, never gave any instructions that her slave Modestus was to be granted his freedom, though she left him a legacy in these words: “I give…to Modestus, whom I have ordered to receive his liberty.” You ask me what I think of the matter. I have consulted some eminent lawyers and they all agree that Modestus need not be given his freedom, because it was not expressly granted by Sabina, nor his legacy, because she left it to him as a slave. But the mistake is obvious to me, and so I think that we ought to act as though Sabina had ordered him to be freed in express terms, since she certainly was under the impression that she had ordered it. I am sure that you will be of my way of thinking, for you are most punctilious in carrying out the intentions of a dead person, which are, with honourable heirs, tantamount to legal obligations. For with us honour has as much weight as necessity has with others. So I propose that we should allow Modestus to have his liberty and enjoy his legacy, as if Sabina had taken all proper precautions to ensure that he should. For a lady who has made a good choice of her heirs has surely taken all the precautions necessary. Farewell.

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11. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO MINICIANO SUO S.

1 Audistine Valerium Licinianum in Sicilia profiteri? nondum te puto audisse: est enim recens nuntius. Praetorius hic modo inter eloquentissimos causarum actores habebatur; nunc eo decidit, ut exsul de senatore, rhetor de oratore fieret. 2 Itaque ipse in praefatione dixit dolenter et graviter: ‘Quos tibi, Fortuna, ludos facis? facis enim ex senatoribus professores, ex professoribus senatores.’ Cui sententiae tantum bilis, tantum amaritudinis inest, ut mihi videatur ideo professus ut hoc diceret. 3 Idem cum Graeco pallio amictus intrasset - carent enim togae iure, quibus aqua et igni interdictum est -, postquam se composuit circumspexitque habitum suum, ‘Latine’ inquit ‘declamaturus sum.’ 4 Dices tristia et miseranda, dignum tamen illum qui haec ipsa studia incesti scelere macularit. 5 Confessus est quidem incestum, sed incertum utrum quia verum erat, an quia graviora metuebat si negasset. Fremebat enim Domitianus aestuabatque in ingenti invidia destitutus. 6 Nam cum Corneliam Vestalium maximam defodere vivam concupisset, ut qui illustrari saeculum suum eiusmodi exemplis arbitraretur, pontificis maximi iure, seu potius immanitate tyranni licentia domini, reliquos pontifices non in Regiam sed in Albanam villam convocavit. Nec minore scelere quam quod ulcisci videbatur, absentem inauditamque damnavit incesti, cum ipse fratris filiam incesto non polluisset solum verum etiam occidisset; nam vidua abortu periit. 7 Missi statim pontifices qui defodiendam necandamque curarent. Illa nunc ad Vestam, nunc ad ceteros deos manus tendens, multa sed hoc frequentissime clamitabat: ‘Me Caesar incestam putat, qua sacra faciente vicit triumphavit!’ 8 Blandiens haec an irridens, ex fiducia sui an ex contemptu principis dixerit, dubium est. Dixit donec ad supplicium, nescio an innocens, certe tamquam innocens ducta est. 9 Quin etiam cum in illud subterraneum demitteretur, haesissetque descendenti stola, vertit se ac recollegit, cumque ei manum carnifex daret, aversata est et resiluit foedumque contactum quasi plane a casto puroque corpore novissima sanctitate reiecit omnibusque numeris pudoris ‘pollên pronoian eschen euschêmôn pesein?. 10 Praeterea Celer eques Romanus, cui Cornelia obiciebatur, cum in comitio virgis caederetur, in hac voce perstiterat: ‘Quid feci? nihil feci.’ 11 Ardebat ergo Domitianus et crudelitatis et iniquitatis infamia. Arripit Licinianum, quod in agris suis occultasset Corneliae libertam. Ille ab iis quibus erat curae praemonetur, si comitium et virgas pati nollet, ad confessionem confugeret quasi ad veniam. Fecit. 12 Locutus est pro absente Herennius Senecio tale quiddam, quale est illud: ‘keitai Patroklos’. Ait enim: ‘Ex advocato nuntius factus sum; Licinianus recessit.’ 13 Gratum hoc Domitiano adeo quidem ut gaudio proderetur, diceretque: ‘Absolvit nos Licinianus.’ Adiecit etiam non esse verecundiae eius instandum; ipsi vero permisit, si qua posset, ex rebus suis raperet, antequam bona publicarentur, exsiliumque molle velut praemium dedit. 14 Ex quo tamen postea clementia divi Nervae translatus est in Siciliam, ubi nunc profitetur seque de fortuna praefationibus vindicat.

15 Vides quam obsequenter paream tibi, qui non solum res urbanas verum etiam peregrinas tam sedulo scribo, ut altius repetam. Et sane putabam te, quia tunc afuisti, nihil aliud de Liciniano audisse quam relegatum ob incestum. Summam enim rerum nuntiat fama non ordinem. 16 Mereor ut vicissim, quid in oppido tuo, quid in finitimis agatur - solent enim quaedam notabilia incidere - perscribas, denique quidquid voles dum modo non minus longa epistula nuntia. Ego non paginas tantum sed versus etiam syllabasque numerabo. Vale.

XI. — TO CORNELIUS MINICIANUS.

Have you heard that Valerius Licinianus is teaching rhetoric in Sicily? I do not think you can have done, for the news is quite fresh. He is of praetorian rank, and he used at one time to be considered one of our most eloquent pleaders at the bar, but now he has fallen so low that he is an exile instead of being a senator, and a mere teacher of rhetoric instead of being a prominent advocate. Consequently in his opening remarks he exclaimed, sorrowfully and solemnly: “O Fortune, what sport you make to amuse yourself! For you turn senators into professors, and professors into senators.” There is so much gall and bitterness in that expression that it seems to me that he became a professor merely to have the opportunity of uttering it. Again, when he entered the hall wearing a Greek pallium — for those who have been banished with the fire-and- water formula are not allowed to wear the toga — he first pulled himself together and then, glancing at his dress, he said, “I shall speak my declamations in Latin.”

You will say that this is all very sad and pitiful, but that a man who defiled his profession of letters by the guilt of incest deserves to suffer. It is true that he confessed his guilt, but it is an open question whether he did so because he was guilty or because he feared an even heavier punishment if he denied it. For Domitian was in a great rage and was boiling over with fury because his witnesses had left him in the lurch. His mind was set upon burying alive Cornelia, the chief of the Vestal Virgins, as he thought to make his age memorable by such an example of severity, and, using his authority as Chief Pontiff, or rather exercising the cruelty of a tyrant and the wanton caprice of a ruler, he summoned the rest of the pontiffs not to the Palace but to his Villa at Alba. There, with a wickedness just as monstrous as the crime which he pretended to be punishing, he declared her guilty of incest, without summoning her before him and giving her a hearing, though he himself had not only committed incest with his brother’s daughter but had even caused her death, for she died of abortion during her widowhood. He immediately despatched some of the pontiffs to see that his victim was buried alive and put to death. Cornelia invoked in turns the aid of Vesta and of the rest of the deities, and amid her many cries this was repeated most frequently: “How can Caesar think me guilty of incest, when he has conquered and triumphed after my hands have performed the sacred rites?” It is not known whether her purpose was to soften Caesar’s heart or to deride him, whether she spoke the words to show her confidence in herself or her contempt of the Emperor. Yet she continued to utter them until she was led to the place of execution, and whether she was innocent or not, she certainly appeared to be so. Nay, even when she was being let down into the dreadful pit and her dress caught as she was being lowered, she turned and readjusted it, and when the executioner offered her his hand she declined it and drew back, as though she put away from her with horror the idea of having her chaste and pure body defiled by his loathsome touch. Thus she preserved her sanctity to the last and displayed all the tokens of a chaste woman, like Hecuba, “taking care that she might fall in seemly wise.”

Moreover, when Celer, the Roman knight who was accused of having intrigued with Cornelia, was being scourged with rods in the Forum, he did nothing but cry out, “What have I done? I have done nothing.” Consequently Domitian’s evil reputation for cruelty and injustice blazed up on all hands. He fastened upon Licinianus for hiding a freedwoman of Cornelia on one of his farms. Licinianus was advised by his friends who interested themselves on his behalf to take refuge in making a confession and beg for pardon, if he wished to escape being flogged in the Forum, and he did so. Herennius Senecio spoke for him in his absence very much in the words of Homer, “Patroclus is fallen,” for he said, “Instead of being an advocate, I am the bearer of news: Licinianus has removed himself.” This so pleased Domitian that he allowed his gratification to betray him into exclaiming, “Licinianus has cleared us.” He even went on to say that it would not do to press a man who admitted his fault too hard, and gave him permission to get together what he could of his belongings before his goods were confiscated, and granted him a pleasant place of exile as a reward for his consideration. Subsequently, by the clemency of the Emperor Nerva, he was removed to Sicily, where he now is a Professor of Rhetoric and takes his revenge upon Fortune in his prefatory remarks.

You see how careful I am to obey your wishes, as I not only give you the news of the town, but news from abroad, and minutely trace a story from its very beginning. I took for granted that, as you were away from Rome at the time, all you heard of Licinianus was that he had been banished for incest. For rumour only gives one the gist of the matter, not the various stages through which it passes. Surely I deserve that you should return the compliment and write and tell me what is going on in your town and neighbourhood, for something worthy of note is always happening. But say what you will, provided you give me the news in as long a letter as I have written to you. I shall count up not only the pages, but the lines and the syllables. Farewell.

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12. C. PLINIUS MATURO ARRIANO SUO S.

1 Amas Egnatium Marcellinum atque etiam mihi saepe commendas; amabis magis commendabisque, si cognoveris eius recens factum. 2 Cum in provinciam quaestor exisset, scribamque qui sorte obtigerat ante legitimum salarii tempus amisisset, quod acceperat scribae daturus, intellexit et statuit subsidere apud se non oportere. 3 Itaque reversus Caesarem, deinde Caesare auctore senatum consuluit, quid fieri de salario vellet. Parva quaestio sed tamen quaestio. Heredes scribae sibi, praefecti aerari populo vindicabant. 4 Acta causa est; dixit heredum advocatus, deinde populi, uterque percommode. Caecilius Strabo aerario censuit inferendum, Baebius Macer heredibus dandum: obtinuit Strabo. 5 Tu lauda Marcellinum, ut ego statim feci. Quamvis enim abunde sufficiat illi quod est et a principe et a senatu probatus, gaudebit tamen testimonio tuo. 6 Omnes enim, qui gloria famaque ducuntur, mirum in modum assensio et laus a minoribus etiam profecta delectat. Te vero Marcellinus ita veretur ut iudicio tuo plurimum tribuat. 7 Accedit his quod, si cognoverit factum suum isto usque penetrasse, necesse est laudis suae spatio et cursu et peregrinatione laetetur. Etenim nescio quo pacto vel magis homines iuvat gloria lata quam magna. Vale.

XII. — TO MATURUS ARRIANUS.

You have a regard for Egnatius Marcellinus and you often commend him to my notice; you will love him and commend him the more when you hear what he has recently done. After setting out as quaestor for his province, he lost by death a secretary, who was allotted to him, before the day when the man’s salary fell due, and he made up his mind and resolved that he ought not to keep the money which had been paid over to him to give to the secretary. So when he returned he consulted first Caesar and then the Senate, on Caesar’s recommendation, as to what was to be done with the money. It was a trifling question, but, after all, it was a question. The secretary’s heirs claimed it should pass to them; the prefects of the treasury claimed it for the people. The case was heard, and counsel for the heirs and for the people pleaded in turn, and both spoke well to the point. Caecilius Strabo proposed that it should be paid over to the treasury; Baebius Macer that it should be given to the man’s heirs; Strabo carried the day. I hope you will praise Marcellinus for his conduct, as I did on the spot, for, although he thinks it more than enough to have been congratulated by the Emperor and the Senate, he will be glad to have your commendation as well. All who are anxious for glory and reputation are wonderfully pleased with the approbation and praise even of men of no particular account, while Marcellinus has such regard for you that he attaches the greatest importance to your opinion. Besides, if he knows that the fame of his action has penetrated so far, he cannot but be pleased at the ground his praises have covered and the rapidity and distance they have travelled. For it somehow happens that men prefer a wide even to a well-grounded reputation. Farewell.

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13. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

1 Salvum in urbem venisse gaudeo; venisti autem, si quando alias, nunc maxime mihi desideratus. Ipse pauculis adhuc diebus in Tusculano commorabor, ut opusculum quod est in manibus absolvam. 2 Vereor enim ne, si hanc intentionem iam in fine laxavero, aegre resumam. Interim ne quid festinationi meae pereat, quod sum praesens petiturus, hac quasi praecursoria epistula rogo. Sed prius accipe causas rogandi, deinde ipsum quod peto.

3 Proxime cum in patria mea fui, venit ad me salutandum municipis mei filius praetextatus. Huic ego ‘Studes?’ inquam. Respondit: ‘Etiam.’ ‘Ubi?’ ‘Mediolani.’ ‘Cur non hic?’ Et pater eius - erat enim una atque etiam ipse adduxerat puerum -: ‘Quia nullos hic praeceptores habemus.’ 4 ‘Quare nullos? Nam vehementer intererat vestra, qui patres estis’ - et opportune complures patres audiebant - ‘liberos vestros hic potissimum discere. Ubi enim aut iucundius morarentur quam in patria aut pudicius continerentur quam sub oculis parentum aut minore sumptu quam domi? 5 Quantulum est ergo collata pecunia conducere praeceptores, quodque nunc in habitationes, in viatica, in ea quae peregre emuntur - omnia autem peregre emuntur - impenditis, adicere mercedibus? Atque adeo ego, qui nondum liberos habeo, paratus sum pro re publica nostra, quasi pro filia vel parente, tertiam partem eius quod conferre vobis placebit dare. 6 Totum etiam pollicerer, nisi timerem ne hoc munus meum quandoque ambitu corrumperetur, ut accidere multis in locis video, in quibus praeceptores publice conducuntur. 7 Huic vitio occurri uno remedio potest, si parentibus solis ius conducendi relinquatur, isdemque religio recte iudicandi necessitate collationis addatur. 8 Nam qui fortasse de alieno neglegentes, certe de suo diligentes erunt dabuntque operam, ne a me pecuniam non nisi dignus accipiat, si accepturus et ab ipsis erit. 9 Proinde consentite conspirate maioremque animum ex meo sumite, qui cupio esse quam plurimum, quod debeam conferre. Nihil honestius praestare liberis vestris, nihil gratius patriae potestis. Educentur hic qui hic nascuntur, statimque ab infantia natale solum amare frequentare consuescant. Atque utinam tam claros praeceptores inducatis, ut in finitimis oppidis studia hinc petantur, utque nunc liberi vestri aliena in loca ita mox alieni in hunc locum confluant!’

10 Haec putavi altius et quasi a fonte repetenda, quo magis scires, quam gratum mihi foret si susciperes quod iniungo. Iniungo autem et pro rei magnitudine rogo, ut ex copia studiosorum, quae ad te ex admiratione ingenii tui convenit, circumspicias praeceptores, quos sollicitare possimus, sub ea tamen condicione ne cui fidem meam obstringam. Omnia enim libera parentibus servo: illi iudicent illi eligant, ego mihi curam tantum et impendium vindico. 11 Proinde si quis fuerit repertus, qui ingenio suo fidat, eat illuc ea lege ut hinc nihil aliud certum quam fiduciam suam ferat. Vale.

XIII. — TO TACITUS.

I am delighted that you have returned to Rome, for though your arrival is always welcome, it is especially so to me at the present moment. I shall be spending a few more days at my Tusculan villa in order to finish a small work which I have in hand, for I am afraid that if I do not carry it right through now that it is nearly completed I shall find it irksome to start on it again. In the meanwhile, that I may lose no time, I am sending this letter as a sort of forerunner to make a request which, when I am in town, I shall ask you to grant.

But first of all, let me tell you my reasons for asking it. When I was last in my native district a son of a fellow townsman of mine, a youth under age, came to pay his respects to me. I said to him, “Do you keep up your studies?” “Yes,” said he. “Where?” I asked. “At Mediolanum,” he replied. “But why not here?” I queried. Then the lad’s father, who was with him, and indeed had brought him, replied, “Because we have no teachers here.” “How is that?” I asked. “It is a matter of urgent importance to you who are fathers” — and it so happened, luckily, that a number of fathers were listening to me— “that your children should get their schooling here on the spot. For where can they pass the time so pleasantly as in their native place; where can they be brought up so virtuously as under their parents’ eyes; where so inexpensively as at home? If you put your money together you could hire teachers at a trifling cost, and you could add to their stipends the sums you now spend upon your sons’ lodgings and travelling money, which are no light amounts. I have no children of my own, but still, in the interest of the State, which I may consider as my child or my parent, I am prepared to contribute a third part of the amount which you may decide to club together. I would even promise the whole sum, if I were not afraid that if I did so my generosity would be corrupted to serve private interests, as I see is the case in many places where teachers are employed at the public charge. There is but one way of preventing this evil, and that is by leaving the right of employing the teachers to the parents alone, who will be careful to make a right choice if they are required to find the money. For those who perhaps would be careless in dealing with other people’s money will assuredly be careful in spending their own, and they will take care that the teacher who gets my money will be worth his salt when he will also get money from them as well. So put your heads together, make up your minds, and let my example inspire you, for I can assure you that the greater the contribution you lay upon me the better I shall be pleased. You cannot make your children a more handsome present than this, nor can you do your native place a better turn. Let those who are born here be brought up here, and from their earliest days accustom them to love and know every foot of their native soil. I hope you may be able to attract such distinguished teachers that boys will be sent here to study from the towns round about, and that, as now your children flock to other places, so in the future other people’s children may flock hither.”

I thought it best to repeat this conversation in detail and from the very beginning, to convince you how glad I shall be if you will undertake my commission. As the subject is one of such importance, I beg and implore you to look out for some teachers from among the throng of learned people who gather round you in admiration of your genius, whom we can sound on the matter, but in such a way that we do not pledge ourselves to employ any one of them. For I wish to give the parents a perfectly free hand. They must judge and choose for themselves; my responsibilities go no further than a sympathetic interest and the payment of my share of the cost. So if you find any one who is confident in his own abilities, let him go to Comum, but on the express understanding that he builds upon no certainty beyond his own confidence in himself. Farewell.

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14. C. PLINIUS [DECIMO] PATERNO SUO S.

1 Tu fortasse orationem, ut soles, et flagitas et exspectas; at ego quasi ex aliqua peregrina delicataque merce lusus meos tibi prodo. 2 Accipies cum hac epistula hendecasyllabos nostros, quibus nos in vehiculo in balineo inter cenam oblectamus otium temporis. 3 His iocamur ludimus amamus dolemus querimur irascimur, describimus aliquid modo pressius modo elatius, atque ipsa varietate temptamus efficere, ut alia aliis quaedam fortasse omnibus placeant. 4 Ex quibus tamen si non nulla tibi petulantiora paulo videbuntur, erit eruditionis tuae cogitare summos illos et gravissimos viros qui talia scripserunt non modo lascivia rerum, sed ne verbis quidem nudis abstinuisse; quae nos refugimus, non quia severiores - unde enim? -, sed quia timidiores sumus. 5 Scimus alioqui huius opusculi illam esse verissimam legem, quam Catullus expressit:

Nam castum esse decet pium poetam
ipsum, versiculos nihil necesse est,
qui tunc denique habent salem et leporem
si sunt molliculi et parum pudici.

6 Ego quanti faciam iudicium tuum, vel ex hoc potes aestimare, quod malui omnia a te pensitari quam electa laudari. Et sane quae sunt commodissima desinunt videri, cum paria esse coeperunt. 7 Praeterea sapiens subtilisque lector debet non diversis conferre diversa, sed singula expendere, nec deterius alio putare quod est in suo genere perfectum. 8 Sed quid ego plura? Nam longa praefatione vel excusare vel commendare ineptias ineptissimum est. Unum illud praedicendum videtur, cogitare me has meas nugas ita inscribere ‘hendecasyllabi’, qui titulus sola metri lege constringitur. 9 Proinde, sive epigrammata sive idyllia sive eclogas sive, ut multi, poematia seu quod aliud vocare malueris, licebit voces; ego tantum hendecasyllabos praesto. 10 A simplicitate tua peto, quod de libello meo dicturus es alii, mihi dicas; neque est difficile quod postulo. Nam si hoc opusculum nostrum aut potissimum esset aut solum, fortasse posset durum videri dicere: ‘Quaere quod agas’; molle et humanum est: ‘Habes quod agas.’ Vale.

XIV. — TO PATERNUS.

Perhaps you are asking and looking out for a speech of mine, as you usually do, but I am sending you some wares of another sort, exotic trifles, the fruit of my playtime. You will receive with this letter some hendecasyllabics of mine with which I pass my leisure hours pleasantly when driving, or in the bath, or at dinner. They contain my jests, my sportive fancies, my loves, sorrows, displeasures and wrath, described sometimes in a humble, sometimes in a lofty strain. My object has been to please different tastes by this variety of treatment, and I hope that certain pieces will be liked by every one. Some of them will possibly strike you as being rather wanton, but a man of your scholarship will bear in mind that the very greatest and gravest authors who have handled such subjects have not only dealt with lascivious themes, but have treated them in the plainest language. I have not done that, not because I have greater austerity than they — by no means, but because I am not quite so daring. Otherwise, I am aware that Catullus has laid down the best and truest regulations governing this style of poetry in his lines: “For it becomes a pious bard to be chaste himself, though there is no need for his verses to be so. Nay, if they are to have wit and charm, they must be voluptuous and not too modest.”

You may guess from this what store I set on your critical judgment when I say that I prefer you should weigh the whole in the balance rather than pick out a few for your special praise. Yet pieces, perfect in themselves, cease to appear so the moment they are all on a dead level of perfection. Besides, a reader of judgment and acumen ought not to compare different pieces with one another, but to weigh each on its own merits and not to think one inferior to another, if it is perfect of its kind. But why say more? What more foolish than to excuse or commend mere trifles with a long preface? Still there is one thing of which I think I should advise you, and it is that I am thinking of calling these trifles “Hendecasyllables,” a title which simply refers to the single metre employed. So, whether you prefer to call them epigrams, or idylls, or eclogues, or little poems, as many do, or any other name, remember that I only offer you “Hendecasyllables.” I appeal to your candour to speak to me frankly about my tiny volume as you would to a third person, and this is no hard request. For if this trifling work of mind were my chef d’oeuvre, or my one solitary composition, it might perhaps seem harsh to say, “Seek out some other employment for your talent,” but it is perfectly gentle and kindly criticism to say, “You have another sphere in which you show to greater advantage.” Farewell.

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15. C. PLINIUS MINICIO FUNDANO SUO S.

1 Si quid omnino, hoc certe iudicio facio, quod Asinium Rufum singulariter amo. Est homo eximius et bonorum amantissimus. Cur enim non me quoque inter bonos numerem? Idem Cornelium Tacitum - scis quem virum - arta familiaritate complexus est. 2 Proinde si utrumque nostrum probas, de Rufo quoque necesse est idem sentias, cum sit ad conectendas amicitias vel tenacissimum vinculum morum similitudo. 3 Sunt ei liberi plures. Nam in hoc quoque functus est optimi civis officio, quod fecunditate uxoris large frui voluit, eo saeculo quo plerisque etiam singulos filios orbitatis praemia graves faciunt. Quibus ille despectis, avi quoque nomen assumpsit. Est enim avus, et quidem ex Saturio Firmo, quem diliges ut ego si ut ego propius inspexeris. 4 Haec eo pertinent, ut scias quam copiosam, quam numerosam domum uno beneficio sis obligaturus; ad quod petendum voto primum, deinde bono quodam omine adducimur. 5 Optamus enim tibi ominamurque in proximum annum consulatum: ita nos virtutes tuae, ita iudicia principis augurari volunt. 6 Concurrit autem ut sit eodem anno quaestor maximus ex liberis Rufi, Asinius Bassus, iuvenis - nescio an dicam, quod me pater et sentire et dicere cupit, adulescentis verecundia vetat - ipso patre melior. 7 Difficile est ut mihi de absente credas - quamquam credere soles omnia -, tantum in illo industriae probitatis eruditionis ingenii studii memoriae denique esse, quantum expertus invenies. 8 Vellem tam ferax saeculum bonis artibus haberemus, ut aliquos Basso praeferre deberes: tum ego te primus hortarer moneremque, circumferres oculos ac diu pensitares, quem potissimum eligeres. 9 Nunc vero - sed nihil volo de amico meo arrogantius dicere; hoc solum dico, dignum esse iuvenem quem more maiorum in filii locum assumas. Debent autem sapientes viri, ut tu, tales quasi liberos a re publica accipere, quales a natura solemus optare. 10 Decorus erit tibi consuli quaestor patre praetorio, propinquis consularibus, quibus iudicio ipsorum, quamquam asulescentulus adhuc, iam tamen invicem ornamento est. 11 Proinde indulge precibus meis, obsequere consilio, et ante omnia si festinare videor ignosce, primum quia votis suis amor plerumque praecurrit; deinde quod in ea civitate, in qua omnia quasi ab occupantibus aguntur, quae legitimum tempus exspectant, non matura sed sera sunt; in summa quod rerum, quas assequi cupias, praesumptio ipsa iucunda est. 12 Revereatur iam te Bassus ut consulem, tu dilige illum ut quaestorem, nos denique utriusque vestrum amantissimi laetitia duplici perfruamur. 13 Etenim cum sic te, sic Bassum diligamus, ut et illum cuiuscumque et tuum quemcumque quaestorem in petendis honoribus omni ope labore gratia simus iuvaturi, perquam iucundum nobis erit, si in eundem iuvenem studium nostrum et amicitiae meae et consulatus tui ratio contulerit, si denique precibus meis tu potissimum adiutor accesseris, cuius et suffragio senatus libentissime indulgeat et testimonio plurimum credat. Vale.

XV. — TO FUNDANUS.

If I have ever been guided by judgment, it has been in the strength of regard I have for Asinius Rufus. He is one of a thousand, and a devoted admirer of all good men among whom why may I not include myself? He is on the very closest of terms of friendship with Cornelius Tacitus, and you know what an honourable man Tacitus is. So if you have any high opinion of both Tacitus and myself, you must also think as highly of Rufus as you do of us, since similarity of character is perhaps the strongest bond for cementing friendships. Rufus has a number of children. Even in this respect he has acted the part of a good citizen, in that he was willing to freely undertake the responsibilities entailed upon him by the fruitfulness of his wife, in an age when the advantages of being childless are such that many people consider even one son to be a burden. He has scorned all those advantages, and has also become a grandfather. For a grandfather he is, thanks to Saturius Firmus, whom you will love as I do when you know him as intimately.

I mention these particulars to show you what a large and numerous household you can oblige by a single favour, and I am induced to ask it from you, in the first place, because I wish to do so, and in the second, owing to a good omen. For we hope and prophesy that next year you will be consul, and we are led to make that forecast by your own good qualities, and by the opinion that the Emperor has of you. But it also happens that Asinius Bassus, the eldest son of Rufus, will be quaestor in the same year, and he is a young man even more worthy than his father, though I don’t know whether I ought to mention such a fact, which the modesty of the young fellow would deny, but which his father desires me to think and openly declare. Though you always repose confidence in what I say, it is difficult, I know, for you to credit my account of an absent man when I say that he possesses splendid industry, probity, learning, wit, application, and powers of memory, as you will discover for yourself when you have tried him. I only wish that our age was so productive of men of high character that there were others to whom you ought to give preference over Bassus; if it did, I should be the first to advise and exhort you to take a good look round, and consider long and carefully on whom your choice should fall. But as it is — yet no, I do not wish to boast about my friend, I will merely say that he is a young man well deserving of adoption by you as a son in the old-fashioned way. For prudent men, like yourself, ought to receive as children from the State children such as we are accustomed to hope that Nature will bestow upon us. When you are consul it will become you to have as quaestor a man whose father was praetor, and whose relatives are of consular rank, especially as he, although still young, is in his turn already in their judgment an honour to them and their family. So I hope you will grant my request and take my advice.

Above all, pardon me if you think I am acting prematurely, first, because in a State where to get a thing done depends on the earliness of the application, those who wait for the proper time find the fruit not only ripe but plucked, and, secondly, when one is anxious to get a favour it is very pleasant to enjoy in advance the certainty of obtaining it. Give Bassus the opportunity of respecting you even now as consul, and do you entertain a friendly regard for him as your quaestor, and let us who are devoted to both of you have the enjoyment of this double satisfaction. For while our regard for you and Bassus is such that we shall use all our resources, energy, and influence to obtain the advancement of Bassus, no matter to what consul he is assigned as quaestor — as well as the advancement of any quaestor that may be allotted to you — it would be immensely gratifying to us if we could at one and the same time prove our friendship and advance your interests as consul by helping the cause of our young friend, and if you of all people, whose wishes the Senate is so ready to gratify, and in whose recommendations they place such implicit trust, were to stand forth as the seconder of my desires. Farewell.

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16. C. PLINIUS VALERIO PAULINO SUO S.

1 Gaude meo, gaude tuo, gaude etiam publico nomine: adhuc honor studiis durat. Proxime cum dicturus apud centumviros essem, adeundi mihi locus nisi a tribunali, nisi per ipsos iudices non fuit; tanta stipatione cetera tenebantur. 2 Ad hoc quidam ornatus adulescens scissis tunicis, ut in frequentia solet fieri, sola velatus toga perstitit et quidem horis septem. 3 Nam tam diu dixi magno cum labore, maiore cum fructu. Studeamus ergo nec desidiae nostrae praetendamus alienam. Sunt qui audiant, sunt qui legant, nos modo dignum aliquid auribus dignum chartis elaboremus. Vale.

XVI. — TO VALERIUS PAULINUS.

Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, on my account, on your own, and on that of the public. The student still has his meed of recompense. Just recently, when I had to speak in the Court of the Hundred, I could find no way in except by crossing the tribunal and passing through the judges, all the other places were so crowded and thronged. Moreover, a certain young man of fashion who had his tunic torn to pieces — as often happens in a crowd — kept his ground for seven long hours with only his toga thrown round him. For my speech lasted all that time; and though it cost me a great effort, the results were more than worth it. Let us therefore prosecute our studies, and not allow the idleness of other people to be an excuse for laziness on our part. We can still find an audience and readers, provided only that our compositions are worth hearing, and worth the paper they are written on. Farewell.

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17. C. PLINIUS CLUSINIO GALLO SUO S.

1 Et admones et rogas, ut suscipiam causam Corelliae absentis contra C. Caecilium consulem designatum. Quod admones, gratias ago; quod rogas, queror. Admoneri enim debeo ut sciam, rogari non debeo ut faciam, quod mihi non facere turpissimum est. 2 An ego tueri Corelli filiam dubitem? Est quidem mihi cum isto, contra quem me advocas, non plane familiaris sed tamen amicitia. 3 Accedit huc dignitas hominis atque hic ipse cui destinatus est honor, cuius nobis hoc maior agenda reverentia est, quod iam illo functi sumus. Naturale est enim ut ea, quae quis adeptus est ipse, quam amplissima existimari velit. 4 Sed mihi cogitanti adfuturum me Corelli filiae omnia ista frigida et inania videntur. Obversatur oculis ille vir quo neminem aetas nostra graviorem sanctiorem subtiliorem tulit, quem ego cum ex admiratione diligere coepissem, quod evenire contra solet, magis admiratus sum postquam penitus inspexi. 5 Inspexi enim penitus: nihil a me ille secretum, non ioculare non serium, non triste non laetum. 6 Adulescentulus eram, et iam mihi ab illo honor atque etiam - audebo dicere - reverentia ut aequali habebatur. Ille meus in petendis honoribus suffragator et testis, ille in incohandis deductor et comes, ille in gerendis consiliator et rector, ille denique in omnibus officiis nostris, quamquam et imbecillus et senior, quasi iuvenis et validus conspiciebatur. 7 Quantum ille famae meae domi in publico, quantum etiam apud principem astruxit! 8 Nam cum forte de bonis iuvenibus apud Nervam imperatorem sermo incidisset, et plerique me laudibus ferrent, paulisper se intra silentium tenuit, quod illi plurimum auctoritatis addebat; deinde gravitate quam noras: ‘Necesse est’ inquit ‘parcius laudem Secundum, quia nihil nisi ex consilio meo facit.’ 9 Qua voce tribuit mihi quantum petere voto immodicum erat, nihil me facere non sapientissime, cum omnia ex consilio sapientissimi viri facerem. Quin etiam moriens filiae suae - ipsa solet praedicare -: ‘Multos quidem amicos tibi ut longiore vita paravi, praecipuos tamen Secundum et Cornutum. 10 Quod cum recordor, intellego mihi laborandum, ne qua parte videar hanc de me fiduciam providentissimi viri destituisse. 11 Quare ego vero Corelliae adero promptissime nec subire offensas recusabo; quamquam non solum veniam me verum etiam laudem apud istum ipsum, a quo - ut ais - nova lis fortasse ut feminae intenditur, arbitror consecuturum, si haec eadem in actione, latius scilicet et uberius quam epistularum angustiae sinunt, vel in excusationem vel etiam commendationem meam dixero. Vale.

XVII. — TO ASINIUS GALLUS.

You recommend and press me to take up the case of Corellia, in her absence, against Caius Caecilius, the consul-designate. I thank you for the recommendation, but I am a little hurt at your pressing me; it was right of you to recommend me to do so, and so inform me of the case, but I needed no pressing to do what it would have been scandalous for me to leave undone. Am I the man to hesitate a second about protecting the rights of a daughter of Corellius? It is true that I am not only an acquaintance, but also a close friend of him whom you ask me to oppose. Moreover, he is a man of position and the office for which he has been chosen is a great one, one indeed for which I cannot but feel all the greater respect, inasmuch as I recently held it myself. It is natural that a man should desire the dignities to which he has himself attained to be held in the very highest esteem.

However, all those considerations seem unimportant and trifling when I consider that I am about to champion the daughter of Corellius. I picture to myself that worthy gentleman, a man second to none in our age for gravity, uprightness of life, and quickness of judgment. I began to love him because I admired him so much, and the better I learned to know him the more my admiration grew — a result that rarely happens. Yes, and I knew his character thoroughly; he had no secrets from me, I knew him in his sportive and serious moods, in his moments both of sorrow and joy. I was but a young man, yet, young as I was, he held me in honour, and I will make bold to say that he paid me the respect he would have paid to one of his own years. When I sought advancement, it was he who canvassed and spoke for me; when I entered upon an office he introduced me and stood by my side; in all administrative work he gave me counsel and kept me straight; in short, in all my public duties, despite his weakness and his years, he showed himself to have the energy and fire of youth. How he helped to build up my reputation at home and in public, and even with the Emperor himself! For when it so happened that the conversation in the presence of the Emperor Nerva turned upon the subject of the promising young men of the day, and several speakers sang my praises, Corellius kept silence for a little while — a fact which added material weight to his remarks — and then he said in that grave manner you knew so well, “I must be careful how I praise Secundus, for he never does anything without taking my advice.” The words were a tribute such as it would have been unreasonable for me to ask for or expect, for they amounted to this, that I never acted except in the most prudent manner, since I invariably acted on the advice of a man of his consummate prudence.

Nay, even on his deathbed he said to his daughter, as she is never tired of repeating, “I have procured for you a multitude of friends, and, even had I lived longer, I could hardly have got you more, but best of all I have won you the friendship of Secundus and Cornutus.” When I think of those words, I feel that it is my duty to work hard, that I may not seem to have fallen short in any particular of the confidence reposed in me by such an excellent judge of men. So I will take up Corellia’s case without loss of time, nor will I mind giving offence to others by the course I adopt. Yet I think that I shall not only be excused, but receive the praises even of him who, as you say, is bringing this new action against Corellia, possibly because she is a woman, if during the hearing I explain my motives, more fully and amply than I can in the narrow limits of a letter, either in order to justify or even to win approval of my conduct. Farewell.

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18. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

1 Quemadmodum magis approbare tibi possum, quanto opere mirer epigrammata tua Graeca, quam quod quaedam Latine aemulari et exprimere temptavi? in deterius tamen. Accidit hoc primum imbecillitate ingenii mei, deinde inopia ac potius, ut Lucretius ait, egestate patrii sermonis. 2 Quodsi haec, quae sunt et Latina et mea, habere tibi aliquid venustatis videbuntur, quantum putas inesse iis gratiae, quae et a te et Graece proferuntur! Vale.

XVIII. — TO ARRIUS ANTONINUS.

How can I better prove to you how greatly I admire your Greek epigrams than by the fact that I have tried to imitate some of them and turn them into Latin? I grant they have lost in the translation, and this is due in the first place to the poorness of my wits, and in the second place — and even more — to what Lucretius calls the poverty of our native tongue. But if these verses, writ in Latin and by me, seem to you to possess any grace, you may guess how charming the originals are which were written in Greek and by you. Farewell.

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19. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE HISPULLAE SUAE S.

1 Cum sis pietatis exemplum, fratremque optimum et amantissimum tui pari caritate dilexeris, filiamque eius ut tuam diligas, nec tantum amitae ei affectum verum etiam patris amissi repraesentes, non dubito maximo tibi gaudio fore cum cognoveris dignam patre dignam te dignam avo evadere. 2 Summum est acumen summa frugalitas; amat me, quod castitatis indicium est. Accedit his studium litterarum, quod ex mei caritate concepit. Meos libellos habet lectitat ediscit etiam. 3 Qua illa sollicitudine cum videor acturus, quanto cum egi gaudio afficitur! Disponit qui nuntient sibi quem assensum quos clamores excitarim, quem eventum iudicii tulerim. Eadem, si quando recito, in proximo discreta velo sedet, laudesque nostras avidissimis auribus excipit. 4 Versus quidem meos cantat etiam formatque cithara non artifice aliquo docente, sed amore qui magister est optimus. 5 His ex causis in spem certissimam adducor, perpetuam nobis maioremque in dies futuram esse concordiam. Non enim aetatem meam aut corpus, quae paulatim occidunt ac senescunt, sed gloriam diligit. 6 Nec aliud decet tuis manibus educatam, tuis praeceptis institutam, quae nihil in contubernio tuo viderit, nisi sanctum honestumque, quae denique amare me ex tua praedicatione consueverit. 7 Nam cum matrem meam parentis loco vererere, me a pueritia statim formare laudare, talemque qualis nunc uxori meae videor, ominari solebas. 8 Certatim ergo tibi gratias agimus, ego quod illam mihi, illa quod me sibi dederis, quasi invicem elegeris. Vale.

XIX. — TO CALPURNIA HISPULLA.

As you yourself are a model of the family virtues, as you returned the affection of your brother, who was the best of men and devoted to you, and as you love his daughter as though she were your own child, and show her not only the affection of an aunt but even that of the father she has lost, I feel sure you will be delighted to know that she is proving herself worthy of her father, worthy of you, and worthy of her grandfather. She has a sharp wit, she is wonderfully economical, and she loves me — which is a guarantee of her purity. Moreover, owing to her fondness for me she has developed a taste for study. She collects all my speeches, she reads them, and learns them by heart. When I am about to plead, what anxiety she shows; when the pleading is over, how pleased she is! She has relays of people to bring her news as to the reception I get, the applause I excite, and the verdicts I win from the judges. Whenever I recite, she sits near me screened from the audience by a curtain, and her ears greedily drink in what people say to my credit. She even sings my verses and sets them to music, though she has no master to teach her but love, which is the best instructor of all. Hence I feel perfectly assured that our mutual happiness will be lasting, and will continue to grow day by day. For she loves in me not my youth nor my person — both of which are subject to gradual decay and age — but my reputation. Nor would other feelings become one who had been brought up at your knee, who had been trained by your precepts, who had seen in your house nothing that was not pure and honourable, and, in short, had been taught to love me at your recommendation. For as you loved and venerated my mother as a daughter, so even when I was a boy you used to shape my character, and encourage me, and prophesy that I should develop into the man that my wife now believes me to be. Consequently my wife and I try to see who can thank you best, I because you have given her to me, and she because you gave me to her, as though you chose us the one for the other. Farewell.

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20. C. PLINIUS NOVIO MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Quid senserim de singulis tuis libris, notum tibi ut quemque perlegeram feci; accipe nunc quid de universis generaliter iudicem. 2 Est opus pulchrum validum acre sublime, varium elegans purum figuratum, spatiosum etiam et cum magna tua laude diffusum, in quo tu ingenii simul dolorisque velis latissime vectus es; et horum utrumque invicem adiumento fuit. 3 Nam dolori sublimitatem et magnificentiam ingenium, ingenio vim et amaritudinem dolor addidit. Vale.

XX. — TO MAXIMUS.

You know my opinion of your volumes singly, for I have written to tell you as I finished each one; now let me give my broad view of the whole work. It is beautifully written, with power, incisiveness, loftiness, and variety of treatment, in elegant, pure language, with plenty of metaphor, while it is comprehensive and covers an amount of ground that does you great credit. You have been carried far by the sweeping sails of your genius and your resentment, both of which have been a great help to you; for your genius has lent a lofty magnificence to your resentment, which in turn has added power and sharpness to your genius. Farewell.

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21. C. PLINIUS VELIO CERIALI SUO S.

1 Tristem et acerbum casum Helvidiarum sororum! Utraque a partu, utraque filiam enixa decessit. 2 Afficior dolore, nec tamen supra modum doleo: ita mihi luctuosum videtur, quod puellas honestissimas in flore primo fecunditas abstulit. Angor infantium sorte, quae sunt parentibus statim et dum nascuntur orbatae, angor optimorum maritorum, angor etiam meo nomine. 3 Nam patrem illarum defunctum quoque perseverantissime diligo, ut actione mea librisque testatum est; cui nunc unus ex tribus liberis superest, domumque pluribus adminiculis paulo ante fundatam desolatus fulcit ac sustinet. 4 Magno tamen fomento dolor meus acquiescit, si hunc saltem fortem et incolumem, paremque illi patri illi avo fortuna servaverit. Cuius ego pro salute pro moribus, hoc sum magis anxius quod unicus factus est. 5 Nosti in amore mollitiam animi mei, nosti metus; quo minus te mirari oportebit, quod plurimum timeam, de quo plurimum spero. Vale.

XXI. — TO VELIUS CEREALIS.

What a terribly sad fate has overtaken those two sisters, the Helvidiae! Both to have given birth to daughters, and both to have died in childbirth! I am very, very sorry, yet I keep my grief within bounds. What seems to me so lamentable is that two honourable ladies should in the very spring-time of life have been carried off at the moment of becoming mothers. I am grieved for the infants who are left motherless at their birth; I am grieved for their excellent husbands, and grieved also on my own account. For even now I retain the warmest affection for their dead father, as I have shown in my pleading and my books. Now but one of his three children is alive, and only one remains to support a house which a little time ago had so many props to sustain it. But my grief will be greatly relieved should Fortune preserve him at least to robust and vigorous health, and make him as good a man as his father and grandfather were before him. I am the more anxious for his health and character now that he is the only one left. You know the tenderness of my mind where my affections are engaged and how nervous I am, so you must not be surprised if I show most anxiety on behalf of those of whom I have formed the greatest hopes. Farewell.

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22. C. PLINIUS SEMPRONIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Interfui principis optimi cognitioni in consilium assumptus. Gymnicus agon apud Viennenses ex cuiusdam testamento celebratur. Hunc Trebonius Rufinus, vir egregius nobisque amicus, in duumviratu tollendum abolendumque curavit. 2 Negabatur ex auctoritate publica fecisse. Egit ipse causam non minus feliciter quam diserte. Commendabat actionem, quod tamquam homo Romanus et bonus civis in negotio suo mature et graviter loquebatur. 3 Cum sententiae perrogarentur, dixit Iunius Mauricus, quo viro nihil firmius nihil verius, non esse restituendum Viennensibus agona; adiecit ‘Vellem etiam Romae tolli posset.’ 4 Constanter, inquis, et fortiter; quidni? sed hoc a Maurico novum non est. Idem apud imperatorem Nervam non minus fortiter. Cenabat Nerva cum paucis; Veiento proximus atque etiam in sinu recumbebat: dixi omnia cum hominem nominavi. 5 Incidit sermo de Catullo Messalino, qui luminibus orbatus ingenio saevo mala caecitatis addiderat: non verebatur, non erubescebat, non miserebatur; quo saepius a Domitiano non secus ac tela, quae et ipsa caeca et improvida feruntur, in optimum quemque contorquebatur. 6 De huius nequitia sanguinariisque sententiis in commune omnes super cenam loquebantur, cum ipse imperator: ‘Quid putamus passurum fuisse si viveret?’ Et Mauricus: ‘Nobiscum cenaret.’ 7 Longius abii, libens tamen. Placuit agona tolli, qui mores Viennensium infecerat, ut noster hic omnium. Nam Viennensium vitia intra ipsos residunt, nostra late vagantur, utque in corporibus sic in imperio gravissimus est morbus, qui a capite diffunditur. Vale.

XXII. — TO SEMPRONIUS RUFUS.

I have been called in by our excellent Emperor to take part and advise upon the following case. Under the will of a certain person, it has been the custom at Vienne to hold a gymnastic contest. Trebonius Rufus, a man of high principle and a personal friend of mine, in his capacity of duumvir, discontinued and abolished the custom, and it was objected that he had no legal authority to do so. He pleaded his case not only with eloquence but to good effect, and what lent force to his pleading was that he spoke with discretion and dignity, as a Roman and a good citizen should, in a matter that concerned himself. When the opinion of the Council was taken, Junius Mauricus, who stands second to none for strength of will and devotion to truth, was against restoring the contest to the people of Vienne, and he added, “I wish the games could be abolished at Rome as well.” That is a bold consistent line, you will say. So it is, but that is no new thing with Mauricus. He spoke just as frankly before the Emperor Nerva. Nerva was dining with a few friends; Veiento was sitting next to him and was leaning on his shoulder — I need say no more after mentioning the man’s name. The conversation turned upon Catullus Messalinus, who was blind, and had that curse to bear in addition to his savage disposition. He was void of fear, shame, and pity, and on that account Domitian often used him as a tool for the destruction of the best men in the State, just as though he were a dart urging on its blind and sightless course. All at table were speaking of this man’s villainy and bloody counsels, when the Emperor himself said: “I wonder what his fate would be if he were alive to-day,” to which Mauricus replied, “He would be dining with us.” I have made a long digression, but willingly. The Council resolved that the contest should be abolished, because it had corrupted the morals of Vienne, just as our contests have corrupted the whole world. For the vices of Vienne go no further than their own walls, but ours spread far and wide. As in the body corporal, so in the body of the State, the most dangerous diseases are those that spread from the head. Farewell.

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23. C. PLINIUS POMPONIO BASSO SUO S.

1 Magnam cepi voluptatem, cum ex communibus amicis cognovi te, ut sapientia tua dignum est, et disponere otium et ferre, habitare amoenissime, et nunc terra nunc mari corpus agitare, multum disputare, multum audire multum lectitare, cumque plurimum scias, cotidie tamen aliquid addiscere. 2 Ita senescere oportet virum, qui magistratus amplissimos gesserit, exercitus rexerit, totumque se rei publicae quam diu decebat obtulerit. 3 Nam et prima vitae tempora et media patriae, extrema nobis impertire debemus, ut ipsae leges monent, quae maiorem annis otio reddunt. 4 Quando mihi licebit, quando per aetatem honestum erit imitari istud pulcherrimae quietis exemplum? quando secessus mei non desidiae nomen sed tranquillitatis accipient? Vale.

XXIII. — TO POMPONIUS BASSUS.

I have been delighted to hear from our mutual friends that you map out and bear your retirement in a way that is worthy of your ripe wisdom, that you live in a charming spot, that you take exercise on both sea and land, that you have plenty of good conversation, that you read a great deal and listen to others reading, and that, though your stock of knowledge is vast, you yet add thereto every day. That is just the way a man should spend his later years after filling the highest magistracies, after commanding armies, and devoting himself wholly to the service of the State for as long as it became him to do so. For we owe our early and middle manhood to our country, our last years are due to ourselves — as indeed the laws direct which enforce retirement when we reach a certain age. When will that appointed time come to me? When shall I attain the age at which I may honourably retire and imitate the example of beautiful and perfect peace that you set me? When shall I be able to enjoy calm retreat without people calling it not peaceful tranquillity but laziness and sloth? Farewell.

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24. C. PLINIUS FABIO VALENTI SUO S.

1 Proxime cum apud centumviros in quadruplici iudicio dixissem, subiit recordatio egisse me iuvenem aeque in quadruplici. 2 Processit animus ut solet longius: coepi reputare quos in hoc iudicio, quos in illo socios laboris habuissem. Solus eram qui in utroque dixissem: tantas conversiones aut fragilitas mortalitatis aut fortunae mobilitas facit. 3 Quidam ex iis qui tunc egerant decesserunt, exsulant alii; huic aetas et valetudo silentium suasit, hic sponte beatissimo otio fruitur; alius exercitum regit, illum civilibus officiis principis amicitia exemit. 4 Circa nos ipsos quam multa mutata sunt! Studiis processimus, studiis periclitati sumus, rursusque processimus: 5 profuerunt nobis bonorum amicitiae, bonorum obfuerunt iterumque prosunt. Si computes annos, exiguum tempus, si vices rerum, aevum putes; 6 quod potest esse documento nihil desperare, nulli rei fidere, cum videamus tot varietates tam volubili orbe circumagi. 7 Mihi autem familiare est omnes cogitationes meas tecum communicare, isdemque te vel praeceptis vel exemplis monere, quibus ipse me moneo; quae ratio huius epistulae fuit. Vale.

XXIV. — TO FABIUS VALENS.

Just recently, after pleading before the Centumviri in the fourfold Court, I happened to remember that in my younger days I had also pleaded in the same court. My thoughts, as usual, began to take a wider range, and I commenced to recall to my memory those whom I had worked with in this court and in that. I found I was the only one left who had practised in both, so sweeping were the changes effected by the slenderness of human life and the fickleness of fortune. Some of those who used to plead in my young days are dead, others are in exile; age and ill health have convinced others that their speaking days are over; some are enjoying of their own free will the pleasures of retirement, or are in command of armies, or have been withdrawn from civil employments by becoming the personal friends of the Emperor. Even in my own case how many changes I have gone through! I first owed my promotion to my literary studies; then they brought me into danger, and then again won me still further advancement. My friendships with worthy citizens likewise first helped me, then stood in my way, and now again they assist me. If you count the years, the time seems but short; but count the changes and the ups and downs, and it seems an age. This may be taken by us as a lesson never to despair of anything, and never to impose a blind trust in anything, when we see so many vicissitudes brought about by this inconstant world of ours. I deem it a mark of friendship on my part to make you the confidant of my thoughts, and to admonish you by the precepts and examples with which I admonish myself. That is the raison d’etre of this letter. Farewell.

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25. C. PLINIUS MAESIO MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Scripseram tibi verendum esse, ne ex tacitis suffragiis vitium aliquod exsisteret. Factum est. Proximis comitiis in quibusdam tabellis multa iocularia atque etiam foeda dictu, in una vero pro candidatorum nominibus suffragatorum nomina inventa sunt. 2 Excanduit senatus magnoque clamore ei qui scripsisset iratum principem est comprecatus. Ille tamen fefellit et latuit, fortasse etiam inter indignantes fuit. 3 Quid hunc putamus domi facere, qui in tanta re tam serio tempore tam scurriliter ludat, qui denique omnino in senatu dicax et urbanus et bellus est? 4 Tantum licentiae pravis ingeniis adicit illa fiducia: ‘quis enim sciet?’ Poposcit tabellas, stilum accepit, demisit caput, neminem veretur, se contemnit. 5 Inde ista ludibria scaena et pulpito digna. Quo te vertas? quae remedia conquiras? Ubique vitia remediis fortiora. ‘Alla tauta tô hyper hêmas melêsei’, cui multum cotidie vigiliarum, multum laboris adicit haec nostra iners et tamen effrenata petulantia. Vale.

XXV. — TO MESSIUS MAXIMUS.

I wrote and told you that there was a danger of the ballot leading to abuses. Events have confirmed my view. At the last election a number of flippant jests were written on some of the voting cards and even obscenities, while on one of them were found, not the names of the candidates, but those of the voters. The Senate was furious, and loudly called upon the offended Emperor to punish the writer. But the guilty person was not discovered and lay close, and he possibly was one of those who professed the greatest indignation. Yet what conduct may we not consider him capable of at home when he plays such disgraceful jokes in a matter of such importance and at such a serious moment, and yet in the Senate is an incisive, courteous, and pretty speaker? However, people of no principle are encouraged to act in this shameful way when they feel they can safely say, “Who will find me out?” Such a man asks for a voting card, takes a pen in his hand, bends his head, has no fear of any one, and holds himself cheap. That is the origin of scurrilities only worthy of the stage and the platform. But where can one turn, and where is one to look for a cure? On every hand the evils are more powerful than the remedies. Yet “all these things will be seen to by one above us,” whose daily working hours are lengthened and whose labours are considerably increased by this lumpish, yet unbridled, perversity.

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26. C. PLINIUS MAECILIO NEPOTI SUO S.

1 Petis ut libellos meos, quos studiosissime comparasti, recognoscendos emendandosque curem. Faciam. Quid enim suscipere libentius debeo, te praesertim exigente? 2 Nam cum vir gravissimus doctissimus disertissimus, super haec occupatissimus, maximae provinciae praefuturus, tanti putes scripta nostra circumferre tecum, quanto opere mihi providendum est, ne te haec pars sarcinarum tamquam supervacua offendat! 3 Adnitar ergo, primum ut comites istos quam commodissimos habeas, deinde ut reversus invenias, quos istis addere velis. Neque enim mediocriter me ad nova opera tu lector hortaris. Vale.

XXVI. — TO NEPOS.

You ask me to be sure to look over and correct my speeches, which you have taken the greatest pains to get together. I will with pleasure, for what duty is there that I ought to be better pleased to undertake, especially as it is you who ask me? When a man of your weight, scholarship, and learning, and, above all, one who is never idle for a moment, and is about to be governor of an important province, sets such store on having my writings to take with him on his travels, surely I ought to do my best to prevent this part of his luggage from appearing useless in his eyes. So I will do what I can, first, to make those companions of your voyage as agreeable as possible, and, secondly, to enable you to find on your return others that you may like to add to their number. Believe me, the fact that you read what I write is no small incentive to me to produce new works. Farewell.

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27. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO FALCONI SUO S.

1 Tertius dies est quod audivi recitantem Sentium Augurinum cum summa mea voluptate, immo etiam admiratione. Poematia appellat. Multa tenuiter multa sublimiter, multa venuste multa tenere, multa dulciter multa cum bile. 2 Aliquot annis puto nihil generis eiusdem absolutius scriptum, nisi forte me fallit aut amor eius aut quod ipsum me laudibus vexit. 3 Nam lemma sibi sumpsit, quod ego interdum versibus ludo. Atque adeo iudicii mei te iudicem faciam, si mihi ex hoc ipso lemmate secundus versus occurrerit; nam ceteros teneo et iam explicui.

4 Canto carmina versibus minutis,
his olim quibus et meus Catullus
et Calvus veteresque. Sed quid ad me?
Unus Plinius est mihi priores:
mavult versiculos foro relicto
et quaerit quod amet, putatque amari.
Ille o Plinius, ille quot Catones!
I nunc, quisquis amas, amare noli.

5 Vides quam acuta omnia quam apta quam expressa. Ad hunc gustum totum librum repromitto, quem tibi ut primum publicaverit exhibebo. Interim ama iuvenem et temporibus nostris gratulare pro ingenio tali, quod ille moribus adornat. Vivit cum Spurinna, vivit cum Antonino, quorum alteri affinis, utrique contubernalis est. 6 Possis ex hoc facere coniecturam, quam sit emendatus adulescens, qui a gravissimis senibus sic amatur. Est enim illud verissimum:

‘gignôskôn hoti
toioutos estin, hoisper hêdetai synôn’ Vale.

XXVII. — TO POMPEIUS FALCO.

This is the third day that I have been attending the recitals of Sentius Augurinus, which I have not only enjoyed immensely, but admired as well. He calls his work “Poetical Pieces.” Many are airy trifles; many deal with noble themes, and they abound in wit, tenderness, sweetness, and sting. Unless it is that my affection for him, or the fact that he has lavished praises upon me, warps my judgment, I must say that for some years past there have been no such finished poems of their class produced. Augurinus took as his theme the fact that I occasionally amuse myself with writing verses. I will enable you to act the critic of my criticism if I can recall the second line of the piece. I remember the others, and now I think I have them all.

“I sing songs in trifling measures, which Catullus, Calvus, and the poets of old have employed before me. But what matters that to me? Pliny alone I count my senior. When he quits the Forum, his taste is for light verses; he seeks an object for his love, and thinks that he is loved in return. What a man is Pliny, worth how many Catos! Go now, you who love, and love no more.”

You see how smart, how apposite, how clear-cut the verses are, and I can promise you that the whole book is equally good. I will send you a copy as soon as it is published. Meanwhile, give the young man your regard and congratulate the age on producing such genius, which he enhances by the beauty of his morals. He passes his time with Spurinna and Antoninus; he is related to the one, and shares the same house with the other. You may guess from this that he is a youth of finished parts, when he is thus loved by men of their years and worth. For the old adage is wonderfully true, “You may tell a man by the company he keeps.” Farewell.

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28. C. PLINIUS VIBIO SEVERO SUO S.

1 Herennius Severus vir doctissimus magni aestimat in bibliotheca sua ponere imagines municipum tuorum Corneli Nepotis et Titi Cati petitque, si sunt istic, ut esse credibile est, exscribendas pingendasque delegem. 2 Quam curam tibi potissimum iniungo, primum quia desideriis meis amicissime obsequeris, deinde quia tibi studiorum summa reverentia, summus amor studiosorum, postremo quod patriam tuam omnesque, qui nomen eius auxerunt, ut patriam ipsam veneraris et diligis. 3 Peto autem, ut pictorem quam diligentissimum assumas. Nam cum est arduum similitudinem effingere ex vero, tum longe difficillima est imitationis imitatio; a qua rogo ut artificem quem elegeris ne in melius quidem sinas aberrare. Vale.

XXVIII. — TO VIBIUS SEVERUS.

Herennius Severus, a man of great learning, is anxious to place in his library portraits of your fellow-townsmen, Cornelius Nepos and Titus Catius, and he asks me to get them copied and painted if there are any such portraits in their native place, as there probably are. I am laying this commission upon you rather than on any one else, first, because you are always kind enough to grant any favour I ask; secondly, because I know your reverence for literary studies and your love of literary men; and, lastly, because you love and reverence your native place, and entertain the same feelings for those who have helped to make its name famous. So I beg you to find as careful a painter as you can, for while it is hard to paint a portrait from an original, it is far more difficult to make a good imitation of an imitation. Moreover, please do not let the painter you choose make any variations from his copy, even though they are for the better. Farewell.

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29. C. PLINIUS ROMATIO FIRMO SUO S.

1 Heia tu! cum proxime res agentur, quoquo modo ad iudicandum veni: nihil est quod in dextram aurem fiducia mei dormias. Non impune cessatur. 2 Ecce Licinius Nepos praetor! Acer et fortis et praetor, multam dixit etiam senatori. Egit ille in senatu causam suam, egit autem sic ut deprecaretur. Remissa est multa, sed timuit, sed rogavit, sed opus venia fuit. 3 Dices: ‘Non omnes praetores tam severi. Falleris; nam vel instituere vel reducere eiusmodi exemplum non nisi severi, institutum reductumve exercere etiam lenissimi possunt. Vale.

XXIX. — TO ROMATIUS FIRMUS.

Do be careful, my dear friend, and the next time there is business afoot, see to it that you come into court, whatever happens. It is no good your putting your confidence in me and so continuing your slumber; if you stay away, you will have to smart for it. For look you, Licinius Nepos, who is making a sharp and resolute praetor, has levied a fine even on a senator. The latter pleaded his cause in the Senate, but he did so in the form of suing for forgiveness. The fine was remitted, yet he had an uneasy time; he had to ask for pardon, and he was obliged to sue for forgiveness. You will say, “Oh, but all praetors are not so strict.” Don’t make any mistake! For though it is only a strict praetor who would make or revive such a precedent, when once it has been made or revived even the most lenient officials can put it into execution. Farewell.

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30. C. PLINIUS LICINIO SURAE SUO S.

1 Attuli tibi ex patria mea pro munusculo quaestionem altissima ista eruditione dignissimam. 2 Fons oritur in monte, per saxa decurrit, excipitur cenatiuncula manu facta; ibi paulum retentus in Larium lacum decidit. Huius mira natura: ter in die statis auctibus ac diminutionibus crescit decrescitque. 3 Cernitur id palam et cum summa voluptate deprenditur. Iuxta recumbis et vesceris, atque etiam ex ipso fonte - nam est frigidissimus - potas; interim ille certis dimensisque momentis vel subtrahitur vel assurgit. 4 Anulum seu quid; aliud ponis in sicco, alluitur sensim ac novissime operitur, detegitur rursus paulatimque deseritur. Si diutius observes, utrumque iterum ac tertio videas. 5 Spiritusne aliquis occultior os fontis et fauces modo laxat modo includit, prout illatus occurrit aut decessit expulsus? 6 Quod in ampullis ceterisque generis eiusdem videmus accidere, quibus non hians nec statim patens exitus. Nam illa quoque, quamquam prona atque vergentia, per quasdam obluctantis animae moras crebris quasi singultibus sistunt quod effundunt. 7 An, quae oceano natura, fonti quoque, quaque ille ratione aut impellitur aut resorbetur, hac modicus hic umor vicibus alternis supprimitur egeritur? 8 An ut flumina, quae in mare deferuntur, adversantibus ventis obvioque aestu retorquentur, ita est aliquid quod huius fontis excursum repercutiat? 9 An latentibus venis certa mensura, quae dum colligit quod exhauserat, minor rivus et pigrior; cum collegit, agilior maiorque profertur? 10 An nescio quod libramentum abditum et caecum, quod cum exinanitum est, suscitat et elicit fontem; cum repletum, moratur et strangulat? 11 Scrutare tu causas - potes enim -, quae tantum miraculum efficiunt: mihi abunde est, si satis expressi quod efficitur. Vale.

XXX. — TO LICINIUS SURA.

I have brought you as a present from my native district a problem which is fully worthy even of your profound learning. A spring rises in the mountain-side; it flows down a rocky course, and is caught in a little artificial banqueting house. After the water has been retained there for a time it falls into the Larian lake. There is a wonderful phenomenon connected with it, for thrice every day it rises and falls with fixed regularity of volume. Close by it you may recline and take a meal, and drink from the spring itself, for the water is very cool, and meanwhile it ebbs and flows at regular and stated intervals. If you place a ring or anything else on a dry spot by the edge, the water gradually rises to it and at last covers it, and then just as gradually recedes and leaves it bare; while if you watch it for any length of time, you may see both processes twice or thrice repeated. Is there any unseen air which first distends and then tightens the orifice and mouth of the spring, resisting its onset and yielding at its withdrawal? We observe something of this sort in jars and other similar vessels which have not a direct and free opening, for these, when held either perpendicularly or aslant, pour out their contents with a sort of gulp, as though there were some obstruction to a free passage. Or is this spring like the ocean, and is its volume enlarged and lessened alternately by the same laws that govern the ebb and flow of the tide? Or again, just as rivers on their way to the sea are driven back on themselves by contrary winds and the opposing tide, is there anything that can drive back the outflow of this spring? Or is there some latent reservoir which diminishes and retards the flow while it is gradually collecting the water that has been drained off, and increases and quickens the flow when the process of collection is complete? Or is there some curiously hidden and unseen balance which, when emptied, raises and thrusts forth the spring, and, when filled, checks and stifles its flow? Please investigate the causes which bring about this wonderful result, for you have the ability to do so; it is more than enough for me if I have described the phenomenon with accuracy. Farewell.

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LIBER QVINTVS

BOOK V.

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1. C. PLINIUS ANNIO SEVERO SUO S.

1 Legatum mihi obvenit modicum sed amplissimo gratius. Cur amplissimo gratius? Pomponia Galla exheredato filio Asudio Curiano heredem reliquerat me, dederat coheredes Sertorium Severum praetorium virum aliosque splendidos equites Romanos. 2 Curianus orabat, ut sibi donarem portionem meam seque praeiudicio iuvarem; eandem tacita conventione salvam mihi pollicebatur. 3 Respondebam non convenire moribus meis aliud palam aliud agere secreto; praeterea non esse satis honestum donare et locupleti et orbo; in summa non profuturum ei si donassem, profuturum si cessissem, esse autem me paratum cedere si inique exheredatum mihi liqueret. 4 Ad hoc ille: ‘Rogo cognoscas.’ Cunctatus paulum ‘Faciam’ inquam; ‘neque enim video cur ipse me minorem putem, quam tibi videor. Sed iam nunc memento non defuturam mihi constantiam, si ita fides duxerit, secundum matrem tuam pronuntiandi.’ 5 ‘Ut voles’ ait; ‘voles enim quod aequissimum.’ Adhibui in consilium duos quos tunc civitas nostra spectatissimos habuit, Corellium et Frontinum. 6 His circumdatus in cubiculo meo sedi. Dixit Curianus quae pro se putabat. Respondi paucis ego — neque enim aderat alius, qui defunctae pudorem tueretur -, deinde secessi, et ex consilii sententia ‘Videtur’ inquam, ‘Curiane, mater tua iustas habuisse causas irascendi tibi.’

Post hoc ille cum ceteris subscripsit centumvirale iudicium, non subscripsit mecum. 7 Appetebat iudicii dies; coheredes mei componere et transigere cupiebant non diffidentia causae, sed metu temporum. Verebantur quod videbant multis accidisse, ne ex centumvirali iudicio capitis rei exirent. 8 Et erant quidam in illis, quibus obici et Gratillae amicitia et Rustici posset. 9 Rogant me ut cum Curiano loquar. Convenimus in aedem Concordiae. Ibi ego ‘Si mater’ inquam ‘te ex parte quarta scripsisset heredem, num queri posses? Quid si heredem quidem instituisset ex asse, sed legatis ita exhausisset ut non amplius apud te quam quarta remaneret? Igitur sufficere tibi debet, si exheredatus a matre quartam partem ab heredibus eius accipias, quam tamen ego augebo. 10 Scis te non subscripsisse mecum, et iam biennium transisse omniaque me usu cepisse. Sed ut te coheredes mei tractabiliorem experiantur, utque tibi nihil abstulerit reverentia mei, offero pro mea parte tantundem.’ Tuli fructum non conscientiae modo verum etiam famae. 11 Ille ergo Curianus legatum mihi reliquit et factum meum, nisi forte blandior mihi antiquum, notabili honore signavit.

12 Haec tibi scripsi, quia de omnibus quae me vel delectant vel angunt, non aliter tecum quam mecum loqui soleo; deinde quod durum existimabam, te amantissimum mei fraudare voluptate quam ipse capiebam. 13 Neque enim sum tam sapiens ut nihil mea intersit, an iis quae honeste fecisse me credo, testificatio quaedam et quasi praemium accedat. Vale.

I. — TO ANNIUS SEVERUS.

I have come in for a legacy, inconsiderable in amount, yet more gratifying than even the handsomest one could be. Why so? I will tell you. Pomponia Galla, who had disinherited her son Asudius Curianus, had left me her heir and had given me as co-heirs Sertorius Severus, a man of praetorian rank, and other Roman knights of distinction. Curianus begged me to make my portion over to him, and so strengthen his position with the court by declaring in his favour beforehand, promising at the same time to make the amount good to me by a secret compact. My answer was that my character did not allow me to act in one way before the world and in another in private, and I further urged that it would not be a proper thing to make over sums of money to a wealthy and childless man. In short, my argument was that I should not benefit him by making over the amount, but that I should benefit him if I renounced my legacy, and that this I was perfectly willing to do, if he could satisfy me that he had been unjustly disinherited. His reply to this was to ask me to investigate the case judicially. After some hesitation I said, “I will, for I do not see why I should appear less honourable in my own eyes than I do in yours. But remember even now that I shall not hesitate to pronounce in favour of your mother if I feel honourably bound to do so.” “Do as you will,” he replied, “for what you will is sure to be just and right.”

I called in to assist me two of the most thoroughly honourable men that the State could boast of possessing, Corellius and Frontinus. With these by my side I sat in my private room. Curianus then laid his case before us; I replied briefly, for there was no one else present to defend the motives of the deceased. Then I withdrew, and, in accordance with the views of Corellius and Frontinus, I said, “Curianus, we think that your mother had just grounds for resentment against you.” Subsequently, he lodged an appeal before the centumvirs against the other heirs but not against me. The day for the hearing approached, and my co-heirs were disposed to agree to a compromise and come to terms, not because they doubted their legal position, but owing to the troubled state of the times. They were afraid that what had happened to many others might happen to them, and that they might leave the Centumvirs’ Court with some capital charge against them. Moreover, there were some among their number who were open to the charge of having been friends of Gratilla and Rusticus, so they begged me to speak with Curianus. We met in the Temple of Concord, and I addressed him there in the following terms: “If your mother had left you heir to a fourth of her estate, could you complain? But what if she had left you heir to the whole, and yet had so encumbered it with legacies that not more than a fourth of the whole remained? I think you ought to be satisfied if, after being disinherited by your mother, you receive a fourth from her heirs, and this sum I will myself increase. You know that you did not lodge any appeal against me, that two years have passed, and that I have established my title to my share. But in order that my co-heirs may find you more tractable, and that you may lose nothing by the consideration you have shown me, I offer you of my own free will the amount that I have received.”

I have reaped the reward not only of my scrupulously fair dealing, but also of my reputation. Curianus left me a legacy, and, unless I flatter myself unduly, he has given signal distinction to the honest course of action I pursued. I have written to tell you this because it is my custom to discuss with you any matters which give me pain or pleasure, as freely as though I were talking to myself. Besides, I thought it would be unkind to defraud you, who have such a great regard for me, of the pleasure which I have received therefrom. For I am not such a perfect philosopher as to think it makes no difference whether I receive or not the approbation of others — which is itself a kind of reward — when I think that I have acted in an honourable manner. Farewell.

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2. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO FLACCO SUO S.

1 Accepi pulcherrimos turdos, cum quibus parem calculum ponere nec urbis copiis ex Laurentino nec maris tam turbidis tempestatibus possum. 2 Recipies ergo epistulas steriles et simpliciter ingratas, ac ne illam quidem sollertiam Diomedis in permutando munere imitantes. Sed, quae facilitas tua, hoc magis dabis veniam, quod se non mereri fatentur. Vale.

II. — TO CALPURNIUS FLACCUS.

I received the very fine sea-carp which you sent me. The weather is so stormy that I cannot return you like for like, either from the market here at Laurentinum or from the sea. So all you will get is a barren letter, which frankly makes no return and does not even imitate Diomede’s clever device in exchanging gifts. But your kindness is such that you will excuse me all the more readily because I confess in my letter that I do not deserve it. Farewell.

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3. C. PLINIUS TITIO ARISTONI SUO S.

1 Cum plurima officia tua mihi grata et iucunda sunt, tum vel maxime quod me celandum non putasti, fuisse apud te de versiculis meis multum copiosumque sermonem, eumque diversitate iudiciorum longius processisse, exstitisse etiam quosdam, qui scripta quidem ipsa non improbarent, me tamen amice simpliciterque reprehenderent, quod haec scriberem recitaremque. 2 Quibus ego, ut augeam meam culpam, ita respondeo: facio non numquam versiculos severos parum, facio; nam et comoedias audio et specto mimos et lyricos lego et Sotadicos intellego; aliquando praeterea rideo iocor ludo, utque omnia innoxiae remissionis genera breviter amplectar, homo sum. 3 Nec vero moleste fero hanc esse de moribus meis existimationem, ut qui nesciunt talia doctissimos gravissimos sanctissimos homines scriptitasse, me scribere mirentur. 4 Ab illis autem quibus notum est, quos quantosque auctores sequar, facile impetrari posse confido, ut errare me sed cum illis sinant, quorum non seria modo verum etiam lusus exprimere laudabile est. 5 An ego verear — neminem viventium, ne quam in speciem adulationis incidam, nominabo -, sed ego verear ne me non satis deceat, quod decuit M. Tullium, C. Calvum, Asinium Pollionem, M. Messalam, Q. Hortensium, M. Brutum, L. Sullam, Q. Catulum, Q. Scaevolam, Servium Sulpicium, Varronem, Torquatum, immo Torquatos, C. Memmium, Lentulum Gaetulicum, Annaeum Senecam et proxime Verginium Rufum et, si non sufficiunt exempla privata, Divum Iulium, Divum Augustum, Divum Nervam, Tiberium Caesarem? 6 Neronem enim transeo, quamvis sciam non corrumpi in deterius quae aliquando etiam a malis, sed honesta manere quae saepius a bonis fiunt. Inter quos vel praecipue numerandus est P. Vergilius, Cornelius Nepos et prius Accius Enniusque. Non quidem hi senatores, sed sanctitas morum non distat ordinibus. 7 Recito tamen, quod illi an fecerint nescio. Etiam: sed illi iudicio suo poterant esse contenti, mihi modestior constantia est quam ut satis absolutum putem, quod a me probetur. 8 Itaque has recitandi causas sequor, primum quod ipse qui recitat aliquanto acrius scriptis suis auditorum reverentia intendit; deinde quod de quibus dubitat, quasi ex consilii sententia statuit. 9 Multa etiam multis admonetur, et si non admoneatur, quid quisque sentiat perspicit ex vultu oculis nutu manu murmure silentio; quae satis apertis notis iudicium ab humanitate discernunt. 10 Atque adeo si cui forte eorum qui interfuerunt curae fuerit eadem illa legere, intelleget me quaedam aut commutasse aut praeterisse, fortasse etiam ex suo iudicio, quamvis ipse nihil dixerit mihi. 11 Atque haec ita disputo quasi populum in auditorium, non in cubiculum amicos advocarim, quos plures habere multis gloriosum, reprehensioni nemini fuit. Vale.

III. — TO TITIUS ARISTO.

While I gratefully acknowledge your many acts of kindness to me, I must especially thank you for not concealing from me the fact that my verses have formed the subject of many long discussions at your house, that such discussions have been lengthened owing to the different views expressed, and that some people, while finding no fault with the writings themselves, blamed me in a perfectly friendly and candid way for having written on such themes and for having read them in public. Well, in order to aggravate my misdeeds, here is my reply to them: “Yes, I do occasionally compose verses which are far from being couched in a serious vein. I don’t deny it. I also listen to comedies, and attend the performances of mimes. I read lyrics, and I understand the poems of Sotades. Moreover, I now and then laugh, jest, and amuse myself; in short, to sum up in a word every kind of harmless recreation, I may say ‘I am a man.’”

Nor does it annoy me that people should form such opinions about my character, when it is plain that those who are surprised that I should compose such poems are unaware that the most learned of men and the gravest and purest livers have regularly done the same thing. But I feel sure that I shall easily obtain permission from those who know the character and calibre of the authors in whose footsteps I am treading, to stray in company with men whom it is an honour to follow, not only in their serious but in their lightest moods. I will not mention the names of those still living for fear of seeming to flatter, but is a person like myself to be afraid that it will be unbecoming for him to do what well became Marcus Tullius, Caius Calvus, Asinius Pollio, Marcus Messalla, Quintus Hortensius, M. Brutus, Lucius Sulla, Quintus Catulus, Quintus Scaevola, Servius Sulpicius, Varro, Torquatus — or rather the Torquati, — Caius Memmius, Lentulus, Gaetulicus, Annaeus Seneca, Lucan, and, last of all, Verginius Rufus? If the names of these private individuals are not enough, I may add those of the divine Julius, Augustus and Nerva, and that of Tiberius Caesar. I pass by the name of Nero, though I am aware that a practice does not become any the worse because it is sometimes followed by men of bad character, while a practice usually followed by men of good character retains its honesty. Among the latter class of men one must give a pre-eminent place to Publius Vergilius, Cornelius Nepos, and to Attius and Ennius, who should perhaps come first. These men were not senators, but purity of character is the same in all ranks.

But, you say, I recite my compositions and I cannot be sure that they did. Granted, but they may have been content with their own judgment, whereas I am too modest to think that any composition of mine is sufficiently perfect when it has no other approbation but my own.

Consequently, these are the reasons why I recite in public, first, because a man who recites becomes a keener critic of his own writings out of deference to his audience, and, secondly, because, where he is in doubt, he can decide by referring the point to his auditors. Moreover, he constantly meets with criticism from many quarters, and even if it is not openly expressed, he can tell what each person thinks by watching the expression and eyes of his hearers, or by a nod, a motion of the hand, a murmur, or dead silence. All these things are tolerably clear indications which enable one to distinguish judgment from complaisance. And so, if any one who was present at my reading takes the trouble to look through the same compositions, he will find that I have either altered or omitted certain passages, in compliance perhaps with his judgment, though he never uttered a word to me. But I am arguing on this point as though I invited the whole populace to my reading room and not merely a few friends to my private chamber, while the possession of a large circle of friends has been a source of pride to many men and a reproach to none. Farewell.

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4. C. PLINIUS IULIO VALERIANO SUO S.

1 Res parva, sed initium non parvae. Vir praetorius Sollers a senatu periit, ut sibi instituere nundinas in agris suis permitteretur. Contra dixerunt legati Vicetinorum; adfuit Tuscilius Nominatus. 2 Dilata causa est. Alio senatu Vicetini sine advocato intraverunt, dixerunt se deceptos, lapsine verbo, an quia ita sentiebant. Interrogati a Nepote praetore, quem docuissent, responderunt quem prius. Interrogati an tunc gratis adfuisset, responderunt sex milibus nummum; an rursus aliquid dedissent, dixerunt mille denarios. Nepos postulavit ut Nominatus induceretur. 3 Hactenus illo die. Sed quantum auguror longius res procedet. Nam pleraque tacta tantum et omnino commota latissime serpunt. Erexi aures tuas. 4 Quam diu nunc oportet, quam blande roges, ut reliqua cognoscas! si tamen non ante ob haec ipsa veneris Romam, spectatorque malueris esse quam lector. Vale.

IV. — TO JULIUS VALERIANUS.

The incident is trifling in itself, but it is leading up to important consequences. Sollers, a man of praetorian rank, asked permission of the Senate to establish a market on his property. The delegates of the people of Vicetia opposed it: Tuscilius Nominatus appeared as their counsel, and the hearing was postponed. At a later meeting of the Senate, the Vicetini entered without their counsel and said that they had been tricked, — I cannot say whether it was merely a hasty expression, or whether they really thought they had been. When they were asked by the praetor Nepos whom they had instructed to appear for them, they said, “We have the same counsel as before.” To the question whether on the previous occasion he had appeared for them gratuitously, they said they had given him 6000 sesterces, and on being asked whether they paid him a further fee, they replied, “Yes, a thousand denarii.” Nepos demanded that Nominatus should be called, and matters went no further on that day. But, I fancy, the case has gone to much greater lengths than that, for it often happens that a mere touch is sufficient to set things in commotion, and then they spread far and wide. I have made you prick up your ears, so now you will have to ask in your very nicest manner for me to tell you the rest of the story, unless you decide to come to Rome for the sequel, and prefer to see it for yourself rather than read about it. Farewell.

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5. C. PLINIUS NOVIO MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Nuntiatum mihi C. Fannium decessisse; qui nuntius me gravi dolore confudit, primum quod amavi hominem elegantem disertum, deinde quod iudicio eius uti solebam. Erat enim acutus natura, usu exercitatus, veritate promptissimus. 2 Angit me super ista casus ipsius: decessit veteri testamento, omisit quos maxime diligebat, prosecutus est quibus offensior erat. Sed hoc utcumque tolerabile; gravius illud, quod pulcherrimum opus imperfectum reliquit. 3 Quamvis enim agendis causis distringeretur, scribebat tamen exitus occisorum aut relegatorum a Nerone et iam tres libros absolverat subtiles et diligentes et Latinos atque inter sermonem historiamque medios, ac tanto magis reliquos perficere cupiebat, quanto frequentius hi lectitabantur. 4 Mihi autem videtur acerba semper et immatura mors eorum, qui immortale aliquid parant. Nam qui voluptatibus dediti quasi in diem vivunt, vivendi causas cotidie finiunt; qui vero posteros cogitant, et memoriam sui operibus extendunt, his nulla mors non repentina est, ut quae semper incohatum aliquid abrumpat. 5 Gaius quidem Fannius, quod accidit, multo ante praesensit. Visus est sibi per nocturnam quietem iacere in lectulo suo compositus in habitum studentis, habere ante se scrinium — ita solebat -; mox imaginatus est venisse Neronem, in toro resedisse, prompsisse primum librum quem de sceleribus eius ediderat, cumque ad extremum revolvisse; idem in secundo ac tertio fecisse, tunc abisse. 6 Expavit et sic interpretatus est, tamquam idem sibi futurus esset scribendi finis, qui fuisset illi legendi: et fuit idem. 7 Quod me recordantem miseratio subit, quantum vigiliarum quantum laboris exhauserit frustra. Occursant animo mea mortalitas mea scripta. Nec dubito te quoque eadem cogitatione terreri, pro istis quae inter manus habes. 8 Proinde, dum suppetit vita, enitamur ut mors quam paucissima quae abolere possit inveniat. Vale.

V. — TO NONIUS MAXIMUS.

I have been told that Caius Fannius is dead, and the news has greatly upset me, in the first place, because I loved him for his taste and learning, and, secondly, because I used to avail myself of his judgment. He was naturally keen-witted; experience had sharpened his acumen, and he could detect the truth without hesitation. I am troubled, too, owing to the circumstances in which he died, for he has died without revoking an old will which contains no mention of those for whom he had the greatest affection, and is in favour of those with whom he has been on bad terms. However, this might have been got over — what is most serious is that he has left unfinished his finest work. Although his time was taken up with his profession as a pleader, he was engaged in writing the lives of those who were put to death or banished by Nero. He had already finished three books, in an unadorned, accurate style and in the Latin language. They are something between narrative and history, and the eagerness which people displayed to read them made him all the more desirous to finish the remaining volumes.

It always seems to me hard and untimely when people die who are engaged upon some immortal work. For those who are devoted to their pleasures and live a sort of day-to-day existence exhaust every day the reasons why they should go on living, whereas when people think of posterity and keep alive their memory by their works, their death, come as it may, is always sudden, inasmuch as it cuts short something that is still unfinished. However, Caius Fannius had had for a long time a presentiment of what was to befall him. He dreamt in the quiet of the night that he was lying on his bed dressed for study and that he had a writing desk before him, as was his wont. Then he thought that Nero came to him, sat down on the couch, and after producing the first volume which Fannius had written about his crimes, turned over the pages to the end. He did the same with the second and third volumes, and then departed. Fannius was much alarmed, and interpreted the dream to mean that he would leave off writing just where Nero had left off reading, and so the event proved.

When I think of it I feel grieved to think how many wakeful hours and how much labour Fannius toiled through in vain. I see before me my own mortality and my own writings. Nor do I doubt that you have the same thought and anxiety for the work which is still on your hands. Let us do our best, therefore, while life lasts, that death may find as few works of ours as possible for him to destroy. Farewell.

Detailed table of contents listing each letter

6. C. PLINIUS DOMITIO APOLLINARI SUO S.

1 Amavi curam et sollicitudinem tuam, quod cum audisses me aestate Tuscos meos petiturum, ne facerem suasisti, dum putas insalubres. 2 Est sane gravis et pestilens ora Tuscorum, quae per litus extenditur; sed hi procul a mari recesserunt, quin etiam Appennino saluberrimo montium subiacent. 3 Atque adeo ut omnem pro me metum ponas, accipe temperiem caeli regionis situm villae amoenitatem, quae et tibi auditu et mihi relatu iucunda erunt.

4 Caelum est hieme frigidum et gelidum; myrtos oleas quaeque alia assiduo tepore laetantur, aspernatur ac respuit; laurum tamen patitur atque etiam nitidissimam profert, interdum sed non saepius quam sub urbe nostra necat. 5 Aestatis mira clementia: semper aer spiritu aliquo movetur, frequentius tamen auras quam ventos habet. 6 Hinc senes multi: videas avos proavosque iam iuvenum, audias fabulas veteres sermonesque maiorum, cumque veneris illo putes alio te saeculo natum. 7 Regionis forma pulcherrima. Imaginare amphitheatrum aliquod immensum, et quale sola rerum natura possit effingere. Lata et diffusa planities montibus cingitur, montes summa sui parte procera nemora et antiqua habent. 8 Frequens ibi et varia venatio. Inde caeduae silvae cum ipso monte descendunt. Has inter pingues terrenique colles — neque enim facile usquam saxum etiam si quaeratur occurrit — planissimis campis fertilitate non cedunt, opimamque messem serius tantum, sed non minus percoquunt. 9 Sub his per latus omne vineae porriguntur, unamque faciem longe lateque contexunt; quarum a fine imoque quasi margine arbusta nascuntur. 10 Prata inde campique, campi quos non nisi, ingentes boves et fortissima aratra perfringunt: tantis glaebis tenacissimum solum cum primum prosecatur assurgit, ut nono demum sulco perdometur. 11 Prata florida et gemmea trifolium aliasque herbas teneras semper et molles et quasi novas alunt. Cuncta enim perennibus rivis nutriuntur; sed ubi aquae plurimum, palus nulla, quia devexa terra, quidquid liquoris accepit nec absorbuit, effundit in Tiberim. 12 Medios ille agros secat navium patiens omnesque fruges devehit in urbem, hieme dumtaxat et vere; aestate summittitur immensique fluminis nomen arenti alveo deserit, autumno resumit. 13 Magnam capies voluptatem, si hunc regionis situm ex monte prospexeris. Neque enim terras tibi sed formam aliquam ad eximiam pulchritudinem pictam videberis cernere: ea varietate, ea descriptione, quocumque inciderint oculi, reficientur.

14 Villa in colle imo sita prospicit quasi ex summo: ita leviter et sensim clivo fallente consurgit, ut cum ascendere te non putes, sentias ascendisse. A tergo Appenninum, sed longius habet; accipit ab hoc auras quamlibet sereno et placido die, non tamen acres et immodicas, sed spatio ipso lassas et infractas. 15 Magna sui parte meridiem spectat aestivumque solem ab hora sexta, hibernum aliquanto maturius quasi invitat, in porticum latam et pro modo longam. Multa in hae membra, atrium etiam ex more veterum. 16 Ante porticum xystus in plurimas species distinctus concisusque buxo; demissus inde pronusque pulvinus, cui bestiarum effigies invicem adversas buxus inscripsit; acanthus in plano, mollis et paene dixerim liquidus. 17 Ambit hunc ambulatio pressis varieque tonsis viridibus inclusa; ab his gestatio in modum circi, quae buxum multiformem humilesque et retentas manu arbusculas circumit. Omnia maceria muniuntur: hanc gradata buxus operit et subtrahit. 18 Pratum inde non minus natura quam superiora illa arte visendum; campi deinde porro multaque alia prata et arbusta. 19 A capite porticus triclinium excurrit; valvis xystum desinentem et protinus pratum multumque ruris videt, fenestris hac latus xysti et quod prosilit villae, hac adiacentis hippodromi nemus comasque prospectat. 20 Contra mediam fere porticum diaeta paulum recedit, cingit areolam, quae quattuor platanis inumbratur. Inter has marmoreo labro aqua exundat circumiectasque platanos et subiecta platanis leni aspergine fovet. 21 Est in hac diaeta dormitorium cubiculum quod diem clamorem sonum excludit, iunctaque ei cotidiana amicorumque cenatio: areolam illam, porticus alam eademque omnia quae porticus adspicit. 22 Est et aliud cubiculum a proxima platano viride et umbrosum, marmore excultum podio tenus, nec cedit gratiae marmoris ramos insidentesque ramis aves imitata pictura. 23 Fonticulus in hoc, in fonte crater; circa sipunculi plures miscent iucundissimum murmur. In cornu porticus amplissimum cubiculum triclinio occurrit; aliis fenestris xystum, aliis despicit pratum, sed ante piscinam, quae fenestris servit ac subiacet, strepitu visuque iucunda; 24 nam ex edito desiliens aqua suscepta marmore albescit. Idem cubiculum hieme tepidissimum, quia plurimo sole perfunditur. 25 Cohaeret hypocauston et, si dies nubilus, immisso vapore solis vicem supplet. Inde apodyterium balinei laxum et hilare excipit cella frigidaria, in qua baptisterium amplum atque opacum. Si natare latius aut tepidius velis, in area piscina est, in proximo puteus, ex quo possis rursus astringi, si paeniteat teporis. 26 Frigidariae cellae conectitur media, cui sol benignissime praesto est; caldariae magis, prominet enim. In hac tres descensiones, duae in sole, tertia a sole longius, a luce non longius. 27 Apodyterio superpositum est sphaeristerium, quod plura genera exercitationis pluresque circulos capit. Non procul a balineo scalae, quae in cryptoporticum ferunt prius ad diaetas tres. Harum alia arcolae illi, in qua platani quattuor, alia prato, alia vineis imminet diversasque caeli partes ut prospectus habet. 28 In summa cryptoporticu cubiculum ex ipsa cryptoporticu excisum, quod hippodromum vineas montes intuetur. Iungitur cubiculum obvium soli, maxime hiberno. Hinc oritur diaeta, quae villae hippodromum adnectit. Haec facies, hic usus a fronte.

29 A latere aestiva cryptoporticus in edito posita, quae non adspicere vineas sed tangere videtur. In media triclinium saluberrimum afflatum ex Appenninis vallibus recipit; post latissimis fenestris vineas, valvis aeque vineas sed per cryptoporticum quasi admittit. 30 A latere triclinii quod fenestris caret, scalae convivio utilia secretiore ambitu suggerunt. In fine cubiculum, cui non minus iucundum prospectum cryptoporticus ipsa quam vineae praebent. Subest cryptoporticus subterraneae similis; aestate incluso frigore riget contentaque acre suo nec desiderat auras nec admittit. 31 Post utramque cryptoporticum, unde triclinium desinit, incipit porticus ante medium diem hiberna, inclinato die aestiva. Hac adeuntur diaetae duae, quarum in altera cubicula quattuor, altera tria ut circumit sol aut sole utuntur aut umbra.

32 Hanc dispositionem amoenitatemque tectorum longe longeque praecedit hippodromus. Medius patescit statimque intrantium oculis totus offertur, platanis circumitur; illae hedera vestiuntur utque summae suis ita imae alienis frondibus virent. Hedera truncum et ramos pererrat vicinasque platanos transitu suo copulat. Has buxus interiacet; exteriores buxos circumvenit laurus, umbraeque platanorum suam confert. 33 Rectus hic hippodromi limes in extrema parte hemicyclio frangitur mutatque faciem: cupressis ambitur et tegitur, densiore umbra opacior nigriorque; interioribus circulis — sunt enim plures — purissimum diem recipit. 34 Inde etiam rosas effert, umbrarumque frigus non ingrato sole distinguit. Finito vario illo multiplicique curvamine recto limiti redditur nec huic uni, nam viae plures intercedentibus buxis dividuntur. 35 Alibi pratulum, alibi ipsa buxus intervenit in formas mille descripta, litteras interdum, quae modo nomen domini dicunt modo artificis: alternis metulae surgunt, alternis inserta sunt poma, et in opere urbanissimo subita velut illati ruris imitatio. Medium spatium brevioribus utrimque platanis adornatur. 36 Post has acanthus hinc inde lubricus et flexuosus, deinde plures figurae pluraque nomina. In capite stibadium candido marmore vite protegitur; vitem quattuor columellae Carystiae subeunt. Ex stibadio aqua velut expressa cubantium pondere sipunculis effluit, cavato lapide suscipitur, gracili marmore continetur atque ita occulte temperatur, ut impleat nec redundet. 37 Gustatorium graviorque cena margini imponitur, levior naucularum et avium figuris innatans circumit. Contra fons egerit aquam et recipit; nam expulsa in altum in se cadit iunctisque hiatibus et absorbetur et tollitur. E regione stibadii adversum cubiculum tantum stibadio reddit ornatus, quantum accipit ab illo. 38 Marmore splendet, valvis in viridia prominet et exit, alia viridia superioribus inferioribusque fenestris suspicit despicitque. Mox zothecula refugit quasi in cubiculum idem atque aliud. Lectus hic et undique fenestrae, et tamen lumen obscurum umbra premente. 39 Nam laetissima vitis per omne tectum in culmen nititur et ascendit. Non secus ibi quam in nemore iaceas, imbrem tantum tamquam in nemore non sentias. 40 Hic quoque fons nascitur simulque subducitur. Sunt locis pluribus disposita sedilia e marmore, quae ambulatione fessos ut cubiculum ipsum iuvant. Fonticuli sedilibus adiacent; per totum hippodromum inducti strepunt rivi, et qua manus duxit sequuntur: his nunc illa viridia, nunc haec, interdum simul omnia lavantur.

41 Vitassem iam dudum ne viderer argutior, nisi proposuissem omnes angulos tecum epistula circumire. Neque enim verebar ne laboriosum esset legenti tibi, quod visenti non fuisset, praesertim cum interquiescere, si liberet, depositaque epistula quasi residere saepius posses. Praeterea indulsi amori meo; amo enim, quae maxima ex parte ipse incohavi aut incohata percolui. 42 In summa — cur enim non aperiam tibi vel iudicium meum vel errorem? — primum ego officium scriptoris existimo, titulum suum legat atque identidem interroget se quid coeperit scribere, sciatque si materiae immoratur non esse longum, longissimum si aliquid accersit atque attrahit. 43 Vides quot versibus Homerus, quot Vergilius arma hic Aeneae Achillis ille describat; brevis tamen uterque est quia facit quod instituit. Vides ut Aratus minutissima etiam sidera consectetur et colligat; modum tamen servat. Non enim excursus hic eius, sed opus ipsum est. 44 Similiter nos ut ‘parva magnis’, cum totam villam oculis tuis subicere conamur, si nihil inductum et quasi devium loquimur, non epistula quae describit sed villa quae describitur magna est.

Verum illuc unde coepi, ne secundum legem meam iure reprendar, si longior fuero in hoc in quod excessi. 45 Habes causas cur ego Tuscos meos Tusculanis Tiburtinis Praenestinisque praeponam. Nam super illa quae rettuli, altius ibi otium et pinguius eoque securius: nulla necessitas togae, nemo accersitor ex proximo, placida omnia et quiescentia, quod ipsum salubritati regionis ut purius caelum, ut aer liquidior accedit. 46 Ibi animo, ibi corpore maxime valeo. Nam studiis animum, venatu corpus exerceo. Mei quoque nusquam salubrius degunt; usque adhuc certe neminem ex iis quos eduxeram mecum, — venia sit dicto — ibi amisi. Di modo in posterum hoc mihi gaudium, hanc gloriam loco servent! Vale.

VI. — TO DOMITIUS APOLLINARIS.

I was charmed with the kind consideration which led you, when you heard that I was about to visit my Tuscan villa in the summer, to advise me not to do so during the season that you consider the district unhealthy. Undoubtedly, the region along the coast of Tuscany is trying and dangerous to the health, but my property lies well back from the sea; indeed, it is just under the Apennines, which are the healthiest of our mountain ranges. However, that you may not have the slightest anxiety on my account, let me tell you all about the climatic conditions, the lie of the land, and the charms of my villa. It will be as pleasant reading for you as it is pleasant writing for me.

In winter the air is cold and frosty: myrtles, olives and all other trees which require constant warmth for them to do well, the climate rejects and spurns, though it allows laurel to grow, and even brings it to a luxuriant leaf. Occasionally, however, it kills it, but that does not happen more frequently than in the neighbourhood of Rome. In summer, the heat is marvellously tempered: there is always a breath of air stirring, and breezes are more common than winds. Hence the number of old people to be found there: you find the grandfathers and great- grandfathers of the young people still living; you are constantly hearing old stories and tales of the past, so that, when you set foot there, you may fancy that you have been born in another century.

The contour of the district is most beautiful. Picture to yourself an immense amphitheatre, such as only Nature can create, with a wide- spreading plain ringed with hills, and the summits of the hills themselves covered with tall and ancient forests. There is plentiful and varied hunting to be had. Down the mountain slopes there are stretches of underwoods, and among these are rich, deep-soiled hillocks- -where if you look for a stone you will have hard work to find one — which are just as fertile as the most level plains, and ripen just as rich harvests, though later in the season. Below these, along the whole hillsides, stretch the vineyards which present an unbroken line far and wide, on the borders and lowest level of which comes a fringe of trees. Then you reach the meadows and the fields — fields which only the most powerful oxen and the stoutest ploughs can turn. The soil is so tough and composed of such thick clods that when it is first broken up it has to be furrowed nine times before it is subdued. The meadows are jewelled with flowers, and produce trefoil and other herbs, always tender and soft, and looking as though they were always fresh. For all parts are well nourished by never-failing streams, and even where there is most water there are no swamps, for the declivity of the land drains off into the Tiber all the moisture that it receives and cannot itself absorb.

The Tiber runs through the middle of the plain; it is navigable for ships, and all the grain is carried down stream to the city, at least in winter and spring. In summer the volume of water dwindles away, leaving but the name of a great river to the dried-up bed, but in the autumn it recovers its flood. You would be delighted if you could obtain a view of the district from the mountain height, for you would think you were looking not so much at earth and fields as at a beautiful landscape picture of wonderful loveliness. Such is the variety, such the arrangement of the scene, that wherever the eyes fall they are sure to be refreshed.

My villa, though it lies at the foot of the hill, enjoys as fine a prospect as though it stood on the summit; the ascent is so gentle and easy, and the gradient so unnoticeable, that you find yourself at the top without feeling that you are ascending. The Apennines lie behind it, but at a considerable distance, and even on a cloudless and still day it gets a breeze from this range, never boisterous and rough, for its strength is broken and lost in the distance it has to travel. Most of the house faces south; in summer it gets the sun from the sixth hour, and in winter considerably earlier, inviting it as it were into the portico, which is broad and long to correspond, and contains a number of apartments and an old-fashioned hall. In front, there is a terrace laid out in different patterns and bounded with an edging of box; then comes a sloping ridge with figures of animals on both sides cut out of the box-trees, while on the level ground stands an acanthus-tree, with leaves so soft that I might almost call them liquid. Round this is a walk bordered by evergreens pressed and trimmed into various shapes; then comes an exercise ground, round like a circus, which surrounds the box-trees that are cut into different forms, and the dwarf shrubs that are kept clipped. Everything is protected by an enclosure, which is hidden and withdrawn from sight by the tiers of box-trees. Beyond is a meadow, as well worth seeing for its natural charm as the features just described are for their artificial beauty, and beyond that there stretches an expanse of fields and a number of other meadows and thickets.

At the head of the portico there runs out the dining-room, from the doors of which can be seen the end of the terrace with the meadow and a good expanse of country beyond it, while from the windows the view on the one hand commands one side of the terrace and the part of the villa which juts out, and on the other the grove and foliage of the adjoining riding-school. Almost opposite to the middle of the portico is a summer-house standing back a little, with a small open space in the middle shaded by four plane-trees. Among them is a marble fountain, from which the water plays upon and lightly sprinkles the roots of the plane-trees and the grass plot beneath them. In this summer-house there is a bed-chamber which excludes all light, noise, and sound, and adjoining it is a dining-room for my friends, which faces upon the small court and the other portico, and commands the view enjoyed by the latter. There is another bed-chamber, which is leafy and shaded by the nearest plane-tree and built of marble up to the balcony; above is a picture of a tree with birds perched in the branches equally beautiful with the marble. Here there is a small fountain with a basin around the latter, and the water runs into it from a number of small pipes, which produce a most agreeable sound. In the corner of the portico is a spacious bed-chamber leading out of the dining-room, some of its windows looking out upon the terrace, others upon the meadow, while the windows in front face the fish-pond which lies just beneath them, and is pleasant both to eye and ear, as the water falls from a considerable elevation and glistens white as it is caught in the marble basin. This bed-chamber is beautifully warm even in winter, for it is flooded with an abundance of sunshine.

The heating chamber for the bath adjoins it, and on a cloudy day we turn in steam to take the place of the sun’s warmth. Next comes a roomy and cheerful undressing room for the bath, from which you pass into a cool chamber containing a large and shady swimming bath. If you prefer more room or warmer water to swim in, there is a pond in the court with a well adjoining it, from which you can make the water colder when you are tired of the warm. Adjoining the cold bath is one of medium warmth, for the sun shines lavishly upon it, but not so much as upon the hot bath which is built farther out. There are three sets of steps leading to it, two exposed to the sun, and the third out of the sun though quite as light. Above the dressing-room is a ball court where various kinds of exercise can be taken, and a number of games can be played at once. Not far from the bath-room is a staircase leading to a covered passage, at the head of which are three rooms, one looking out upon the courtyard with the four plane-trees, the second upon the meadow, and the third upon the vineyards, so each therefore enjoys a different view. At the end of the passage is a bed-chamber constructed out of the passage itself, which looks out upon the riding-course, the vineyards, and the mountains. Connected with it is another bed-chamber open to the sun, and especially so in winter time. Leading out of this is an apartment which adjoins the riding-course of the villa.

Such is the appearance and the use to which the front of my house is put. At the side is a raised covered gallery, which seems not so much to look out upon the vineyards as to touch them; in the middle is a dining-room which gets the invigorating breezes from the valleys of the Apennines, while at the other side, through the spacious windows and the folding doors, you seem to be close upon the vineyards again with the gallery between. On the side of the room where there are no windows is a private winding staircase by which the servants bring up the requisites for a meal. At the end of the gallery is a bed-chamber, and the gallery itself affords as pleasant a prospect therefrom as the vineyards. Underneath runs a sort of subterranean gallery, which in summer time remains perfectly cool, and as it has sufficient air within it, it neither admits any from without nor needs any. Next to both these galleries the portico commences where the dining-room ends, and this is cold before mid-day, and summery when the sun has reached his zenith. This gives the approach to two apartments, one of which contains four beds and the other three, and they are bathed in sunshine or steeped in shadow, according to the position of the sun.

But though the arrangements of the house itself are charming, they are far and away surpassed by the riding-course. It is quite open in the centre, and the moment you enter your eye ranges over the whole of it. Around its borders are plane-trees clothed with ivy, and so while the foliage at the top belongs to the trees themselves, that on the lower parts belongs to the ivy, which creeps along the trunk and branches, and spreading across to the neighbouring trees, joins them together. Between the plane-trees are box shrubs, and on the farther side of the shrubs is a ring of laurels which mingle their shade with that of the plane-trees. At the far end, the straight boundary of the riding-course is curved into semicircular form, which quite changes its appearance. It is enclosed and covered with cypress-trees, the deeper shade of which makes it darker and gloomier than at the sides, but the inner circles — for there are more than one — are quite open to the sunshine. Even roses grow there, and the warmth of the sun is delightful as a change from the cool of the shade. When you come to the end of these various winding alleys, the boundary again runs straight, or should I say boundaries, for there are a number of paths with box shrubs between them. In places there are grass plots intervening, in others box shrubs, which are trimmed to a great variety of patterns, some of them being cut into letters forming my name as owner and that of the gardener. Here and there are small pyramids and apple-trees, and now and then in the midst of all this graceful artificial work you suddenly come upon what looks like a real bit of the country planted there. The intervening space is beautified on both sides with dwarf plane-trees; beyond these is the acanthus-tree that is supple and flexible to the hand, and there are more boxwood figures and names.

At the upper end is a couch of white marble covered with a vine, the latter being supported by four small pillars of Carystian marble. Jets of water flow from the couch through small pipes and look as if they were forced out by the weight of persons reclining thereon, and the water is caught in a stone cistern and then retained in a graceful marble basin, regulated by pipes out of sight, so that the basin, while always full, never overflows. The heavier dishes and plates are placed at the side of the basin when I dine there, but the lighter ones, formed into the shapes of little boats and birds, float on the surface and travel round and round. Facing this is a fountain which receives back the water it expels, for the water is thrown up to a considerable height and then falls down again, and the pipes that perform the two processes are connected. Directly opposite the couch is a bed-chamber, and each lends a grace to the other. It is formed of glistening marble, and through the projecting folding doors you pass at once among the foliage, while both from the upper and lower windows you look out upon the same green picture. Within is a little cabinet which seems to belong at once to the same and yet another bed-chamber. This contains a bed and it has windows on every side, yet the shade is so thick without that but little light enters, for a wonderfully luxuriant vine has climbed up to the roof and covers the whole building. You can fancy you are in a grove as you lie there, only that you do not feel the rain as you do among trees. Here too a fountain rises and immediately loses itself underground. There are a number of marble chairs placed up and down, which are as restful for persons tired with walking as the bed-chamber itself. Near these chairs are little fountains, and throughout the whole riding- course you hear the murmur of tiny streams carried through pipes, which run wherever you please to direct them. These are used to water the shrubs, sometimes in one part, sometimes in another, and at other times all are watered together.

I should long since have been afraid of boring you, had I not set out in this letter to take you with me round every corner of my estate. For I am not at all apprehensive that you will find it tedious to read about a place which certainly would not tire you to look at, especially as you can get a little rest whenever you desire, and can sit down, so to speak, by laying down the letter. Moreover, I have been indulging my affection for the place, for I am greatly attached to anything that is mainly the work of my own hands or that some one else has begun and I have taken up. In short — for there is no reason is there? why I should not be frank with you, whether my judgments are sound or unsound — I consider that it is the first duty of a writer to select the title of his work and constantly ask himself what he has begun to write about. He may be sure that so long as he keeps to his subject-matter he will not be tedious, but that he will bore his readers to distraction if he starts dragging in extraneous matter to make weight. Observe the length with which Homer describes the arms of Achilles, and Virgil the arms of Aeneas — yet in both cases the description seems short, because the author only carries out what he intended to. Observe how Aratus hunts up and brings together even the tiniest stars — yet he does not exceed due limits. For his description is not an excursus, but the end and aim of the whole work. It is the same with myself, if I may compare my lowly efforts with their great ones. I have been trying to give you a bird’s eye view of the whole of my villa, and if I have introduced no extraneous matter and have never wandered off my subject, it is not the letter containing the description which is to be considered of excessive size, but rather the villa which has been described.

However, let me get back to the point I started from, lest I give you an opportunity of justly condemning me by my own law, by not pursuing this digression any farther. I have explained to you why I prefer my Tuscan house to my other places at Tusculum, Tibur and Praeneste. For in addition to all the beauties I have described above, my repose here is more profound and more comfortable, and therefore all the freer from anxiety. There is no necessity to don the toga, no neighbour ever calls to drag me out; everything is placid and quiet; and this peace adds to the healthiness of the place, by giving it, so to speak, a purer sky and a more liquid air. I enjoy better health both in mind and body here than anywhere else, for I exercise the former by study and the latter by hunting. Besides, there is no place where my household keep in better trim, and up to the present I have not lost a single one of all whom I brought with me. I hope Heaven will forgive the boast, and that the gods will continue my happiness to me and preserve this place in all its beauty. Farewell.

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7. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Nec heredem institui nec praecipere posse rem publicam constat; Saturninus autem, qui nos reliquit heredes, quadrantem rei publicae nostrae, deinde pro quadrante praeceptionem quadringentorum milium dedit. Hoc si ius aspicias irritum, si defuncti voluntatem ratum et firmum est. 2 Mihi autem defuncti voluntas — vereor quam in partem iuris consulti quod sum dicturus accipiant — antiquior iure est, utique in eo quod ad communem patriam voluit pervenire. 3 An cui de meo sestertium sedecies contuli, huic quadringentorum milium paulo amplius tertiam partem ex adventicio denegem? Scio te quoque a iudicio meo non abhorrere, cum eandem rem publicam ut civis optimus diligas. 4 Velim ergo, cum proxime decuriones contrahentur, quid sit iuris indices, parce tamen et modeste; deinde subiungas nos quadringenta milia offerre, sicut praeceperit Saturninus. Illius hoc munus, illius liberalitas; nostrum tantum obsequium vocetur. 5 Haec ego scribere publice supersedi, primum quod memineram pro necessitudine amicitiae nostrae, pro facultate prudentiae tuae et debere te et posse perinde meis ac tuis partibus fungi; deinde quia verebar ne modum, quem tibi in sermone custodire facile est, tenuisse in epistula non viderer. 6 Nam sermonem vultus gestus vox ipsa moderatur, epistula omnibus commendationibus destituta malignitati interpretantium exponitur. Vale.

VII. — TO CALVISIUS.

It is beyond question that a community cannot be appointed heir and cannot take a share of an inheritance before the general distribution of the estate. None the less, Saturninus, who left us his heirs, bequeathed a fourth share to our community of Comum, and then, in lieu of that fourth share, assigned them permission to take 400,000 sesterces before the division of the estate. As a matter of strict law, this is null and void, but if you only look at the intentions of the deceased, it is quite sound and valid. I don’t know what the lawyers will think of what I am going to say, but to me the wishes of the deceased seem worthy of more consideration than the letter of the law, especially as regards the sum which he wished to go to our common birthplace. Moreover, I, who gave 1,600,000 sesterces our of my own money to my native place, am not the man to refuse it a little more than a third part of 400,000 sesterces which have come to me by a lucky windfall. I know that you too will not refuse to fall in with my views, as your affection for the same community is that of a thoroughly loyal citizen. I shall be glad, therefore, if at the next meeting of the decurions, you will lay before them the state of the law, and I hope you will do so briefly and modestly. Then add that we make them an offer of the 400,000 sesterces, in accordance with the wishes of Saturninus. But be sure to point out that the munificence and generosity are his, and that all we are doing is to obey his wishes. I have refrained from writing in a public manner on this business, firstly, because I knew very well that our friendship was such, and that your judgment was so ripe, that you could and ought to act for me as well as for yourself, and then again I was afraid that I might not preserve in a letter that exact mean which you will have no difficulty in preserving in a speech. For a man’s expression, his gestures, and even the tones of his voice help to indicate the precise meaning of his words, while a letter, which is deprived of all these advantages, is exposed to the malignity of those who put upon it what interpretation they choose. Farewell.

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8. C. PLINIUS TITINIO CAPITONI SUO S.

1 Suades ut historiam scribam, et suades non solus: multi hoc me saepe monuerunt et ego volo, non quia commode facturum esse confidam — id enim temere credas nisi expertus -, sed quia mihi pulchrum in primis videtur non pati occidere, quibus aeternitas debeatur, aliorumque famam cum sua extendere. 2 Me autem nihil aeque ac diuturnitatis amor et cupido sollicitat, res homine dignissima, eo praesertim qui nullius sibi conscius culpae posteritatis memoriam non reformidet. 3 Itaque diebus ac noctibus cogito, si ‘qua me quoque possim tollere humo’; id enim voto meo sufficit, illud supra votum ‘victorque virum volitare per ora’; ‘quamquam o-’: sed hoc satis est, quod prope sola historia polliceri videtur. 4 Orationi enim et carmini parva gratia, nisi eloquentia est summa: historia quoquo modo scripta delectat. Sunt enim homines natura curiosi, et quamlibet nuda rerum cognitione capiuntur, ut qui sermunculis etiam fabellisque ducantur. Me vero ad hoc studium impellit domesticum quoque exemplum. 5 Avunculus meus idemque per adoptionem pater historias et quidem religiosissime scripsit. Invenio autem apud sapientes honestissimum esse maiorum vestigia sequi, si modo recto itinere praecesserint. Cur ergo cunctor? 6 Egi magnas et graves causas. Has, etiamsi mihi tenuis ex iis spes, destino retractare, ne tantus ille labor meus, nisi hoc quod reliquum est studii addidero, mecum pariter intercidat. 7 Nam si rationem posteritatis habeas, quidquid non est peractum, pro non incohato est. Dices: ‘Potes simul et rescribere actiones et componere historiam.’ Utinam! sed utrumque tam magnum est, ut abunde sit alterum efficere. 8 Unodevicensimo aetatis anno dicere in foro coepi, et nunc demum quid praestare debeat orator, adhuc tamen per caliginem video. 9 Quid si huic oneri novum accesserit? Habet quidem oratio et historia multa communia, sed plura diversa in his ipsis, quae communia videntur. Narrat illa narrat haec, sed aliter: huic pleraque humilia et sordida et ex medio petita, illi omnia recondita splendida excelsa conveniunt; 10 hanc saepius ossa musculi nervi, illam tori quidam et quasi iubae decent; haec vel maxime vi amaritudine instantia, illa tractu et suavitate atque etiam dulcedine placet; postremo alia verba alius sonus alia constructio. 11 Nam plurimum refert, ut Thucydides ait, ‘ktêma’ sit an ‘agônisma’; quorum alterum oratio, alterum historia est. His ex causis non adducor ut duo dissimilia et hoc ipso diversa, quo maxima, confundam misceamque, ne tanta quasi colluvione turbatus ibi faciam quod hic debeo; ideoque interim veniam, ut ne a meis verbis recedam, advocandi peto. 12 Tu tamen iam nunc cogita quae potissimum tempora aggrediar. Vetera et scripta aliis? Parata inquisitio, sed onerosa collatio. Intacta et nova? Graves offensae levis gratia. 13 Nam praeter id, quod in tantis vitiis hominum plura culpanda sunt quam laudanda, tum si laudaveris parcus, si culpaveris nimius fuisse dicaris, quamvis illud plenissime, hoc restrictissime feceris. 14 Sed haec me non retardant; est enim mihi pro fide satis animi: illud peto praesternas ad quod hortaris, eligasque materiam, ne mihi iam scribere parato alia rursus cunctationis et morae iusta ratio nascatur. Vale.

VIII. — TO TITINIUS CAPITO.

You urge me to write history, nor are you the first to do so. Many others have often given me the same advice, and I am quite willing to follow it, not because I feel confident that I should succeed in so doing — for it would be presumption to think so until one had tried — but because it seems to me a very proper thing not to let people be forgotten whose fame ought never to die, and to perpetuate the glories of others together with one’s own. Personally, I confess that there is nothing on which I have set my heart so much as to win a lasting reputation, and the ambition is a worthy one for any man, especially for one who is not conscious of having committed any wrong and has no cause to fear being remembered by posterity. Hence it is that both day and night I scheme to find a way “to raise myself above the ordinary dull level”: my ambition goes no farther than that, for it is quite beyond my dreams “that my victorious name should pass from mouth to mouth.” “And yet — !” — but I am quite satisfied with the fame which history alone seems to promise me. For one reaps but a small reward from oratory and poetry, unless our eloquence is really first-class, while history seems to charm people in whatever style it is written. For men are naturally curious; they are delighted even by the baldest relation of facts, and so we see them carried away even by little stories and anecdotes.

Again, there is a precedent in my own family which impels me towards writing history. My uncle, who was also my father by adoption, was a historian of the most scrupulous type, and I find all wise men agree that one can do nothing better than follow in the footsteps of one’s ancestors, provided that they have gone in the right path themselves. Why, then, do I hesitate? For this reason, that I have delivered a number of pleadings of serious importance, and it is my intention to revise them carefully — though my hopes of fame from them are only slight — lest, in spite of all the trouble they have given me, they should perish with me, just for want of receiving the last polishing and additional touches. For if you have a view to what posterity will say, all that is not absolutely finished must be classed as incomplete matter. You will say: “Yes, but you can touch up your pleadings and compose history at the same time.” I wish I could, but each is so great a task that I should think I had done very well to have finished either.

I began to plead in the Forum in my nineteenth year, and it is only just now that I begin to see darkly what an orator ought to be. What would happen if I were to take on a new task in addition to this one? Oratory and history have many things in common, but they also differ greatly in the points that seem common to both. There is narrative in both, but of a different type; the humblest, meanest and most common-place subjects suit the one; the other requires research, splendour, and dignity. In the one you may describe the bones, muscles, and nerves of the body, in the other brawny parts and flowing manes. In oratory one wants force, invective, sustained attack; in history the charm is obtained by copiousness and agreeableness, even by sweetness of style. Lastly, the words used, the forms of speech, and the construction of the sentences are different. For, as Thucydides remarks, it makes all the difference whether the composition is to be a possession for all time or a declamation for the moment; oratory has to do with the latter, history with the former.

Hence it is that I do not feel tempted to hopelessly jumble together two dissimilar styles which differ from one another just because of their great importance, and I am afraid I should become bewildered by such a terrible medley and write in the one style just where I ought to be employing the other. For the meantime, therefore, to use the language of the courts, I ask your gracious permission to go on with my pleading. However, do you be good enough even now to consider the period which it would be best for me to tackle. Shall it be a period of ancient history which others have dealt with before me? If so, the materials are all ready to hand, but the putting them together would be a heavy task. On the other hand, if I choose a modern period which has not been dealt with, I shall get but small thanks and am bound to give serious offence. For, besides the fact that the general standard of morality is so lax that there is much more to censure than to praise, you are sure to be called niggardly if you praise and too censorious if you censure, though you may have been lavish of appreciation and scrupulously guarded in reproach. However, these considerations do not stay me, for I have the courage of my convictions. I only beg of you to prepare the way for me in the direction you urge me to take, and choose a subject for me, so that, when I am at length ready to take pen in hand, no other overpowering reason may crop up to make me hesitate and delay my purpose. Farewell.

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9. C. PLINIUS SEMPRONIO RUFO SUO S.

1 Descenderam in basilicam Iuliam, auditurus quibus proxima comperendinatione respondere debebam. 2 Sedebant iudices, decemviri venerant, obversabantur advocati, silentium longum; tandem a praetore nuntius. Dimittuntur centumviri, eximitur dies me gaudente, qui umquam ita paratus sum ut non mora laeter. 3 Causa dilationis Nepos praetor, qui legibus quaerit. Proposuerat breve edictum, admonebat accusatores, admonebat reos exsecuturum se quae senatus consulto continerentur. 4 Suberat edicto senatus consultum: hoc omnes qui quid negotii haberent iurare prius quam agerent iubebantur, nihil sc ob advocationem cuiquam dedisse promisisse cavisse. His enim verbis ac mille praeterea et venire advocationes et emi vetabantur; peractis tamen negotiis permittebatur pecuniam dumtaxat decem milium dare. 5 Hoc facto Nepotis commotus praetor qui centumviralibus praesidet, deliberaturus an sequeretur exemplum, inopinatum nobis otium dedit. 6 Interim tota civitate Nepotis edictum carpitur laudatur. Multi: ‘Invenimus, qui curva corrigeret! Quid? ante hunc praetores non fuerunt? quis autem hic est, qui emendet publicos mores?’ Alii contra: ‘Rectissime fecit; initurus magistratum iura cognovit, senatus consulta legit, reprimit foedissimas pactiones, rem pulcherrimam turpissime venire non patitur.’ 7 Tales ubique sermones, qui tamen alterutram in partem ex eventu praevalebunt. Est omnino iniquum, sed usu receptum, quod honesta consilia vel turpia, prout male aut prospere cedunt, ita vel probantur vel reprehenduntur. Inde plerumque eadem facta modo diligentiae modo vanitatis, modo libertatis modo furoris nomen accipiunt. Vale.

IX. — TO RUFUS.

I had gone down to the basilica of Julius to listen to the speeches of the counsel to whom I had to reply from the last postponement. The judges were in their places; the decemvirs had arrived; the advocates were moving to and fro, and then came a long silence, broken at last by a message from the praetor. The centumvirs were dismissed and the hearing was put off, at which I was glad, for I am never so well prepared that I am not pleased at having extra time given me. The postponement was due to Nepos, the praetor-designate, who hears cases with the most scrupulous attention to legal forms. He had issued a short edict warning both plaintiffs and defendants that he would strictly carry out the decree of the Senate. Attached to the edict was a copy of the decree, which provided “that all persons engaged in any lawsuit are hereby ordered to take an oath before their cases are heard, that they have neither given nor promised any sum to their advocates, nor have entered into any contract to pay them for their advocacy.” In these words and other long sentences as well, advocates were forbidden to sell their services and litigants to buy them, although, when a suit is over, the latter are allowed to offer their counsel a sum not exceeding ten thousand sesterces. The praetor, who was presiding over the Court of the Centumviri, was embarrassed by this decree of Nepos and gave us an unexpected holiday, while he made up his mind whether or not he should follow the example set him. Meanwhile, the whole town is discussing the edict of Nepos, some favourably, others adversely. Many people are saying: “Well, we have found a man to set the crooked straight. But have there been no praetors before Nepos, and who is Nepos that he should mend our public morals?” On the other hand, a number of people argue: “He has acted quite rightly. He has mastered the laws before entering office, he has read the decrees of the Senate, he is putting a stop to a disgraceful system of bargaining, and he will not allow a most honourable profession to be bought and sold in a scandalous way.” That is how people are talking everywhere, and there will be no majority for one side or the other till it is known how the matter will end. It is very deplorable, but it is the accepted rule that good or bad counsels are approved or condemned according to whether they turn out well or badly. The result is that we find the self-same deed ascribed sometimes to zeal, sometimes to vanity, and even to love of liberty and downright madness. Farewell.

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10. C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

1 Libera tandem hendecasyllaborum meorum fidem, qui scripta tua communibus amicis spoponderunt. Appellantur cotidie, efflagitantur, ac iam periculum est ne cogantur ad exhibendum formulam accipere. 2 Sum et ipse in edendo haesitator, tu tamen meam quoque cunctationem tarditatemque vicisti. Proinde aut rumpe iam moras aut cave ne eosdem istos libellos, quos tibi hendecasyllabi nostri blanditiis elicere non possunt, convicio scazontes extorqueant. 3 Perfectum opus absolutumque est, nec iam splendescit lima sed atteritur. Patere me videre titulum tuum, patere audire describi legi venire volumina Tranquilli mei. Aequum est nos in amore tam mutuo eandem percipere ex te voluptatem, qua tu perfrueris ex nobis. Vale.

X. — TO SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS.

Do, I beg of you, fulfil the promise I made in my verses when I pledged my word that our common friends should see your compositions. People are asking for them every day, clamouring for them even, and, if you are not careful, you may find yourself served with a writ to publish them. I myself am very slow to make up my mind to publish, but you are far more of a slow-coach than even I am. So either decide at once, or take care that I do not drag those books of yours from you by the lash of my satire, as I have failed to coax them out by my hendecasyllabics. The work is absolutely finished, and if you polish it any more you will only impair it without making it shine the more brightly. Do let me see your name on the title page; do let me hear that the volumes of my friend Tranquillus are being copied, read, and sold. It is only fair, considering the strength of our attachment, that you should afford me the same gratification that I have afforded you. Farewell.

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11. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Recepi litteras tuas ex quibus cognovi speciosissimam te porticum sub tuo filiique tui nomine dedicasse, sequenti die in portarum ornatum pecuniam promisisse, ut initium novae liberalitatis esset consummatio prioris. 2 Gaudeo primum tua gloria, cuius ad me pars aliqua pro necessitudine nostra redundat; deinde quod memoriam soceri mei pulcherrimis operibus video proferri; postremo quod patria nostra florescit, quam mihi a quocumque excoli iucundum, a te vero laetissimum est. 3 Quod superest, deos precor ut animum istum tibi, animo isti tempus quam longissimum tribuant. Nam liquet mihi futurum ut peracto quod proxime promisisti, incohes aliud. Nescit enim semel incitata liberalitas stare, cuius pulchritudinem usus ipse commendat. Vale.

XI. — TO CALPURNIUS FABATUS.

I have received your letter, from which I gather that you have dedicated a most beautiful portico in the joint names of yourself and your son, and that on the following day you promised a sum of money for the decoration of the gates, so as to signalise the completion of your earlier act of generosity by immediately beginning a new one. I am delighted to hear it, in the first place, on account of the reputation you will secure, of which some part will extend to me, owing to the closeness of our friendship; secondly, because I see that the name of my father-in-law will be perpetuated by these choice works; and, lastly, because our country is in such a flourishing state. Pleasant as it is to see her honoured by any one, it is trebly gratifying when the honour is paid by yourself. It only remains for me to pray Heaven to confirm you in this habit of mind, and bestow upon you long length of years. For I venture to prophesy that, when your latest promise is complete, you will set about something else. When once a man’s generosity has been aroused it knows not where to stop, for the more it is practised the more beautiful it becomes in the eyes of the generous. Farewell.

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12. C. PLINIUS TERENTIO SCAURO SUO S.

1 Recitaturus oratiunculam quam publicare cogito, advocavi aliquos ut vererer, paucos ut verum audirem. Nam mihi duplex ratio recitandi, una ut sollicitudine intendar, altera ut admonear, si quid forte me ut meum fallit. 2 Tuli quod petebam: inveni qui mihi copiam consilii sui facerent, ipse praeterea quaedam emendanda adnotavi. Emendavi librum, quem misi tibi. 3 Materiam ex titulo cognosces, cetera liber explicabit, quem iam nunc oportet ita consuescere, ut sine praefatione intellegatur. 4 Tu velim quid de universo, quid de partibus sentias, scribas mihi. Ero enim vel cautior in continendo vel constantior in edendo, si huc vel illuc auctoritas tua accesserit. Vale.

XII. — TO TERENTIUS SCAURUS.

Before giving a recital of a little speech which I had some thoughts of publishing, I called a few friends to hear it, so as to put me on my mettle, but not many, so that I might get candid criticism. For there are two reasons why I give these recitals, one that I may screw myself up to the proper pitch by their anxiety that I should do myself justice, and the other that they may correct me if I happen to make a mistake and do not notice it because the blunder is my own. I got what I wanted and I found some friends who gave me their advice freely; while I myself noticed certain passages which required correction. I have revised the speech which I am sending you. You will see what the subject is from the title, and the speech itself will explain all other points. It ought now to become so familiar to people as to be understood without any preface. But I trust that you will write and tell me what you think of it as a whole as well as in parts, for I shall be the more careful to suppress it, or the more determined to publish it, according as your critical judgment inclines one way or the other. Farewell.

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13. C. PLINIUS IULIO VALERIANO SUO S.

1 Et tu rogas et ego promisi si rogasses, scripturum me tibi quem habuisset eventum postulatio Nepotis circa Tuscilium Nominatum. Inductus est Nominatus; egit ipse pro se nullo accusante. Nam legati Vicetinorum non modo non presserunt eum verum etiam sublevaverunt. 2 Summa defensionis, non fidem sibi in advocatione sed constantiam defuisse; descendisse ut acturum, atque etiam in curia visum, deinde sermonibus amicorum perterritum recessisse; monitum enim ne desiderio senatoris, non iam quasi de nundinis sed quasi de gratia fama dignitate certantis, tam pertinaciter praesertim in senatu repugnaret, alioqui maiorem invidiam quam proxime passurus. 3 Erat sane prius, a paucis tamen, acclamatum exeunti. Subiunxit preces multumque lacrimarum; quin etiam tota actione homo in dicendo exercitatus operam dedit, ut deprecari magis — id enim et favorabilius et tutius — quam defendi videretur. 4 Absolutus est sententia designati consulis Afrani Dextri, cuius haec summa: melius quidem Nominatum fuisse facturum, si causam Vicetinorum eodem animo quo susceperat pertulisset; quia tamen in hoc genus culpae non fraude incidisset, nihilque dignum animadversione admisisse convinceretur, liberandum, ita ut Vicetinis quod acceperat redderet. 5 Assenserunt omnes praeter Fabium Aprum. Is interdicendum ei advocationibus in quinquennium censuit, et quamvis neminem auctoritate traxisset, constanter in sententia mansit; quin etiam Dextrum, qui primus diversum censuerat, prolata lege de senatu habendo iurare coegit e re publica esse quod censuisset. 6 Cui quamquam legitimae postulationi a quibusdam reclamatum est; exprobrare enim censenti ambitionem videbatur. Sed prius quam sententiae dicerentur, Nigrinus tribunus plebis recitavit libellum disertum et gravem, quo questus est venire advocationes, venire etiam praevaricationes, in lites coiri, et gloriae loco poni ex spoliis civium magnos et statos reditus. 7 Recitavit capita legum, admonuit senatus consultorum, in fine dixit petendum ab optimo principe, ut quia leges, quia senatus consulta contemnerentur, ipse tantis vitiis mederetur. 8 Pauci dies, et liber principis severus et tamen moderatus: leges ipsum; est in publicis actis. Quam me iuvat, quod in causis agendis non modo pactione dono munere verum etiam xeniis semper abstinui! 9 Oportet quidem, quae sunt inhonesta, non quasi illicita sed quasi pudenda vitare; iucundum tamen si prohiberi publice videas, quod numquam tibi ipse permiseris. 10 Erit fortasse, immo non dubie, huius propositi mei et minor laus et obscurior fama, cum omnes ex necessitate facient quod ego sponte faciebam. Interim fruor voluptate, cum alii divinum me, alii meis rapinis meae avaritiae occursum per ludum ac iocum dictitant. Vale.

XIII. — TO VALERIANUS.

In compliance with your request — and the promise I made to comply in case you asked me — I will write and tell you the upshot of the demand of Nepos in the matter of Tuscilius Nominatus. Nominatus was brought into the Senate, and he pleaded his own case. There was no one to accuse him, for the legates of the Vicetini, so far from making matters difficult for him, smoothed his path. The substance of his defence was that in his conduct of the case he had failed not in loyalty but in resolution, that he had come down with the intention of pleading and had been seen in the Senate-house, but had been discouraged by what his friends told him in conversation, and so had left the chamber. He had been advised, he said, not to oppose, especially in the Senate, a member of that body who was now fighting hard not so much to get leave to establish a market on his estate, as to maintain his influence, reputation, and position, and he was warned that if he did not give way he would come in for greater ill-will than had been recently shown him. It was true that he had been hissed as he left the chamber on the previous hearing, but only by a few people. He spoke in a very appealing way and shed a number of tears, and, throughout his pleading, he used his undoubted abilities as a speaker to make it seem that he was not so much defending his conduct as asking pardon for it, which was certainly the safest and best course for him to adopt.

He was acquitted on the motion of the consul-designate, Afranius Dexter, whose speech may be summarised as follows. He argued that Nominatus would have done much better if he had gone through with the cause of the Vicetini with the same resolution with which he had undertaken it, but that since his conduct, though blameworthy, was not fraudulent, and he had not been convicted of having committed any crime, he had better be acquitted on the understanding that he should return to the Vicetini the fees he had received from them. All present agreed, with the exception of Fabius Aper, who proposed that Nominatus should be disbarred for the term of five years, and he continued firmly in that opinion though he drew no one over to side with him. He even produced the law under which the meeting of the Senate had been convened, and forced Dexter, who had been the first to propose the resolution opposed to his, to swear that his proposal was for the good of the State. Though this demand was perfectly legal, certain members loudly protested against it, on the ground that Aper seemed to be accusing Dexter of showing undue favour to Nominatus. But before any further speeches were made to the motion, Nigrinus, a tribune of the plebs, read out a learned and weighty remonstrance in which he complained that counsel were bought and sold, that they would sell their clients’ cases, that they conspired together to make litigation, and that, instead of being satisfied with fame, they drew large and fixed amounts at the expense of citizens. He recited the heads of various laws, he recalled to their memories certain decrees of the Senate, and at last proposed that, as the laws and the decrees of the Senate were treated as a dead letter, they should petition their excellent Emperor to find a remedy for such a scandal.

A few days elapsed, and then the Emperor issued an edict which was at once moderate and severe. You will be able to read the text of it, for it appears in the official register. Imagine how delighted I am that I have always made a point of refusing for my services as counsel not only to enter into any understanding to receive presents and gifts in any shape, but even friendly acknowledgments! We ought indeed to refrain from doing anything that is not quite honourable, not because it is forbidden, but because we should be ashamed to do it; still it is gratifying to see a custom which you have never allowed yourself to follow publicly forbidden. Very likely — and in fact there is no doubt on the point — I shall reap fewer praises and my reputation will not shine as brightly when all the members of my profession find themselves compelled to behave as I did quite of my own free will. In the meantime I enjoy the pleasure of hearing some of my friends say that I must have foreseen what was coming, while others banter me by declaring that the new edict has been designed to put a stop to my plunder and greed. Farewell.

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14. C. PLINIUS PONTIO ALLIFANO SUO S.

1 Secesseram in municipium, cum mihi nuntiatum est Cornutum Tertullum accepisse Aemiliae viae curam. 2 Exprimere non possum, quanto sim gaudio affectus, et ipsius et meo nomine: ipsius quod, sit licet — sicut est — ab omni ambitione longe remotus, debet tamen ei iucundus honor esse ultro datus, meo quod aliquanto magis me delectat mandatum mihi officium, postquam par Cornuto datum video. 3 Neque enim augeri dignitate quam aequari bonis gratius. Cornuto autem quid melius, quid sanctius, quid in omni genere laudis ad exemplar antiquitatis expressius? quod mihi cognitum est non fama, qua alioqui optima et meritissima fruitur, sed longis magnisque experimentis. 4 Una diligimus, una dileximus omnes fere quos aetas nostra in utroque sexu aemulandos tulit; quae societas amicitiarum artissima nos familiaritate coniunxit. 5 Accessit vinculum necessitudinis publicae; idem enim mihi, ut scis, collega quasi voto petitus in praefectura aerarii fuit, fuit et in consulatu. Tum ego qui vir et quantus esset altissime inspexi, cum sequerer ut magistrum, ut parentem vererer, quod non tam aetatis maturitate quam vitae merebatur. 6 His ex causis ut illi sic mihi gratulor, nec privatim magis quam publice, quod tandem homines non ad pericula ut prius verum ad honores virtute perveniunt.

7 In infinitum epistulam extendam, si gaudio meo indulgeam. Praevertor ad ea, quae me agentem hic nuntius deprehendit. 8 Eram cum prosocero meo, eram cum amita uxoris, eram cum amicis diu desideratis, circumibam agellos, audiebam multum rusticarum querellarum, rationes legebam invitus et cursim — aliis enim chartis, aliis sum litteris initiatus -, coeperam etiam itineri me praeparare. 8 Nam includor angustiis commeatus, eoque ipso, quod delegatum Cornuto audio officium, mei admoneor. Cupio te quoque sub idem tempus Campania tua remittat, ne quis cum in urbem rediero, contubernio nostro dies pereat. Vale.

XIV. — TO PONTIUS.

I had already retired to my township when the news was brought to me that Cornutus Tertullus had accepted the curatorship of the Aemilian Way. I cannot tell you how delighted I am, both for his own sake and for mine. I am pleased for his sake, because, though he is unquestionably entirely void of all ambitious aspirations, he cannot but be gratified at being offered a post without seeking it; and I am pleased on my own account, because I am all the more satisfied with my own employment now that Cornutus has had a position of equal eminence given to him. For it is just as gratifying to be placed on an equality with worthy citizens as to receive a step up in one’s official position. And where is there a better man than Cornutus, or a man of more noble life? Where will you find one who follows more closely the ancient pattern in all that is praiseworthy? I know his virtues not by hearsay alone, though he enjoys a richly deserved reputation everywhere, but from a personal experience extending over many years.

We both of us entertain an affectionate regard, and have done for years, for all the worthy persons of both sexes whom our age has produced, and this community of friendships has thrown us together into the most intimate relations. Another link in the chain has been the closeness of our public connection. As you know, he was my colleague as prefect of the Treasury — thus realising, so to speak, my dearest wish — and again he was associated with me in the consulship. It was there that I obtained my clearest insight into the character and real greatness of the man, when I followed his judgment as a magistrate and reverenced him as a parent, while my veneration was inspired not so much by the ripeness of his years as by the ripeness of his general character. Hence it is that I congratulate both him and myself, for public reasons quite as much as for personal ones, in that now at last a virtuous life leads a man not to peril, as it used to do, but to public honours.

I should let my pen run on for ever if I were to give my joy a free course, so I will turn back to tell you how I was engaged when the messenger came and found me. I was with my wife’s grandfather and her aunt, and in the company of friends I had long wished to see. I was going the round of the estate, hearing no end of complaints from my tenants, reading over with an unwilling eye and in a cursory fashion the accounts — for I have been consecrating my energies to papers and books of quite a different style — and I had even begun to make preparations for my journey. For I am rather pressed owing to the shortness of my leave, and I am reminded of my own public duties by hearing of those which have been entrusted to Cornutus. I hope that your Campanian villa may spare you about the same time, lest, when I return to town, I should lose a single day of your company. Farewell.

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15. C. PLINIUS ARRIO ANTONINO SUO S.

1 Cum versus tuos aemulor, tum maxime quam sint boni experior. Ut enim pictores pulchram absolutamque faciem raro nisi in peius effingunt, ita ego ab hoc archetypo labor et decido. 2 Quo magis hortor, ut quam plurima proferas, quae imitari omnes concupiscant, nemo aut paucissimi possint. Vale.

XV. — TO ARRIUS ANTONINUS.

It is when I try to equal your verses that I most fully appreciate how excellent they are. For just as painters rarely succeed in putting a perfectly beautiful face on their canvas without doing injustice to the original, so, though I slave hard with your verses as my model, I always fall short. Let me urge you then to publish as many as possible, so good that every one will burn to imitate them, and yet no one, or but very few, will succeed in the attempt. Farewell.

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16. C. PLINIUS AEFULANO MARCELLINO SUO S.

1 Tristissimus haec tibi scribo, Fundani nostri filia minore defuncta. Qua puella nihil umquam festivius amabilius, nec modo longiore vita sed prope immortalitate dignius vidi. 2 Nondum annos xiiii impleverat, et iam illi anilis prudentia, matronalis gravitas erat et tamen suavitas puellaris cum virginali verecundia. 3 Ut illa patris cervicibus inhaerebat! ut nos amicos paternos et amanter et modeste complectebatur! ut nutrices, ut paedagogos, ut praeceptores pro suo quemque officio diligebat! quam studiose, quam intellegenter lectitabat! ut parce custoditeque ludebat! Qua illa temperantia, qua patientia, qua etiam constantia novissimam valetudinem tulit! 4 Medicis obsequebatur, sororem patrem adhortabatur ipsamque se destitutam corporis viribus vigore animi sustinebat. 5 Duravit hic illi usque ad extremum, nec aut spatio valetudinis aut metu mortis infractus est, quo plures gravioresque nobis causas relinqueret et desiderii et doloris. 6 O triste plane acerbumque funus! o morte ipsa mortis tempus indignius! iam testinata erat egregio iuveni, iam electus nuptiarum dies, iam nos vocati. Quod gaudium quo maerore mutatum est! 7 Non possum exprimere verbis quantum animo vulnus acceperim, cum audivi Fundanum ipsum, ut multa luctuosa dolor invenit, praecipientem, quod in vestes margarita gemmas fuerat erogaturus, hoc in tus et unguenta et odores impenderetur. 8 Est quidem ille eruditus et sapiens, ut qui se ab ineunte aetate altioribus studiis artibusque dediderit; sed nunc omnia, quae audiit saepe quae dixit, aspernatur expulsisque virtutibus aliis pietatis est totus. 9 Ignosces, laudabis etiam, si cogitaveris quid amiserit. Amisit enim filiam, quae non minus mores eius quam os vultumque referebat, totumque patrem mira similitudine exscripserat. 10 Proinde si quas ad eum de dolore tam iusto litteras mittes, memento adhibere solacium non quasi castigatorium et nimis forte, sed molle et humanum. Quod ut facilius admittat, multum faciet medii temporis spatium. 11 Ut enim crudum adhuc vulnus medentium manus reformidat, deinde patitur atque ultro requirit, sic recens animi dolor consolationes reicit ac refugit, mox desiderat et clementer admotis acquiescit. Vale.

XVI. — TO MARCELLINUS.

I am writing to you in great distress. The younger daughter of your friend Fundanus is dead, and I never saw a girl of a brighter and more lovable disposition, nor one who better deserved length of days or even to live for ever. She had hardly completed her fourteenth year, yet she possessed the prudence of old age and the sedateness of a matron, with the sweetness of a child and the modesty of a maiden. How she used to cling round her father’s neck! How tenderly and modestly she embraced us who were her father’s friends! Her nurses, her teachers and tutors, how well she loved them, each according to his station! With what application and quickness she used to read, while her amusements were never carried to excess and never overstepped the mark. What resignation, patience and fortitude she showed during her last illness! She obeyed her doctor’s orders, she cheered her sister and father, and when her body had lost all its strength, she kept herself alive by the vigour of her mind. This never failed her right up to the end, nor was it broken down by her long illness or by the fear of death, and this has made us miss her all the more severely and made our sorrow all the heavier to bear. What a sad, heart-rending funeral it was! The moment of her death seemed even more cruel than death itself, for she had just been betrothed to a youth of splendid character; the day of the wedding had been decided upon, and we had already been summoned to attend it. Think into what terrible grief our joy was changed! I really cannot tell you in words how acutely I felt it when I heard Fundanus himself, for one sorrow always leads on to other bitter sorrows — giving the order that the money he had intended to lay out upon wedding raiment, pearls and gems, should be spent upon incense, unguents and scents.

He is, it is true, a man of learning and wisdom, who from early years has devoted himself to the deeper studies and the nobler arts, but, at a moment like this, all the philosophy he has ever heard from others or uttered himself is put on one side. All virtues but one are disregarded for the time being — he can only think of parental love. You will forgive and even praise him for this, if you consider the loss he has suffered. For he has lost a daughter who reflected in herself, not only his face and feature, but his character, and one who was the living image of her father in every particular. If you send him a letter in the midst of this rightful grief of his, be careful to use words of solace which will not flay the heart or deal roughly with his sorrow, but which will soothe and ease his pain. The time which has elapsed will make him the more likely to admit your words of consolation, for, just as a raw wound first shrinks from the touch of the doctor’s hand, then bears it without flinching and actually welcomes it, so with mental anguish we reject and fly from consolation when the pain is fresh, then after a time we look for it and find relief in its soothing application. Farewell.

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17. C. PLINIUS VESTRICIO SPURINNAE SUO S.

1 Scio quanto opere bonis artibus faveas, quantum gaudium capias, si nobiles iuvenes dignum aliquid maioribus suis faciant. Quo festinantius nuntio tibi fuisse me hodie in auditorio Calpurni Pisonis. 2 Recitabat ‘katasterismôn’ eruditam sane luculentamque materiam. Scripta elegis erat fluentibus et teneris et enodibus, sublimibus etiam, ut poposcit locus. Apte enim et varie nunc attollebatur, nunc residebat; excelsa depressis, exilia plenis, severis iucunda mutabat, omnia ingenio pari. 3 Commendabat haec voce suavissima, vocem verecundia: multum sanguinis, multum sollicitudinis in ore, magna ornamenta recitantis. Etenim nescio quo pacto magis in studiis homines timor quam fiducia decet. 4 Ne plura — quamquam libet plura, quo sunt pulchriora de iuvene, rariora de nobili -, recitatione finita multum ac diu exosculatus adulescentem, qui est acerrimus stimulus monendi, laudibus incitavi, pergeret qua coepisset, lumenque quod sibi maiores sui praetulissent, posteris ipse praeferret. 5 Gratulatus sum optimae matri, gratulatus et fratri, qui ex auditorio illo non minorem pietatis gloriam quam ille alter eloquentiae retulit: tam notabiliter pro fratre recitante primum metus eius, mox gaudium eminuit.

6 Di faciant ut talia tibi saepius nuntiem! Faveo enim saeculo ne sit sterile et effetum, mireque cupio ne nobiles nostri nihil in domibus suis pulchrum nisi imagines habeant; quae nunc mihi hos adulescentes tacitae laudare adhortari, et quod amborum gloriae satis magnum est, agnoscere videntur. Vale.

XVII. — TO SPURINNA.

I know what an interest you take in the liberal arts, and how delighted you are when young men of rank do anything worthy of their ancestry. That is why I am losing no time to tell you that to-day I made one of the audience of Calpurnius Piso. He was reading his poem on the Legends of the Stars, and it was a learned and very excellent composition. It was written in fluent, graceful, and smooth elegiacs, and rose even to lofty heights as occasion demanded. The style was cleverly varied, in some places it soared, in others it was subdued; passing from the grand to the commonplace, from thinness to richness, and from lively to severe, and in each case with consummate skill. The sweetness of his voice lent it an additional charm, and his modesty made even his voice the sweeter, while his blushes and his nervousness, which were very plain to see, still further set off the reading. I don’t know why, but diffidence becomes a man of letters much more than over-confidence. However, to cut the story short, — though I would gladly say more, because such performances are all the more charming when given by a young man, and all the rarer when he is of noble birth, — as soon as the reading was concluded, I embraced the youth with great cordiality, and by showering praises upon him — which are always the best incentive when giving advice — I urged him to go on as he had begun, and hold out to his descendants the light which his own ancestors had held out to him. I congratulated his excellent mother and also his brother, who made one of the audience, and indeed achieved as much reputation for brotherly feeling as his brother Calpurnius did for his eloquence, for while the latter was reading everybody noticed first the nervous look on the brother’s face, and then the expression of joy. I pray Heaven that I may often have such news for you, for I am very partial to the age I live in, and I hope that it may not prove barren and worthless. I am really most anxious that our young men of rank should have some other beautiful objects in their houses besides the busts of their ancestors, and it seems to me that the latter tacitly approve and encourage these two young men, and even recognise them as their true descendants, which is in itself a sufficiently high compliment to both. Farewell.

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18. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO MACRO SUO S.

1 Bene est mihi quia tibi bene est. Habes uxorem tecum, habes filium; frueris mari fontibus viridibus agro villa amoenissima. Neque enim dubito esse amoenissimam, in qua se composuerat homo felicior, ante quam felicissimus fieret. 2 Ego in Tuscis et venor et studeo, quae interdum alternis, interdum simul facio; nec tamen adhuc possum pronuntiare, utrum sit difficilius capere aliquid an scribere. Vale.

XVIII. — TO CALPURNIUS MACER.

As all is well with you, all is well with me. You have your wife with you, and your son; you enjoy your sea-view, your fountains, greenery, estate, and your charming villa. I cannot doubt that the latter is most charming, inasmuch as it was the home of the man who was even happier there than when he became the happiest man on earth. I am staying at my Tuscan house; I hunt and I study, sometimes in turns, sometimes both together, and I cannot as yet tell you whether I find it more difficult to catch anything or to compose anything. Farewell.

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19. C. PLINIUS VALERIO PAULINO SUO S.

1 Video quam molliter tuos habeas; quo simplicius tibi confitebor, qua indulgentia meos tractem. 2 Est mihi semper in animo et Homericum illud ‘patêr d’ hôs êpios êen’ et hoc nostrum ‘pater familiae’. Quod si essem natura asperior et durior, frangeret me tamen infirmitas liberti mei Zosimi, cui tanto maior humanitas exhibenda est, quanto nunc illa magis eget. 3 Homo probus officiosus litteratus; et ars quidem eius et quasi inscriptio comoedus, in qua plurimum facit. Nam pronuntiat acriter sapienter apte decenter etiam; utitur et cithara perite, ultra quam comoedo necesse est. Idem tam commode orationes et historias et carmina legit, ut hoc solum didicisse videatur. 4 Haec tibi sedulo exposui, quo magis scires, quam multa unus mihi et quam iucunda ministeria praestaret. Accedit longa iam caritas hominis, quam ipsa pericula auxerunt. 5 Est enim ita natura comparatum, ut nihil aeque amorem incitet et accendat quam carendi metus; quem ego pro hoc non semel patior. 6 Nam ante aliquot annos, dum intente instanterque pronuntiat, sanguinem reiecit atque ob hoc in Aegyptum missus a me post longam peregrinationem confirmatus rediit nuper; deinde dum per continuos dies nimis imperat voci, veteris infirmitatis tussicula admonitus rursus sanguinem reddidit. 7 Qua ex causa destinavi eum mittere in praedia tua, quae Foro Iulii possides. Audivi enim te saepe referentem esse ibi et aera salubrem et lac eiusmodi curationibus accommodatissimum. 8 Rogo ergo scribas tuis, ut illi villa, ut domus pateat, offerant etiam sumptibus eius, si quid opus erit. 9 Erit autem opus modico; est enim tam parcus et continens, ut non solum delicias verum etiam necessitates valetudinis frugalitate restringat. Ego proficiscenti tantum viatici dabo, quantum sufficiat eunti in tua. Vale.

XIX. — TO PAULINUS.

I notice how kindly you treat your servants, so I will be quite frank with you, and tell you with what indulgence I treat mine. I always bear in mind that phrase in Homer, “like a father mild,” and our own Latin phrase, “father of his family.” Even if I had naturally been of a harsher and less genial disposition, the weakness of my freedman Zosimus would melt my harshness, for one has to show him greater kindness just in proportion as he needs it more at his time of life. He is an honest fellow, devoted to his duties and well-educated, but his chief accomplishment and, so to speak, his particular recommendation is his skill in playing comedy, in which he is really admirable. For his delivery is sharp, intelligent, to the point, and even graceful, and he plays the harp much better than is usually expected from a comedian. He is also so clever in reading speeches, history and poetry, that you would fancy he had never studied anything else. I have gone into all this detail to show you how many services this one man can render me, and how pleasant they are. Moreover, I have long entertained a great regard for him, which has been increased by his serious ill-health, for Nature has so arranged it that nothing fires and stimulates our affection so much as the fear of losing the object of it, and I have on more than one occasion been afraid of losing Zosimus.

Some years since, while he was reciting with great earnestness and fire, he spat blood, and I sent him on that account to Egypt, from which country he recently returned with his health restored. Then, after severely taxing his voice for days together, he was warned of his old malady by a slight cough, and once more brought up some blood. So I have decided to send him to the farm which you own at Forum Julii, for I have often heard you say that the air there is healthy, and the milk peculiarly beneficial to complaints of this kind. I should be glad, therefore, if you will write to your people to take him in at the house and give him lodging, and accommodate him with anything he may require at his expense. His needs will be very small, for he is so sparing and abstemious that his frugality leads him to deny himself, not only dainties, but even that which is necessary for his weak health. When he sets out, I will give him sufficient travelling money for one who is going to your part of the country. Farewell.

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20. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO URSO SUO S.

1 Iterum Bithyni: breve tempus a Iulio Basso, et Rufum Varenum proconsulem detulerunt, Varenum quem nuper adversus Bassum advocatum et postularant et acceperant. Inducti in senatum inquisitionem postulaverunt. 2 Varenus petit ut sibi quoque defensionis causa evocare testes liceret; recusantibus Bithynis cognitio suscepta est. Egi pro Vareno non sine eventu; nam bene an male liber indicabit. 3 In actionibus enim utramque in partem fortuna dominatur: multum commendationis et detrahit et affert memoria vox gestus tempus ipsum, postremo vel amor vel odium rei; liber offensis, liber gratia, liber et secundis casibus et adversis caret. 4 Respondit mihi Fonteius Magnus, unus ex Bithynis, plurimis verbis paucissimis rebus. Est plerisque Graecorum, ut illi, pro copia volubilitas: tam longas tamque frigidas perihodos uno spiritu quasi torrente contorquent. 5 Itaque Iulius Candidus non invenuste solet dicere, aliud esse eloquentiam aliud loquentiam. Nam eloquentia vix uni aut alteri, immo — si M. Antonio credimus — nemini, haec vero, quam Candidus loquentiam appellat, multis atque etiam impudentissimo cuique maxime contigit. 6 Postero die dixit pro Vareno Homullus callide acriter culte, contra Nigrinus presse graviter ornate. Censuit Acilius Rufus consul designatus inquisitionem Bithynis dandam, postulationem Vareni silentio praeteriit. 7 Haec forma negandi fuit. Cornelius Priscus consularis et accusatoribus quae petebant et reo tribuit, vicitque numero. Impetravimus rem nec lege comprehensam nec satis usitatam, iustam tamen. 8 Quare iustam, non sum epistula exsecuturus, ut desideres actionem. Nam si verum est Homericum illud:

‘tên gar aoidên mallon epikleious’ anthrôpoi,
<hê tis akouontessi neôt>atê amphipelêtai’,

providendum est mihi, ne gratiam novitatis et florem, quae oratiunculam illam vel maxime commendat, epistulae loquacitate praecerpam. Vale.

XX. — TO URSUS.

Within a short time of their impeaching Julius Bassus the Bithynians brought a second action, this time against Rufus Varenus, their proconsul, the very man whom, in their action against Bassus, they had received permission, at their own request, to retain as their advocate. On being brought into the Senate they applied for a commission to be appointed to investigate their charges, and Varenus sought leave to be allowed to bring witnesses from the province in his defence. To this the Bithynians objected, and the matter came to a debate. I acted on behalf of Varenus, and my pleading was not without good results. I am justified in saying this, as my written speech will show whether I spoke well or badly. For in delivering a speech chance has a controlling influence on success or failure. A speech either gains or loses a good deal according to the memory, voice, and gesture of the speaker, and even the time taken in delivery, to say nothing of the popularity or unpopularity of the accused; whereas a written speech profits nothing from these advantages, loses nothing by these disadvantages, and is subject neither to lucky nor unlucky accidents.

Fonteius Magnus, one of the Bithynians, replied to me at great length, but he made very few points. Like most of the Greeks, he mistakes volubility for fulness of treatment, and they pour forth in a single breath a perfect torrent of long-winded and frigid periods. Julius Candidus rather wittily says apropos of this that eloquence is one thing and loquacity another. For there have been only one or two people who can be described as eloquent — not one indeed if Marcus Antonius is to be believed, — but scores of persons possess what Candidus calls loquacity, and loquacity and impudence usually go together. On the following day, Homullus spoke on behalf of Varenus, and delivered a skilful, powerful, and polished speech, while Nigrinus replied with terseness, dignity, and elegance. Acilius Rufus, the consul-designate, proposed that the Commission of Enquiry asked for by the Bithynians should be allowed, and said not a word about the request of Varenus, which was tantamount to proposing that it should be negatived. Cornelius Priscus, the consular, moved that the requests of both the accusers and the accused should be granted, and he carried a majority with him. The point we asked for was not within the four corners of the law and was not quite covered by precedent, but none the less it was entirely reasonable, though why it was reasonable I shall not tell you in this letter, in order to make you ask for a copy of my pleading. For if it be true, as Homer says, that “men always prize the song the most which rings newest in their ears,” I must beware lest by allowing myself to go chattering on in this letter I destroy all the charm of novelty in that little speech of mine, which is the main thing it has to commend itself to you. Farewell.

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21. C. PLINIUS POMPEIO SATURNINO SUO S.

1 Varie me affecerunt litterae tuae; nam partim laeta partim tristia continebant: laeta quod te in urbe teneri nuntiabant— ‘nollem’ inquis; sed ego volo -, praeterea quod recitaturum statim ut venissem pollicebantur; ago gratias quod exspector. 2 Triste illud, quod Iulius Valens graviter iacet; quamquam ne hoc quidem triste, si illius utilitatibus aestimetur, cuius interest quam maturissime inexplicabili morbo liberari. 3 Illud plane non triste solum verum etiam luctuosum, quod Iulius Avitus decessit dum ex quaestura redit, decessit in nave, procul a fratre amantissimo, procul a matre a sororibus 4 — nihil ista ad mortuum pertinent, sed pertinuerunt cum moreretur, pertinent ad hos qui supersunt -; iam quod in flore primo tantae indolis iuvenis exstinctus est summa consecuturus, si virtutes eius maturuissent. 5 Quo ille studiorum amore flagrabat! quantum legit, quantum etiam scripsit! quae nunc omnia cum ipso sine fructu posteritatis abierunt. 6 Sed quid ego indulgeo dolori? Cui si frenos remittas, nulla materia non maxima est. Finem epistulae faciam, ut facere possim etiam lacrimis quas epistula expressit. Vale.

XXI. — TO SATURNINUS.

Your letter has aroused in me conflicting emotions, for part of the news it contained made me glad, and part made me sorrowful. I was glad to hear that you were detained in town, for though you say it was much against your will, it was not against mine, especially as you promise that you will give a reading as soon as I arrive. So I thank you for waiting my coming. The bad news was that Julius Valens is lying seriously ill, although even this should not sadden us, if we only think of what is best for him, for it will be much better for him to obtain as speedy a release as possible from a disease which is past all cure. No, the real sad news, or rather heartrending news is that Julius Avitus died on ship-board while returning from his quaestorship, miles away from the brother who was devoted to him, and from his mother and sisters. Those are circumstances which do not affect him now that he is dead, but they did affect him on his death-bed, and they are a great trouble to his surviving relatives, especially as he was a young man of such promise and would have reached the highest offices in the State if only his qualities had had time to ripen. And now he has been cut down in the very flower of manhood! What a keen and enthusiastic student he was, how well read, and what a number of essays he had made in writing! Yet all have perished with him and left no fruit for posterity to reap. But it is useless for me to indulge my sorrow, for if once one gives it free play, even the slightest occasions for grief are magnified into crushing blows. I will write no more, and so check the tears which this letter has made to flow. Farewell.

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LIBER SEXTVS

BOOK VI.

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1. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

1 Quamdiu ego trans Padum tu in Piceno, minus te requirebam; postquam ego in urbe tu adhuc in Piceno, multo magis, seu quod ipsa loca in quibus esse una solemus acrius me tui commonent, seu quod desiderium absentium nihil perinde ac vicinitas acuit, quoque propius accesseris ad spem fruendi, hoc impatientius careas. 2 Quidquid in causa, eripe me huic tormento. Veni, aut ego illuc unde inconsulte properavi revertar, vel ob hoc solum, ut experiar an mihi, cum sine me Romae coeperis esse, similes his epistulas mittas. Vale.

1. — TO TIRO.

So long as I was on the other side of the Po, and you were in the district of Picenum, I missed you less; since I am in town, while you are still in Picenum, I miss you a great deal more; whether it is that the very spots where we are accustomed to be together bring you more keenly to my remembrance; or else that nothing sharpens one’s longing after absent friends so much as vicinity to them, and so, the nearer you come to the hope of enjoying their society, the more impatient are you at being deprived of it. Whatever be the cause, deliver me from this misery. Come to me, or else I shall return to the place whence I rashly hurried, if only for this purpose, in order to learn by experience whether you, when you first find yourself in Rome without me, will write me such a letter as this.

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2. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

1 Soleo non numquam in iudiciis quaerere M. Regulum; nolo enim dicere desiderare. 2 Cur ergo quaero? Habebat studiis honorem, timebat pallebat scribebat, quamvis non posset ediscere. Illud ipsum, quod oculum modo dextrum modo sinistrum circumlinebat — dextrum si a petitore, alterum si a possessore esset acturus -, quod candidum splenium in hoc aut in illud supercilium transferebat, quod semper haruspices consulebat de actionis eventu, a nimia superstitione sed tamen et a magno studiorum honore veniebat. 3 Iam illa perquam iucunda una dicentibus, quod libera tempora petebat, quod audituros corrogabat. Quid enim iucundius quam sub alterius invidia quamdiu velis, et in alieno auditorio quasi deprehensum commode dicere?

4 Sed utcumque se habent ista, bene fecit Regulus quod est mortuus: melius, si ante. Nunc enim sane poterat sine malo publico vivere, sub eo principe sub quo nocere non poterat. 5 Ideo fas est non numquam eum quaerere. Nam, postquam obiit ille, increbruit passim et invaluit consuetudo binas vel singulas clepsydras, interdum etiam dimidias et dandi et petendi. Nam et qui dicunt, egisse malunt quam agere, et qui audiunt, finire quam iudicare. Tanta neglegentia tanta desidia, tanta denique irreverentia studiorum periculorumque est. 6 An nos sapientiores maioribus nostris, nos legibus ipsis iustiores, quae tot horas tot dies tot comperendinationes largiuntur? Hebetes illi et supra modum tardi; nos apertius dicimus, celerius intellegimus, religiosius iudicamus, quia paucioribus clepsydris praecipitamus causas quam diebus explicari solebant. 7 O Regule, qui ambitione ab omnibus obtinebas quod fidei paucissimi praestant! Equidem quotiens iudico, quod vel saepius facio quam dico, quantum quis plurimum postulat aquae do. 8 Etenim temerarium existimo divinare quam spatiosa sit causa inaudita, tempusque negotio finire cuius modum ignores, praesertim cum primam religioni suae iudex patientiam debeat, quae pars magna iustitiae est. At quaedam supervacua dicuntur. Etiam: sed satius est et haec dici quam non dici necessaria. 9 Praeterea, an sint supervacua, nisi cum audieris scire non possis. Sed de his melius coram ut de pluribus vitiis civitatis. Nam tu quoque amore communium soles emendari cupere quae iam corrigere difficile est.

10 Nunc respiciamus domos nostras. Ecquid omnia in tua recte? in mea novi nihil. Mihi autem et gratiora sunt bona quod perseverant, et leviora incommoda quod assuevi. Vale.

2. — TO ARRIANUS.

It happens to me not unfrequently, in our law courts, to miss M. Regulus: I would not say, to regret him. Why, then, to miss him? Because he held our profession in honour, and used to be solicitous, and wan with study, and to write out his speeches, though he never could learn them by heart. The very fact that he used to paint round, sometimes his right, sometimes his left eye, the right one if he was going to speak for a plaintiff, and the left if for a defendant; that he used to transfer a white plaster from one eyebrow to another; that he always consulted the soothsayers on the result of his pleadings: all this originated, it is true, in excessive superstition, and yet at the same time in a great regard for the profession. This, to begin with, was particularly pleasant to those who were engaged in the same causes, that he always asked for unlimited time, and got together an audience by invitation; for what can be more pleasant than to speak as long as you like, while the annoyance is laid to another’s charge, and to speak at your ease, yet with an appearance of being surprised by an audience which others have got together. But, however all this may be, Regulus did well to die, and he would have done better if he had died sooner. Now, certainly, he might have lived without injury to the public, under a Prince in whose reign he could have done no mischief. So it is allowable to miss him sometimes. For since his death a custom has extensively and increasingly prevailed of demanding, as well as allotting, two water-clocks per speaker or even one, sometimes as little as half a one; since the bar want to have done with their speeches rather than to speak, and the bench to have finished their business rather than to judge. Such is the negligence, the apathy, and in short the irreverence, with which our profession and its perils are regarded. Pray, are we wiser than our ancestors? Are we more just than the laws themselves, which freely accord so many hours, so many days, so many adjournments? Were those ancestors of ours dullards and beyond measure slow, and do we speak more clearly, understand more rapidly, and decide more conscientiously, because we hurry through our causes with a smaller number of water-clocks than they used to take days to settle them in? O Regulus, you used to obtain from all the judges by your artifices that which extremely few of them accord to integrity! I at all events, whenever I sit as judge (which is my place even more often than at the bar), allow as much water as any one asks for; inasmuch as I deem it an act of temerity to predict the length of a cause still unheard, and to place a limit of time on a matter whose proportions are unknown, particularly since the first thing which a judge owes to the faithful discharge of his duty is patience, which indeed is a large ingredient in justice. But a good deal that is superfluous is spoken! Be it so: yet it is better that even this should be spoken, than that what is essential should be unspoken. Besides you cannot possibly know whether it is superfluous or not, till you have heard what it is. However it will be better to talk of this, and of many other public abuses, when we meet. For you too, with your regard for the common interests, are in general desirous that matters which it would now be difficult to set straight may be at any rate amended.

Now, let us cast a glance at our households. Pray, is all well in yours? In mine, there is nothing new; and for me, the blessings I enjoy are rendered more grateful by their continuance, while incommodities are lightened by habit.

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3. C. PLINIUS VERO SUO S.

1 Gratias ago, quod agellum quem nutrici meae donaveram colendum suscepisti. Erat, cum donarem, centum milium nummum; postea decrescente reditu etiam pretium minuit, quod nunc te curante reparabit. 2 Tu modo memineris commendari tibi a me non arbores et terram, quamquam haec quoque, sed munusculum meum, quod esse quam fructuosissimum non illius magis interest quae accepit, quam mea qui dedi. Vale.

3. — TO VERUS.

I thank you for undertaking the cultivation of the farm given by me to my nurse. It was worth a hundred thousand sesterces when I gave it her. Subsequently, the returns diminishing, its value fell with them; but now under your management it will recover itself. Only please to bear in mind that I am entrusting to you not trees and soil merely — though I do entrust these as well — but my small present. And that this should be as productive as possible is not of greater interest to her who received than to me who bestowed it.

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4. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

1 Numquam sum magis de occupationibus meis questus, quae me non sunt passae aut proficiscentem te valetudinis causa in Campaniam prosequi aut profectam e vestigio subsequi. 2 Nunc enim praecipue simul esse cupiebam, ut oculis meis crederem quid viribus quid corpusculo apparares, ecquid denique secessus voluptates regionisque abundantiam inoffensa transmitteres. 3 Equidem etiam fortem te non sine cura desiderarem; est enim suspensum et anxium de eo quem ardentissime diligas interdum nihil scire. 4 Nunc vero me cum absentiae tum infirmitatis tuae ratio incerta et varia sollicitudine exterret. Vereor omnia, imaginor omnia, quaeque natura metuentium est, ea maxime mihi quae maxime abominor fingo. 5 Quo impensius rogo, ut timori meo cottidie singulis vel etiam binis epistulis consulas. Ero enim securior dum lego, statimque timebo cum legero. Vale.

4. — TO CULPURNIA, HIS WIFE.

I never complained more than now of my occupations, which did not suffer me either to accompany you when you started for Campania for your health’s sake, or to follow close after your departure. For at this time particularly I desired to be with you, in order to judge with my own eyes how far you are recruiting your strength and your dear little body, and, in short, whether you have passed through that delightful retreat and rich country without receiving any hurt. Indeed, if you were quite strong, my longing after you would not be unmingled with anxiety: for to be sometimes without news of an ardently beloved object is fraught with suspense and uneasiness. Now, however, the consideration of your delicate health, as well as your absence, torments me with vague disquietudes of various kinds. I apprehend everything, conjure up everything, and, as the nature of frightened people is, the things which of all others I deprecate are precisely those which I picture to myself. Wherefore, I the more urgently beseech you to have regard for my fears by writing me one, or even two letters a day. For I shall be more comfortable while reading them, and shall straightway fall to fear again, as soon as they are read.

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5. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

1 Scripseram tenuisse Varenum, ut sibi evocare testes liceret; quod pluribus aequum, quibusdam iniquum et quidem pertinaciter visum, maxime Licinio Nepoti, qui sequenti senatu, cum de rebus aliis referretur, de proximo senatus consulto disseruit finitamque causam retractavit. 2 Addidit etiam petendum a consulibus ut referrent sub exemplo legis ambitus de lege repetundarum, an placeret in futurum ad eam legem adici, ut sicut accusatoribus inquirendi testibusque denuntiandi potestas ex ea lege esset, ita reis quoque fieret. 3 Fuerunt quibus haec eius oratio ut sera et intempestiva et praepostera displiceret, quae omisso contra dicendi tempore castigaret peractum, cui potuisset occurrere. 4 Iuventius quidem Celsus praetor tamquam emendatorem senatus et multis et vehementer increpuit. Respondit Nepos rursusque Celsus; neuter contumeliis temperavit. 5 Nolo referre quae dici ab ipsis moleste tuli. Quo magis quosdam e numero nostro improbavi, qui modo ad Celsum modo ad Nepotem, prout hic vel ille diceret, cupiditate audiendi cursitabant, et nunc quasi stimularent et accenderent, nunc quasi reconciliarent ac recomponerent, frequentius singulis, ambobus interdum propitium Caesarem ut in ludicro aliquo precabantur. 6 Mihi quidem illud etiam peracerbum fuit, quod sunt alter alteri quid pararent indicati. Nam et Celsus Nepoti ex libello respondit et Celso Nepos ex pugillaribus. 7 Tanta loquacitas amicorum, ut homines iurgaturi id ipsum invicem scierint, tamquam convenisset. Vale.

5. — TO URSUS.

I wrote you word that Varenus had obtained leave to compel the attendance of witnesses on his behalf; which seemed to most to be fair, though some were obstinate in thinking it unjust, particularly Licinius Nepos, who, at the next meeting of the Senate, when other matters were before it, discussed the recent decree, thus reopening a cause which had been disposed of. He went so far as to add that the Consuls should be asked to submit a motion (after the precedent of the Bribery Laws) on the subject of that against extortion. “Was it their pleasure that, for the future, an addition should be made to that law to the effect that, as the law in question gave power to accusers to collect materials and to enforce the attendance of witnesses, so a similar power should be given to the accused?” There were some who were displeased by this speech of his, as coming too late, out of season, and in the wrong place; inasmuch as the proper time for speaking against the decree had been neglected, and now fault was found with that which had been settled and which might have been opposed. Indeed Juventius Celsus, the Prætor, reproved him at length and with vigour for setting himself up as a corrector of the Senate. Nepos replied, and Celsus retorted; and neither of them refrained from insults. I don’t choose to record words which I was vexed to hear them utter, so as to make me all the more indignant at some of our order, who were running backwards and forwards from Celsus to Nepos, according as one or the other was speaking, from curiosity to hear; and who by way of egging them on and inflaming them at one time, of reconciling and making it up between them at another, invoked “the approval of Cæsar,” generally on behalf of each singly, but at times in favour of both, as at some spectacle for the public amusement! What to my mind was a most painful feature in all this, was that each had got information of what the other was preparing for him; for Celsus replied to Nepos from a written paper, and Nepos to Celsus from his note-book. Such was the loquacity of their friends that these men, on the point of wrangling, had a mutual knowledge of the event, just as though it had been arranged between them.

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6. C. PLINIUS FUNDANO SUO S.

1 Si quando, nunc praecipue cuperem esse te Romae, et sis rogo. Opus est mihi voti laboris sollicitudinis socio. Petit honores Iulius Naso; petit cum multis, cum bonis, quos ut gloriosum sic est difficile superare. 2 Pendeo ergo et exerceor spe, afficior metu et me consularem esse non sentio; nam rursus mihi videor omnium quae decucurri candidatus. 3 Meretur hanc curam longa mei caritate. Est mihi cum illo non sane paterna amicitia — neque enim esse potuit per meam aetatem -; solebat tamen vixdum adulescentulo mihi pater eius cum magna laude monstrari. Erat non studiorum tantum verum etiam studiosorum amantissimus ac prope cotidie ad audiendos, quos tunc ego frequentabam, Quintilianum Niceten Sacerdotem ventitabat, vir alioqui clarus et gravis et qui prodesse filio memoria sui debeat. 4 Sed multi nunc in senatu quibus ignotus ille, multi quibus notus, sed non nisi viventes reverentur. Quo magis huic, omissa gloria patris in qua magnum ornamentum gratia infirma, ipsi enitendum ipsi elaborandum est. 5 Quod quidem semper, quasi provideret hoc tempus, sedulo fecit: paravit amicos, quos paraverat coluit, me certe, ut primum sibi iudicare permisit, ad amorem imitationemque delegit. 6 Dicenti mihi sollicitus assistit, assidet recitanti; primis etiam et cum maxime nascentibus opusculis meis interest, nunc solus ante cum fratre, cuius nuper amissi ego suscipere partes, ego vicem debeo implere. 7 Doleo enim et illum immatura morte indignissime raptum, et hunc optimi fratris adiumento destitutum solisque amicis relictum. 8 Quibus ex causis exigo ut venias, et suffragio meo tuum iungas. Permultum interest mea te ostentare, tecum circumire. Ea est auctoritas tua, ut putem me efficacius tecum etiam meos amicos rogaturum. 9 Abrumpe si qua te retinent: hoc tempus meum, hoc fides, hoc etiam dignitas postulat. Suscepi candidatum, et suscepisse me notum est; ego ambio, ego periclitor; in summa, si datur Nasoni quod petit, illius honor, si negatur, mea repulsa est. Vale.

6. — TO FUNDANUS.

Now, if ever, I could wish you were in Rome, and I beg that you will he. I have need of one to share my aspirations, my labours, my anxiety. Julius Naso is a candidate for office; he is standing with many competitors and good ones too, whom it will be glorious to beat and correspondingly difficult. So I am in a state of suspense, and am exercised by hope as well as troubled by fear, no longer feeling like one who has himself served the office of Consul; but once more imagining myself a candidate for each of the posts successively filled by me.

He merits this anxiety by his long affection for me. My friendship for him is not, to be sure, derived from any I had for his father — for in consequence of my age that could not be — however, when I was barely a stripling, his father used to be held out to me as a man of great reputation. He was deeply attached, not to learning only, but also to learned men, and was in the habit of coming almost daily to hear those whom I frequented at that time, Quintilian and Nicetes Sacerdos. He was in other respects a distinguished and authoritative personage, whose memory ought to be of service to his son. But now there are many in the Senate to whom he was unknown, and though there are many to whom he was known, yet these honour none but the living; so that my friend, putting aside the glory of his father — which, though a great illustration, is but a feeble recommendation to him — must all the more vigorously exert himself and go to work in person. And this to be sure he has always carefully done, as if foreseeing the present occasion. He has procured friends for himself, and those whom he has procured he has cultivated; me, certainly, as soon as he permitted himself to form a judgment, he selected as the object of his affection and imitation. He stands watchful by me when speaking in public; he sits by me when I recite; he interests himself in my literary trifles from their very inception and from the moment of their birth; alone now, formerly in company with his brother, whose part (for he is lately dead) I ought to undertake, whose place I ought to fill. I grieve indeed that the one should have been so cruelly torn from us by a premature death, and the other deprived of his brother’s assistance and left to the help of his friends alone.

For these reasons I implore you to come and join your suffrages to mine. It is of great importance to me to be able to produce you and go about with you. The weight you carry is so great as to make me think I could canvass even my own friends more successfully in your company. Break short anything that detains you. My critical situation, my honour, my dignity even, demand this of you. I have taken in hand a candidate, and it is known that I have taken him in hand. The canvass is mine, the danger is mine. In short, if Naso gets what he asks, his will be the honour; if he fails, the defeat will be mine.

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7. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

1 Scribis te absentia mea non mediocriter affici unumque habere solacium, quod pro me libellos meos teneas, saepe etiam in vestigio meo colloces. 2 Gratum est quod nos requiris, gratum quod his fomentis acquiescis; invicem ego epistulas tuas lectito atque identidem in manus quasi novas sumo. 3 Sed eo magis ad desiderium tui accendor: nam cuius litterae tantum habent suavitatis, huius sermonibus quantum dulcedinis inest! Tu tamen quam frequentissime scribe, licet hoc ita me delectet ut torqueat. Vale.

7. — TO CALPURNIA, HIS WIFE.

You write that you are not a little affected by my absence, and that you have but one solace — in possessing my books instead of me, and even in often laying them beside you in bed, in my place. I am glad that you miss me, glad that you are soothed by such lenitives as these. In return, I keep reading your letters, and ever and anon take them into my hands as if they were just received, yet all the more am I inflamed with a longing for you. For when your letters are so agreeable, what must be the charm of your conversation! However, do you write as often as you can, though your doing so delights me in such a way as to torment me at the same time.

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8. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

1 Atilium Crescentem et nosti et amas. Quis enim illum spectatior paulo aut non novit aut non amat? Hunc ego non ut multi, sed artissime diligo. 2 Oppida nostra unius diei itinere dirimuntur; ipsi amare invicem, qui est flagrantissimus amor, adulescentuli coepimus. Mansit hic postea, nec refrixit iudicio sed invaluit. Sciunt qui alterutrum nostrum familiarius intuentur. Nam et ille amicitiam meam latissima praedicatione circumfert, et ego prae me fero, quantae sit mihi curae modestia quies securitas eius. 3 Quin etiam, cum insolentiam cuiusdam tribunatum plebis inituri vereretur, idque indicasset mihi, respondi: ‘ou tis emeu zôntos’. Quorsus haec? ut scias, non posse Atilium me incolumi iniuriam accipere. 4 Iterum dices ‘quorsus haec?’ Debuit ei pecuniam Valerius Varus. Huius est heres Maximus noster, quem et ipse amo, sed Konjunktivs tu. 5 Rogo ergo, exigo etiam pro iure amicitiae, cures ut Atilio meo salva sit non sors modo verum etiam usura plurium annorum. Homo est alieni abstinentissimus sui diligens; nullis quaestibus sustinetur, nullus illi nisi ex frugalitate reditus. 6 Nam studia, quibus plurimum praestat, ad voluptatem tantum et gloriam exercet. Gravis est ei vel minima iactura; quam<quam> reparare quod amiseris gravius. 7 Exime hunc illi, exime hunc mihi scrupulum: sine me suavitate eius, sine leporibus perfrui. Neque enim possum tristem videre, cuius hilaritas me tristem esse non patitur. 8 In summa nosti facetias hominis; quas velim attendas, ne in bilem et amaritudinem vertat iniuria. Quam vim habeat offensus, crede ei quam in amore habet. Non feret magnum et liberum ingenium cum contumelia damnum. 9 Verum, ut ferat ille, ego meum damnum meam contumeliam iudicabo, sed non tamquam pro mea — hoc est, gravius — irascar. Quamquam quid denuntiationibus et quasi minis ago? Quin potius, ut coeperam, rogo oro des operam, ne ille se — quod valdissime vereor — a me, ego me neglectum a te putem. Dabis autem, si hoc perinde curae est tibi quam illud mihi. Vale.

8. — TO PRISCUS.

You both know and have a regard for Atilius Crescens. Indeed, what man of any mark either does not know him or has not a regard for him? He is one whom I cherish, not after the vulgar fashion, but with my whole heart. Our native towns are separated by one day’s journey only. Our love for each other began — and this is the most fervent kind of love — when we were mere striplings. It endured to after years, and far from being cooled, was strengthened by our mature judgment. Those who are most intimately acquainted with either of us know this. For, not only does he widely proclaim and circulate his friendship for me, but I too make no secret of the interest I feel in his modest life, his repose, and his security. Moreover, when he apprehended the insolence of a certain individual who was about to enter on the Tribuneship of the Plebs, and had informed me of the fact, I replied, “Not during my lifetime!”

Why do I tell you all this? That you may know that Atilius shall not suffer an injury while I am in existence. Again you will say, “Why all this?” Why, because Valerius Varus owed him a sum of money. Now the heir of this Varus is our friend Maximus, whom I myself have a great regard for, but you a still closer one. I pray you then, and indeed demand of you by right of our friendship, to see that my good Atilius has not only the principal but also several years’ interest secured to him. He is a man most scrupulous as to encroaching on other people’s property, and careful of his own; he does not live by any business, and has no income but what results from his economy. For, the literary pursuits, in which he so greatly excels, he follows only for his own pleasure and glory. The smallest loss is a hard matter for him, it being so very hard to make good what is lost. Believe him and relieve me from this difficulty: suffer me to enjoy to the full his amiable and sprightly character; for indeed I can’t bear to see one sad whose cheerfulness will not allow me to be sad. In short, you know the quaint humour of the man, and I pray you take care that injustice does not turn it to bile and bitterness. What will be the strength of his resentment you may judge by that of his affection. His lofty and independent spirit will not brook a loss accompanied by an affront. And though he should brook it, I shall esteem the loss and the affront my own; only I shall be much more indignant than if it were my own. However, why employ denunciations and what may seem threats? Bather, as I began, so I beg and pray you to see to it that he does not think himself neglected by me (which I most strongly fear), or I think the same of you. And you will see to it, if the latter consideration weighs as much with you as the former does with me.

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9. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

1 Commendas mihi Iulium Nasonem candidatum. Nasonem mihi? quid si me ipsum? Fero tamen et ignosco. Eundem enim commendassem tibi, si te Romae morante ipse afuissem. 2 Habet hoc sollicitudo, quod omnia necessaria putat. Tu tamen censeo alios roges; ego precum tuarum minister adiutor particeps ero. Vale.

9. — TO TACITUS.

You commend Julius Naso to my favour as a candidate. Naso to me! What if you commended my own self! However, I bear with it and forgive you. For I should have commended this very Naso to you, if you had been staying in Rome and I had been absent. There is this about anxiety that it will leave no stone unturned. However, I vote that you canvass other people; I will act as agent, assistant, and partner in your applications.

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10. C. PLINIUS ALBINO SUO S.

1 Cum venissem in socrus meae villam Alsiensem, quae aliquamdiu Rufi Vergini fuit, ipse mihi locus optimi illius et maximi viri desiderium non sine dolore renovavit. Hunc enim colere secessum atque etiam senectutis suae nidulum vocare consueverat. 2 Quocumque me contulissem, illum animus illum oculi requirebant. Libuit etiam monimentum eius videre, et vidisse paenituit. 3 Est enim adhuc imperfectum, nec difficultas operis in causa, modici ac potius exigui, sed inertia eius cui cura mandata est. Subit indignatio cum miseratione, post decimum mortis annum reliquias neglectumque cinerem sine titulo sine nomine iacere, cuius memoria orbem terrarum gloria pervagetur. 4 At ille mandaverat caveratque, ut divinum illud et immortale factum versibus inscriberetur:

Hic situs est Rufus, pulso qui Vindice quondam
imperium asseruit non sibi sed patriae.

5 Tam rara in amicitiis fides, tam parata oblivio mortuorum, ut ipsi nobis debeamus etiam conditoria exstruere omniaque heredum officia praesumere. 6 Nam cui non est verendum, quod videmus accidisse Verginio? cuius iniuriam ut indigniorem, sic etiam notiorem ipsius claritas facit. Vale.

10. — TO ALBINUS.

On my arrival at my mother-in-law’s house near Alsium, which was once the property of Rufus Verginius, the sight of the place itself painfully renewed my regrets for that admirable and illustrious man. For this was the retreat where he commonly resided, calling it indeed “the dear little nest of his old age.” Turn where I would, my soul, my eyes, looked for him. I was desirous of seeing his monument as well, and repented having seen it. For it is still unfinished; nor is this owing to any difficulty in the undertaking (which is of moderate, or rather small, dimensions), but to the apathy of the person on whom the duty was enjoined. A sense of indignation mingled with pity steals over me to think that ten years after his death there should be lying without an epitaph, without a name over them, the ashes of one the glory of whose memory pervades the world. Yet he had enjoined and provided that that divine and immortal exploit of his should be inscribed in verse.

“Here Rufus lies, who Vindex overcame,

Not for his own, but for his country’s fame.”

So rare is fidelity in friendship, so easy is it to forget the dead, that we ought to raise for ourselves even our own sepulchres and to anticipate all the duties of our heirs. For who has not cause to fear what we see to have happened in the case of Verginius? Only in his case his celebrity makes the wrong done him, as it is the more undeserved, so also the more widely known.

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11. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 O diem laetum! Adhibitus in consilium a praefecto urbis audivi ex diverso agentes summae spei summae indolis iuvenes, Fuscum Salinatorem et Ummidium Quadratum, egregium par nec modo temporibus nostris sed litteris ipsis ornamento futurum. 2 Mira utrique probitas, constantia salva, decorus habitus, os Latinum, vox virilis, tenax memoria, magnum ingenium, iudicium aequale; quae singula mihi voluptati fuerunt, atque inter haec illud, quod et ipsi me ut rectorem, ut magistrum intuebantur, et iis qui audiebant me aemulari, meis instare vestigiis videbantur. 3 O diem — repetam enim — laetum notandumque mihi candidissimo calculo! Quid enim aut publice laetius quam clarissimos iuvenes nomen et famam ex studiis petere, aut mihi optatius quam me ad recta tendentibus quasi exemplar esse propositum? 4 Quod gaudium ut perpetuo capiam deos oro; ab isdem teste te peto, ut omnes qui me imitari tanti putabunt meliores esse quam me velint. Vale.

11. — TO MAXIMUS.

O joyful day! Summoned to assist the Præfect of the city, I have heard two young men of the greatest promise and the highest qualities pleading against each other, Fuscus Salinator and Ummidius Quadratus, an admirable pair, destined to be ornaments not only of our age, but of learning itself. Both of them exhibited remarkable modesty, yet with resolution unimpaired. Their deportment was noble, their language pure Latin, their voices manly, their memories tenacious, and their great natural faculties were equalled by their judgment. Each of these things singly was a pleasure, and, together with them this, that the young men directed their glances at me as their guide and teacher, and seemed to those who heard them to be imitating me and treading in my footsteps. O day (for I must repeat it) most joyful, and to be marked by me with the whitest of stones! What, indeed, can be more joyful, in a public point of view, than that young men of the highest rank should be seeking a name and fame from intellectual pursuits; or more desirable for me personally than that I should be set up as a kind of model to such as have noble aims? I pray the gods to make me the constant recipient of such delight as this; and I beg of these same gods (taking you to witness) that all those who shall think it worth their while to imitate me may desire to be better than me.

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12. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Tu vero non debes suspensa manu commendare mihi quos tuendos putas. Nam et te decet multis prodesse et me suscipere quidquid ad curam tuam pertinet. 2 Itaque Bittio Prisco quantum plurimum potuero praestabo, praesertim in harena mea, hoc est apud centumviros. 3 Epistularum, quas mihi ut ais ‘aperto pectore’ scripsisti, oblivisci me iubes; at ego nullarum libentius memini. Ex illis enim vel praecipue sentio, quanto opere me diligas, cum sic exegeris mecum, ut solebas cum tuo filio. 4 Nec dissimulo hoc mihi iucundiores eas fuisse, quod habebam bonam causam, cum summo studio curassem quod tu curari volebas. 5 Proinde etiam atque etiam rogo, ut mihi semper eadem simplicitate, quotiens cessare videbor— ‘videbor’ dico, numquam enim cessabo -, convicium facias, quod et ego intellegam a summo amore proficisci, et tu non meruisse me gaudeas. Vale.

12. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

You, assuredly, ought not to hold your hand in recommending to me those persons whom you think worthy of support. For, not only is it becoming in you to render services to many, but it becomes me also to undertake whatever pertains to your wishes. Consequently I will do all in my power for Vettius Priscus, particularly in my own arena — that is, in the Centumviral Court. You bid me forget those letters which you wrote me, as you term it, with your heart laid open. But there are no letters which I more desire to bear in mind. For by these I am particularly made sensible of the strength of your affection for me, since you dealt with me as you were used to deal with your own son. Nor can I conceal from you that they were rendered all the more agreeable to me by the fact that I had a good case, since I had attended with the greatest diligence to what you wished attended to. Accordingly I entreat you, again and again, always to convey your reproaches to me in the same straightforward way as often as I shall seem to fall short (I say “seem,” for I never shall really fall short), since I shall understand that they proceed from the strength of your affection, and you will rejoice to find that I do not deserve them.

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13. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

1 Umquamne vidisti quemquam tam laboriosum et exercitum quam Varenum meum? cui quod summa contentione impetraverat defendendum et quasi rursus petendum fuit. 2 Bithyni senatus consultum apud consules carpere ac labefactare sunt ausi, atque etiam absenti principi criminari; ab illo ad senatum remissi non destiterunt. Egit Claudius Capito irreverenter magis quam constanter, ut qui senatus consultum apud senatum accusaret. 3 Respondit Catius Fronto graviter et firme. Senatus ipse mirificus; nam illi quoque qui prius negarant Vareno quae petebat, eadem danda postquam erant data censuerunt; 4 singulos enim integra re dissentire fas esse, peracta quod pluribus placuisset cunctis tuendum. 5 Acilius tantum Rufus et cum eo septem an octo, septem immo, in priore sententia perseverarunt. Erant in hac paucitate non nulli, quorum temporaria gravitas vel potius gravitatis imitatio ridebatur. 6 Tu tamen aestima, quantum nos in ipsa pugna certaminis maneat, cuius quasi praelusio atque praecursio has contentiones excitavit. Vale.

13. — TO URSUS.

Have you ever seen any one so troubled and exercised as my friend Varenus? He has had to defend, and as it were make fresh application for, that which he had obtained only after a great struggle. The Bithynians were impudent enough to criticise the decree of the Senate, and even to try and invalidate it, before the Consuls, and actually to incriminate it to the Emperor, who was absent from Rome. On being referred back to the Senate by him, they did not desist from their efforts. Claudius Capito spoke for them, disrespectfully rather than firmly, since he impeached a decree of the Senate in presence of the Senate. Catius Pronto replied with dignity and resolution. The Senate itself was admirable. For even those who had previously been for refusing the application of Varenus were of opinion that, having once been allowed, it should still be allowed, on the ground that though it was permissible for individuals to differ when a matter was undecided, yet when it was fairly settled the vision of the majority should be unanimously upheld.

Only Acilius Rufus and, with him, some seven or eight — seven rather — persisted in their former opinion. In this small number there were some whose temporary fit of severity, or rather affectation of severity, furnished much amusement. You will, however, be able to judge what a struggle awaits us in the fight itself, when the preludes to it and the preliminary skirmishes, so to speak, have aroused such contests.

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14. C. PLINIUS MAURICO SUO S.

1 Sollicitas me in Formianum. Veniam ea condicione, ne quid contra commodum tuum facias; qua pactione invicem mihi caveo. Neque enim mare et litus, sed te otium libertatem sequor: alioqui satius est in urbe remanere. 2 Oportet enim omnia aut ad alienum arbitrium aut ad suum facere. Mei certe stomachi haec natura est, ut nihil nisi totum et merum velit. Vale.

14. — TO MAURICUS.

You invite me to your place near Formiæ. I will accept on one condition, that you do not put yourself out in any way; an arrangement by which I bargain for myself as well. For it is not the sea and the seaside that I am going after, but my own ease, and liberty, and you; otherwise it would be preferable to remain in town. It is best that one’s actions should be entirely dependent on the will of others, or else on one’s own: the nature of my taste is certainly such that it will have nothing but what is complete in itself and free from admixture.

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15. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

1 Mirificae rei non interfuisti; ne ego quidem, sed me recens fabula excepit. Passennus Paulus, splendidus eques Romanus et in primis eruditus, scribit elegos. Gentilicium hoc illi: est enim municeps Properti atque etiam inter maiores suos Propertium numerat. 2 Is cum recitaret, ita coepit dicere: ‘Prisce, iubes...’. Ad hoc Iavolenus Priscus — aderat enim ut Paulo amicissimus -: ‘Ego vero non iubeo.’ Cogita qui risus hominum, qui ioci. 3 Est omnino Priscus dubiae sanitatis, interest tamen officiis, adhibetur consiliis atque etiam ius civile publice respondet: quo magis quod tunc fecit et ridiculum et notabile fuit. 4 Interim Paulo aliena deliratio aliquantum frigoris attulit. Tam sollicite recitaturis providendum est, non solum ut sint ipsi sani verum etiam ut sanos adhibeant. Vale.

15. — TO ROMANUS.

You were not present at a very curious occurrence, nor was I either; but the story reached me soon after the event. Passennus Paulus, a distinguished Roman knight, and among the first for learning, writes elegiac verse. This runs in his family; he is a townsman of Propertius, and even numbers Propertius among his ancestors. As this Paulus was reciting, he commenced with these words —

“Priscus, thou bids’t me.”

Upon which Javolenus Priscus (who was present in his character of a particular friend of Paulus) cried out, “I don’t bid you, however” You may imagine how the people laughed and jested. To be sure, Priscus is of doubtful sanity, yet he takes part in ceremonial occasions, sits as assessor to the magistrates, and even gives legal opinions publicly, which makes this action of his all the more ridiculous and remarkable. Meanwhile Paulus, through another’s folly, found his audience somewhat chilled. Such particular care should people take beforehand, when they are going to recite, not only to be sane themselves, but also to invite none but sane hearers. —

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16. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S. (Mount Vesuvius Eruption Account I)

1 Petis ut tibi avunculi mei exitum scribam, quo verius tradere posteris possis. Gratias ago; nam video morti eius si celebretur a te immortalem gloriam esse propositam. 2 Quamvis enim pulcherrimarum clade terrarum, ut populi ut urbes memorabili casu, quasi semper victurus occiderit, quamvis ipse plurima opera et mansura condiderit, multum tamen perpetuitati eius scriptorum tuorum aeternitas addet. 3 Equidem beatos puto, quibus deorum munere datum est aut facere scribenda aut scribere legenda, beatissimos vero quibus utrumque. Horum in numero avunculus meus et suis libris et tuis erit. Quo libentius suscipio, deposco etiam quod iniungis.

4 Erat Miseni classemque imperio praesens regebat. Nonum Kal. Septembres hora fere septima mater mea indicat ei apparere nubem inusitata et magnitudine et specie. 5 Usus ille sole, mox frigida, gustaverat iacens studebatque; poscit soleas, ascendit locum ex quo maxime miraculum illud conspici poterat. Nubes — incertum procul intuentibus ex quo monte; Vesuvium fuisse postea cognitum est — oriebatur, cuius similitudinem et formam non alia magis arbor quam pinus expresserit. 6 Nam longissimo velut trunco elata in altum quibusdam ramis diffundebatur, credo quia recenti spiritu evecta, dein senescente eo destituta aut etiam pondere suo victa in latitudinem vanescebat, candida interdum, interdum sordida et maculosa prout terram cineremve sustulerat. 7 Magnum propiusque noscendum ut eruditissimo viro visum. Iubet liburnicam aptari; mihi si venire una vellem facit copiam; respondi studere me malle, et forte ipse quod scriberem dederat. 8 Egrediebatur domo; accipit codicillos Rectinae Tasci imminenti periculo exterritae — nam villa eius subiacebat, nec ulla nisi navibus fuga -: ut se tanto discrimini eriperet orabat. 9 Vertit ille consilium et quod studioso animo incohaverat obit maximo. Deducit quadriremes, ascendit ipse non Rectinae modo sed multis — erat enim frequens amoenitas orae — laturus auxilium. 10 Properat illuc unde alii fugiunt, rectumque cursum recta gubernacula in periculum tenet adeo solutus metu, ut omnes illius mali motus omnes figuras ut deprenderat oculis dictaret enotaretque.

11 Iam navibus cinis incidebat, quo propius accederent, calidior et densior; iam pumices etiam nigrique et ambusti et fracti igne lapides; iam vadum subitum ruinaque montis litora obstantia. Cunctatus paulum an retro flecteret, mox gubernatori ut ita faceret monenti ‘Fortes’ inquit ‘fortuna iuvat: Pomponianum pete.’ 12 Stabiis erat diremptus sinu medio — nam sensim circumactis curvatisque litoribus mare infunditur -; ibi quamquam nondum periculo appropinquante, conspicuo tamen et cum cresceret proximo, sarcinas contulerat in naves, certus fugae si contrarius ventus resedisset. Quo tunc avunculus meus secundissimo invectus, complectitur trepidantem consolatur hortatur, utque timorem eius sua securitate leniret, deferri in balineum iubet; lotus accubat cenat, aut hilaris aut — quod aeque magnum — similis hilari. 13 Interim e Vesuvio monte pluribus locis latissimae flammae altaque incendia relucebant, quorum fulgor et claritas tenebris noctis excitabatur. Ille agrestium trepidatione ignes relictos desertasque villas per solitudinem ardere in remedium formidinis dictitabat. Tum se quieti dedit et quievit verissimo quidem somno; nam meatus animae, qui illi propter amplitudinem corporis gravior et sonantior erat, ab iis qui limini obversabantur audiebatur. 14 Sed area ex qua diaeta adibatur ita iam cinere mixtisque pumicibus oppleta surrexerat, ut si longior in cubiculo mora, exitus negaretur. Excitatus procedit, seque Pomponiano ceterisque qui pervigilaverant reddit. 15 In commune consultant, intra tecta subsistant an in aperto vagentur. Nam crebris vastisque tremoribus tecta nutabant, et quasi emota sedibus suis nunc huc nunc illuc abire aut referri videbantur. 16 Sub dio rursus quamquam levium exesorumque pumicum casus metuebatur, quod tamen periculorum collatio elegit; et apud illum quidem ratio rationem, apud alios timorem timor vicit. Cervicalia capitibus imposita linteis constringunt; id munimentum adversus incidentia fuit. 17 Iam dies alibi, illic nox omnibus noctibus nigrior densiorque; quam tamen faces multae variaque lumina solvebant. Placuit egredi in litus, et ex proximo adspicere, ecquid iam mare admitteret; quod adhuc vastum et adversum permanebat. 18 Ibi super abiectum linteum recubans semel atque iterum frigidam aquam poposcit hausitque. Deinde flammae flammarumque praenuntius odor sulpuris alios in fugam vertunt, excitant illum. 19 Innitens servolis duobus assurrexit et statim concidit, ut ego colligo, crassiore caligine spiritu obstructo, clausoque stomacho qui illi natura invalidus et angustus et frequenter aestuans erat. 20 Ubi dies redditus — is ab eo quem novissime viderat tertius -, corpus inventum integrum illaesum opertumque ut fuerat indutus: habitus corporis quiescenti quam defuncto similior.

21 Interim Miseni ego et mater — sed nihil ad historiam, nec tu aliud quam de exitu eius scire voluisti. Finem ergo faciam. 22 Unum adiciam, omnia me quibus interfueram quaeque statim, cum maxime vera memorantur, audieram, persecutum. Tu potissima excerpes; aliud est enim epistulam aliud historiam, aliud amico aliud omnibus scribere. Vale.

16. — TO TACITUS. (Mount Vesuvius Eruption Account I)

You ask me to write you an account of my uncle’s end, in order that you may be able the more faithfully to transmit it to posterity. I thank you, as I see that his death, if commemorated by you, has an imperishable renown offered it. For though he fell amid the destruction of such fair regions, and seems destined to live for ever — like so many peoples and cities — through the memorable character of the disaster; though he himself was the author of many and enduring works; yet the immortality of your writings will add greatly to the uninterrupted continuance of his fame. For my part I deem those blessed to whom, by favour of the gods, it has been granted either to do what is worth writing of, or to write what is worth reading; above measure blessed those on whom both gifts have been conferred. In the latter number will be my uncle, by virtue of his own and of your compositions. Hence, I the more readily undertake, and even lay claim to perform what you request.

He was at Misenum, in personal command of the fleet. The ninth day before the Kalends of September, at about the seventh hour, my mother indicated to him the appearance of a cloud of unusual size and shape. He had sunned himself, and next gone into his cold bath; and after a light meal, which he took reposing, was engaged in study. He called for his sandals, and ascended to a spot from which this portent could best be seen. A cloud was rising — from what mountain was a matter of uncertainty to those who looked at it from a distance: afterwards it was known to be Vesuvius — whose appearance and form would be represented by a pine better than any other tree. For, after towering upwards to a great height with an extremely lofty stem, so to speak, it spread out into a number of branches; because, as I imagine, having been lifted up by a recent breeze, and having lost the support of this as it grew feebler, or merely in consequence of yielding to its own weight, it was passing away laterally. It was at one time white, at another dingy and spotted, according as it carried earth or ashes. To a man of my uncle’s attainments, it seemed a remarkable phenomenon, and one to be observed from a nearer point of view. He ordered his fast-sailing cutter to be got ready, and, in case I wished to accompany him, gave me leave to do so. I replied that I — preferred to go on with my studies, and it so happened that he had himself given me something to write out.

He was in the act of leaving the house, when a note was handed him from Rectina. Cæsius Bassus, frightened, together with the people there, at the imminence of the peril (for his villa lay under the mountain, and there was no escape for him except by taking ship), begged my uncle to rescue him from so critical a situation. Upon this he changed his plan, and, having started on his enterprise as a student, proceeded to carry it out in the spirit of a hero. He launched his four-ranked galleys, and embarked in person, in order to carry assistance, not to Rectina only, but to many others, for the charms of the coast caused it to be much peopled. He hastened in the direction whence every one else was flying, holding a direct course, and keeping his helm set straight for the peril, so free from fear that he dictated and caused to be noted down, as fast as he seized them with his eyes, all the shiftings and shapes of the dreadful prodigy. Ashes were already falling on the ships, hotter and thicker the nearer they approached; and even pumice and other stones, black, and scorched, and cracked by the fire. There had been a sudden retreat of the sea, and the debris from the mountain made the shore unapproachable. Having hesitated for a moment whether to turn back, he shortly called out to the helmsman (who was urging him to do so), “Fortune favours the brave! Make in the direction of Pomponianus.” The latter was at Stabiæ, separated from him by the whole width of the bay, for the sea flows in by shores gradually winding and curving inwards. There, in view of the danger which, though it had not yet approached, was nevertheless manifest, and must be upon them as soon as it extended itself, he had got his effects together on board ship, resolved to fly, if only the wind left off blowing from the opposite quarter. My uncle, brought to shore by this same wind, which precisely favoured him, embraced his trembling friend, consoling and exhorting him, and, in order to calm his fears by his own sang froid, bade them conduct him to the bath. After bathing, he took his place at table, and dined gaily, or (which was equally heroic) with an air of gaiety.

Meanwhile, from many points of Mount Vesuvius, vast sheets of flame and tall columns of fire were blazing, the flashes and brightness of which were heightened by the darkness of night. My uncle, to soothe the terrors of those about him, kept telling them that these were fires which the frightened country people had left to burn, and that the deserted houses were blazing away all by them selves. Then he gave himself up to repose, and slept a perfectly genuine sleep, for his snoring (which in consequence of his full habit was heavy and loud) was heard by those in attendance about his door.

However, the courtyard from which this suite of rooms was approached was already so full of ashes mixed with pumice-stones that its surface was rising, and a longer stay in the bedchamber would have cut off all egress. On being aroused, he came forth and rejoined Pomponianus and the others who had kept watching. They consulted together whether to remain under cover or wander about in the open; for the walls nodded under the repeated and tremendous shocks, and seemed, as though dislodged from their foundations, to be swaying to and fro, first in one direction and then in another. On the other hand, in the open air, there was the fall of the pumice-stones (though they were light and burnt out) to be apprehended. However, a comparison of dangers led to the choice of the latter course. With my uncle indeed it was a case of one reason getting the better of another; while in the case of others fear overcame fear. They covered their heads with pillows tied round with cloths: this was their way of protecting themselves against the shower. By this time it was day elsewhere, but there it was night, the blackest and thickest of all nights, which, however, numerous torches and lights of various kinds served to alleviate. It was decided to make for the shore, in order to learn from the nearest point whether the sea was by this time at all available. A huge and angry sea still continued running. Here, reclining on a cloth which had been thrown on the ground, my uncle more than once called for a draught of cold water and swallowed it. Upon this, an outbreak of flame and smell of sulphur, premonitory of further flames, put some to flight and roused him. With the help of two slave-boys he rose from the ground, immediately fell back, owing (as I gather) to the dense vapour obstructing his breath and stopping up the access to his gullet, which with him was weak and narrow and frequently subject to wind. When day returned (the third from that which he had looked upon for the last time ) his body was found whole and uninjured, in the dress he wore; its appearance was that of one asleep rather than dead.

Meanwhile my mother and I at Misenum — however, this has nothing to do with history, nor did you wish to learn anything except what related to his death. So I will make an end. This alone I will add, that everything related by me has been either matter of personal observation or else what I heard on the spot, the time of all others when the truth is told. Do you select what you choose. For a letter is a different matter from a history; it is one thing to write to a friend and another to write for the world.

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17. C. PLINIUS RESTITUTO SUO S.

1 Indignatiunculam, quam in cuiusdam amici auditorio cepi, non possum mihi temperare quo minus apud te, quia non contigit coram, per epistulam effundam. Recitabatur liber absolutissimus. 2 Hunc duo aut tres, ut sibi et paucis videntur, diserti surdis mutisque similes audiebant. Non labra diduxerunt, non moverunt manum, non denique assurrexerunt saltem lassitudine sedendi. 3 Quae tanta gravitas? quae tanta sapientia? quae immo pigritia arrogantia sinisteritas ac potius amentia, in hoc totum diem impendere ut offendas, ut inimicum relinquas ad quem tamquam amicissimum veneris? Disertior ipse es? 4 Tanto magis ne invideris; nam qui invidet minor est. Denique sive plus sive minus sive idem praestas, lauda vel inferiorem vel superiorem vel parem: superiorem quia nisi laudandus ille non potes ipse laudari, inferiorem aut parem quia pertinet ad tuam gloriam quam maximum videri, quem praecedis vel exaequas. 5 Equidem omnes qui aliquid in studiis faciunt venerari etiam mirarique soleo; est enim res difficilis ardua fastidiosa, et quae cos a quibus contemnitur invicem contemnat. Nisi forte aliud iudicas tu. Quamquam quis uno te reverentior huius operis, quis benignior aestimator? 6 Qua ratione ductus tibi potissimum indignationem meam prodidi, quem habere socium maxime poteram. Vale.

17. — TO RESTITUTUS.

I can’t refrain from letting off by letter to you — since it is not my good luck to be able to do it in your presence — the touch of indignation experienced by me at a recitation held by a certain friend of mine. A production of a most finished kind was being read; and this, two or three of the company (learned persons, as they seemed to themselves and a few others) listened to, with the appearance of deaf and dumb people. They never parted their lips, they never moved a hand, they never rose from their seats, if it had been only from the fatigue of remaining seated. Whence all this solemnity and wisdom? Nay rather what dulness, arrogance, perversity, or more properly madness, to employ a whole day with the special object of offending and leaving as an enemy the man to whose house you have come as to a special friend! Are you a more learned man than he? So much the less room for envy, for he who is envious shows his inferiority. In short, whether you are worth more than him, or less than him, or the same as he is, praise him in his capacity of inferior, or superior, or equal; if your superior, because, unless he is worthy of praise, you yourself cannot be; if your inferior or equal, because it concerns your own reputation that the man whom you excel, or even are on a par with, should appear as great as possible. For my part I actually revere and admire all those who accomplish anything in literature. For it is a difficult, arduous, and fastidious pursuit, one which in its turn spurns those who spurn it: unless by chance you entertain a different opinion. And yet what individual has a greater respect for the pursuit than you, or where can there be a kindlier critic? And this is the consideration which has led me to inform you in particular of my indignation, as being the person most sure to share my feelings.

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18. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

1 Rogas ut agam Firmanorum publicam causam; quod ego quamquam plurimis occupationibus distentus adnitar. Cupio enim et ornatissimam coloniam advocationis officio, et te gratissimo tibi munere obstringere. 2 Nam cum familiaritatem nostram, ut soles praedicare, ad praesidium ornamentumque tibi sumpseris, nihil est quod negare debeam, praesertim pro patria petenti. Quid enim precibus aut honestius piis aut efficacius amantis? 3 Proinde Firmanis tuis ac iam potius nostris obliga fidem meam; quos labore et studio meo dignos cum splendor ipsorum tum hoc maxime pollicetur, quod credibile est optimos esse inter quos tu talis exstiteris. Vale.

18. — TO SABINUS.

You ask me to appear for the Firmani, in their State trial; and, though busied with numerous occupations, I will do my best for them. I desire indeed to lay under an obligation not only a most distinguished colony, by undertaking the office of their advocate, but also you yourself by a service which is so agreeable to you. For since, as you are in the habit of proclaiming, the friendship which exists between us is looked upon by you in the light of an advantage and a glory, there is nothing which I ought to deny you, particularly when you ask on behalf of your birth-place. What indeed can be more honourable than prayers prompted by duty, or more efficacious than those which spring from affection? Accordingly, plight my troth to your, or rather now to our, friends, the Firmani. Not only does their own distinction give promise that they are worthy of my efforts and zeal, but also especially this consideration, that those are likely to be men of great worth among whom such a one as you has arisen.

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19. C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

1 Scis tu accessisse pretium agris, praecipue suburbanis? Causa subitae caritatis res multis agitata sermonibus. Proximis comitiis honestissimas voces senatus expressit: ‘Candidati ne conviventur, ne mittant munera, ne pecunias deponant.’ 2 Ex quibus duo priora tam aperte quam immodice fiebant; hoc tertium, quamquam occultaretur, pro comperto habebatur. 3 Homullus deinde noster vigilanter usus hoc consensu senatus sententiae loco postulavit, ut consules desiderium universorum notum principi facerent, peterentque sicut aliis vitiis huic quoque providentia sua occurreret. 4 Occurrit; nam sumptus candidatorum, foedos illos et infames, ambitus lege restrinxit; eosdem patrimonii tertiam partem conferre iussit in ea quae solo continerentur, deforme arbitratus — et erat — honorem petituros urbem Italiamque non pro patria sed pro hospitio aut stabulo quasi peregrinantes habere. 5 Concursant ergo candidati; certatim quidquid venale audiunt emptitant, quoque sint plura venalia efficiunt. 6 Proinde si paenitet te Italicorum praediorum, hoc vendendi tempus tam hercule quam in provinciis comparandi, dum idem candidati illic vendunt ut hic emant. Vale.

19. — TO NEPOS.

Are you aware that the price of land has risen, and particularly of land near Rome? The cause of this sudden dearness is a matter which has been the subject of much discussion. At the last Comitia the Senate gave expression to an opinion which did it great honour: “that candidates should not give banquets, nor send presents, nor lodge money for the purpose of bribery,” of which practices the two former were carried on as openly as they were unstintedly, and the third, though done privately, was perfectly ascertained. Upon which my friend Homullus carefully availing himself of this consensus of the Senate when called on to vote, proposed a resolution that the Consuls should make known the universal wish to the Emperor, and should beg him, as he had done in the case of other abuses, to employ his sagacity in counteracting this one. He is counteracting it: by a bribery law he has restrained the former shameful and discreditable expenditure on the part of candidates: and he has ordered them to invest a third part of their fortunes in real estate, deeming it disgraceful, as indeed it was, that those who sought honours should look upon Rome and Italy, not as their country, but as a kind of inn or hostelry, like so many people on their travels. There is consequently a rush of candidates; they are bidding against each other for the purchase of whatever they hear is for sale, and in this way are the means of bringing fresh properties into the market. Accordingly, if you are tired of your farms in Italy, this is the time for selling, as also, by Hercules, for buying in the provinces, since these same candidates are selling there in order to buy here.

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20. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S. (Mount Vesuvius Eruption Account II)

1 Ais te adductum litteris quas exigenti tibi de morte avunculi mei scripsi, cupere cognoscere, quos ego Miseni relictus — id enim ingressus abruperam — non solum metus verum etiam casus pertulerim.

‘Quamquam animus meminisse horret, ...
incipiam.’

2 Profecto avunculo ipse reliquum tempus studiis — ideo enim remanseram — impendi; mox balineum cena somnus inquietus et brevis. 3 Praecesserat per multos dies tremor terrae, minus formidolosus quia Campaniae solitus; illa vero nocte ita invaluit, ut non moveri omnia sed verti crederentur. 4 Irrupit cubiculum meum mater; surgebam invicem, si quiesceret excitaturus. Resedimus in area domus, quae mare a tectis modico spatio dividebat. 5 Dubito, constantiam vocare an imprudentiam debeam — agebam enim duodevicensimum annum -: posco librum Titi Livi, et quasi per otium lego atque etiam ut coeperam excerpo. Ecce amicus avunculi qui nuper ad eum ex Hispania venerat, ut me et matrem sedentes, me vero etiam legentem videt, illius patientiam securitatem meam corripit. Nihilo segnius ego intentus in librum.

6 Iam hora diei prima, et adhuc dubius et quasi languidus dies. Iam quassatis circumiacentibus tectis, quamquam in aperto loco, angusto tamen, magnus et certus ruinae metus. 7 Tum demum excedere oppido visum; sequitur vulgus attonitum, quodque in pavore simile prudentiae, alienum consilium suo praefert, ingentique agmine abeuntes premit et impellit. 8 Egressi tecta consistimus. Multa ibi miranda, multas formidines patimur. Nam vehicula quae produci iusseramus, quamquam in planissimo campo, in contrarias partes agebantur, ac ne lapidibus quidem fulta in eodem vestigio quiescebant. 9 Praeterea mare in se resorberi et tremore terrae quasi repelli videbamus. Certe processerat litus, multaque animalia maris siccis harenis detinebat. Ab altero latere nubes atra et horrenda, ignei spiritus tortis vibratisque discursibus rupta, in longas flammarum figuras dehiscebat; fulguribus illae et similes et maiores erant. 10 Tum vero idem ille ex Hispania amicus acrius et instantius ‘Si frater’ inquit ‘tuus, tuus avunculus vivit, vult esse vos salvos; si periit, superstites voluit. Proinde quid cessatis evadere?’ Respondimus non commissuros nos ut de salute illius incerti nostrae consuleremus. 11 Non moratus ultra proripit se effusoque cursu periculo aufertur. Nec multo post illa nubes descendere in terras, operire maria; cinxerat Capreas et absconderat, Miseni quod procurrit abstulerat. 12 Tum mater orare hortari iubere, quoquo modo fugerem; posse enim iuvenem, se et annis et corpore gravem bene morituram, si mihi causa mortis non fuisset. Ego contra salvum me nisi una non futurum; dein manum eius amplexus addere gradum cogo. Paret aegre incusatque se, quod me moretur.

13 Iam cinis, adhuc tamen rarus. Respicio: densa caligo tergis imminebat, quae nos torrentis modo infusa terrae sequebatur. ‘Deflectamus’ inquam ‘dum videmus, ne in via strati comitantium turba in tenebris obteramur.’ 14 Vix consideramus, et nox — non qualis illunis aut nubila, sed qualis in locis clausis lumine exstincto. Audires ululatus feminarum, infantum quiritatus, clamores virorum; alii parentes alii liberos alii coniuges vocibus requirebant, vocibus noscitabant; hi suum casum, illi suorum miserabantur; erant qui metu mortis mortem precarentur; 15 multi ad deos manus tollere, plures nusquam iam deos ullos aeternamque illam et novissimam noctem mundo interpretabantur. Nec defuerunt qui fictis mentitisque terroribus vera pericula augerent. Aderant qui Miseni illud ruisse illud ardere falso sed credentibus nuntiabant. 16 Paulum reluxit, quod non dies nobis, sed adventantis ignis indicium videbatur. Et ignis quidem longius substitit; tenebrae rursus cinis rursus, multus et gravis. Hunc identidem assurgentes excutiebamus; operti alioqui atque etiam oblisi pondere essemus. 17 Possem gloriari non gemitum mihi, non vocem parum fortem in tantis periculis excidisse, nisi me cum omnibus, omnia mecum perire misero, magno tamen mortalitatis solacio credidissem.

18 Tandem illa caligo tenuata quasi in fumum nebulamve discessit; mox dies verus; sol etiam effulsit, luridus tamen qualis esse cum deficit solet. Occursabant trepidantibus adhuc oculis mutata omnia altoque cinere tamquam nive obducta. 19 Regressi Misenum curatis utcumque corporibus suspensam dubiamque noctem spe ac metu exegimus. Metus praevalebat; nam et tremor terrae perseverabat, et plerique lymphati terrificis vaticinationibus et sua et aliena mala ludificabantur.

20 Nobis tamen ne tunc quidem, quamquam et expertis periculum et exspectantibus, abeundi consilium, donec de avunculo nuntius.

Haec nequaquam historia digna non scripturus leges et tibi scilicet qui requisisti imputabis, si digna ne epistula quidem videbuntur. Vale.

20. — TO TACITUS. (Mount Vesuvius Eruption Account II)

You say that the letter I wrote you, at your request, on the subject of my uncle’s death has made you wish to know what I myself, when left behind at Misenum — for with the mention of this I broke off — had to go through, not merely in the way of alarms, but of actual adventures.

“Though memory shuns the theme, I will ‘begin.”

After the departure of my uncle, I devoted what time was left to study (it was for that purpose that I remained behind); the bath shortly followed, then dinner, then a short and troubled sleep. There had been heavings of the earth for many days before this, but they produced the less apprehension from being customary in Campania. On that night, however, they so much increased that everything seemed not so much to be in motion as to be turned upside down. My mother rushed into my room; I was similarly getting up with the intention of arousing her in case she were asleep. We sat down in a courtyard attached to the house, which separated by a small space the dwelling from the sea. I do not know whether to style it intrepidity or imprudence on my part, seeing that I was only in my eighteenth year; however, I called for a volume of Livy, and read it as though quite at my ease, and even made extracts from it, as I had begun to do. Upon this, a friend of my uncle’s, who had lately come to him from Spain, when he saw my mother and me seated, and me reading into the bargain, reproved her for her apathy and me for my insensibility to danger. None the less diligently did I devote myself to my book. It was now seven o’clock in the morning, yet still there was but a kind of sickly and doubtful light; now, too, that the surrounding buildings had been shaken, as the place in which we were, though not under cover, was of small dimensions, there was a great and unavoidable risk of our being overwhelmed. Then, at last, we decided on leaving the town. The mass of the inhabitants followed us terror-stricken, and (an effect of panic causing it to resemble prudence) preferring the guidance of others to their own, they pressed on us as we were making off, and impelled us forwards with their crowded ranks. When we had got beyond the buildings we stopped. There we experienced much that was strange, and many terrors. For the vehicles which we had ordered to be brought out, though standing on a perfectly level plain, were rocking from one side to the other, and would not remain still in the same place even when propped under with stones. Moreover, we saw the sea sucked back into itself, and repulsed as it were by the quaking of the earth. The shore had certainly encroached on the sea, and retained a number of marine animals on its dry sands. On the other side of us a black and terrible cloud, broken by the zig-zag and tremulous careerings of the fiery element, was parting asunder in long trains of flame: these were like lightning, but on a larger scale. Then, indeed, the above-mentioned friend from Spain became more urgent and pressing. “If,” said he, “your brother and your uncle is alive, it is his wish that you should be in safety; if he has perished, it was his wish that you should survive him. Why then hesitate to escape?” We replied that we could not so act as, while uncertain of his safety, to provide for our own. Without further delay he rushed off, and got out of reach of danger as fast as he could.

Not long after, the cloud in question descended on the earth and covered the sea. Already it had enveloped and hidden from view Capreæ, and blotted out the promontory of Misenum. Upon this my mother begged and prayed and even ordered me to make my escape as best I could, it being in my power as a young man to do so; as for herself, retarded by her years and her frame, she was well content to die provided she had not been the cause of my death. I, on the other hand, declared that I would not be saved except in her company, and clasping her hand I compelled her to quicken her pace. She obeyed with reluctance, blaming herself for delaying me. And now came a shower of ashes, though as yet but a thin one. I looked back: a dense mist was closing in behind us, and following us like a torrent as it streamed along the ground. “Let us turn aside,” said I, “while we can still see, lest we be thrown down in the road and trampled upon in the darkness by the crowd which accompanies us.” We had scarcely sat down when night came on, not such as it is when there is no moon, or when there are clouds, but the night of a closed place with the lights put out. One could hear the shrieks of the women, the cries for help of the children, the shouts of the men: some were calling for their parents, others for their young ones, others for their partners and recognising them by their voices. Some were lamenting their own case, others that of those dear to them. There were those who, through fear of death, invoked death. Many raised their hands to the gods, but the greater number concluded that there were no longer gods anywhere, and that the last eternal night of story had settled on the world. Nor were there wanting those who by imaginary and false alarms increased the real dangers. Some present announced that such and such a part of Misenum had been overthrown, or such another was in flames; falsely, yet to believing ears. There was a little light again, but this seemed to us not so much day-light as a sign of approaching fire. Accordingly there was fire, but it stayed at a considerable distance from us, then darkness again and a thick and heavy shower of ashes. We got up from time to time and shook these off us; otherwise we should have been covered with them and even crushed by their weight. I might make a boast of not having suffered to escape me either a groan or a word lacking in fortitude, in the midst of such perils, were it not for the fact that I believed myself to be perishing in company with all things, and all things with me, a miserable and yet a mighty consolation in death.

At last, this black mist grew thin, and went off into a kind of smoke or haze; soon came real day, and the sun even shone forth, luridly however, and with the appearance it usually wears under an eclipse. Our yet trembling eyes saw everything changed and covered with deep ashes as with snow. We returned to Misenum, and refreshed our persons as best we might, and there spent a night of suspense alternating between hope and fear. Fear prevailed, for the quaking of the earth continued, and many persons, crazy with terror, were sporting with their own and other’s misfortunes by means of the most appalling predictions. Yet not even then, after experiencing and still expecting perils, did we think of going away till news came of my uncle. All this, which is in no way worthy of history, will be for you to read, not to write about, and you must lay it to your own account (since it was you who called for the communication) if it should seem to you not even worthy of a letter.

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21. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

1 Sum ex iis qui mirer antiquos, non tamen — ut quidam — temporum nostrorum ingenia despicio. Neque enim quasi lassa et effeta natura nihil iam laudabile parit. 2 Atque adeo nuper audivi Vergilium Romanum paucis legentem comoediam ad exemplar veteris comoediae scriptam, tam bene ut esse quandoque possit exemplar. 3 Nescio an noris hominem, quamquam nosse debes; est enim probitate morum, ingenii elegantia, operum varietate monstrabilis. 4 Scripsit mimiambos tenuiter argute venuste, atque in hoc genere eloquentissime; nullum est enim genus quod absolutum non possit eloquentissimum dici. Scripsit comoedias Menandrum aliosque aetatis eiusdem aemulatus; licet has inter Plautinas Terentianasque numeres. 5 Nunc primum se in vetere comoedia, sed non tamquam inciperet ostendit. Non illi vis, non granditas, non subtilitas, non amaritudo, non dulcedo, non lepos defuit: ornavit virtutes, insectatus est vitia; fictis nominibus decenter, veris usus est apte. 6 Circa me tantum benignitate nimia modum excessit, nisi quod tamen poetis mentiri licet. 7 In summa extorquebo ei librum legendumque, immo ediscendum mittam tibi; neque enim dubito futurum, ut non deponas si semel sumpseris. Vale.

21. — TO CANINIUS.

I am one of those who admire the ancients, yet I do not, like some, disparage the intellects of our own time. For it is not true that nature, as though wearied and effete, no longer produces anything worthy of admiration. And indeed I lately heard Vergilius Rufus reading to a small company a comedy written after the model of the old comedy, and so well written that it may itself serve as a model some day. I do not know whether you are acquainted with the author, though you ought to be; for he is a man of mark owing to his high character, his refined genius, and his versatility as a writer. He has written “Mimiambi”  with much delicacy, melody and grace, indeed masterpieces of their kind (for there is no kind of composition which, if carried to perfection, may not be styled a masterpiece); he has written comedies in imitation of Menander and other authors of the same age. You might rank them among the works of Plautus and Terence. Now, for the first time, though not with the air of a beginner, he exhibits himself in the old comedy. Vigour, grandeur, subtlety, pungency, sweetness, humour, none of these are wanting to him; he exalts virtue and lashes vice, employing fictitious names with good taste, and real ones with appropriateness. In my case only he has transgressed the bounds, through excess of complaisance, except for this indeed that poets are licensed to fib. To sum up, I shall squeeze the book out of him and send it to you to read, or rather to be learnt by heart, for I am sure you will not lay it down, if you once take it up.

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22. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

1 Magna res acta est omnium qui sunt provinciis praefuturi, magna omnium qui se simpliciter credunt amicis. 2 Lustricius Bruttianus cum Montanium Atticinum comitem suum in multis flagitiis deprehendisset, Caesari scripsit. Atticinus flagitiis addidit, ut quem deceperat accusaret. Recepta cognitio est; fui in consilio. Egit uterque pro se, egit autem carptim et ‘kata kephalaion’, quo genere veritas statim ostenditur. 3 Protulit Bruttianus testamentum suum, quod Atticini manu scriptum esse dicebat; hoc enim et arcana familiaritas et querendi de eo, quem sic amasset, necessitas indicabatur. 4 Enumeravit crimina foeda manifesta; quae ille cum diluere non posset, ita regessit, ut dum defenditur turpis, dum accusat sceleratus probaretur. Corrupto enim scribae servo interceperat commentarios intercideratque, ac per summum nefas utebatur adversus amicum crimine suo. 5 Fecit pulcherrime Caesar: non enim de Bruttiano, sed statim de Atticino perrogavit. Damnatus et in insulam relegatus; Bruttiano iustissimum integritatis testimonium redditum, quem quidem etiam constantiae gloria secuta est. 6 Nam defensus expeditissime accusavit vehementer, nec minus acer quam bonus et sincerus apparuit. 7 Quod tibi scripsi, ut te sortitum provinciam praemonerem, plurimum tibi credas, nec cuiquam satis fidas, deinde scias si quis forte te — quod abominor — fallat, paratam ultionem. Qua tamen ne sit opus, etiam atque etiam attende; 8 neque enim tam iucundum est vindicari quam decipi miserum. Vale.

22. — TO TIRO.

An affair has taken place, which is of importance to all those who are destined to govern provinces, and of importance too to those who trust implicitly in their friends. Lustricius Bruttianus, having discovered Montanius Atticinus, one of his suite, in many delinquencies, reported him to Cæsar. Atticinus added to his former delinquencies by accusing the man whom he had deceived. An investigation was allowed, and I was among the assessors. Each party pleaded his own case; in a summary way, however, and touching only on the heads, a method by which the truth is at once brought to light. Bruttianus produced his will, which he declared to have been written by the hand of Atticinus; this showed the closeness of their intercourse and the necessity which had driven him to complain of one whom he had loved so dearly. He enumerated certain disgraceful and palpable offences; which charges Atticinus, being unable to impair, retorted in such a way as to prove himself a mean knave by his defence and a scoundrel by his accusations. For by bribing one of the secretaries’ slaves, he had intercepted the Governor’s official minutes and mutilated them, and now with consummate rascality was trying to turn his own crime to account against his friend. Cæsar acted nobly. He called for our verdicts, not on Bruttianus but forthwith on Atticinus. The latter was convicted and banished to an island. Bruttianus received a perfectly merited acknowledgment of his integrity, and, in addition to this, obtained the credit due to his energy; for, after making short work of his own defence, he conducted his accusation with vigour, and showed that he was as spirited as he was good and honest.

This I have written to you by way of warning you beforehand, now that you have had a province allotted to you, to trust to yourself for the most part, and not put entire confidence in any one else. Next, you will learn, that should any one chance to deceive you (which may the gods avert!) satisfaction is provided you. Yet, again and again be careful that there may be no need of this; for it is not so agreeable to be vindicated as it is miserable to be imposed upon.

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13. C. PLINIUS TRIARIO SUO S.

1 Impense petis ut agam causam pertinentem ad curam tuam, pulchram alioqui et famosam. Faciam, sed non gratis. ‘Qui fieri potest’ inquis ‘ut non gratis tu?’ Potest: exigam enim mercedem honestiorem gratuito patrocinio. 2 Peto atque etiam paciscor ut simul agat Cremutius Ruso. Solitum hoc mihi et iam in pluribus claris adulescentibus factitatum; nam mire concupisco bonos iuvenes ostendere foro, assignare famae. 3 Quod si cui, praestare Rusoni meo debeo, vel propter natales ipsius vel propter eximiam mei caritatem; quem magni aestimo in isdem iudiciis, ex isdem etiam partibus conspici audiri. 4 Obliga me, obliga ante quam dicat; nam cum dixerit gratias ages. Spondeo sollicitudini tuae, spei meae, magnitudini causae suffecturum. Est indolis optimae brevi producturus alios, si interim provectus fuerit a nobis. 5 Neque enim cuiquam tam clarum statim ingenium ut possit emergere, nisi illi materia occasio, fautor etiam commendatorque contingat. Vale.

23. — TO TRIARIUS.

You beg me urgently to undertake a case in which you are interested, and which, independently of this, is an important one, exciting public attention. I will do so, but not gratuitously. “Can it be,” say you, “that you won’t act gratuitously?” Yes, it can be; for I shall exact a fee more creditable to me than if I held a brief for you gratis. I ask, and indeed stipulate, that Cremutius Ruso shall be with me in the case. This is a practice of mine, and one which I have frequently followed before now in the case of several young men of distinction. For I am excessively anxious to exhibit young men of promise to the Courts, and to introduce them to fame. This service I ought to render to Ruso, if to any one, whether on account of the nobility of his own birth, or else of the extraordinary regard he has for me; and I think it of great consequence that he should be seen and heard in the same cases, and moreover on the same side, as myself. Oblige me then, oblige me, before he speaks; for when he has once spoken, you will express your obligations. I guarantee that he will satisfy your anxieties and my hopes and the importance of the case. He has excellent qualities and will soon be bringing out other people, if meanwhile he be brought out by us. For indeed no man is gifted with a genius so immediately conspicuous as to be able to rise from obscurity, unless the materials, the opportunity — ay, and a patron too and one to recommend him — fall to his lot.

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24. C. PLINIUS MACRO SUO S.

1 Quam multum interest quid a quoque fiat! Eadem enim facta claritate vel obscuritate facientium aut tolluntur altissime aut humillime deprimuntur. 2 Navigabam per Larium nostrum, cum senior amicus ostendit mihi villam, atque etiam cubiculum quod in lacum prominet: ‘Ex hoc’ inquit ‘aliquando municeps nostra cum marito se praecipitavit.’ 3 Causam requisivi. Maritus ex diutino morbo circa velanda corporis ulceribus putrescebat; uxor ut inspiceret exegit; neque enim quemquam fidelius indicaturum, possetne sanari. 4 Vidit desperavit hortata est ut moreretur, comesque ipsa mortis, dux immo et exemplum et necessitas fuit; nam se cum marito ligavit abiecitque in lacum. 5 Quod factum ne mihi quidem, qui municeps, nisi proxime auditum est, non quia minus illo clarissimo Arriae facto, sed quia minor ipsa. Vale.

24. — TO MACER.

What a mighty difference it makes, by whom a thing is done! For deeds of the same character are either exalted to the highest pitch or sunk in the depths of oblivion according to the fame or the obscurity of the actors. I was sailing on our lake Larius, when an elderly friend pointed out to me a villa and moreover a saloon projecting over the lake. “From that spot,” said he, “a townswoman of ours, once upon a time, precipitated herself in company with her husband.” I inquired the reason. The husband had for a long time been an invalid, suffering from putrid ulcers in the groin. His wife insisted on seeing them; no one (she said) could inform him more faithfully than she whether he was capable of being cured. She saw them and despaired. Next she advised him to die, and became herself his companion in death, nay rather his example and leader, the compelling cause of his death; for she tied her husband to her, and jumped into the lake. This exploit was never heard of till recently, even by me her townsman; not because it was smaller than Arria’s celebrated exploit, but because the agent was a smaller person.

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25. C. PLINIUS HISPANO SUO S.

1 Scribis Robustum, splendidum equitem Romanum, cum Atilio Scauro amico meo Ocriculum usque commune iter peregisse, deinde nusquam comparuisse; petis ut Scaurus veniat nosque, si potest, in aliqua inquisitionis vestigia inducat. 2 Veniet; vereor ne frustra. Suspicor enim tale nescio quid Robusto accidisse quale aliquando Metilio Crispo municipi meo. 3 Huic ego ordinem impetraveram atque etiam proficiscenti quadraginta milia nummum ad instruendum se ornandumque donaveram, nec postea aut epistulas eius aut aliquem de exitu nuntium accepi. 4 Interceptusne sit a suis an cum suis dubium: certe non ipse, non quisquam ex servis eius apparuit, ut ne Robusti quidem. 5 Experiamur tamen, accersamus Scaurum; demus hoc tuis, demus optimi adulescentis honestissimis precibus, qui pietate mira mira etiam sagacitate patrem quaerit. Di faveant ut sic inveniat ipsum, quemadmodum iam cum quo fuisset invenit! Vale.

25. — TO HISPANUS.

You write word that Robustus, a distinguished Roman knight, got as far as Ocriculum — to which point their road lay in common — with Atilius Scaurus, a friend of mine, and that nothing further was heard of him. You wish for Scaurus to come and, if it be in his power, to put us on some track for inquiry. He shall come; I fear to no purpose. Indeed I suspect that something or other has befallen Robustus, similar to what once befell Metilius Crispus, a townsman of mine. I had obtained for him his Company, and had further presented him at his departure with forty thousand sesterces for his outfit and equipment; I never, after this, got any letters from him or any news with regard to his end. Whether he was cut off by his slaves, or in company with his slaves, is a matter of doubt; certainly neither he nor any of his slaves subsequently appeared, as indeed none of Robustus’s have. We must use our efforts, however; we must send for Scaurus; we must accord this to your prayers and to those, so highly to be commended, of that excellent youth who is making inquiry for his father with such marvellous affection and marvellous sagacity as well. May the gods be favourable, so that he may discover the object of his search, in the same way as he already discovered the person in whose company he had been.

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26. C. PLINIUS SERVIANO SUO S.

1 Gaudeo et gratulor, quod Fusco Salinatori filiam tuam destinasti. Domus patricia, pater honestissimus, mater pari laude; ipse studiosus litteratus etiam disertus, puer simplicitate comitate iuvenis senex gravitate. Neque enim amore decipior. 2 Amo quidem effuse — ita officiis ita reverentia meruit -, iudico tamen, et quidem tanto acrius quanto magis amo; tibique ut qui exploraverim spondeo, habiturum te generum quo melior fingi ne voto quidem potuit. 3 Superest ut avum te quam maturissime similium sui faciat. Quam felix tempus illud, quo mihi liberos illius nepotes tuos, ut meos vel liberos vel nepotes, ex vestro sinu sumere et quasi pari iure tenere continget! Vale.

26. — TO SERVIANUS.

I am delighted, and congratulate you, that you have betrothed your daughter to Fuscus Salinator. His family is patrician, his father a man of the highest character, and his mother of like repute. He himself is of a studious and literary turn, indeed learned, a boy in candour, a young man in geniality, an elder in seriousness. Nor does my love for him deceive me. I do love him, to be sure, with effusion (his attentions and his respect for me have deserved this), yet I exercise my judgment, and indeed the more stringently the more I love him; and I guarantee to you, as one who have closely investigated him, that you will have a son-in-law than whom your wishes could not have formed a better. All that remains is that he should, as soon as possible, make you the grandfather of young ones like himself. How happy the time, when it will be my good fortune to receive from your arms his children and your grandchildren — just as if they were my own children or grandchildren — and to hold them in mine, as though I had an equal right to them!

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27. C. PLINIUS SEVERO SUO S.

1 Rogas ut cogitem, quid designatus consul in honorem principis censeas. Facilis inventio, non facilis electio; est enim ex virtutibus eius larga materia. Scribam tamen vel — quod malo — coram indicabo, si prius haesitationem meam ostendero. 2 Dubito num idem tibi suadere quod mihi debeam. Designatus ego consul omni hac, etsi non adulatione, specie tamen adulationis abstinui, non tamquam liber et constans, sed tamquam intellegens principis nostri, cuius videbam hanc esse praecipuam laudem, si nihil quasi ex necessitate decernerem. 3 Recordabar etiam plurimos honores pessimo cuique delatos, quibus hic optimus separari non alio magis poterat, quam diversitate censendi; quod ipsum non dissimulatione et silentio praeterii, ne forte non iudicium illud meum sed oblivio videretur. 4 Hoc tunc ego; sed non omnibus eadem placent, ne conveniunt quidem. Praeterea faciendi aliquid non faciendive ratio cum hominum ipsorum tum rerum etiam ac temporum condicione mutatur. 5 Nam recentia opera maximi principis praebent facultatem, nova magna vera censendi. Quibus ex causis, ut supra scripsi, dubito an idem nunc tibi quod tunc mihi suadeam. Illud non dubito, debuisse me in parte consilii tui ponere, quid ipse fecissem. Vale.

27. — TO SEVERUS.

You ask me to consider what you as Consul Elect should say, when called upon in the Senate, in honour of the Emperor. It is easy to find what to say, but by no means easy to make a selection; so abundant is the material furnished by his virtues. However, I will write or — which I should prefer — will intimate to you my ideas by word of mouth, on condition of first exhibiting to you the causes of my hesitation. I am in doubt whether to advise you to do the same as I did. When Consul Elect, I abstained from all those usual topics which, though not flattery, would have borne the appearance of flattery; not by way of showing my independence and fearlessness, but as understanding our Sovereign, whose greatest commendation I saw to be this, that nothing should be proposed by me in his honour, as though on compulsion. I remembered too that the most numerous honours had been conferred on the worst princes; from whom our present excellent Sovereign could not be distinguished in any better way than by a different mode of speaking of him. This particular point I did not disguise or pass in silence; lest my treatment should haply seem due to forgetfulness instead of being the result of judgment. Such was my conduct on that occasion; but the same course does not find favour with, is not indeed suitable to, all persons. Moreover, the grounds for doing or not doing anything are altered according to the circumstances of the parties themselves, and the matters in hand, and the occasion. For the recent achievements of our illustrious Prince furnish an opportunity of saying in the Senate much that is new and important as well as true. For which reasons, as I before said, I doubt whether to advise you to act now as I did then. This, however, I have no doubt about, that it was my duty to offer for your consideration the course pursued by myself.

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28. C. PLINIUS PONTIO SUO S.

1 Scio quae tibi causa fuerit impedimento, quominus praecurrere adventum meum in Campaniam posses. Sed quamquam absens totus huc migrasti: tantum mihi copiarum qua urbanarum qua rusticarum nomine tuo oblatum est, quas omnes improbe, accepi tamen. 2 Nam me tui ut ita facerem rogabant, et verebar ne et mihi et illis irascereris, si non fecissem. In posterum nisi adhibueritis modum ego adhibebo; et iam tuis denuntiavi, si rursus tam multa attulissent, omnia relaturos. 3 Dices oportere me tuis rebus ut meis uti. Etiam: sed perinde illis ac meis parco. Vale.

28. — TO PONTIUS.

I know the cause which prevented your arriving in Campania before me. But, albeit absent, you seem to have migrated here with all your possessions, such a plenty of town and country produce has been offered me in your name, all of which, though with great coolness, I have nevertheless accepted. For not only did your servants beg me to do so, but I feared you would be angry with me and with them if I had not done so. For the future, if you don’t put a limit to this, I shall. And already I have announced to your servants that, on their bringing so many things another time, they would have to take them all back again. You will say it behoves me to use what is yours as though it were my own. Certainly; but I am for being just as careful of it as though it were my own.

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29. C. PLINIUS QUADRATO SUO S.

1 Avidius Quietus, qui me unice dilexit et — quo non minus gaudeo — probavit, ut multa alia Thraseae — fuit enim familiaris — ita hoc saepe referebat, praecipere solitum suscipiendas esse causas aut amicorum aut destitutas aut ad exemplum pertinentes. 2 Cur amicorum, non eget interpretatione. Cur destitutas? quod in illis maxime et constantia agentis et humanitas cerneretur. Cur pertinentes ad exemplum? quia plurimum referret, bonum an malum induceretur. 3 Ad haec ego genera causarum ambitiose fortasse, addam tamen claras et illustres. Aequum est enim agere non numquam gloriae et famae, id est suam causam. Hos terminos, quia me consuluisti, dignitati ac verecundiae tuae statuo. 4 Nec me praeterit usum et esse et haberi optimum dicendi magistrum; video etiam multos parvo ingenio litteris nullis, ut bene agerent agendo consecutos. 5 Sed et illud, quod vel Pollionis vel tamquam Pollionis accepi, verissimum experior: ‘Commode agendo factum est ut saepe agerem, saepe agendo ut minus commode’, quia scilicet assiduitate nimia facilitas magis quam facultas, nec fiducia sed temeritas paratur. 6 Nec vero Isocrati quo minus haberetur summus orator offecit, quod infirmitate vocis mollitia frontis ne in publico diceret impediebatur. Proinde multum lege scribe meditare, ut possis cum voles dicere: dices cum velle debebis. 7 Hoc fere temperamentum ipse servavi; non numquam necessitati quae pars rationis est parui. Egi enim quasdam a senatu iussus, quo tamen in numero fuerunt ex illa Thraseae divisione, hoc est ad exemplum pertinentes. 8 Adfui Baeticis contra Baebium Massam: quaesitum est, an danda esset inquisitio; data est. Adfui rursus isdem querentibus de Caecilio Classico: quaesitum est, an provinciales ut socios ministrosque proconsulis plecti oporteret; poenas luerunt. 9 Accusavi Marium Priscum, qui lege repetundarum damnatus utebatur clementia legis, cuius severitatem immanitate criminum excesserat; relegatus est. 10 Tuitus sum Iulium Bassum, ut incustoditum nimis et incautum, ita minime malum; iudicibus acceptis in senatu remansit. 11 Dixi proxime pro Vareno postulante, ut sibi invicem evocare testes liceret; impetratum est. In posterum opto ut ea potissimum iubear, quae me deceat vel sponte fecisse. Vale.

29. — TO QUADRATUS.

Avidius Quietus, who regarded me with particular affection and (I am no less glad to say) approval, used to relate many things of Thrasea, whose friend he had been, and among them frequently this. He was in the habit of laying it down that the causes to be undertaken were these: those of friends, those which could find no advocate, and those which pertained to example. The case of friends needs no explanation. Why such as could find no advocate? Because in these the fearlessness as well as the kindliness of him who pleads them would be most strongly shown. Why those pertaining to example? Because it would make a great difference whether a good or a bad one were exhibited. To these categories of causes, though perhaps rather presumptuously, I must yet add such as are distinguished and conspicuous. For it is fair at times to plead the cause of glory and fame — in other words, one’s own cause.

These are the limits which, since you have consulted me, I would impose on your sense of dignity and self-respect. Nor do I forget that practice is both held to be and is the best teacher of the art of speaking; indeed, I see many who, with small parts and no literature, have by dint of pleading attained to pleading well. Yet I also find that saying to be most true which has come to me as Pollio’s, or under the name of Pollio: “Pleading well has been the cause of my pleading often, and pleading often the cause of my pleading less well;” because, in fact, by too constant practice facility rather than a real faculty is acquired, and rashness rather than self-reliance. Nor, indeed, was Isocrates prevented from being held a consummate orator by the fact that the weakness of his voice and his shyness impeded him from speaking in public. Accordingly read, write, and meditate a great deal, that you may be able to speak when you choose: you will speak when you ought so to choose. This is the mean which I myself have commonly preserved. Not unfrequently I have yielded to necessity, which ranks as a reason. For I have pleaded certain causes by order of the Senate, in the number of which, however, were some which come under the above classification of Thrasea, that is to say, were such as to pertain to example. I appeared for the Bætici against Bæbius Massa. The question was whether an investigation should be granted. It was granted. I appeared again on behalf of the same parties when they made plaint against Cæcilius Classicus. The question was as to the propriety of punishing provincials as the associates and subordinate agents of a governor. They suffered punishment. I prosecuted Marius Priscus, who was condemned in virtue of the law on extortion, and who profited by the clemency of that law, for by the enormity of his crimes he had outstripped its heaviest penalties. He was banished. I defended Julius Bassus, who, though too unguarded and incautious, was by no means criminal. Judges were assigned him, and he kept his place in the Senate. I spoke lately on behalf of Varenus, who demanded the right, equally with the other side, to compel the attendance of witnesses. He obtained it. For the future I pray that I may be ordered to plead those causes in particular which it would become me to undertake even of my own free will.

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30. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Debemus mehercule natales tuos perinde ac nostros celebrare, cum laetitia nostrorum ex tuis pendeat, cuius diligentia et cura hic hilares istic securi sumus. 2 Villa Camilliana, quam in Campania possides, est quidem vetustate vexata; et tamen, quae sunt pretiosiora, aut integra manent aut levissime laesa sunt. 3 Attendimus ergo, ut quam saluberrime reficiantur. Ego videor habere multos amicos, sed huius generis, cuius et tu quaeris et res exigit, prope neminem. 4 Sunt enim omnes togati et urbani; rusticorum autem praediorum administratio poscit durum aliquem et agrestem, cui nec labor ille gravis nec cura sordida nec tristis solitudo videatur. 5 Tu de Rufo honestissime cogitas; fuit enim filio tuo familiaris. Quid tamen nobis ibi praestare possit ignoro, velle plurimum credo. Vale.

30. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

We are bound, by Hercules, to celebrate your birthdays in the same manner as our own, since the joy of ours depends on yours, and through your diligence and care we are happy here, and at our ease when with you. The Camillian villa, which you possess in Campania, has certainly suffered from age: everything of value about it, however, either remains intact, or is very slightly injured. I will see then to restorations being made on the most reasonable terms. I seem to have many friends, but of that particular class whom you are in search of and the business demands, scarcely one; for they are all men of the town, engaged in town pursuits: whereas for the management of country properties a rough-and-ready rustic sort of person is required, to whom this particular employment will not seem burdensome, nor the occupation one of petty interests, nor the solitude melancholy. You have a very favourable opinion of Rufus, as having been your son’s friend. What, however, he may be able to do for us there, I am not in a position to say. That he has the best intentions, I believe.

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31. C. PLINIUS CORNELIANO SUO S.

1 Evocatus in consilium a Caesare nostro ad Centum Cellas — hoc loco nomen -, magnam cepi voluptatem. 2 Quid enim iucundius quam principis iustitiam gravitatem comitatem in secessu quoque ubi maxime recluduntur inspicere? Fuerunt variae cognitiones et quae virtutes iudicis per plures species experirentur. 3 Dixit causam Claudius Ariston princeps Ephesiorum, homo munificus et innoxie popularis; inde invidia et a dissimillimis delator immissus, itaque absolutus vindicatusque est.

4 Sequenti die audita est Gallitta adulterii rea. Nupta haec tribuno militum honores petituro, et suam et mariti dignitatem centurionis amore maculaverat. Maritus legato consulari, ille Caesari scripserat. 5 Caesar excussis probationibus centurionem exauctoravit atque etiam relegavit. Supererat crimini, quod nisi duorum esse non poterat, reliqua pars ultionis; sed maritum non sine aliqua reprehensione patientiae amor uxoris retardabat, quam quidem etiam post delatum adulterium domi habuerat quasi contentus aemulum removisse. 6 Admonitus ut perageret accusationem, peregit invitus. Sed illam damnari etiam invito accusatore necesse erat: damnata et Iuliae legis poenis relicta est. Caesar et nomen centurionis et commemorationem disciplinae militaris sententiae adiecit, ne omnes eius modi causas revocare ad se videretur.

7 Tertio die inducta cognitio est multis sermonibus et vario rumore iactata, Iuli Tironis codicilli, quos ex parte veros esse constabat, ex parte falsi dicebantur. 8 Substituebantur crimini Sempronius Senecio eques Romanus et Eurythmus Caesaris libertus et procurator. Heredes, cum Caesar esset in Dacia, communiter epistula scripta, petierant ut susciperet cognitionem. 9 Susceperat; reversus diem dederat, et cum ex heredibus quidam quasi reverentia Eurythmi omitterent accusationem, pulcherrime dixerat: ‘Nec ille Polyclitus est nec ego Nero.’ Indulserat tamen petentibus dilationem, cuius tempore exacto consederat auditurus. 10 A parte heredum intraverunt duo omnino; postulaverunt, omnes heredes agere cogerentur, cum detulissent omnes, aut sibi quoque desistere permitteretur. 11 Locutus est Caesar summa gravitate summa moderatione, cumque advocatus Senecionis et Eurythmi dixisset suspicionibus relinqui reos, nisi audirentur, ‘Non curo’ inquit ‘an isti suspicionibus relinquantur, ego relinquor.’ 12 Dein conversus ad nos: ÎÎEpistêsate’ quid facere debeamus; isti enim queri volunt quod sibi licuerit non accusari.’ Tum ex consilii sententia iussit denuntiari heredibus omnibus, aut agerent aut singuli approbarent causas non agendi; alioqui se vel de calumnia pronuntiaturum.

13 Vides quam honesti, quam severi dies; quos iucundissimae remissiones sequebantur. Adhibebamur cotidie cenae; erat modica, si principem cogitares. Interdum acroamata audiebamus, interdum iucundissimis sermonibus nox ducebatur. 14 Summo die abeuntibus nobis — tam diligens in Caesare humanitas — xenia sunt missa. Sed mihi ut gravitas cognitionum, consilii honor, suavitas simplicitasque convictus, ita locus ipse periucundus fuit. 15 Villa pulcherrima cingitur viridissimis agris, imminet litori, cuius in sinu fit cum maxime portus. Huius sinistrum brachium firmissimo opere munitum est, dextrum elaboratur. 16 In ore portus insula assurgit, quae illatum vento mare obiacens frangat, tutumque ab utroque latere decursum navibus praestet. Assurgit autem arte visenda: ingentia saxa latissima navis provehit contra; haec alia super alia deiecta ipso pondere manent ac sensim quodam velut aggere construuntur. 17 Eminet iam et apparet saxeum dorsum impactosque fluctus in immensum elidit et tollit; vastus illic fragor canumque circa mare. Saxis deinde pilae adicientur quae procedente tempore enatam insulam imitentur. Habebit hic portus, et iam habet nomen auctoris, eritque vel maxime salutaris; nam per longissimum spatium litus importuosum hoc receptaculo utetur. Vale.

31. — TO CORNELIANUS.

Summoned by our emperor to act as his assessor at Centum Cellae (that was the name of the place), I experienced the greatest pleasure. What indeed can be more delightful than to enjoy a near view of the prince’s equity, wisdom, and affability, and that too in his retirement, where these qualities best disclose themselves? The subjects of investigation were of various kinds, and such as to test the merits of the judge by the diversity of their character.

Claudius Ariston pleaded his cause, a leading citizen of Ephesus, a munificent man, seeking popularity by innocent means; hence arose envy, and an informer was suborned against him by persons whose character was the opposite of his own. Accordingly he was acquitted, and received satisfaction.

Next day the case of Gallita was heard, who was charged with adultery. This lady, the wife of a military tribune and candidate for office, had stained her own and her husband’s reputation by an amour with a centurion. The husband had written to the consular legate, and he to Cæsar. Cæsar, after sifting the evidence, cashiered the centurion, and banished him into the bargain. There still remained a balance of punishment due to an offence which can only be committed by two persons. But the husband was kept back (not without incurring some censure for his forbearance) by his love for his wife, whom he had indeed kept in his house, even after information had been laid of the adultery, as though satisfied with having removed his rival. Admonished that he must go through with his charge, he did so very unwillingly. However, her condemnation was unavoidable, unwilling as the prosecutor might be. She was convicted, and left to the penalties of the Lex Julia. Cæsar added to his judgment both the name of the centurion and a reference to military practice, that he might not seem to reserve for his own cognisance all cases of this kind.

On the third day an investigation was entered upon, which had been the subject of a great deal of talk and a variety of reports. It related to some codicils of Julius Tiro, part of which were admitted to be genuine, while part were said to be forged. The persons indicted were Sempronius Senecio, a Roman knight, and Eurythmus, Cæsar’s freedman and procurator. The heirs, while Cæsar was in Dacia, had requested him in a joint letter to undertake the investigation. He had consented, and on his return had appointed a day; and when some of the heirs, as if out of regard for Eurythmus, were for abandoning the prosecution, he had said most nobly, “Neither is he Polyclitus, nor am! Nero.” However, he indulged them, at their request, with a delay, the period of which having expired, he now took his seat to hear the case. On the part of the heirs, two in all put in an appearance: they prayed either that the whole of the heirs should be compelled to act, since all had united in lodging the information, or that it might be permitted to them, as well as to the others, to withdraw from the suit. Cæsar expressed himself with great wisdom and at the same time with great moderation; and when the advocate of Senecio and Eurythmus said that the accused would be left exposed to suspicion unless they were heard, “I care not,” said he, ‘whether they are left exposed to suspicions: but I am.” Then, turning to us, “You understand how we ought to act; these people want to make it a ground of complaint that they have been allowed to withdraw from the prosecution.” Then, pursuant to the decision of the Council, he ordered it to be announced to all the heirs that they must either proceed, or else individually make good their reasons for not proceeding, otherwise he should go the length of pronouncing a judgment of false accusation.

You see how well, how seriously, employed were our days; and these were followed by the most agreeable relaxations. We were invited each day to dinner, a modest one considering that it was given by a prince. Sometimes we listened to the performances of artists, at others the evening was spent in the most delightful converse. On the last day, as we were taking our departure (so attentive is Cæsar in his kindness), presents were sent us.

To me, however, not only the important character of our inquiries, the distinction attaching to the Council, and the charm and simplicity with which we were entertained, but also the locality itself, was particularly delightful. The loveliest of villas is surrounded by the most verdant fields: it borders on the shore, in the bight of which a harbour is at this moment being made. The left-hand mole of this is protected by the strongest works; that on the right hand is under construction. In the mouth of the harbour an island is rising, to confront and break the force of the sea carried in by the winds, and to afford an entrance to ships on either side. Its rise, moreover, is worth seeing, from the ingenuity displayed. Huge stones are brought in by ships of the largest burden; these being thrown into the sea, one upon another, remain fixed by their own weight, and are gradually constructed into a kind of rampart. Its stony ridge already appears above the surface, scattering and throwing to a great height the waves which break on it. There is a mighty din there, and the surrounding sea is white with foam. Moles of cement I will be added to the stones, which, as time goes on, will produce an imitation of a natural island. This harbour will bear, indeed already bears, the name of its author, and will be in the highest degree serviceable; for the coast for a very long distance is without any harbour, and will now have the advantage of this place of refuge.

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32. C. PLINIUS QUINTILIANO SUO S.

1 Quamvis et ipse sis continentissimus, et filiam tuam ita institueris ut decebat tuam filiam, Tutili neptem, cum tamen sit nuptura honestissimo viro Nonio Celeri, cui ratio civilium officiorum necessitatem quandam nitoris imponit, debet secundum condicionem mariti <uti> veste comitatu, quibus non quidem augetur dignitas, ornatur tamen et instruitur. 2 Te porro animo beatissimum, modicum facultatibus scio. Itaque partem oneris tui mihi vindico, et tamquam parens alter puellae nostrae confero quinquaginta milia nummum plus collaturus, nisi a verecundia tua sola mediocritate munusculi impetrari posse confiderem, ne recusares. Vale.

32. — TO QUINTILIAN.

Though you are personally the most modest of men in your desires, and though you have brought up your daughter as it was proper that your daughter and the grandchild of Tutilius should be brought up, nevertheless, as she is about to be married to a most honourable gentleman, Nonius Celer, who by reason of his public employments has a certain necessity imposed on him of making an appearance, she should be provided with a wardrobe and an establishment suitable to her husband’s station; matters which, though they will not add to her position, will be adornments and proper accompaniments to it. Furthermore, I know that while you are rich in mental endowments, your fortune is but small. According I lay claim to a share of your burden, and in the character of a second father to our dear girl, contribute towards her portion fifty thousand sesterces. I would contribute a larger sum, were it not that it is by the smallness of my present alone that I have the assurance of being able to prevail on your modesty not to refuse it.

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33. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

1 ‘Tollite cuncta’ inquit ‘coeptosque auferte labores!’ Seu scribis aliquid seu legis, tolli auferri iube et accipe orationem meam ut illa arma divinam — num superbius potui? -, re vera ut inter meas pulchram; nam mihi satis est certare mecum. 2 Est haec pro Attia Viriola, et dignitate personae et exempli raritate et iudicii magnitudine insignis. Nam femina splendide nata, nupta praetorio viro, exheredata ab octogenario patre intra undecim dies quam illi novercam amore captus induxerat, quadruplici iudicio bona paterna repetebat. 3 Sedebant centum et octoginta iudices — tot enim quattuor consiliis colliguntur -, ingens utrimque advocatio et numerosa subsellia, praeterea densa circumstantium corona latissimum iudicium multiplici circulo ambibat. 4 Ad hoc stipatum tribunal, atque etiam ex superiore basilicae parte qua feminae qua viri et audiendi — quod difficile — et — quod facile — visendi studio imminebant. Magna exspectatio patrum, magna filiarum, magna etiam novercarum. 5 Secutus est varius eventus; nam duobus consiliis vicimus, totidem victi sumus. Notabilis prorsus et mira eadem in causa, isdem iudicibus, isdem advocatis, eodem tempore tanta diversitas. 6 Accidit casu, quod non casus videretur: victa est noverca, ipsa heres ex parte sexta, victus Suburanus, qui exheredatus a patre singulari impudentia alieni patris bona vindicabat, non ausus sui petere.

7 Haec tibi exposui, primum ut ex epistula scires, quae ex oratione non poteras, deinde — nam detegam artes — ut orationem libentius legeres, si non legere tibi sed interesse iudicio videreris; quam, sit licet magna, non despero gratiam brevissimae impetraturam. 8 Nam et copia rerum et arguta divisione et narratiunculis pluribus et eloquendi varietate renovatur. Sunt multa — non auderem nisi tibi dicere — elata, multa pugnacia, multa subtilia. 9 Intervenit enim acribus illis et erectis frequens necessitas computandi ac paene calculos tabulamque poscendi, ut repente in privati iudicii formam centumvirale vertatur. 10 Dedimus vela indignationi, dedimus irae, dedimus dolori, et in amplissima causa quasi magno mari pluribus ventis sumus vecti. 11 In summa solent quidam ex contubernalibus nostris existimare hanc orationem — iterum dicam — ut inter meas ‘hyper Ktêsiphôntos’ esse: an vere, tu facillime iudicabis, qui tam memoriter tenes omnes, ut conferre cum hac dum hanc solam legis possis. Vale.

33. — TO ROMANUS.

“‘Throw, throw your tasks aside,’ great Vulcan cried;

‘Off with your works begun.’”

Whether you he reading or writing anything, “throw it aside,”

“off with it,” be the order, and take in hand my speech, divine as were those arms of Vulcan — would it be possible to speak more boastfully? — well, in sober truth, an excellent one for a production of mine, and it is enough for me to compete with myself. This speech is on behalf of Attia Viriola, and is rendered remarkable by the station of the individual, the singularity of the case, and the importance of the decision. For, this lady, of lofty birth, married to a man of Prætorian rank, and disinherited by her octogenarian father within eleven days of the time when, smitten with love, he had brought home a stepmother for her, sought to recover her paternal property by a process instituted before the four courts. One hundred and eighty judges sat (for so many are brought together in the four chambers); there was a vast crowd of assistants on either side, and the benches were thronged; moreover a dense circle of spectators, consisting of many rows, encircled the spacious court. Add to this that the tribune was packed, and even in the galleries of the building women as well as men were hanging over in their eagerness to hear, which was difficult, and to see, which was easy. Great was the expectation of fathers and daughters and even of stepmothers. The results which followed were various: for in two chambers we gained the verdict, in the same number we lost it. Truly a notable and marvellous thing that in the same cause, before the same judges, with the same advocates and on the same occasion, so great a diversity should occur by chance, yet so as not to look like chance. The stepmother was beaten, who had herself been made heir to a sixth part of the fortune, and Suberinus  was beaten, who, after being disinherited by his own father, had with singular impudence claimed the property of another person’s father, though he did not dare to sue for that of his own parent.

I have given you these details, first that you might learn from my letter what you could not have learnt from the speech, and secondly (for I will discover my arts) that you might have the greater pleasure in reading the speech, ]if you seemed to yourself not so much to be reading, as to be present at the trial. And though it be lengthy, I do not despair of its obtaining the same favour as a very short one. For its freshness is preserved by the abundance of the subject-matter, the niceness of the distinctions, by many short narratives and by the variety of the diction. There are many passages in it (I should not dare say this save to you) of an elevated kind, many of an argumentative, and many too of a subtle character. For in the midst of the former powerful and lofty passages, the necessity often interposed itself of dealing with matters of account, and almost of calling for table and counters, so that a Centumviral trial became all of a sudden changed into the form of a private inquiry. I gave full sails to my indignation, to my wrath, to my grief, and in so mighty a cause, as though on a great sea, was carried by many winds. In short, some of our friends generally consider this speech as being the “Pro Ctesiphonte” of my speeches; whether truly, you will most easily judge, who have them all so well in your memory as to be able to compare them with this, while reading this alone.

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34. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Recte fecisti quod gladiatorium munus Veronensibus nostris promisisti, a quibus olim amaris suspiceris ornaris. Inde etiam uxorem carissimam tibi et probatissimam habuisti, cuius memoriae aut opus aliquod aut spectaculum atque hoc potissimum, quod maxime funeri, debebatur. 2 Praeterea tanto consensu rogabaris, ut negare non constans, sed durum videretur. Illud quoque egregie, quod tam facilis tam liberalis in edendo fuisti; nam per haec etiam magnus animus ostenditur. 3 Vellem Africanae, quas coemeras plurimas, ad praefinitum diem occurrissent: sed licet cessaverint illae tempestate detentae, tu tamen meruisti ut acceptum tibi fieret, quod quo minus exhiberes, non per te stetit. Vale.

34. — TO MAXIMUS.

You have acted rightly in promising a gladiatorial show to our friends at Verona, who have long loved and respected and honoured you. And it was thence you obtained that wife who was so dear to you and so deservedly appreciated; to whose memory either a construction of some kind was due, or else a spectacle, and such a one as this in preference to any other, as being most suited to a death-celebration. Besides, you were entreated with so much unanimity that to refuse would have seemed not so much resolution as obstinacy. In this also you have acted admirably, in being so ready and liberal in furnishing the show; for these are points too in which large-mindness is shown. I could have wished that the panthers, of which you bought such numbers, had come to hand on the day appointed, but though they failed, from being detained by stress of weather, you at any rate deserved to get the credit of what it was no fault of yours that you did not exhibit.

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LIBER SEPTIMVS

BOOK VII.

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1. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

1 Terret me haec tua tam pertinax valetudo, et quamquam te temperantissimum noverim, vereor tamen ne quid illi etiam in mores tuos liceat. 2 Proinde moneo patienter resistas: hoc laudabile hoc salutare. Admittit humana natura quod suadeo. 3 Ipse certe sic agere sanus cum meis soleo: ‘Spero quidem, si forte in adversam valetudinem incidero, nihil me desideraturum vel pudore vel paenitentia dignum; si tamen superaverit morbus, denuntio ne quid mihi detis, nisi permittentibus medicis, sciatisque si dederitis ita vindicaturum, ut solent alii quae negantur.’ 4 Quin etiam cum perustus ardentissima febre, tandem remissus unctusque, acciperem a medico potionem, porrexi manum utque tangeret dixi, admotumque iam labris poculum reddidi. 5 Postea cum vicensimo valetudinis die balineo praepararer, mussantesque medicos repente vidissem, causam requisivi. Responderunt posse me tuto lavari, non tamen omnino sine aliqua suspicione. 6 ‘Quid’ inquam ‘necesse est?’ atque ita spe balinei, cui iam videbar inferri, placide leniterque dimissa, ad abstinentiam rursus, non secus ac modo ad balineum, animum vultumque composui. 7 Quae tibi scripsi, primum ut te non sine exemplo monerem, deinde ut in posterum ipse ad eandem temperantiam astringerer, cum me hac epistula quasi pignore obligavissem. Vale.

1. — TO GEMINUS.

THE obstinacy of this illness of yours alarms me, and, though knowing how great is your self-control, I fear it may even affect your temper. Accordingly, I urge you to bear up against it with patience. This is the laudable, the wholesome course, and what I advise is within the power of human nature. For my part, at any rate, when in health, I am in the habit of dealing with my people after this fashion: “It is assuredly my hope that, in case of falling sick, I shall desire nothing to be ashamed of or repented of; yet, should the disease get the better of me, I warn you to give me nothing, except by permission of the doctors; and know that if you do give me anything, I shall punish the act in the same way as others punish a refusal to comply with their wishes.” Moreover, on the occasion of my being burnt up by a raging fever, when, freed at last from the crisis and anointed, I received a drink from the doctor, I held out my pulse and bid him feel it, and thereupon gave back the cup which I had already raised to my lips. Afterwards, on the twentieth day of my illness, when I was being prepared for the bath, and noticed that the doctors were all of a sudden speaking together in an undertone, I inquired the reason. They replied that I might possibly bathe with safety, yet not altogether without some apprehension. “Where,” said I, “is the necessity?” and so placidly and calmly laying aside all hope of the bath, which I had seemed on the point of being conveyed to, I composed my mind and my looks for the privation no less readily than just before for the bath.

All this I have written to you, firstly, that my warning might not he unaccompanied by an example, and next, that for the future I myself might he bound to the same course of self-control, through having engaged myself to it by this letter as by a kind of pledge.

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2. C. PLINIUS IUSTO SUO S.

1 Quemadmodum congruit, ut simul et affirmes te assiduis occupationibus impediri, et scripta nostra desideres, quae vix ab otiosis impetrare aliquid perituri temporis possunt? 2 Patiar ergo aestatem inquietam vobis exercitamque transcurrere, et hieme demum, cum credibile erit noctibus saltem vacare te posse, quaeram quid potissimum ex nugis meis tibi exhibeam. 3 Interim abunde est si epistulae non sunt molestae; sunt autem et ideo breviores erunt. Vale.

2. — TO JUSTUS.

How can it be consistent that in one and the same breath you declare you are engrossed by incessant occupations and yet are longing for my productions, which even from idle folks can scarce obtain a moment of their useless time? I will therefore permit your summer to go by, with its cares and its agitations, and not till winter (when it is presumable that in the evenings at any rate you will possibly have some leisure) will I consider which of my trifles had test be sent you. Meanwhile, it is enough if my letters do not prove a nuisance to you — but they must be, so they shall be cut shorter. Adieu.

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3. C. PLINIUS PRAESENTI SUO S.

1 Tantane perseverantia tu modo in Lucania, modo in Campania? ‘Ipse enim’ inquis ‘Lucanus, uxor Campana.’ 2 Iusta causa longioris absentiae, non perpetuae tamen. Quin ergo aliquando in urbem redis? ubi dignitas honor amicitiae tam superiores quam minores. Quousque regnabis? quousque vigilabis cum voles, dormies quamdiu voles? quousque calcei nusquam, toga feriata, liber totus dies? 3 Tempus est te revisere molestias nostras, vel ob hoc solum ne voluptates istae satietate languescant. Saluta paulisper, quo sit tibi iucundius salutari; terere in hac turba, ut te solitudo delectet. 4 Sed quid imprudens quem evocare conor retardo? Fortasse enim his ipsis admoneris, ut te magis ac magis otio involvas; quod ego non abrumpi sed intermitti volo. 5 Ut enim, si cenam tibi facerem, dulcibus cibis acres acutosque miscerem, ut obtusus illis et oblitus stomachus his excitaretur, ita nunc hortor ut iucundissimum genus vitae non nullis interdum quasi acoribus condias. Vale.

3. — TO PRÆSENS.

Still the same persistency on your part in remaining at one time in Lucania, at another in Campania! “Why,” say you, “I myself am a Lucanian and my wife is a Campanian.” Good grounds these for a more protracted absence from town; but not, however, for an uninterrupted one. Why not return then at some time to Rome, where consideration and honour and friendships, distinguished as well as humble, await you. How long will you continue to play the king, waking when you choose and sleeping as long as you choose? How long are your dress-shoes to be nowhere, your toga to have a holiday, your whole day to be free? It is time that you should revisit our worries, if with this object only, that those pleasures of yours may not languish through satiety. Pay your court to others for a brief while, that it may be the more agreeable to you to be courted in turn. Jostle in this crowd of ours, in order to enjoy solitude. But why foolishly retard him whom I am striving to recall? For, perhaps, you will be urged by this very language of mine more and more to wrap yourself up in your ease, which I don’t want to see broken up, but merely intermitted. For, just as if I were giving you a dinner I should intermingle with sweet dishes some that were sharp-flavoured and piquant, that your taste, deadened and cloyed by the former, might receive a fresh stimulus from the latter, so now I exhort you to season your most delectable mode of life now and then with, so to speak, a trifling admixture of acids.

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4. C. PLINIUS PONTIO SUO S.

1 Ais legisse te hendecasyllabos meos; requiris etiam quemadmodum coeperim scribere, homo ut tibi videor severus, ut ipse fateor non ineptus. 2 Numquam a poetice — altius enim repetam — alienus fui; quin etiam quattuordecim natus annos Graecam tragoediam scripsi. ‘Qualem?’ inquis. Nescio; tragoedia vocabatur. 3 Mox, cum e militia rediens in Icaria insula ventis detinerer, Latinos elegos in illud ipsum mare ipsamque insulam feci. Expertus sum me aliquando et heroo, hendecasyllabis nunc primum, quorum hic natalis haec causa est. Legebantur in Laurentino mihi libri Asini Galli de comparatione patris et Ciceronis. Incidit epigramma Ciceronis in Tironem suum. 4 Dein cum meridie — erat enim aestas — dormiturus me recepissem, nec obreperet somnus, coepi reputare maximos oratores hoc studii genus et in oblectationibus habuisse et in laude posuisse. 5 Intendi animum contraque opinionem meam post longam desuetudinem perquam exiguo temporis momento id ipsum, quod me ad scribendum sollicitaverat, his versibus exaravi:

6 Cum libros Galli legerem, quibus ille parenti
ausus de Cicerone dare est palmamque decusque,
lascivum inveni lusum Ciceronis et illo
spectandum ingenio, quo seria condidit et quo
humanis salibus multo varioque lepore
magnorum ostendit mentes gaudere virorum.
Nam queritur quod fraude mala frustratus amantem
paucula cenato sibi debita savia Tiro
tempore nocturno subtraxerit. 5 His ego lectis
‘cur post haec’ inquam ‘nostros celamus amores
nullumque in medium timidi damus atque fatemur
Tironisque dolos, Tironis nosse fugaces
blanditias et furta novas addentia flammas?’

7 Transii ad elegos; hos quoque non minus celeriter explicui, addidi alios facilitate corruptus. Deinde in urbem reversus sodalibus legi; probaverunt. 8 Inde plura metra si quid otii, ac maxime in itinere temptavi. Postremo placuit exemplo multorum unum separatim hendecasyllaborum volumen absolvere, nec paenitet. 9 Legitur describitur cantatur etiam, et a Graecis quoque, quos Latine huius libelli amor docuit, nunc cithara nunc lyra personatur. 10 Sed quid ego tam gloriose? Quamquam poetis furere concessum est. Et tamen non de meo sed de aliorum iudicio loquor; qui sive iudicant sive errant, me delectat. Unum precor, ut posteri quoque aut errent similiter aut iudicent. Vale.

4. — TO PONTIUS.

You say you have read my hendecasyllables; you would even seek to know how it was that I began to write them, who am, in your estimation, a serious personage, and, as I myself admit, no trifler. I was at no time (to go back a long way) averse from the poetic art; nay more, when fourteen years of age, I wrote a Greek tragedy. “What sort of one?” you ask. I can’t say; it was called a tragedy. Afterwards, when, on my return from military service, I was detained by adverse winds in the island of Icaria, I wrote some Latin elegiacs on the sea there and the island itself. At times I have tried my hand at heroic metre; now for the first time at hendecasyllables, which were originated and first saw the light in this wise. The chapters of Asinius Gallus on the comparison between his father and Cicero were being read to me at my house at Laurentum, when an epigram of Cicero on his favourite Tiro occurred. Afterwards, on retiring for a midday siesta (for it was summer time) when sleep failed to steal over me, I began to ponder how the greatest orators not only esteemed this kind of literary effort as a recreation, but also took credit for it. I applied my mind, and, contrary to my expectation, after such long disuse, in a remarkably short space of time scribbled the following verses on the very subject which had induced me to write: —

“When Gallus I read, who pretends that his sire

Had far more than Tully poetical fire:

The wisest of men, I perceived, held it fit

To temper his wisdom with love and with wit;

For Tully, grave Tully, in amorous strains

Of the frauds of his paramour Tiro complains;

That, faithless to love and to pleasure untrue,

From his promised embrace the arch wanton withdrew;

Then I said to my heart, ‘Why should’st thou conceal

The sweetest of passions, the love which you feel?

Yes, fly, wanton Muse, and proclaim it around,

Thy Pliny has loved and his Tiro has found.’

The coy one so artful, who sweetly denies,

And from the sweet flame, but to heighten it, flies.”

I passed on to elegiacs; these, too, I delivered myself of with no less celerity, and, corrupted by this facility, I added some iambics. Then, on my return to town, I read them to my friends. They approved them. Afterwards I attempted a variety of metres in my leisure moments, and principally when travelling. At last I determined, in accordance with the example set by many, to complete one separate volume of hendecasyllables, nor do I repent having done so. It is read, transcribed, indeed sung, and accompanied — by the Greeks, too, whom their relish for this little book has taught Latin — sometimes on the guitar, at other times on the lyre. But why talk so big? However, poets are privileged to rave. And yet I do not speak from my own but from others’ judgments, who, whether they judge rightly or wrongly, at any rate delight me. I only pray that posterity likewise may judge, whether rightly or wrongly, in the same way.

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5. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

1 Incredibile est quanto desiderio tui tenear. In causa amor primum, deinde quod non consuevimus abesse. Inde est quod magnam noctium partem in imagine tua vigil exigo; inde quod interdiu, quibus horis te visere solebam, ad diaetam tuam ipsi me, ut verissime dicitur, pedes ducunt; quod denique aeger et maestus ac similis excluso a vacuo limine recedo. Unum tempus his tormentis caret, quo in foro et Samicorum litibus conteror. 2 Aestima tu, quae vita mea sit, cui requies in labore, in miseria curisque solacium. Vale.

5. — TO CALPURNIA, HIS WIFE.

It is incredible what a yearning for you possesses me. The reason of this is first of all my love for you, and next that we have not been accustomed to be separated. Hence it is that I spend a great part of my nights wakeful over your image; hence in the day, at the times when I was in the habit of looking in on you, my feet of their own accord take me — as the phrase runs most truly — to your apartment; hence in the end, sick at heart and sad, as one who has been denied admittance, I retire from the deserted threshold. One time alone is free from these torments, that in which I am worn out in the Forum by the law-suits of my friends. It is for you to judge what my life must be when it finds its repose in labour, its solace in miseries and cares!

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6. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

1 Rara et notabilis res Vareno contigit, sit licet adhuc dubia. Bithyni accusationem eius ut temere incohatam omisisse narrantur. ‘Narrantur’ dico? Adest provinciae legatus, attulit decretum concilii ad Caesarem, attulit ad multos principes viros, attulit etiam ad nos Vareni advocatos. 2 Perstat tamen idem ille Magnus; quin etiam Nigrinum optimum virum pertinacissime exercet. Per hunc a consulibus postulabat, ut Varenus exhibere rationes cogeretur. 3 Assistebam Vareno iam tantum ut amicus et tacere decreveram. Nihil enim tam contrarium quam si advocatus a senatu datus defenderem ut reum, cui opus esset ne reus videretur. 4 Cum tamen finita postulatione Nigrini consules ad me oculos rettulissent, ‘Scietis’ inquam ‘constare nobis silentii nostri rationem, cum veros legatos provinciae audieritis.’ Contra Nigrinus: ‘Ad quem missi sunt?’ Ego: ‘Ad me quoque: habeo decretum provinciae.’ 5 Rursus ille: ‘Potest tibi liquere.’ Ad hoc ego: ‘Si tibi ex diverso liquet, potest et mihi quod est melius liquere.Ì 6 Tum legatus Polyaenus causas abolitae accusationis exposuit, postulavitque ne cognitioni Caesaris praeiudicium fieret. Respondit Magnus iterumque Polyaenus. Ipse raro et breviter interlocutus multum me intra silentium tenui. 7 Accepi enim non minus interdum oratorium esse tacere quam dicere.

Atque adeo repeto me quibusdam capitis reis vel magis silentio quam oratione accuratissima profuisse. 8 Mater amisso filio — quid enim prohibet, quamquam alia ratio scribendae epistulae fuerit, de studiis disputare? — libertos eius eosdemque coheredes suos falsi et veneficii reos detulerat ad principem, iudicemque impetraverat Iulium Servianum. 9 Defenderam reos ingenti quidem coetu; erat enim causa notissima, praeterea utrimque ingenia clarissima. Finem cognitioni quaestio imposuit, quae secundum reos dedit. 10 Postea mater adiit principem, affirmavit se novas probationes invenisse. Praeceptum est Suburano, ut vacaret finitam causam retractanti, si quid novi afferret. 11 Aderat matri Iulius Africanus, nepos illius oratoris, quo audito Passienus Crispus dixit: ‘Bene mehercule, bene; sed quo tam bene?’ Huius nepos, iuvenis ingeniosus sed non parum callidus, cum multa dixisset assignatumque tempus implesset, ‘Rogo’ inquit, ‘Suburane, permittas mihi unum verbum adicere.’ 12 Tum ego, cum omnes me ut diu responsurum intuerentur, ‘Respondissem’ inquam ‘si unum illud verbum Africanus adiecisset, in quo non dubito omnia nova fuisse.’ 13 Non facile me repeto tantum assensum agendo consecutum, quantum tunc non agendo.

Similiter nunc et probatum et exceptum est, quod pro Vareno hactenus tacui. 14 Consules, ut Polyaenus postulabat, omnia integra principi servaverunt; cuius cognitionem suspensus exspecto. Nam dies ille nobis pro Vareno aut securitatem et otium dabit aut intermissum laborem renovata sollicitudine iniunget. Vale.

6. — TO MACRINUS.

A strange and remarkable circumstance has happened to Varenus, though it be still of an uncertain character. The Bithynians are reported to have given up his prosecution on the ground of its having been undertaken without consideration. Reported, do I say? The agent of the province is here, and has brought a decree of its council to Cæsar, to many of our leading men, and to us, the advocates of Varenus, into the bargain. Still, that same Magnus holds out; more than this, he worries with the utmost pertinacity the worthy Nigrinus, through whom he made application to the consuls that Varenus should be ordered to produce his accounts. I assisted Varenus, but now only as a friend, having made up my mind to hold my tongue. For nothing could be more disadvantageous than that I, appointed his advocate by the Senate, should defend, as though lying under an accusation, a person to whom it imported that he should appear not to be accused at all. However, when at the close of Nigrinus’s application the consuls turned their eyes towards me, “You will know,” said I, “that I have good reason for my silence when you have heard the real agents of the province.” In answer to this, “To whom have they been sent?” asked Nigrinus. Said I, “To me, as well as to others. I am in possession of the decree of the province.” To which he returned, “You may feel satisfied.” I replied, “If you are satisfied the other way, it is possible that I, too, may be satisfied, and with better reason.” Upon this the provincial agent, Polyænus, set forth the grounds for annulling the prosecution, and demanded that there should be no prejudgment of the matter in view of Cæsar’s cognisance of it. Magnus spoke in reply, and Polyænus a second time. For my part, merely interspersing an occasional and brief remark, I observed in general a profound silence. For I have learnt that there are times when it is no less the part of an orator to hold his tongue than to speak. And I can even remember that in the case of certain persons capitally accused, I have served them still better by my silence than by the most elaborate oratory.

A mother who had lost her son (for what prohibits me, though my reason for writing this letter was a different one, from discussions of a professional kind?) accused to the prince his freedmen, who were also co-heirs with her, of forgery and poisoning, and obtained Julius Servianus for judge. I defended the accused, and that too in a very crowded court; for the case attracted great notice, and, besides, the most celebrated talent was employed on either side. The trial ended by the slaves being put to the question, and the result was in favour of the accused. Subsequently the mother applied to the prince, declaring that she had discovered fresh evidence. Suburanus was directed to hear the case thus decided, reargued, in the event of her producing any new matter. The mother’s counsel was Julius Africanus, a grandson of that orator after hearing whom Passienus Crispus exclaimed, “Finely spoken, by Hercules, finely spoken! But to what end all this fine speaking?” This orator’s grandson, a young man of talent, but not much judgment, after he had talked at great length and filled up the time allotted him, “I beg,” said he, “Suburanus, that you would permit me to add just one word.” Then I, when all were looking to me with the expectation of hearing a long reply, spoke thus, “I should have replied, if Africanus had added just that ‘one word,’ which, I doubt not, would have contained all his new matter.” I cannot readily call to mind having ever obtained so much approval by speaking, as I did then by not speaking. Similarly on the present occasion I was lauded and welcomed for having so far held my tongue on behalf of Varenus. The consuls, in accordance with the application of Polyænus, have kept the whole matter open for the prince, whose decision I await in suspense. For, the day when it is given will either put us at rest and at ease for Varenus, or will force us to resume our interrupted labours with renewed anxiety.

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7. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

1 Et proxime Prisco nostro et rursus, quia ita iussisti, gratias egi. Libentissime quidem: est enim mihi periucundum, quod viri optimi mihique amicissimi adeo cohaesistis, ut invicem vos obligari putetis. 2 Nam ille quoque praecipuam se voluptatem ex amicitia tua capere profitetur, certatque tecum honestissimo certamine mutuae caritatis, quam ipsum tempus augebit. Te negotiis distineri ob hoc moleste fero, quod deservire studiis non potes. Si tamen alteram litem per iudicem alteram — ut ais — ipse finieris, incipies primum istic otio frui, deinde satiatus ad nos reverti. Vale.

7. — TO SATURNINUS.

I thanked our friend Priscus lately, and have done so again — since you so bade me — with the greatest pleasure. It is indeed particularly delightful to me that two such excellent men and dear friends of mine should be so knit together as to think yourselves under a reciprocal obligation. For he, too, professes to derive the highest gratification from your intimacy, and engages with you in a truly noble contest of mutual affection, which time itself will increase. I am sorry to hear that you are engrossed by business, for this reason, that you are unable to devote yourself to literature. However, when you have concluded one case before a judge, and (as you tell me) settled the other in person, you will begin, first, to enjoy your leisure where you are, and then, when you have had enough of it, to think of returning to us.

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8. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

1 Exprimere non possum, quam iucundum sit mihi quod Saturninus noster summas tibi apud me gratias aliis super alias epistulis agit. 2 Perge ut coepisti, virumque optimum quam familiarissime dilige, magnam voluptatem ex amicitia eius percepturus nec ad breve tempus. 3 Nam cum omnibus virtutibus abundat, tum hac praecipue, quod habet maximam in amore constantiam. Vale.

8. — TO PRISCUS.

I cannot express my delight at our friend Saturninus speaking to me of his deep thankfulness to you in letter after letter. Go on as you have begun, and cherish with all possible affection this excellent man, from whose friendship you will derive great satisfaction, and for no short time either; for abounding as he is in all good qualities, he is principally distinguished for the remarkable constancy of his affections.

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9. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

1 Quaeris quemadmodum in secessu, quo iam diu frueris, putem te studere oportere. 2 Utile in primis, et multi praecipiunt, vel ex Graeco in Latinum vel ex Latino vertere in Graecum. Quo genere exercitationis proprietas splendorque verborum, copia figurarum, vis explicandi, praeterea imitatione optimorum similia inveniendi facultas paratur; simul quae legentem fefellissent, transferentem fugere non possunt. 3 Intellegentia ex hoc et iudicium acquiritur. Nihil offuerit quae legeris hactenus, ut rem argumentumque teneas, quasi aemulum scribere lectisque conferre, ac sedulo pensitare, quid tu quid ille commodius. Magna gratulatio si non nulla tu, magnus pudor si cuncta ille melius. Licebit interdum et notissima eligere et certare cum electis. 4 Audax haec, non tamen improba, quia secreta contentio: quamquam multos videmus eius modi certamina sibi cum multa laude sumpsisse, quosque subsequi satis habebant, dum non desperant, antecessisse. 5 Poteris et quae dixeris post oblivionem retractare, multa retinere plura transire, alia interscribere alia rescribere. 6 Laboriosum istud et taedio plenum, sed difficultate ipsa fructuosum, recalescere ex integro et resumere impetum fractum omissumque, postremo nova velut membra peracto corpori intexere nec tamen priora turbare. 7 Scio nunc tibi esse praecipuum studium orandi; sed non ideo semper pugnacem hunc et quasi bellatorium stilum suaserim. Ut enim terrae variis mutatisque seminibus, ita ingenia nostra nunc hac nunc illa meditatione recoluntur. 8 Volo interdum aliquem ex historia locum apprendas, volo epistulam diligentius scribas. Nam saepe in oratione quoque non historica modo sed prope poetica descriptionum necessitas incidit, et pressus sermo purusque ex epistulis petitur. 9 Fas est et carmine remitti, non dico continuo et longo — id enim perfici nisi in otio non potest -, sed hoc arguto et brevi, quod apte quantas libet occupationes curasque distinguit. 10 Lusus vocantur; sed hi lusus non minorem interdum gloriam quam seria consequuntur. Atque adeo — cur enim te ad versus non versibus adhorter? —

11 ut laus est cerae, mollis cedensque sequatur
si doctos digitos iussaque fiat opus
et nunc informet Martem castamve Minervam,
nunc Venerem effingat, nunc Veneris puerum;
utque sacri fontes non sola incendia sistunt,
saepe etiam flores vernaque prata iuvant,
sic hominum ingenium flecti ducique per artes
non rigidas docta mobilitate decet.

12 Itaque summi oratores, summi etiam viri sic se aut exercebant aut delectabant, immo delectabant exercebantque. 13 Nam mirum est ut his opusculis animus intendatur remittatur. Recipiunt enim amores odia iras misericordiam urbanitatem, omnia denique quae in vita atque etiam in foro causisque versantur. 14 Inest his quoque eadem quae aliis carminibus utilitas, quod metri necessitate devincti soluta oratione laetamur, et quod facilius esse comparatio ostendit, libentius scribimus.

15 Habes plura etiam fortasse quam requirebas; unum tamen omisi. Non enim dixi quae legenda arbitrarer: quamquam dixi, cum dicerem quae scribenda. Tu memineris sui cuiusque generis auctores diligenter eligere. Aiunt enim multum legendum esse, non multa. 16 Qui sint hi adeo notum probatumque est, ut demonstratione non egeat; et alioqui tam immodice epistulam extendi, ut dum tibi quemadmodum studere debeas suadeo, studendi tempus abstulerim. Quin ergo pugillares resumis, et aliquid ex his vel istud ipsum quod coeperas scribis? Vale.

9. — TO FUSCUS.

You ask me after what manner I think you ought to pursue your studies in the retirement which you have now for some time enjoyed. It will be particularly profitable — and so it is laid down by many — to translate either from Greek into Latin, or from Latin into “Greek.  This is a kind of exercise which will furnish you with propriety and brilliancy of expression, a great supply of ornamental turns, force in exposition, and, moreover, by imitation of the best models, a faculty of inventing what will resemble them. At the same time, what might have eluded the notice of a reader cannot escape a translator. By this means taste and judgment are acquired. It will do you no harm if — taking what you have read with sufficient attention to recollect the matter and the argument — you write down the substance in a spirit of rivalry, and then compare it with what you have read, carefully considering what you and what your author have put in a preferable way. Great will be your joy if you have bettered him in some places; great your shame if he has bettered you in everything. It will sometimes be permissible to select the best known parts, and to compete with the choicest passages. This contest, though a daring one, will not be impertinent, because it is carried on in private. Though, for the matter of that, we see many who have undertaken this kind of competition with great credit, and who, by reason of not despairing, have outstripped those whom they thought it sufficient to follow in the wake of. You may also take in hand again what you have written, after you have forgotten it, and then retain much of it, throw out more, insert some things, and rewrite others. This is an irksome and extremely tedious task, but which the difficulty itself renders profitable — to warm to one’s work afresh, and resume one’s swing after it has been enfeebled and has ceased, and, finally, to insert fresh members, so to speak, in a completed framework, yet so as not to disturb what was there before.

I know that just now you have a particular affection for oratory, but I would not on that account advise you always to adopt that contentious, and, if I may so term it, warlike style. For as soils are refreshed by varying and changing the seeds, so are our minds by exercising the thoughts now in one direction, now in another. I should wish you occasionally to take up some historical topic. I should also wish you to write a letter with especial pains. For oftentimes, even in an oration, a necessity occurs, not only for historical, but almost for poetical treatment, and a concise and pure style is acquired by letter-writing. Even poetry is a fitting relaxation. I don’t say long and sustained poems (for such as these can only be elaborated with full leisure), but of that lively and short kind which form a suitable interruption to occupations and business, however important. We call them poetic sports. But these sports sometimes attain to no less fame than serious effusions. Nay, more (for why should I not exhort you to verse-making by verse?): —

As yielding wax the artist’s skill commands,

Submissive shaped beneath his forming hands;

Now dreadful stands in arms a Mars confessed,

Or now with Venus’ softer air impressed;

Now by the mould a wanton Cupid lies, —

Now shines, severely chaste, a Pallas wise;

As not alone to quench the sacred flame

The sacred fountain pours her friendly stream,

But sweetly gliding through the flowery green,

Spreads glad refreshment o’er the smiling scene;

So, formed by science, should the ductile mind

Receive, distinct, each various art refined.

And so the greatest orators, who were at the same time the greatest of men, either exercised or delighted themselves, nay, rather both exercised and delighted themselves. For it is marvellous how, by means of these small compositions, the mind is at once exerted and refreshed. There is room in them for love, hatred, wrath, pity, humour, everything, in short, which has a place in daily life, as well as in the Forum and its trials. There is in these, too, the same advantage as in other kinds of poetry, that, after acquitting ourselves of the necessities imposed by metre, we learn to rejoice in the freedom of prose, and that which comparison shows to be the easier for us we write with all the more pleasure.

You have now got, perhaps, even more than you required. One thing, however, has been omitted, for I have not said what I thought you ought to read, and yet I did say it when telling you what ought to be written. Do you mind and make a careful selection of authors, each of his own kind. For they say that one ought to read much, not many things. Who these authors are is so well-known and established that there is no necessity for pointing them out; and, independently of this, I have so immoderately extended this letter, that, while advising you on the way in which you ought to conduct your studies, I have been robbing you of time for study. Resume, then, your note-books, and either write something in accordance with these suggestions, or go on with the particular work you had begun.

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10. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

1 Quia ipse, cum prima cognovi, iungere extrema quas avulsa cupio, te quoque existimo velle de Vareno et Bithynis reliqua cognoscere. Acta causa hinc a Polyaeno, inde a Magno. 2 Finitis actionibus Caesar ‘Neutra’ inquit ‘pars de mora queretur; erit mihi curae explorare provinciae voluntatem.’ 3 Multum interim Varenus tulit. Etenim quam dubium est an merito accusetur, qui an omnino accusetur incertum est! Superest ne rursus provinciae quod damnasse dicitur placeat, agatque paenitentiam paenitentiae suae. Vale.

10. — TO MACRINUS.

As I myself, when I have learnt the beginning of a story, long to tack to it the ending, which has in a manner been forcibly separated from it, so I suppose that you too would like to learn the remainder about Varenus and the Bithynians. The cause was pleaded by Polyænus on one side, and Magnus on the other. At the conclusion of their speeches, “Neither party,” said Cæsar, “shall have to complain of delay; it shall be my care to ascertain the wishes of the province.” Meanwhile Varenus has obtained a good deal. For, indeed, how doubtful it must be whether a man is rightly accused, when it is uncertain whether he be accused at all? All that remains is that the province should not once more approve of what it is said to have condemned, and thus repent of its own repentance.

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11. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Miraris quod Hermes libertus meus hereditarios agros, quos ego iusseram proscribi, non exspectata auctione pro meo quincunce ex septingentis milibus Corelliae addixerit. Adicis hos nongentis milibus posse venire, ac tanto magis quaeris, an quod gessit ratum servem. 2 Ego vero servo: quibus ex causis, accipe. Cupio enim et tibi probatum et coheredibus meis excusatum esse, quod me ab illis maiore officio iubente secerno. 3 Corelliam cum summa reverentia diligo, primum ut sororem Corelli Rufi, cuius mihi memoria sacrosancta est, deinde ut matri meae familiarissimam. 4 Sunt mihi et cum marito eius Minicio Iusto, optimo viro, vetera iura; fuerunt et cum filio maxima, adeo quidem ut praetore me ludis meis praesederit. 5 Haec, cum proxime istic fui, indicavit mihi cupere se aliquid circa Larium nostrum possidere. Ego illi ex praediis meis quod vellet et quanti vellet obtuli exceptis maternis paternisque; his enim cedere ne Corelliae quidem possum. 6 Igitur cum obvenisset mihi hereditas in qua praedia ista, scripsi ei venalia futura. Has epistulas Hermes tulit exigentique, ut statim portionem meam sibi addiceret, paruit. Vides quam ratum habere debeam, quod libertus meus meis moribus gessit. 7 Superest ut coheredes aequo animo ferant separatim me vendidisse, quod mihi licuit omnino non vendere. 8 Nec vero coguntur imitari meum exemplum: non enim illis eadem cum Corellia iura. Possunt ergo intueri utilitatem suam, pro qua mihi fuit amicitia. Vale.

11. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

You are surprised that Hermes, my freedman, should have sold to Corellia the five-twelfth share which was left me in an estate (without waiting for the auction, though I had ordered the property to be advertised), at the rate of seven hundred thousand sesterces for the whole. You add that the estate could be sold for nine hundred thousand, and hence you are more particular in inquiring whether I am prepared to stand by what he has done. I certainly do stand by it, for reasons you will now learn, for I am anxious that you should approve, and my co-heirs should excuse, my separating myself from them under the compulsion of a still higher obligation. I have a regard and profound respect for Corellia, first of all as being the sister of Corellius Rufus, whose memory is in the highest degree sacred in my eyes, and next as the bosom friend of my mother. Ties of long standing unite me to her husband also, Minicius Justus, a man of the loftiest character, and very strong ones united me to her son, to such an extent indeed that, during my Prætorship, he presided at the shows which I gave. Corellia, when I was lately in those parts, intimated to me her desire to own some property upon our Larian lake. I offered her, out of my estates, anything she liked, at her own price, always excepting what had come to me from my mother and father, for I could not part with these, even to Corellia. So when this inheritance had fallen to me, containing the lands in question, I wrote to her that they would be offered for sale. Hermes was the bearer of my letter, and on her urgently requesting that he would at once dispose of my portion to her, he complied. You see how completely I must stand to that which has been done by my freedman in compliance with my sentiments. It remains that my co-heirs should bear with a good grace my having sold separately what I was entitled not to sell at all. Nor, indeed, are they compelled to imitate my example, for there are not the same ties between them and Corellia. They can, therefore, look to their own interests; mine were replaced by a sense of friendship.

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12. C. PLINIUS MINICIO SUO S.

1 Libellum formatum a me, sicut exegeras, quo amicus tuus, immo noster — quid enim non commune nobis? -, si res posceret uteretur, misi tibi ideo tardius ne tempus emendandi eum, id est disperdendi, haberes. 2 Habebis tamen, an emendandi nescio, utique disperdendi. ‘Hymeis gar hoi euzêloi’ optima quaeque detrahitis. 3 Quod si feceris, boni consulam. Postea enim illis ex aliqua occasione ut meis utar, et beneficio fastidi tui ipse laudabor, ut in eo quod adnotatum invenies et suprascripto aliter explicitum. 4 Nam cum suspicarer futurum, ut tibi tumidius videretur, quoniam est sonantius et elatius, non alienum existimavi, ne te torqueres, addere statim pressius quiddam et exilius, vel potius humilius et peius, vestro tamen iudicio rectius. 5 Cur enim non usquequaque tenuitatem vestram insequar et exagitem? Haec ut inter istas occupationes aliquid aliquando rideres, illud serio: 6 vide ut mihi viaticum reddas, quod impendi data opera cursore dimisso. Ne tu, cum hoc legeris, non partes libelli, sed totum libellum improbabis, negabisque ullius pretii esse, cuius pretium reposcaris. Vale.

12. — TO MINICIUS.

The enclosed small production was composed by me at your request for your, nay, rather our friend (for what is there that is not common between us?), to use if occasion requires. I have sent it you later than I otherwise should, in order that you may have no time for correcting it, that is to say, pulling it to pieces. However, you will find time, whether for correcting it I know not, but certainly for pulling it to pieces. For you “gentlemen of correct taste” cut out all the best bits. Well, if you do this, I will take it in good part. For I shall afterwards, on some occasion or other, use these same bits on my own account, and obtain applause for them by favour of your contemptuous rejection of them — as, for instance, that passage which you will find marked, and the sense set out in a different way, in what I have written above it: for suspecting that it would seem to you turgid, inasmuch as it is high-sounding and elevated, I thought it not inopportune (in order to spare you torture) to append to it forthwith something conciser and simpler, or rather commoner and worse, but which, in your judgment, will be more appropriate. Why, in sooth, should I not take every opportunity of pursuing and railing at your flimsy taste?

So much, that amidst your occupations you might for once have something to laugh at. What follows is serious.

Be sure you repay me the expenses which have come out of my pocket for the special messenger sent herewith. But doubtless, after reading this, you will condemn, not parts of the book only, but the whole book, and, when asked for the price of it, will declare that it is worth no price at all!

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13. C. PLINIUS FEROCI SUO S.

1 Eadem epistula et non studere te et studere significat. Aenigmata loquor? Ita plane, donec distinctius quod sentio enuntiem. 2 Negat enim te studere, sed est tam polita quam nisi a studente non potest scribi; aut es tu super omnes beatus, si talia per desidiam et otium perficis. Vale.

13. — TO FEROX.

One and the same letter of yours intimates to me that you are, and that you are not, engaged in literary studies Do I talk enigmas? So it must be till I express my meaning more clearly. For while it denies that you are studying, it is so elegant that it could only have been written by a student; or else you are the most fortunate of men if you can turn out such compositions as these as the fruits of idleness and leisure.

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14. C. PLINIUS CORELLIAE SUAE S.

1 Tu quidem honestissime, quod tam impense et rogas et exigis, ut accipi iubeam a te pretium agrorum non e septingentis milibus, quanti illos a liberto meo, sed ex nongentis, quanti a publicanis partem vicensimam emisti. 2 Invicem ego et rogo et exigo, ut non solum quid te verum etiam quid me deceat aspicias, patiarisque me in hoc uno tibi eodem animo repugnare, quo in omnibus obsequi soleo. Vale.

14. — TO CORELLIA.

You, for your part, have acted most honourably in begging and insisting with so much earnestness that I would order the purchase-money of the estate to be received from you, not at the rate of seven hundred thousand sesterces — that at which you bought it from my freedman — but at the rate of nine hundred thousand, that at which you compounded for the duty of five per cent, with the farmers of the revenue.  In my turn, I beg and insist you will consider, not only what befits you, but what befits me, and will suffer me, in this one particular, to oppose your wishes in the same spirit as on all other occasions I am wont to exhibit in complying with them.

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15. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

1 Requiris quid agam. Quae nosti: distringor officio, amicis deservio, studeo interdum, quod non interdum sed solum semperque facere, non audeo dicere rectius, certe beatius erat. 2 Te omnia alia quam quae velis agere moleste ferrem, nisi ea quae agis essent honestissima. Nam et rei publicae suae negotia curare et disceptare inter amicos laude dignissimum est. 3 Prisci nostri contubernium iucundum tibi futurum sciebam. Noveram simplicitatem eius, noveram comitatem; eundem esse — quod minus noram — gratissimum experior, cum tam iucunde officiorum nostrorum meminisse eum scribas. Vale.

15. — TO SATURNINUS.

You ask what I am about. What you know. I am greatly tried by my official duties, and at the beck and call of my friends. Occasionally I study, to be able to do which, not occasionally, but exclusively and uninterruptedly, would be, I dare not say a more proper, but certainly a happier thing. That your occupations are everything but what you could wish would be a subject of regret to me and were it not that those occupations are of so noble a  character. For to administer the affairs of one’s country, and to act as arbitrator for one’s friends, this is in the highest degree glorious. I was sure that the society of our friend Priscus would be a pleasure to you. I was  acquainted with his straightforwardness and agreeable manners, and now learn by experience, what I was less  acquainted with, his grateful disposition, since you write to me that he is so agreeably mindful of our services to him.

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16. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Calestrium Tironem familiarissime diligo et privatis mihi et publicis necessitudinibus implicitum. 2 Simul militavimus, simul quaestores Caesaris fuimus. Ille me in tribunatu liberorum iure praecessit, ego illum in praetura sum consecutus, cum mihi Caesar annum remisisset. Ego in villas eius saepe secessi, ille in domo mea saepe convaluit. 3 Hic nunc pro consule provinciam Baeticam per Ticinum est petiturus. 4 Spero, immo confido facile me impetraturum, ex itinere deflectat ad te, si voles vindicta liberare, quos proxime inter amicos manumisisti. Nihil est quod verearis ne sit hoc illi molestum, cui orbem terrarum circumire non erit longum mea causa. 5 Proinde nimiam istam verecundiam pone, teque quid velis consule. Illi tam iucundum quod ego, quam mihi quod tu iubes. Vale.

16. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

I have an intimate regard for Calestrius Tiro, who is attached to me both by private and public ties. We served in the army together, and we were Cæsar’s Quæstors together. He preceded me in the tribuneship, in virtue of his having children, but I overtook him in the prætorship — Cæsar having remitted me a year. I have often enjoyed the retirement of his country seats, and he has often recovered his health at my house. He is now, in the capacity of Proconsul, about to go to the province of Bætica, by way of Ticinum. I hope, nay, am confident, that I shall easily prevail on him to turn out of his way and visit you, if it be your wish to liberate in regular form the slaves whom you have recently manumitted in the presence of your friends. You need not be at all afraid that this will inconvenience him, since he would not think a journey round the world too long for my sake. Lay aside, then, that excessive diffidence of yours, and consult your own wishes. It is as agreeable to him to do my bidding as it is to me to do yours.

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17. C. PLINIUS CELERI SUO S.

1 Sua cuique ratio recitandi; mihi quod saepe iam dixi, ut si quid me fugit — ut certe fugit — admonear. 2 Quo magis miror, quod scribis fuisse quosdam qui reprehenderent quod orationes omnino recitarem; nisi vero has solas non putant emendandas. 3 A quibus libenter requisierim, cur concedant — si concedunt tamen — historiam debere recitari, quae non ostentationi sed fidei veritatique componitur; cur tragoediam, quae non auditorium sed scaenam et actores; cur lyrica, quae non lectorem sed chorum et lyram poscunt. At horum recitatio usu iam recepta est. 4 Num ergo culpandus est ille qui coepit? Quamquam orationes quoque et nostri quidam et Graeci lectitaverunt. 5 Supervacuum tamen est recitare quae dixeris. Etiam, si eadem omnia, si isdem omnibus, si statim recites; si vero multa inseras multa commutes, si quosdam novos quosdam eosdem sed post tempus assumas, cur minus probabilis sit causa recitandi quae dixeris quam edendi? 6 Sed difficile est ut oratio dum recitatur satisfaciat. Iam hoc ad laborem recitantis pertinet, non ad rationem non recitandi. 7 Nec vero ego dum recito laudari, sed dum legor cupio. Itaque nullum emendandi genus omitto. Ac primum quae scripsi mecum ipse pertracto; deinde duobus aut tribus lego; mox aliis trado adnotanda, notasque eorum, si dubito, cum uno rursus aut altero pensito; novissime pluribus recito, ac si quid mihi credis tunc acerrime emendo; 8 nam tanto diligentius quanto sollicitius intendo. Optime autem reverentia pudor metus iudicant, idque adeo sic habe: Nonne si locuturus es cum aliquo quamlibet docto, uno tamen, minus commoveris quam si cum multis vel indoctis? 9 Nonne cum surgis ad agendum, tunc maxime tibi ipse diffidis, tunc commutata non dico plurima sed omnia cupis? utique si latior scaena et corona diffusior; nam illos quoque sordidos pullatosque reveremur. 10 Nonne si prima quaeque improbari putas, debilitaris et concidis? Opinor, quia in numero ipso est quoddam magnum collatumque consilium, quibusque singulis iudicii parum, omnibus plurimum. 11 Itaque Pomponius Secundus — hic scriptor tragoediarum -, si quid forte familiarior amicus tollendum, ipse retinendum arbitraretur, dicere solebat: ‘Ad populum provoco’, atque ita ex populi vel silentio vel assensu aut suam aut amici sententiam sequebatur. 12 Tantum ille populo dabat; recte an secus, nihil ad me. Ego enim non populum advocare sed certos electosque soleo, quos intuear quibus credam, quos denique et tamquam singulos observem et tamquam non singulos timeam. 13 Nam, quod M. Cicero de stilo, ego de metu sentio: timor est, timor emendator asperrimus. Hoc ipsum quod nos recitaturos cogitamus emendat; quod auditorium ingredimur emendat; quod pallemus horrescimus circumspicimus emendat. 14 Proinde non paenitet me consuetudinis meae quam utilissimam experior, adeoque non deterreor sermunculis istorum, ut ultro te rogem monstres aliquid quod his addam. 15 Nihil enim curae meae satis est. Cogito quam sit magnum dare aliquid in manus hominum, nec persuadere mihi possum non et cum multis et saepe tractandum, quod placere et semper et omnibus cupias. Vale.

17. — TO CELER.

Every one has his own reasons for reciting. Mine, as I have already often said, is this, that in case anything escapes my notice (as certainly things do escape), I may be warned of the fact. And this makes me wonder the more at your writing that there have been some who blamed me for reciting my orations at all — unless, indeed they think that these are the only compositions which’ need no correction. Of these people I should be glad to inquire why they admit (if, however, they do admit) that a history ought to be recited, which is composed, not with a view to display, but to fidelity and truth? Or why a tragedy, which requires, not a recitation chamber, but a stage and actors? Or why lyric poetry, which requires, not a reader, but the chorus and the lyre? “Oh, but the recitation of these kind of things is now a received usage.” Pray, then, is the person to be blamed who originated it? Though, by the way, orations too have often been read aloud both by our countrymen and by the Greeks. “At any rate, it is a work of supererogation to recite what you have already spoken.” Granted, if you recite exactly the same thing, to precisely the same people, without a moment’s delay. If, however, you make many additions and many changes, if you invite to hear you some fresh people, together with some of those who have heard you before (after an interval, however), why should your reasons for reading aloud what you have already spoken be less acceptable than for publishing the same? “But it is difficult for an oration to give satisfaction when recited.”

Well, but this is a point which concerns the pains taken by the reciter, not the reasons for not reciting. Nor, indeed, do I seek approval while reciting, but while being read. Consequently, I neglect no means of improvement.

First of all, I go carefully over what I have written by myself; next I read it to two or three people; then I hand it over to others to make their notes on it, and these notes, when in any doubt, I again ponder in company with one or other of them. Last of all, I recite to a larger audience, and, if you will believe me, then it is that I am keenest at correcting; for the ardour of my application is proportioned to my anxiety. Indeed, respect for one’s audience and a sense of diffidence are the best of critics. Take it in this way: are you not less perturbed if you are going to address some one person, who, however great his culture, is still a single individual, than if you are going to address a number of people, even though they be uncultured? Do you not, on rising to plead, mistrust yourself, particularly at that moment; at that moment desire, not merely that many things, but that everything in your speech could be changed? And that still more strongly if the scene be enlarged and the circle of hearers extended? For we look with apprehension even upon the common folk in their dusky attire. Are you not — if you fancy any part of your opening to be unfavourably received — at once discouraged and prostrated? I presume this is because, in numbers themselves, there is a certain weighty and collective judgment; and while each individual has but a small critical faculty, yet, taken altogether, they have a great deal. Hence Pomponius Secundus — he was a writer of tragedies — if there chanced to be any passage which one of his intimate friends thought of a nature to be left out, while he himself thought it should be retained, used to say, “I appeal to the public!” And accordingly, judging from the silence or the approval of the public, he followed either his own or his friend’s opinion. Such importance did he attach to this same public; rightly or wrongly, does not concern me; for it is not my custom to invite the public, but persons I am sure of and have selected, whom I can look at and trust, whom I can scrutinise singly, and stand in awe of collectively. For M. Cicero’s opinion about the pen I hold with regard to fear. Apprehension is the sharpest corrector. The very fact that we reflect we are about to recite acts as a corrector; our entrance into the audience-room, the act of growing pale, our shivering, our looking about us, all these are so many correctors. Consequently, I am not ashamed of my habit, which experience shows me to be a most useful one, and, so far from being deterred by these people’s tittle-tattle, I will go further, and ask you if you can tell me of anything to be added to all this. Nothing, indeed, will satisfy my precautions; for I reflect what an important matter it is to deliver anything into the hands of men; and I cannot persuade myself that it is not proper to revise often, and in the company of many, that which one desires should give pleasure at all times and to all people.

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18. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

1 Deliberas mecum quemadmodum pecunia, quam municipibus nostris in epulum obtulisti, post te quoque salva sit. Honesta consultatio, non expedita sententia. Numeres rei publicae summam: verendum est ne dilabatur. Des agros: ut publici neglegentur. 2 Equidem nihil commodius invenio, quam quod ipse feci. Nam pro quingentis milibus nummum, quae in alimenta ingenuorum ingenuarumque promiseram, agrum ex meis longe pluris actori publico mancipavi; eundem vectigali imposito recepi, tricena milia annua daturus. 3 Per hoc enim et rei publicae sors in tuto nec reditus incertus, et ager ipse propter id quod vectigal large supercurrit, semper dominum a quo exerceatur inveniet. 4 Nec ignoro me plus aliquanto quam donasse videor erogavisse, cum pulcherrimi agri pretium necessitas vectigalis infregerit. 5 Sed oportet privatis utilitatibus publicas, mortalibus aeternas anteferre, multoque diligentius muneri suo consulere quam facultatibus. Vale.

18. — TO CANINIUS.

You ask my opinion in what way the money which you have offered to our townsfolk for an annual feast may be secured after your decease. While the inquiry does you honour, the decision is not an easy one. Suppose you pay the amount to the municipality? It is to be feared that it may be squandered. Suppose you give land? Being public land, it will be neglected. For my part, I can find nothing better than what I did myself. In lieu of five hundred thousand sesterces, which I had promised for the maintenance of free boys and girls, I made over to the agent of the public property some lands of mine of much greater value; these I had reconveyed to me on condition of paying thirty thousand sesterces annually as a rent-charge. In this way the capital of the municipality was made safe and the income was assured; the land itself, in consequence of there being a large margin over the rent-charge, will always find an owner to cultivate it. I am aware that this cost me something more than the amount of my nominal donation, as the lien of the rent-charge has diminished the selling price of a very handsome property. But one is bound to prefer public to private interests, those that are enduring to those that are mortal, and to be much more careful in securing one’s benefactions than one’s property.

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19. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

1 Angit me Fanniae valetudo. Contraxit hanc dum assidet Iuniae virgini, sponte primum — est enim affinis -, deinde etiam ex auctoritate pontificum. 2 Nam virgines, cum vi morbi atrio Vestae coguntur excedere, matronarum curae custodiaeque mandantur. Quo munere Fannia dum sedulo fungitur, hoc discrimine implicita est. 3 Insident febres, tussis increscit; summa macies summa defectio. Animus tantum et spiritus viget Helvidio marito, Thrasea patre dignissimus; reliqua labuntur, meque non metu tantum, verum etiam dolore conficiunt. 4 Doleo enim feminam maximam eripi oculis civitatis, nescio an aliquid simile visuris. Quae castitas illi, quae sanctitas, quanta gravitas quanta constantia! Bis maritum secuta in exsilium est, tertio ipsa propter maritum relegata. 5 Nam cum Senecio reus esset quod de vita Helvidi libros composuisset rogatumque se a Fannia in defensione dixisset, quaerente minaciter Mettio Caro, an rogasset respondit: ‘Rogavi’; an commentarios scripturo dedisset: ‘Dedi’; an sciente matre: ‘Nesciente’; postremo nullam vocem cedentem periculo emisit. 6 Quin etiam illos ipsos libros, quamquam ex necessitate et metu temporum abolitos senatus consulto, publicatis bonis servavit habuit, tulitque in exsilium exsili causam. 7 Eadem quam iucunda quam comis, quam denique — quod paucis datum est — non minus amabilis quam veneranda! Eritne quam postea uxoribus nostris ostentare possimus? Erit a qua viri quoque fortitudinis exempla sumamus, quam sic cernentes audientesque miremur, ut illas quae leguntur? 8 Ac mihi domus ipsa nutare, convulsaque sedibus suis ruitura supra videtur, licet adhuc posteros habeat. Quantis enim virtutibus quantisque factis assequentur, ut haec non novissima occiderit? 9 Me quidem illud etiam affligit et torquet, quod matrem eius, illam — nihil possum illustrius dicere — tantae feminae matrem, rursus videor amittere, quam haec, ut reddit ac refert nobis, sic auferet secum, meque et novo pariter et rescisso vulnere afficiet. 10 Utramque colui utramque dilexi: utram magis nescio, nec discerni volebant. Habuerunt officia mea in secundis, habuerunt in adversis. Ego solacium relegatarum, ego ultor reversarum; non feci tamen paria atque eo magis hanc cupio servari, ut mihi solvendi tempora supersint. 11 In his eram curis, cum scriberem ad te; quas si deus aliquis in gaudium verterit, de metu non querar. Vale.

19. — TO PRISCUS.

The illness of Fannia torments me. She contracted it while nursing Junia the vestal virgin, originally of her own accord (indeed they are related), and subsequently being further commissioned to do so by the Pontifices; for the virgins, when compelled by violent disease to remove from the court of Vesta’s temple, are handed over to the care and custody of married ladies. While Fannia was carefully discharging the office in question, she became involved in this peril. The attacks of fever stick to her, her cough grows upon her, she is in the highest degree emaciated and enfeebled. Only her great soul and spirit — in every way worthy of her husband Helvidius and her father Thrasea — retain their vigour; all else is breaking up in such a way as to prostrate me not merely with apprehension, but with grief as well. Indeed, I do grieve that such an illustrious woman should be snatched from the gaze of the country, which may perhaps never look upon her like again. Oh, what purity was hers! what holiness of life! what nobility of character! what intrepidity of soul! Twice she followed her husband into exile, and a third time was herself banished on her husband’s account; for when Senecio was accused of having written certain publications on the life of Helvidius, and had said, in the course of his defence, that he had been requested to do so by Fannia, upon Mettius Cams asking her, in a menacing tone, “whether she had so requested him,” she replied, “I did make the request.”

“Had she furnished him with memoranda for the composition?”

“I did furnish him.”

“Was this with the knowledge of her mother?”

“Without her knowledge.” In short, not a word did she utter that quailed before the peril. Moreover, she preserved copies of these very publications after the confiscation of her property (though through the exigencies and the terror of that epoch they had been suppressed by a decree of the Senate), kept them, and carried into her exile the cause of her exile.

At the same time she is so pleasant, she is so friendly, and, in short — the privilege of but few — as lovable as she is venerable. Will there be any woman left whom we may hereafter point out to our wives? Will there be any one from whom we may take an example even of manly fortitude? whom, while we still see her and hear her, we may admire as we do the women one reads about? For my part, it seems to me as though her very house were tottering and about to fall torn from its foundations — and this though she still has descendants. For how great must be their virtues and how great their deeds in order to make it clear that she has not perished the last of her race! And there is this additional cause of affliction and torment for me, that I seem to be losing her mother over again — that mother of such a woman; what more illustrious name can I give her? — whom Fannia, as she resembles and recalls to us, so she will take away with her, afflicting me at one and the same time with a fresh and a re-opened wound. I frequented them both and cherished them both; which of them in a greater degree I know not, nor did they desire that a difference should be made. They had my services in prosperity and they had them in adversity. I was their consoler when they were banished and their avenger when they returned. Yet I did not fully acquit my debt to them, and for this reason am all the more anxious that Fannia should be spared in order that time may be left me for payment. Such are the cares amidst which I have written to you, and if any god shall turn them to joy, I will not complain of my fright.

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20. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

1 Librum tuum legi et, quam diligentissime potui, adnotavi quae commutanda, quae eximenda arbitrarer. Nam et ego verum dicere assuevi, et tu libenter audire. Neque enim ulli patientius reprehenduntur, quam qui maxime laudari merentur. 2 Nunc a te librum meum cum adnotationibus tuis exspecto. O iucundas, o pulchras vices! Quam me delectat quod, si qua posteris cura nostri, usquequaque narrabitur, qua concordia simplicitate fide vixerimus! 3 Erit rarum et insigne, duos homines aetate dignitate propemodum aequales, non nullius in litteris nominis — cogor enim de te quoque parcius dicere, quia de me simul dico -, alterum alterius studia fovisse. 4 Equidem adulescentulus, cum iam tu fama gloriaque floreres, te sequi, tibi ‘longo sed proximus intervallo’ et esse et haberi concupiscebam. Et erant multa clarissima ingenia; sed tu mihi — ita similitudo naturae ferebat — maxime imitabilis, maxime imitandus videbaris. 5 Quo magis gaudeo, quod si quis de studiis sermo, una nominamur, quod de te loquentibus statim occurro. Nec desunt qui utrique nostrum praeferantur. 6 Sed nos, nihil interest mea quo loco, iungimur; nam mihi primus, qui a te proximus. Quin etiam in testamentis debes adnotasse: nisi quis forte alterutri nostrum amicissimus, eadem legata et quidem pariter accipimus. 7 Quae omnia huc spectant, ut invicem ardentius diligamus, cum tot vinculis nos studia mores fama, suprema denique hominum iudicia constringant. Vale.

20. — TO TACITUS.

I have read your book, and have noted with all possible care what I thought ought to be altered and what left out. For not only is it my habit to tell the truth, but it is also yours to hear it willingly. Indeed, there are none who submit more patiently to correction than those who are most deserving of praise. And now, I am expecting from you my book with your notes. What a delightful and charming interchange! How it rejoices me that, should posterity take any heed of us at all, it will be universally related in what concord, with what sincerity and fidelity to each other, we lived. It will be a rare and memorable thing for two men pretty nearly equals in points of age and station, and not altogether without a name in literature (I am compelled, you see, to speak in somewhat scant terms of you as well, inasmuch as I am speaking of myself at the same time), each to have furthered the studies of the other. For my part, when I was but a stripling, while you were already flourishing in renown and glory, I yearned to follow after you — both to be accounted and to be “second to you, though great the space between.” Yet there were in existence many men of brilliant genius; nevertheless you seemed to me, owing to the similarity of our dispositions, to be the one most capable of being imitated, and most worthy of imitation. I the more rejoice then that, whenever the conversation turns on intellectual pursuits, we are named together, that to people speaking about you my name at once presents itself. Not but what there are some who are preferred to both of us. But it does not matter to me what place is assigned us, provided we are thus conjoined; for in my estimation to come next to you is to be before all the rest. Moreover, you must have noticed that in wills (unless a testator should happen to be especially intimate with one or the other of us) we receive the same bequests, and in each other’s company. All which goes to this, that our mutual affection should be the more ardent when so many are the bonds which constrain us by our studies, our characters, our reputations, and, finally, by the last dispositions of mankind.

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21. C. PLINIUS CORNUTO SUO S.

1 Pareo, collega carissime, et infirmitati oculorum ut iubes consulo. Nam et huc tecto vehiculo undique inclusus quasi in cubiculo perveni et hic non stilo modo verum etiam lectionibus difficulter sed abstineo, solisque auribus studeo. 2 Cubicula obductis velis opaca nec tamen obscura facio. Cryptoporticus quoque adopertis inferioribus fenestris tantum umbrae quantum luminis habet. Sic paulatim lucem ferre condisco. 3 Balineum assumo quia prodest, vinum quia non nocet, parcissime tamen. Ita assuevi, et nunc custos adest.

4 Gallinam ut a te missam libenter accepi; quam satis acribus oculis, quamquam adhuc lippus, pinguissimam vidi. Vale.

21. — TO CORNUTUS.

I am all obedience, my dearest colleague, and am attending, as you bid me, to the weakness in my eyes. For I came here in a close carriage, shut in on all sides as in a bedroom, and am abstaining here — with difficulty, but still abstaining — not only from the use of my pen, but even from reading, and study only through my ears. By drawing a curtain, I cause my chamber to be shaded without being darkened. The cloister, too, by covering up the lower part of the windows, enjoys as much shade as sun. In this way I am carefully learning by degrees to bear the light. I take baths because they are of service, and wine because it does me no harm — very sparingly, however; so I have habituated myself, and now there is some one by me to watch me.

The present of a fowl, as coming from you, was most acceptable; and though still weak of sight, I had eyes sharp enough to see that it was an extremely plump one.

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22. C. PLINIUS FALCONI SUO S.

1 Minus miraberis me tam instanter petisse, ut in amicum meum conferres tribunatum, cum scieris quis ille qualisque. Possum autem iam tibi et nomen indicare et describere ipsum, postquam polliceris. 2 Est Cornelius Minicianus, ornamentum regionis meae seu dignitate seu moribus. Natus splendide abundat facultatibus, amat studia ut solent pauperes. Idem rectissimus iudex, fortissimus advocatus, amicus fidelissimus. 3 Accepisse te beneficium credes, cum propius inspexeris hominem omnibus honoribus, omnibus titulis — nihil volo elatius de modestissimo viro dicere — parem. Vale.

22. — TO FALCO.

You will be less surprised at my having been so persistent in begging you to confer a tribuneship upon a friend of mine when you know who and what he is. For now that you have given me your promise, I am able to tell you his name and to describe the personage. Cornelius Minicianus is the man, an ornament to my native district both in position and character. Of illustrious birth and ample fortune, he is as much devoted to study as poor men are wont to be. At the same time he is a most upright judge, a most undaunted advocate, and a most faithful friend. You will think that a favour has been conferred on you when you have made more intimate acquaintance with a man who is at any rate equal (for I do not wish to speak too boastfully of one who is himself so modest) to any honours and to any titles.

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23. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Gaudeo quidem esse te tam fortem, ut Mediolani occurrere Tironi possis, sed ut perseveres esse tam fortis, rogo ne tibi contra rationem aetatis tantum laboris iniungas. Quin immo denuntio, ut illum et domi et intra domum atque etiam intra cubiculi limen exspectes. 2 Etenim, cum a me ut frater diligatur, non debet ab eo quem ego parentis loco observo, exigere officium quod parenti suo remisisset. Vale.

23. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

While I rejoice at your being strong enough to go and meet Tiro at Mediolanum,  yet that you may continue to preserve that strength, I would beg you not to impose on yourself so great a fatigue, which is opposed to the consideration of your time of life. Nay, further, I enjoin on you to wait for him at home, and, what is more, inside your house, and even inside your chamber. For truly, since he is cherished by me as a brother, he ought not to exact from one whom I look up to as a father an attention which he would have excused in the case of his own father.

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24. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

1 Ummidia Quadratilla paulo minus octogensimo aetatis anno decessit usque ad novissimam valetudinem viridis, atque etiam ultra matronalem modum compacto corpore et robusto. 2 Decessit honestissimo testamento: reliquit heredes ex besse nepotem, ex tertia parte neptem. Neptem parum novi, nepotem familiarissime diligo, adulescentem singularem nec iis tantum, quos sanguine attingit, inter propinquos amandum. 3 Ac primum conspicuus forma omnes sermones malignorum et puer et iuvenis evasit, intra quartum et vicensimum annum maritus, et si deus adnuisset pater. Vixit in contubernio aviae delicatae severissime, et tamen obsequentissime. 4 Habebat illa pantomimos fovebatque, effusius quam principi feminae convenit. Hos Quadratus non in theatro, non domi spectabat, nec illa exigebat. 5 Audivi ipsam cum mihi commendaret nepotis sui studia, solere se, ut feminam in illo otio sexus, laxare animum lusu calculorum, solere spectare pantomimos suos, sed cum factura esset alterutrum, semper se nepoti suo praecepisse abiret studeretque; quod mihi non amore eius magis facere quam reverentia videbatur.

6 Miraberis, et ego miratus sum. Proximis sacerdotalibus ludis, productis in commissione pantomimis, cum simul theatro ego et Quadratus egrederemur, ait mihi: ‘Scis me hodie primum vidisse saltantem aviae meae libertum?’ Hoc nepos. 7 At hercule alienissimi homines in honorem Quadratillae — pudet me dixisse honorem — per adulationis officium in theatrum cursitabant exsultabant plaudebant mirabantur ac deinde singulos gestus dominae cum canticis reddebant; qui nunc exiguissima legata, theatralis operae corollarium, accipient ab herede, qui non spectabat. 8 Haec, quia soles si quid incidit novi non invitus audire, deinde quia iucundum est mihi quod ceperam gaudium scribendo retractare. Gaudeo enim pietate defunctae, honore optimi iuvenis; laetor etiam quod domus aliquando C. Cassi, huius qui Cassianae scholae princeps et parens fuit, serviet domino non minori. 9 Implebit enim illam Quadratus meus et decebit, rursusque ei pristinam dignitatem celebritatem gloriam reddet, cum tantus orator inde procedet, quantus iuris ille consultus. Vale.

24. — TO GEMINUS.

Ummidia Quadratilla is dead, wanting a little of eighty years, hut hale up to the time of her last illness, and with a compactness and vigour of frame surpassing that of matrons in general. She died leaving a will which reflected great credit on her. She made her grandson heir to two-thirds, and her granddaughter to the remaining third of her fortune. The granddaughter I know hut slightly, the grandson I have the strongest regard for — a youth of singular merit, and one who deserved to be loved as a relation by others besides his blood connections. In the first place, though conspicuous for personal beauty, he escaped the gossip of the malevolent, both in boyhood and youth. In his four-and-twentieth year he was a husband, and, had the gods so willed it, would have become a father. In the society of a grandmother addicted to pleasure he lived a life of extreme steadiness, and yet of compliance with her wishes. She had pantomimists in her employ, and interested herself more warmly in them than became a woman of her high rank. Neither at the theatre nor at home did Quadratus witness the performances of these men, and she did not require him to do so. I have heard her say herself, when commending to me her grandson’s studious pursuits, that being a woman, with that want of occupation which is the lot of the sex, she was in the habit of relieving her mind by a game of draughts, or by watching the performances of her pantomimists; but that whenever she was about to do either of these things she always bade her grandson go off to his studies; and she seemed to me to do this from a sense of what was due to the youth as much as from her love for him.

You will be astonished, and so was I. At the last sacerdotal games, a contest of pantomimists having been exhibited, as Quadratus and I were leaving the theatre together, said he to me, “Do you know that to-day is the first time I ever saw a freedman of my grandmothers dancing!” Thus the grandson. But, by Hercules, persons who were in no way connected with her, by way of doing honour to Quadratilla — I am ashamed of having said honour — rather by way of discharging their office of toadies — were coursing about the theatre, and jumping and clapping their hands, and admiring and imitating every gesture for the benefit of their patroness, with an accompaniment of sing-song. And now these persons will receive the tiniest of legacies, as a gratuity for enacting the part of claqueurs, from an heir who was never a spectator of these performances.

I have told you all this, because, when anything fresh turns up, you are in general not indisposed to hear it; next, because it is a pleasure to me to renew any subject of joy by writing about it. And I do joy in the family affection shown by the deceased and in the honour paid to so excellent a young man. I am delighted, too, that the house which formerly belonged to C. Cassius (the man who was the chief and founder of the Cassian school) should be in possession of an owner in no way his inferior. For my friend Quadratus will worthily fill it and become it, and once more restore to it its ancient dignity, celebrity, and glory, since there will issue thence as great an orator as Cassius was a jurisconsult.

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25. C. PLINIUS RUFO SUO S.

1 O quantum eruditorum aut modestia ipsorum aut quies operit ac subtrahit famae! At nos eos tantum dicturi aliquid aut lecturi timemus, qui studia sua proferunt, cum illi qui tacent hoc amplius praestent, quod maximum opus silentio reverentur. 2 Expertus scribo quod scribo. Terentius Iunior, equestribus militiis atque etiam procuratione Narbonensis provinciae integerrime functus, recepit se in agros suos, paratisque honoribus tranquillissimum otium praetulit. 3 Hunc ego invitatus hospitio ut bonum patrem familiae, ut diligentem agricolam intuebar, de his locuturus, in quibus illum versari putabam; et coeperam, cum ille me doctissimo sermone revocavit ad studia. 4 Quam tersa omnia, quam Latina, quam Graeca! Nam tantum utraque lingua valet, ut ea magis videatur excellere, qua cum maxime loquitur. Quantum ille legit, quantum tenet! Athenis vivere hominem, non in villa putes. 5 Quid multa? Auxit sollicitudinem meam effecitque ut illis quos doctissimos novi, non minus hos seductos et quasi rusticos verear. 6 Idem suadeo tibi: sunt enim ut in castris sic etiam in litteris nostris, plures cultu pagano quos cinctos et armatos, et quidem ardentissimo ingenio, diligenter scrutatus invenies. Vale.

25. — TO RUFUS.

What a number of learned men there are whom their own modesty or the stillness of their lives conceals and withdraws from fame! Yet we, when about to speak or read in public, stand in apprehension of those only who advertise their learning, whereas such as hold their tongues show to advantage by their silent reverence for the noblest of pursuits. What I write is written from experience. Terentius Junior, after serving irreproachably in the army, in Equestrian grades, and also as Procurator of the province of Narbonian Gaul, has retired to his estate, preferring the profoundest retirement to the honours which awaited him. Having been invited to his house, I regarded him as a worthy paterfamilias and a diligent farmer, and was prepared to talk to him on subjects with which I supposed him to be conversant. Indeed, I had begun to do so, when he, with the most learned discourse, recalled me to literature. How neatly he always expresses himself! in what Latin, in what Greek! He is so strong in both languages that he seems chiefly to excel in the one he happens to speak at the moment. How great his reading, how great his memory! You would think he lived at Athens, not in a country-house. In short, he has added to my apprehensions by causing me to be nervous in the presence of these secluded and, so to speak, rough countryfolk no less than in that of those whom I know for men of extensive learning. I advise you to the same effect. For just as in camps, so also in this literary arena of ours, there are a good many persons who, though not in uniform, will be found on a close inspection to be girded and armed, and that too with the sharpest of intellects.

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26. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Nuper me cuiusdam amici languor admonuit, optimos esse nos dum infirmi sumus. Quem enim infirmum aut avaritia aut libido sollicitat? 2 Non amoribus servit, non appetit honores, opes neglegit et quantulumcumque, ut relicturus, satis habet. Tunc deos tunc hominem esse se meminit, invidet nemini neminem miratur neminem despicit, ac ne sermonibus quidem malignis aut attendit aut alitur: balinea imaginatur et fontes. 3 Haec summa curarum, summa votorum mollemque in posterum et pinguem, si contingat evadere, hoc est innoxiam beatamque destinat vitam. 4 Possum ergo quod plurimis verbis, plurimis etiam voluminibus philosophi docere conantur, ipse breviter tibi mihique praecipere, ut tales esse sani perseveremus, quales nos futuros profitemur infirmi. Vale.

26. — TO MAXIMUS.

The illness of a certain friend lately reminded me that we are best while we are sick. For what sick man is tempted either by avarice or lust? Such an one is not the slave of his amours, has no appetite for honours, is neglectful of riches, and holds the smallest portion of them for enough, seeing that he is about to part with it. Then he remembers that there are gods and that he is a man; he envies no one, admires no one, despises no one; not even to malicious gossip will he pay attention or find food in it. His dreams are of baths and fountains. These form the sum of his anxieties, the sum of his aspirations; he proposes to himself an easy and comfortable existence for the future, that is, a harmless and a happy one, if he has the luck to escape. What philosophers strive to teach with a multitude of words, and even in a multitude of volumes, I am able, therefore, to lay down for your benefit and my own thus briefly: in health we should continue to be such as, in sickness, we promise that we shall be.

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27. C. PLINIUS SURAE SUO S.

1 Et mihi discendi et tibi docendi facultatem otium praebet. Igitur perquam velim scire, esse phantasmata et habere propriam figuram numenque aliquod putes an inania et vana ex metu nostro imaginem accipere. 2 Ego ut esse credam in primis eo ducor, quod audio accidisse Curtio Rufo. Tenuis adhuc et obscurus, obtinenti Africam comes haeserat. Inclinato die spatiabatur in porticu; offertur ei mulieris figura humana grandior pulchriorque. Perterrito Africam se futurorum praenuntiam dixit: iturum enim Romam honoresque gesturum, atque etiam cum summo imperio in eandem provinciam reversurum, ibique moriturum. 3 Facta sunt omnia. Praeterea accedenti Carthaginem egredientique nave eadem figura in litore occurrisse narratur. Ipse certe implicitus morbo futura praeteritis, adversa secundis auguratus, spem salutis nullo suorum desperante proiecit.

4 Iam illud nonne et magis terribile et non minus mirum est quod exponam ut accepi? 5 Erat Athenis spatiosa et capax domus sed infamis et pestilens. Per silentium noctis sonus ferri, et si attenderes acrius, strepitus vinculorum longius primo, deinde e proximo reddebatur: mox apparebat idolon, senex macie et squalore confectus, promissa barba horrenti capillo; cruribus compedes, manibus catenas gerebat quatiebatque. 6 Inde inhabitantibus tristes diraeque noctes per metum vigilabantur; vigiliam morbus et crescente formidine mors sequebatur. Nam interdiu quoque, quamquam abscesserat imago, memoria imaginis oculis inerrabat, longiorque causis timoris timor erat. Deserta inde et damnata solitudine domus totaque illi monstro relicta; proscribebatur tamen, seu quis emere seu quis conducere ignarus tanti mali vellet. 7 Venit Athenas philosophus Athenodorus, legit titulum auditoque pretio, quia suspecta vilitas, percunctatus omnia docetur ac nihilo minus, immo tanto magis conducit. Ubi coepit advesperascere, iubet sterni sibi in prima domus parte, poscit pugillares stilum lumen, suos omnes in interiora dimittit; ipse ad scribendum animum oculos manum intendit, ne vacua mens audita simulacra et inanes sibi metus fingeret. 8 Initio, quale ubique, silentium noctis; dein concuti ferrum, vincula moveri. Ille non tollere oculos, non remittere stilum, sed offirmare animum auribusque praetendere. Tum crebrescere fragor, adventare et iam ut in limine, iam ut intra limen audiri. Respicit, videt agnoscitque narratam sibi effigiem. 9 Stabat innuebatque digito similis vocanti. Hic contra ut paulum exspectaret manu significat rursusque ceris et stilo incumbit. Illa scribentis capiti catenis insonabat. Respicit rursus idem quod prius innuentem, nec moratus tollit lumen et sequitur. 10 Ibat illa lento gradu quasi gravis vinculis. Postquam deflexit in aream domus, repente dilapsa deserit comitem. Desertus herbas et folia concerpta signum loco ponit. 11 Postero die adit magistratus, monet ut illum locum effodi iubeant. Inveniuntur ossa inserta catenis et implicita, quae corpus aevo terraque putrefactum nuda et exesa reliquerat vinculis; collecta publice sepeliuntur. Domus postea rite conditis manibus caruit.

12 Et haec quidem affirmantibus credo; illud affirmare aliis possum. Est libertus mihi non illitteratus. Cum hoc minor frater eodem lecto quiescebat. Is visus est sibi cernere quendam in toro residentem, admoventemque capiti suo cultros, atque etiam ex ipso vertice amputantem capillos. Ubi illuxit, ipse circa verticem tonsus, capilli iacentes reperiuntur. 13 Exiguum temporis medium, et rursus simile aliud priori fidem fecit. Puer in paedagogio mixtus pluribus dormiebat. Venerunt per fenestras — ita narrat — in tunicis albis duo cubantemque detonderunt et qua venerant recesserunt. Hunc quoque tonsum sparsosque circa capillos dies ostendit. 14 Nihil notabile secutum, nisi forte quod non fui reus, futurus, si Domitianus sub quo haec acciderunt diutius vixisset. Nam in scrinio eius datus a Caro de me libellus inventus est; ex quo coniectari potest, quia reis moris est summittere capillum, recisos meorum capillos depulsi quod imminebat periculi signum fuisse.

15 Proinde rogo, eruditionem tuam intendas. Digna res est quam diu multumque consideres; ne ego quidem indignus, cui copiam scientiae tuae facias. 16 Licet etiam utramque in partem — ut soles — disputes, ex altera tamen fortius, ne me suspensum incertumque dimittas, cum mihi consulendi causa fuerit, ut dubitare desinerem. Vale.

27. — TO SURA.

Our leisure furnishes me with the opportunity of learning from you, and you with that of instructing me. Accordingly, I particularly wish to know whether you think there exist such things as phantoms, possessing an appearance peculiar to themselves, and a certain supernatural power, or that mere empty delusions receive a shape from our fears. For my part, I am led to believe in their existence, especially by what I hear happened to Curtius Rufus. While still in humble circumstances and obscure, he was a hanger-on in the suite of the governor of Africa. While pacing the colonnade one afternoon, there appeared to him a female form of superhuman size and beauty. She informed the terrified man that she was “Africa,” and had come to foretell future events; for that he would go to Rome, would fill offices of state there, and would even return to that same province with the highest powers, and die in it. All which things were fulfilled. Moreover, as he touched at Carthage, and was disembarking from his ship, the same form is said to have presented itself to him on the shore. It is certain that, being seized with illness, and auguring the future from the past, and misfortune from his previous prosperity, he himself abandoned all hope of life, though none of those about him despaired.

Is not the following story again still more appalling and not less marvellous? I will relate it as it was received by me: —

There was at Athens a mansion, spacious and commodious, but of evil repute and dangerous to health. In the dead of night there was a noise as of iron, and, if you listened more closely, a clanking of chains was heard, first of all from a distance, and afterwards hard by. Presently a spectre used to appear, an ancient man sinking with emaciation and squalor, with a long beard and bristly hair, wearing shackles on his legs and fetters on his hands, and shaking them. Hence the inmates, by reason of their fears, passed miserable and horrible nights in sleeplessness. This want of sleep was followed by disease, and, their terrors increasing, by death. For in the daytime as well, though the apparition had departed, yet a reminiscence of it flitted before their eyes, and their dread outlived its cause. The mansion was accordingly deserted, and, condemned to solitude, was entirely abandoned to the dreadful ghost. However, it was advertised, on the chance of some one, ignorant of the fearful curse attached to it, being willing to buy or to rent it. Athenodorus, the philosopher, came to Athens and read the advertisement. When he had been informed of the terms, which were so low as to appear suspicious, he made inquiries, and learnt the whole of the particulars. Yet none the less on that account, nay, all the more readily, did he rent the house. As evening began to draw on, he ordered a sofa to be set for himself in the front part of the house, and called for his note-books, writing implements, and a light. The whole of his servants he dismissed to the interior apartments, and for himself applied his soul, eyes, and hand to composition, that his mind might not, from want of occupation, picture to itself the phantoms of which he had heard, or any empty terrors. At the commencement there was the universal silence of night. Soon the shaking of irons and the clanking of chains was heard, yet he never raised his eyes nor slackened his pen, hut hardened his soul and deadened his ears by its help. The noise grew and approached: now it seemed to be heard at the door, and next inside the door. He looked round, beheld and recognised the figure he had been told of. It was standing and signalling to him with its finder, as though inviting him. He, in reply, made a sign with his hand that it should wait a moment, and applied himself afresh to his tablets and pen. Upon this the figure kept rattling its chains over his head as he wrote. On looking round again, he saw it making the same signal as before, and without delay took up a light and followed it. It moved with a slow step, as though oppressed by its chains, and, after turning into the courtyard of the house, vanished suddenly and left his company. On being thus left to himself, he marked the spot with some grass and leaves which he plucked. Next day he applied to the magistrates, and urged them to have the spot in question dug up. There were found there some bones attached to and intermingled with fetters; the body to which they had belonged, rotted away by time and the soil, had abandoned them thus naked and corroded to the chains. They were collected and interred at the public expense, and the house was ever afterwards free from the spirit, which had obtained due sepulture.

The above story I believe on the strength of those who affirm it. What follows I am myself in a position to affirm to others. I have a freedman, who is not without some knowledge of letters. A younger brother of his was sleeping with him in the same bed. The latter dreamt he saw some one sitting on the couch, who approached a pair of scissors to his head, and even cut the hair from the crown of it. When day dawned he was found to be cropped round the crown, and his locks were discovered lying about. A very short time afterwards a fresh occurrence of the same kind confirmed the truth of the former one. A lad of mine was sleeping, in company with several others, in the pages’ apartment. There came through the windows (so he tells the story) two figures in white tunics, who cut his hair as he lay, and departed the way they came. In his case, too, daylight exhibited him shorn, and his locks scattered around. Nothing remarkable followed, except, perhaps, this, that I was not brought under accusation, as I should have been, if Domitian (in whose reign these events happened) had lived longer. For in his desk was found an information against me which had been presented by Carus; from which circumstance it may be conjectured — inasmuch as it is the custom of accused persons to let their hair grow — that the cutting off of my slaves’ hair was a sign of the danger which threatened me being averted.

I beg, then, that you will apply your great learning to this subject. The matter is one which deserves long and deep consideration on your part; nor am I, for my part, undeserving of having the fruits of your wisdom imparted to me. You may even argue on both sides (as your way is), provided you argue more forcibly on one side than the other, so as not to dismiss me in suspense and anxiety, when the very cause of my consulting you has been to have my doubts put an end to.

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28. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO SUO S.

1 Ais quosdam apud te reprehendisse, tamquam amicos meos ex omni occasione ultra modum laudem. 2 Agnosco crimen, amplector etiam. Quid enim honestius culpa benignitatis? Qui sunt tamen isti, qui amicos meos melius norint? Sed, ut norint, quid invident mihi felicissimo errore? Ut enim non sint tales quales a me praedicantur, ego tamen beatus quod mihi videntur. 3 Igitur ad alios hanc sinistram diligentiam conferant; nec sunt parum multi, qui carpere amicos suos iudicium vocant. Mihi numquam persuadebunt ut meos amari a me nimium putem. Vale.

28. — TO SEPTICIUS.

You say that certain folks have been finding fault with me in your presence, on the ground of my praising my friends immoderately at every opportunity. I plead guilty to the charge, and even hug it to my breast. What indeed can be more to one’s credit than the sin of goodnature? Yet who are these people who know my friends better than I do? However, suppose they do so know them, why grudge me a deception which is the cause of so much happiness to me? For though these friends be not such as they are proclaimed by me, yet I am fortunate in that they seem such to me. Let these persons, then, transfer their mischievous assiduities elsewhere. There is no lack of those who malign their friends under the plea of criticising them. Me they will never persuade to think that my friends are too much loved by me.

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29. C. PLINIUS MONTANO SUO S.

1 Ridebis, deinde indignaberis, deinde ridebis, si legeris, quod nisi legeris non potes credere. 2 Est via Tiburtina intra primum lapidem — proxime adnotavi — monimentum Pallantis ita inscriptum: ‘Huic senatus ob fidem pietatemque erga patronos ornamenta praetoria decrevit et sestertium centies quinquagies, cuius honore contentus fuit.’ 3 Equidem numquam sum miratus quae saepius a fortuna quam a iudicio proficiscerentur; maxime tamen hic me titulus admonuit, quam essent mimica et inepta, quae interdum in hoc caenum, in has sordes abicerentur, quae denique ille furcifer et recipere ausus est et recusare, atque etiam ut moderationis exemplum posteris prodere. 4 Sed quid indignor? Ridere satius, ne se magnum aliquid adeptos putent, qui huc felicitate perveniunt ut rideantur. Vale.

29. — TO MONTANUS.

You will laugh, then you will be indignant, then you will laugh again, when you read what, unless you do read it, you never will believe. There stands on the road to Tibur, this side of the first milestone — I noticed it quite lately — a monument to Pallas, thus inscribed: “To him, the Senate, on account of his faithfulness and loyalty to his patrons, decreed the Prætorian insignia and a sum of fifteen million sesterces. He was contented with the honour merely.” In truth, I have never marvelled to see honours bestowed more frequently by fortune than by discernment; yet this inscription strongly reminded me how farcical and foolish are those which are at times thrown away on such dirt and filth as this; honours which, to crown the matter, this gallows-bird was impudent enough both to accept and to decline, and even, as a sample of modesty, to exhibit to posterity. But why this indignation? It is better to laugh, that these rogues may not fancy they have achieved any mighty result, when their good luck has merely carried them to the point of being subjects for laughter.

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30. C. PLINIUS GENITORI SUO S.

1 Torqueor quod discipulum, ut scribis, optimae spei amisisti. Cuius et valetudine et morte impedita studia tua quidni sciam? cum sis omnium officiorum observantissimus, cumque omnes quos probas effusissime diligas. 2 Me huc quoque urbana negotia persequuntur; non desunt enim qui me iudicem aut arbitrum faciant. 3 Accedunt querelae rusticorum, qui auribus meis post longum tempus suo iure abutuntur. Instat et necessitas agrorum locandorum, perquam molesta: adeo rarum est invenire idoneos conductores. 4 Quibus ex causis precario studeo, studeo tamen. Nam et scribo aliquid et lego; sed cum lego, ex comparatione sentio quam male scribam, licet tu mihi bonum animum facias, 5 qui libellos meos de ultione Helvidi orationi Demosthenis ‘kata Meidiou’ confers. Quam sane, cum componerem illos, habui in manibus, non ut aemularer — improbum enim ac paene furiosum -, sed tamen imitarer et sequerer, quantum aut diversitas ingeniorum maximi et minimi, aut causae dissimilitudo pateretur. Vale.

30. — TO GENITOR.

I am much distressed at your having lost, as you write me word, a pupil of the highest promise. That his illness and death have impeded your studies is of course obvious to me, since you are so careful in the discharge of all friendly offices, and love with so much effusion all those who approve themselves to you. As for me, city business pursues me even to this place. For there are not wanting those who constitute me judge or arbitrator in their affairs. To this must be added the complaints of the rustics, who abuse my ears, as they have a right to do after my long absence. Then there is a pressing necessity for letting my farms, and a very disagreeable one, so rare is it to find suitable tenants. For these reasons I study when I can beg time; still I do study; for I both write and read somewhat. Yet, when reading, I am made sensible by the comparison how bad my own writings are; though you put good heart into me when you compare my treatise in vindication of Helvidius to the oration of Demosthenes against Midias. It is true that I had the latter in my hands while engaged in composing the former; not with the view of rivalling it (that would have been impudence, and almost madness); yet, at any rate, with the view of imitating and following it as far as the divergence between the two intellects — between a very great and a very small one — and the different character of my case would permit.

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31. C. PLINIUS CORNUTO SUO S.

1 Claudius Pollio amari a te cupit dignus hoc ipso quod cupit, deinde quod ipse te diligit; neque enim fere quisquam exigit istud nisi qui facit. Vir alioqui rectus integer quietus ac paene ultra modum — si quis tamen ultra modum — verecundus. 2 Hunc, cum simul militaremus, non solum ut commilito inspexi. Praeerat alae miliariae; ego iussus a legato consulari rationes alarum et cohortium excutere, ut magnam quorundam foedamque avaritiam, neglegentiam parem, ita huius summam integritatem, sollicitam diligentiam inveni. 3 Postea promotus ad amplissimas procurationes, nulla occasione corruptus ab insito abstinentiae amore deflexit; numquam secundis rebus intumuit; numquam officiorum varietate continuam laudem humanitatis infregit, eademque firmitate animi laboribus suffecit, qua nunc otium patitur. 4 Quod quidem paulisper cum magna sua laude intermisit et posuit, a Corellio nostro ex liberalitate imperatoris Nervae emendis dividendisque agris adiutor assumptus. Etenim qua gloria dignum est, summo viro in tanta eligendi facultate praecipue placuisse! 5 Idem quam reverenter, quam fideliter amicos colat, multorum supremis iudiciis, in his Anni Bassi gravissimi civis, credere potes, cuius memoriam tam grata praedicatione prorogat et extendit, ut librum de vita eius — nam studia quoque sicut alias bonas artes veneratur — ediderit. 6 Pulchrum istud et raritate ipsa probandum, cum plerique hactenus defunctorum meminerint ut querantur. 7 Hunc hominem appetentissimum tui, mihi crede, complectere apprehende, immo et invita, ac sic ama tamquam gratiam referas. Neque enim obligandus sed remunerandus est in amoris officio, qui prior coepit. Vale.

31. — TO CORNUTUS.

Claudius Pollio desires your affection, and deserves it from the very fact that he desires it, and next because he loves you of his own accord. And, indeed, none commonly claims this kind of sentiment, save he who himself experiences it. He is, besides, a man of virtue and integrity, free from ambition and modest to excess — if, however, any one can carry modesty to excess. “When we served together, I saw what he was made of, and that not merely in the capacity of his comrade in arms. He commanded a squadron of cavalry a thousand strong. I was ordered by the Consular Legate to examine the accounts of the squadrons and cohorts, in the course of which I discovered, not only the extensive and filthy rapacity of certain parties, but also the consummate integrity and scrupulous industry of my friend. Promoted subsequently to the most distinguished charges, he was seduced by no opportunity to deviate from his innate regard for disinterestedness. He was never puffed up by prosperity; never by reason of the variety of offices which he filled did he detract ought from his unvarying reputation for kindliness; and he supported his labours with the same strength of character as that with which he now bears his repose. This repose, however, he has, for a short time, greatly to his credit, broken in upon and laid aside, having been called to assist our friend Corellius, in consequence of the liberality of the Emperor Nerva, in the matter of buying and distributing lands for the public. What a glory, to be sure, to have especially attracted the choice of so distinguished a man, when there was such an ample field for selection. For the regard and the fidelity with which he cherishes his friends, you may trust to the last testamentary dispositions of many among them, and of this number Annius Bassus, a man of the highest respectability. The memory of this Bassus he preserves and prolongs by eulogies, which are, indeed, so full of gratitude, that he has published (for letters too, as well as the other liberal arts, are held in veneration by him) a volume containing his life. A noble thing this, and one to be approved for its very rarity, seeing that most people remember the dead just so far as to complain of them. This man, who, believe me, is so eager for your friendship, I would have you receive with open arms and cling to, ay, and welcome, and so love him as though you were repaying a favour. For in the office of friendship, he who has set the example is not one to be placed under an obligation, but rather to be remunerated.

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32. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Delector iucundum tibi fuisse Tironis mei adventum; quod vero scribis oblata occasione proconsulis plurimos manumissos, unice laetor. Cupio enim patriam nostram omnibus quidem rebus augeri, maxime tamen civium numero: id enim oppidis firmissimum ornamentum. 2 Illud etiam me non ut ambitiosum sed tamen iuvat, quod adicis te meque et gratiarum actione et laude celebratos. Est enim, ut Xenophon ait, ‘hêdiston akousma epainos’, utique si te mereri putes. Vale.

32. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

I am delighted that the arrival of my friend Tiro was a source of enjoyment to you; while, as to what you write me word — that the occasion of a Proconsul’s presence having offered itself, a number of persons received their freedom — I rejoice especially. For I desire that our native place should be increased in all things, but principally in the number of its citizens, since this forms the surest embellishment of cities. This, too, pleases me — not that I curry favour — but, at any rate, it does please me, to see you add that both you and I were honoured by the expression of thanks and by praise. For, as Xenophon says, “Praise is the sweetest hearing,” particularly if you think you deserve it.

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33. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

1 Auguror nec me fallit augurium, historias tuas immortales futuras; quo magis illis — ingenue fatebor — inseri cupio. 2 Nam si esse nobis curae solet ut facies nostra ab optimo quoque artifice exprimatur, nonne debemus optare, ut operibus nostris similis tui scriptor praedicatorque contingat? 3 Demonstro ergo quamquam diligentiam tuam fugere non possit, cum sit in publicis actis, demonstro tamen quo magis credas, iucundum mihi futurum si factum meum, cuius gratia periculo crevit, tuo ingenio tuo testimonio ornaveris.

4 Dederat me senatus cum Herennio Senecione advocatum provinciae Baeticae contra Baebium Massam, damnatoque Massa censuerat, ut bona eius publice custodirentur. Senecio, cum explorasset consules postulationibus vacaturos, convenit me et ‘Qua concordia’ inquit ‘iniunctam nobis accusationem exsecuti sumus, hac adeamus consules petamusque, ne bona dissipari sinant, quorum esse in custodia debent.’ 5 Respondi: ‘Cum simus advocati a senatu dati, dispice num peractas putes partes nostras senatus cognitione finita.’ Et ille: ‘Tu quem voles tibi terminum statues, cui nulla cum provincia necessitudo nisi ex beneficio tuo et hoc recenti; ipse et natus ibi et quaestor in ea fui.’ 6 Tum ego: ‘Si fixum tibi istud ac deliberatum, sequar te ut, si qua ex hoc invidia, non tantum tua.’ 7 Venimus ad consules; dicit Senecio quae res ferebat, aliqua subiungo. Vixdum conticueramus, et Massa questus Senecionem non advocati fidem sed inimici amaritudinem implesse, impietatis reum postulat. 8 Horror omnium; ego autem ‘Vereor’ inquam, ‘clarissimi consules, ne mihi Massa silentio suo praevaricationem obiecerit, quod non et me reum postulavit.’ Quae vox et statim excepta, et postea multo sermone celebrata est. 9 Divus quidem Nerva — nam privatus quoque attendebat his quae recte in publico fierent — missis ad me gravissimis litteris non mihi solum, verum etiam saeculo est gratulatus, cui exemplum — sic enim scripsit — simile antiquis contigisset. 10 Haec, utcumque se habent, notiora clariora maiora tu facies; quamquam non exigo ut excedas actae rei modum. Nam nec historia debet egredi veritatem, et honeste factis veritas sufficit. Vale.

33. — TO TACITUS.

I augur, nor does my augury deceive me, that your histories will be immortal, hence all the more (I will candidly confess it) do I desire to find a place in them. For if it is usually a subject of concern to us that our countenances should be represented by the best artists, ought we not to desire that our deeds may he favoured with a writer and eulogist such as you? I will indicate to you, then, a matter which cannot, however, have escaped your diligence, since it is in the public records; I will indicate it, notwithstanding, that you may the more readily believe how agreeable it will be to me if a deed of mine, the credit of which was increased by its danger, should be set off by your genius and your testimony.

The Senate had assigned me, in company with Herennius Senecio, as counsel for the province of Bætica, against Bæbius Massa, and, on the conviction of Massa, had decreed that his property should be in the custody of the state. Senecio, having ascertained that the Consuls would be at liberty to hear applications, came to me and said, “In the same spirit of harmony in which we have carried out the prosecution enjoined on us, let us go to the Consuls, and beg them not to suffer the property to be squandered which they ought to remain in charge of.” I replied, “As we were appointed counsel by the Senate, consider whether our functions have not been discharged, now that the Senate has concluded its investigation.” Said he, “Do you impose any limit on yourself that you choose, since there is no tie between you and the province except your own good service, and that a recent one. As for me, I was both born and have served as a Quæstor in it.” Thereupon I replied, “If this be your fixed determination, I will follow you, that if by chance any odium comes of it, it may not be confined to you.” We went to the Consuls, and Senecio spoke what the matter comported, to which I subjoined a few remarks. We had scarcely finished speaking, when Massa, crying out that Senecio was satisfying, not his engagement as an advocate, but his acrimony as a personal enemy, accused him of treason. All stood aghast. I, however, said, “I am afraid, most noble Consuls, that Massa by his silence must have taunted me with collusion, in that he did not accuse me too of treason.” This saying of mine was immediately taken up and afterwards much noised abroad. The late Emperor Nerva (for even while in a private station he paid attention to exhibitions of uprightness in public affairs), in a very weighty communication which he addressed to me, congratulated not only me, but the age, on being blessed with an example (it was thus that he wrote) of the antique kind.

All this, whatever its value, you will make better known, more celebrated, of greater import, though I do not require you to exaggerate what really took place. For not only is history bound not to depart from truth, but also for worthy deeds the truth is quite sufficient.

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LIBER OCTAVVS

BOOK VIII.

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1. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO SUO S.

1 Iter commode explicui, excepto quod quidam ex meis adversam valetudinem ferventissimis aestibus contraxerunt. 2 Encolpius quidem lector, ille seria nostra ille deliciae, exasperatis faucibus pulvere sanguinem reiecit. Quam triste hoc ipsi, quam acerbum mihi, si is cui omnis ex studiis gratia inhabilis studiis fuerit! Quis deinde libellos meos sic leget, sic amabit? 3 Quem aures meae sic sequentur? Sed di laetiora promittunt. Stetit sanguis, resedit dolor. Praeterea continens ipse, nos solliciti, medici diligentes. Ad hoc salubritas caeli, secessus quies tantum salutis quantum otii pollicentur. Vale.

1. — TO SEPTICIUS.

I HAVE got to the end of my journey comfortably, with this exception, that some of my people have been rendered ill by the scorching heats. Encolpius, indeed, my reader, the delight of my serious as well as my sportive hours, had his throat so irritated by the dust that he spat blood. How sad this will be for himself, and how annoying to me, if one whose whole charm was derived from his literary pursuits, shall become unfitted for those pursuits! Moreover, who will there be to read my small productions as he does, and to take such a pleasure in them as he takes? However, the gods promise better fortune; the spitting of blood has ceased, and the pain has subsided. Add to this that the salubrity of the climate, our country quarters, our retired life, hold out as good a prospect of health as of repose.

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2. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO SUO S.

1 Alii in praedia sua proficiscuntur ut locupletiores revertantur, ego ut pauperior. Vendideram vindemias certatim negotiatoribus ementibus. Invitabat pretium, et quod tunc et quod fore videbatur. 2 Spes fefellit. Erat expeditum omnibus remittere aequaliter, sed non satis aequum. Mihi autem egregium in primis videtur ut foris ita domi, ut in magnis ita in parvis, ut in alienis ita in suis agitare iustitiam. Nam si paria peccata, pares etiam laudes. 3 Itaque omnibus quidem, ne quis ‘mihi non donatus abiret’, partem octavam pretii quo quis emerat concessi; deinde iis, qui amplissimas summas emptionibus occupaverant, separatim consului. Nam et me magis iuverant, et maius ipsi fecerant damnum. 4 Igitur iis qui pluris quam decem milibus emerant, ad illam communem et quasi publicam octavam addidi decimam eius summae, qua decem milia excesserant. 5 Vereor ne parum expresserim: apertius calculo ostendam. Si qui forte quindecim milibus emerant, hi et quindecim milium octavam et quinque milium decimam tulerunt. 6 Praeterea, cum reputarem quosdam ex debito aliquantum, quosdam aliquid, quosdam nihil reposuisse, nequaquam verum arbitrabar, quos non aequasset fides solutionis, hos benignitate remissionis aequari. 7 Rursus ergo iis qui solverant eius quod solverant decimam remisi. Per hoc enim aptissime et in praeteritum singulis pro cuiusque merito gratia referri, et in futurum omnes cum ad emendum tum etiam ad solvendum allici videbantur. 8 Magno mihi seu ratio haec seu facilitas stetit, sed fuit tanti. Nam regione tota et novitas remissionis et forma laudatur. Ex ipsis etiam quos non una, ut dicitur, pertica sed distincte gradatimque tractavi, quanto quis melior et probior, tanto mihi obligatior abiit expertus non esse apud me <ëen de iê timê êmen kakos êde kai esthlos’>. Vale.

2. — TO CALVISIUS.

Others set out for their estates that they may return thence the richer; I, that I may return the poorer. I had sold my vintages to certain dealers, who had bought them after a competition. They were attracted by the actual, as compared with the prospective price, and their expectations deceived them. The simple course was to make an equal remission all round; but this would have been hardly fair. Now to me it seems in the highest degree excellent, as abroad so at home, as in great things so in small, as in things foreign so in one’s own, to be diligent in the practice of equity. For if our sins be all of equal importance, so must our good deeds be. Accordingly, I remitted an eighth part of the purchase-money, and that to all, “that none should leave without my bounty feeling,” next, I had regard, separately, for those who had invested the largest sums in their purchases, for these had at the same time profited me more, and themselves suffered a greater loss. Hence, in the case of those who had bought for more than ten thousand sesterces, to the above eighth part, which was common to all, and, so to speak, a public gift, I added a tenth part of the amount by which they had exceeded the ten thousand. I am afraid that I have not made myself sufficiently intelligible, and will explain my way of reckoning more clearly. Suppose any persons to have bought for fifteen thousand, these would have got back not only an eighth of fifteen thousand, but a tenth of five thousand. Further, on reflecting that some had paid me a considerable portion of what they owed, others a trifle, others nothing at all, it seemed to me by no means just that those who were not on a level in the discharge of their obligations should be put on a level in regard to the favour of abatement. So, again, I remitted to those who had made payments a tenth part of that which they had paid. For this seemed the most fitting means, with reference to the past, of requiting them singly, in proportion to the deserts of each; and, with reference to the future, of enticing them not only to buy but to make payment. This calculation of mine, or this act of complaisance (whichever it may have been), cost me a large sum, but it was worth the outlay. For, throughout the whole district, both the novelty of this remission, and also its form, are applauded. Even the people themselves, whom I treated, as the saying goes, not with one and the same measuring-rule, but with distinctions and gradations, left me all the more obliged to me, in proportion to the rectitude and probity of each, having experienced that it is not with me that —

“The good and bad an equal honour find.”

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3. C. PLINIUS SPARSO SUO S.

1 Librum quem novissime tibi misi, ex omnibus meis vel maxime placere significas. Est eadem opinio cuiusdam eruditissimi. 2 Quo magis adducor ut neutrum falli putem, quia non est credibile utrumque falli, et quia tamen blandior mihi. Volo enim proxima quaeque absolutissima videri, et ideo iam nunc contra istum librum faveo orationi, quam nuper in publicum dedi communicaturus tecum, ut primum diligentem tabellarium invenero. 3 Erexi exspectationem tuam, quam vereor ne destituat oratio in manus sumpta. Interim tamen tamquam placituram — et fortasse placebit — exspecta. Vale.

3. — TO SPARSUS.

You intimate that the book I last sent you is of all my works the one which pleases you most. Such is also the opinion of a friend of mine, a man of profound learning. And this is an additional inducement to me to believe that neither of you are mistaken, because it is not credible that both are mistaken, and because, in any case, I am ready to flatter myself. For I desire that my latest performances should always appear the most perfect, and hence, even at this moment, favour — as against the above book — an oration which I have lately published, and which shall be communicated to you so soon as I shall find a careful messenger. I have aroused your expectations, which I fear that the oration, when you have it in hand, will disappoint. Meanwhile, however, expect it as though it would be sure to please you — and perhaps it may please.

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4. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

1 Optime facis, quod bellum Dacicum scribere paras. Nam quae tam recens tam copiosa tam elata, quae denique tam poetica et quamquam in verissimis rebus tam fabulosa materia? 2 Dices immissa terris nova flumina, novos pontes fluminibus iniectos, insessa castris montium abrupta, pulsum regia pulsum etiam vita regem nihil desperantem; super haec actos bis triumphos, quorum alter ex invicta gente primus, alter novissimus fuit. 3 Una sed maxima difficultas, quod haec aequare dicendo arduum immensum, etiam tuo ingenio, quamquam altissime assurgat et amplissimis operibus increscat. Non nullus et in illo labor, ut barbara et fera nomina, in primis regis ipsius, Graecis versibus non resultent. 4 Sed nihil est quod non arte curaque, si non potest vinci, mitigetur. Praeterea, si datur Homero et mollia vocabula et Graeca ad levitatem versus contrahere extendere inflectere, cur tibi similis audentia praesertim non delicata sed necessaria non detur? 5 Proinde iure vatum invocatis dis, et inter deos ipso, cuius res opera consilia dicturus es, immitte rudentes, pande vela ac, si quando alias, toto ingenio vehere. Cur enim non ego quoque poetice cum poeta? 6 Illud iam nunc paciscor: prima quaeque ut absolveris mittito, immo etiam ante quam absolvas, sicut erunt recentia et rudia et adhuc similia nascentibus. 7 Respondebis non posse perinde carptim ut contexta, perinde incohata placere ut effecta. Scio. Itaque et a me aestimabuntur ut coepta, spectabuntur ut membra, extremamque limam tuam opperientur in scrinio nostro. Patere hoc me super cetera habere amoris tui pignus, ut ea quoque norim quae nosse neminem velles. 8 In summa potero fortasse scripta tua magis probare laudare, quanto illa tardius cautiusque, sed ipsum te magis amabo magisque laudabo, quanto celerius et incautius miseris. Vale.

4. — TO CANINIUS.

You do admirably in preparing to write of the Dacian war. For where is the subject at the same time so recent, so abounding in incident, so vast, in short, so poetical, and — though dealing in events of the most real character — so like fable? You will tell of new rivers set flowing over the earth, new bridges thrown over rivers, mountain precipices occupied by camps, of a king who had despaired of nothing driven out of his palace, ay, and driven out of his life; besides this, of triumphs twice celebrated, one having been the first over a hitherto unconquered people, the other, the last.

The single drawback, yet an important one, is, that to equal all this in description must be an immense and arduous task even for your genius, rising though it does to the loftiest heights, and growing in proportion to the vastness of its undertakings. And there must be not a little labour in this too, in preventing barbarous and savage names (among the first, that of the King himself) from showing their repugnance to Greek metre. But there is nothing which skill and attention will not mitigate, even though they may fail to overcome it. Moreover, if it is permitted to Homer to contract, lengthen, and alter names, both soft and Greek, to suit the smoothness of his verse, why should not a similar licence be permitted to you, particularly when it results not from affectation but from necessity? Accordingly, poet-fashion, having invoked the gods — and among them him whose acts and works and counsels you are about to relate — loosen your ropes, spread your sails, and be carried on (if ever you have been) by the full force of your genius! Why indeed may not I too deal poetically with a poet? This much I bargain for at once: you must send me all your first fruits as soon as you have brought them to perfection; nay, rather, even before you have perfected them, just as they are, all fresh and unformed, and still resembling things at their birth. You will reply that what is taken piecemeal cannot please equally with that which is continuous, or what is rudimentary like that which is complete. I know it. And therefore they shall be judged of by me too as things merely begun; they shall be regarded as parts, and shall await your finishing touches in my desk. Suffer me to have this pledge, in addition to the others, of your friendship; that I be made acquainted even with such things as you would wish none to be acquainted with. In short, it may be that I shall admire and praise your writings more highly in proportion as you are slow and cautious about sending them; but I shall love you more highly, and praise you more highly, the greater your speed and the less your caution in doing so.

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5. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

1 Grave vulnus Macrinus noster accepit: amisit uxorem singularis exempli, etiam si olim fuisset. Vixit cum hac triginta novem annis sine iurgio sine offensa. Quam illa reverentiam marito suo praestitit, cum ipsa summam mereretur! quot quantasque virtutes, ex diversis aetatibus sumptas, collegit et miscuit! 2 Habet quidem Macrinus grande solacium, quod tantum bonum tam diu tenuit, sed hinc magis exacerbatur quod amisit; nam fruendis voluptatibus crescit carendi dolor. 3 Ero ergo suspensus pro homine amicissimo, dum admittere avocamenta et cicatricem pati possit, quam nihil aeque ac necessitas ipsa et dies longa et satietas doloris inducit. Vale.

5. — TO GEMINUS.

Our friend Macrinus has received a severe blow. He has lost his wife, a model woman, even if she had lived in old times. With her he spent thirty-nine years without a quarrel and without offence. How great the respect she paid her husband, while herself worthy of respect in the highest degree! How numerous, how lofty the virtues, which, gathered from different ages, were assembled and united in her person. Macrinus indeed has one great solace, in that he retained so great a blessing for so long a time; and yet, for this reason, he is all the more embittered by the loss of it. FŸ“ the enjoyment of pleasures increases the pain of being deprived of them. I am therefore in a state of anxiety about my dear friend, till such time as he shall be able to admit of being diverted from his sorrow and allow his wound to heal. And this will be brought about by nothing so much as by necessity itself, by lapse of time, and satiety of grief.

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6. C. PLINIUS MONTANO SUO S.

1 Cognovisse iam ex epistula mea debes, adnotasse me nuper monumentum Pallantis sub hac inscriptione: ‘Huic senatus ob fidem pietatemque erga patronos ornamenta praetoria decrevit et sestertium centies quinquagies, cuius honore contentus fuit.’ 2 Postea mihi visum est pretium operae ipsum senatus consultum quaerere. Inveni tam copiosum et effusum, ut ille superbissimus titulus modicus atque etiam demissus videretur. Conferant se misceantque, non dico illi veteres, Africani Achaici Numantini, sed hi proximi Marii Sullae Pompei — nolo progredi longius -: infra Pallantis laudes iacebunt. 3 Urbanos qui illa censuerunt putem an miseros? Dicerem urbanos, si senatum deceret urbanitas; miseros, sed nemo tam miser est ut illa cogatur. Ambitio ergo et procedendi libido? Sed quis adeo demens, ut per suum, per publicum dedecus procedere velit in ea civitate, in qua hic esset usus florentissimae dignitatis, ut primus in senatu laudare Pallantem posset? 4 Mitto quod Pallanti servo praetoria ornamenta offeruntur — quippe offeruntur a servis -, mitto quod censent non exhortandum modo verum etiam compellendum ad usum aureorum anulorum; erat enim contra maiestatem senatus, si ferreis praetorius uteretur. 5 Levia haec et transeunda, illa memoranda quod nomine Pallantis senatus — nec expiata postea curia est -, Pallantis nomine senatus gratias agit Caesari, quod et ipse cum summo honore mentionem eius prosecutus esset et senatui facultatem fecisset testandi erga eum benevolentiam suam. 6 Quid enim senatui pulchrius, quam ut erga Pallantem satis gratus videretur? Additur: ‘Ut Pallas, cui se omnes pro virili parte obligatos fatentur, singularis fidei singularis industriae fructum meritissimo ferat’. Prolatos imperii fines, redditos exercitus rei publicae credas. 7 Astruitur his: ‘Cum senatui populoque Romano liberalitatis gratior repraesentari nulla materia posset, quam si abstinentissimi fidelissimique custodis principalium opum facultates adiuvare contigisset’. Hoc tunc votum senatus, hoc praecipuum gaudium populi, haec liberalitatis materia gratissima, si Pallantis facultates adiuvare publicarum opum egestione contingeret. 8 Iam quae sequuntur? Voluisse quidem senatum censere dandum ex aerario sestertium centies quinquagies et quanto ab eius modi cupiditatibus remotior eius animus esset, tanto impensius petere a publico parente, ut eum compelleret ad cedendum senatui. 9 Id vero deerat, ut cum Pallante auctoritate publica ageretur, Pallas rogaretur ut senatui cederet, ut illi superbissimae abstinentiae Caesar ipse patronus, ipse advocaretur, ne sestertium centies quinquagies sperneret. Sprevit, quod solum potuit tantis opibus publice oblatis arrogantius facere, quam si accepisset. 10 Senatus tamen id quoque similis querenti laudibus tulit, his quidem verbis: sed cum princeps optimus parensque publicus rogatus a Pallante eam partem sententiae, quae pertinebat ad dandum ei ex aerario sestertium centies quinquagies, remitti voluisset, testari senatum, et se libenter ac merito hanc summam inter reliquos honores ob fidem diligentiamque Pallanti decernere coepisse, voluntati tamen principis sui, cui in nulla re fas putaret repugnare, in hac quoque re obsequi. 11 Imaginare Pallantem velut intercedentem senatus consulto moderantemque honores suos et sestertium centies quinquagies ut nimium recusantem, cum praetoria ornamenta tamquam minus recepisset; 12 imaginare Caesarem liberti precibus vel potius imperio coram senatu obtemperantem — imperat enim libertus patrono, quem in senatu rogat -; imaginare senatum usquequaque testantem merito libenterque se hanc summam inter reliquos honores Pallanti coepisse decernere et perseveraturum fuisse, nisi obsequeretur principis voluntati, cui non esset fas in ulla re repugnare. Ita ne sestertium centies quinquagies Pallas ex aerario ferret, verecundia ipsius obsequio senatus opus fuit in hoc praecipue non obsecuturi, si in ulla re putasset fas esse non obsequi.

13 Finem existimas? Mane dum et maiora accipe: ‘Utique, cum sit utile principis benignitatem promptissimam ad laudem praemiaque merentium illustrari ubique et maxime iis locis, quibus incitari ad imitationem praepositi rerum eius curae possent, et Pallantis spectatissima fides atque innocentia exemplo provocare studium tam honestae aemulationis posset, ea quae X. kal. Februarias quae proximae fuissent in amplissimo ordine optimus princeps recitasset senatusque consulta de iis rebus facta in aere inciderentur, idque aes figeretur ad statuam loricatam divi Iulii’. 14 Parum visum tantorum dedecorum esse curiam testem: delectus est celeberrimus locus, in quo legenda praesentibus, legenda futuris proderentur. Placuit aere signari omnes honores fastidiosissimi mancipii, quosque repudiasset quosque quantum ad decernentes pertinet gessit. Incisa et insculpta sunt publicis aeternisque monumentis praetoria ornamenta Pallantis, sic quasi foedera antiqua, sic quasi sacrae leges. 15 Tanta principis, tanta senatus, tanta Pallantis ipsius — quid dicam nescio, ut vellent in oculis omnium figi Pallas insolentiam suam, patientiam Caesar, humilitatem senatus. Nec puduit rationem turpitudini obtendere, egregiam quidem pulchramque rationem, ut exemplo Pallantis praemiorum ad studium aemulationis ceteri provocarentur. 16 Ea honorum vilitas erat, illorum etiam quos Pallas non dedignabatur. Inveniebantur tamen honesto loco nati, qui peterent cuperentque quod dari liberto promitti servis videbant.

17 Quam iuvat quod in tempora illa non incidi, quorum sic me tamquam illis vixerim pudet! Non dubito similiter affici te. Scio quam sit tibi vivus et ingenuus animus: ideo facilius est ut me; quamquam indignationem quibusdam in locis fortasse ultra epistulae modum extulerim, parum doluisse quam nimis credas. Vale.

6. — TO MONTANUS.

You must have learnt by this time from my letter how I lately remarked a monument to Pallas with this inscription on it: “To him the Senate, on account of his faithfulness and loyalty to his patrons, decreed the Prætorian insignia and a sum of fifteen million sesterces. He was contented with the honour merely. Subsequently it seemed to me worth while to hunt up the decree itself. I found it, and it was so verbose and extravagant, that the above extremely fulsome inscription seems modest and even humble by its side. Let — I will not say the Africani and Achaici and Numantini of old — but the men that are near to us, the Marii, Sullas, Pompeys (I will go no further), — let these compare themselves with Pallas, and they will fall short of the praises accorded to him. Am I to suppose the men who thus decreed to have been humourists, or cravens? I would call them humourists if such humour became a Senate. Cravens, then? But no one is in such a craven condition that he can be forced to such acts. “Was the cause, then, ambition and the yearning for advancement? But who so demented as to wish for advancement at the price of his own and the public disgrace, in a society where the advantage to be derived from the loftiest dignity should consist in being able to take the lead in — eulogising Pallas in the Senate? I pass by the circumstance that the Prætorian insignia are offered to Pallas, though a slave, inasmuch as they are offered by slaves. I pass by their decreeing “that he should not only be exhorted, but actually compelled to the use of golden rings;” for it was opposed to the august dignity of the Senate for a man of Prætorian rank to wear iron ones These are trifling matters, which may be passed over. But this is noteworthy, that “on account of Pallas the

Senate” (and the Senate-house was not purified after this!)—” on Pallas’s account the Senate returns thanks to Caesar, in that his highness himself has bestowed the most honourable mention on him, and has also accorded to the Senate the faculty of testifying towards him its good will.” What indeed could be more glorious for the Senate than that it should appear sufficiently grateful to Pallas? This is added: “That Pallas, to whom all of them, to the best of each man’s abilities, confess their obligations, may enjoy, as he so richly deserves to do, the fruits of his matchless integrity and his matchless energy.” You would suppose that the limits of the Empire had been extended, that armies had been rescued for the State. To this is tacked on, “Inasmuch as to the Senate and the people no more agreeable occasion for their liberality could be exhibited than the good fortune of being able to add to the means of so disinterested and faithful a guardian of the prince’s revenues.” This was at that time the aspiration of the Senate, this was the chief delight of the people, this was the most agreeable occasion for liberality: to have the good fortune to add to the means of Pallas by squandering the public revenues! See what follows: “That it had been the wish of the Senate, for its part, to decree to him a gift of fifteen million sesterces out of the treasury, and the more his mind was remote from desires of this kind, the more earnestly did they pray the Father of the State to compel him to yield to the Senate.” This, to be sure, was alone wanting: that Pallas should be dealt with by public authority; that Pallas in person should be entreated to yield to the Senate; that Cæsar himself should be called in to plead against this arrogant self-denial, and to prevent his spurning the fifteen million sesterces. Spurn them he did — the only way in which, after the public offer to him of so vast a sum, he could show his arrogance still more than by accepting it. Yet the Senate, in a tone of complaint, praised even this act in the following words: “But inasmuch as the most excellent Prince and Father of the State, at the request of Pallas, has willed that that portion of the decree which related to the grant to him out of the treasury of fifteen million sesterces should he annulled; the Senate hereby witnessed, that albeit it had of its own good will, and in accordance with his merits, initiated a decree of the above sum, among the other honours, to Pallas on account of his integrity and diligence; yet, as they do not deem it lawful to set themselves against the will of their prince in any matter, so in this matter too they submit themselves to it.”

Picture to yourself Pallas interposing his veto, as it were, on the decree of the Senate, and restricting the honours paid to himself; refusing the fifteen millions as too much, after accepting the Prætorian insignia as of smaller account. Picture to yourself Cæsar complying with the prayers, or rather the commands, of his freedman in presence of the Senate, for the freedman commands his patron when he is able to petition him in the Senate. Picture to yourself the Senate continually witnessing that it had initiated a decree of this sum, among the other honours, to Pallas, in accordance with his merits and its good will, and that it would have persevered in its intention if it had not been for its compliance with the prince’s will, which it was not lawful to set one’s self against in any matter. So then, in order that Pallas should not carry off the fifteen millions from the treasury, his own modesty and the compliance of the Senate were requisite, which latter, in this particular case, would not have complied if they had thought it lawful not to comply in any matter whatever.

Do you think this is the end? Wait a bit and hear something still stronger. “And inasmuch as it is of advantage that the gracious disposition of the prince, ever prompt to honour and reward the deserving, should be everywhere exhibited to view, and chiefly in those places where the persons charged with the administration of his affairs may be stimulated to imitation, and where the highly proved faithfulness and integrity of Pallas may by his example provoke a zeal for laudable emulation; the message read by the most excellent prince before this most honourable house on the tenth day before the Kalends of February last past, together with the decrees passed by the Senate on these matters, shall be inscribed on brass, and the brass in question shall be affixed to the statue in armour of the late Emperor Julius.” It did not seem enough that the Senate-house should witness such disgraceful proceedings; a place of great resort was selected for publishing them, where contemporaries should read them, and posterity as well. It was decided that the brass should be inscribed with all the honours of this haughty slave, both those which he repudiated and those which (as far as those who decreed them were concerned) he had borne. The Prætorian insignia of Pallas were cut and carved on public and enduring monuments, just for all the world like ancient treaties, just like sacred laws! Such was the — how to name the quality I know not — of the prince, of the Senate, of Pallas himself, that they wished to have affixed before the eyes of all, Pallas his impudence, Cæsar his submissiveness, the Senate its baseness. Nor was there any shame felt in veiling this infamy with a show of reason — an exquisite and admirable reason to be sure: — that on the strength of the rewards bestowed on Pallas the others might be provoked to the zeal of emulation! So cheap were honours held, even those which Pallas did not disdain. Yet there were found persons of respectable birth who sought for and desired what they saw given to a freedman and held out to slaves. How glad I am that I did not fall upon those times, of which I am just as much ashamed as if I had lived in them. Nor do I doubt that you will be similarly impressed, for I know you have the soul of an honest man and a freeman. Hence you will he the more ready to think that, though I may have carried my indignation in certain places to a height unsuitable to a letter, yet my complaints are rather below than above the mark.

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7. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

1 Neque ut magistro magister neque ut discipulo discipulus — sic enim scribis -, sed ut discipulo magister — nam tu magister, ego contra; atque adeo tu in scholam revocas, ego adhuc Saturnalia extendo — librum misisti. 2 Num potui longius hyperbaton facere, atque hoc ipso probare eum esse me qui non modo magister tuus, sed ne discipulus quidem debeam dici? Sumam tamen personam magistri, exseramque in librum tuum ius quod dedisti, eo liberius quod nihil ex me interim missurus sum tibi in quo te ulciscaris. Vale.

7. — TO TACITUS.

Not as one master to another, nor again “as one disciple to another” (for so you write it), but as master to a disciple — for you are the master, I the opposite; more than that, you are recalling me to school, while I am still prolonging my holidays — have you sent your book to me. Come, now, could I have produced a more topsy-turvy sentence than the above? — by this very means proving that I am one who ought not to be called, let alone your master, even your disciple. However, I will take on me the part of master, and exercise on your book the right you have bestowed on me, and all the more freely that I am not going to send you in the meanwhile any writing of mine for you to revenge yourself upon.

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8. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

1 Vidistine aliquando Clitumnum fontem? Si nondum — et puto nondum: alioqui narrasses mihi -, vide; quem ego — paenitet tarditatis — proxime vidi. 2 Modicus collis assurgit, antiqua cupressu nemorosus et opacus. Hunc subter exit fons et exprimitur pluribus venis sed imparibus, eluctatusque quem facit gurgitem lato gremio patescit, purus et vitreus, ut numerare iactas stipes et relucentes calculos possis. 3 Inde non loci devexitate, sed ipsa sui copia et quasi pondere impellitur, fons adhuc et iam amplissimum flumen, atque etiam navium patiens; quas obvias quoque et contrario nisu in diversa tendentes transmittit et perfert, adeo validus ut illa qua properat ipse, quamquam per solum planum, remis non adiuvetur, idem aegerrime remis contisque superetur adversus. 4 Iucundum utrumque per iocum ludumque fluitantibus, ut flexerint cursum, laborem otio otium labore variare. Ripae fraxino multa, multa populo vestiuntur, quas perspicuus amnis velut mersas viridi imagine adnumerat. Rigor aquae certaverit nivibus, nec color cedit. 5 Adiacet templum priscum et religiosum. Stat Clitumnus ipse amictus ornatusque praetexta; praesens numen atque etiam fatidicum indicant sortes. Sparsa sunt circa sacella complura, totidemque di. Sua cuique veneratio suum nomen, quibusdam vero etiam fontes. Nam praeter illum quasi parentem ceterorum sunt minores capite discreti; sed flumini miscentur, quod ponte transmittitur. 6 Is terminus sacri profanique: in superiore parte navigare tantum, infra etiam natare concessum. Balineum Hispellates, quibus illum locum Divus Augustus dono dedit, publice praebent, praebent et hospitium. Nec desunt villae quae secutae fluminis amoenitatem margini insistunt. 7 In summa nihil erit, ex quo non capias voluptatem. Nam studebis quoque: leges multa multorum omnibus columnis omnibus parietibus inscripta, quibus fons ille deusque celebratur. Plura laudabis, non nulla ridebis; quamquam tu vero, quae tua humanitas, nulla ridebis. Vale.

8. — TO ROMANUS.

Have you seen, at any time, the source of the Clitumnus? If you have not as yet — and I fancy you have not, for otherwise you would have told me of it — go and see what I (and I am ashamed of having been so slow about it) lately saw. There rises a hill of moderate size, wooded and shaded by ancient cypresses, at the base of which the spring emerges, forced out through many but unequal channels, and after struggling through a troubled pool of its own formation, opens out to the view with broad expanse, clear and transparent, so that you are able to count the small coins thrown into it and the glistening pebbles. Thence it is impelled, not by the slope of the ground, but by its own very abundance, and, as it were, weight; now but a source, now already a noble river, and one actually capable of bearing ships, which, even when they come in opposite directions, and with contrary effort are holding a different course, it suffers to pass each other, and carries on their way. Such is the strength and rapidity of its current, though over a plane surface, that it is not assisted by oars, and, when it is faced, it is only with extreme difficulty that it can be overcome by oars or punt-poles. It is an agreeable change for those who are afloat for sport and pastime to vary toil by repose or repose by toil, according as they shift their course. The banks are clothed with a quantity of ashes and poplars, which the transparent river reflects in succession by so many green images, just as though they were submerged in it. The coldness of the water might vie with that of snow, and its colour does not yield to that of snow.

Hard by is a temple ancient and venerable. Clitumnus stands there in person, clothed and adorned with the prætexta. Oracular responses indicate the prophetic power in addition to the presence of the divinity.’ Scattered around are a number of chapels and as many gods. Each of these has his own worship and his own name, some of them even their own springs. For besides that spring, which is, as it were, the parent of the rest, there are smaller ones, separated from the fountain-head, but nevertheless flowing into the river, which is spanned by a bridge. This marks the boundary between what is sacred and what is open to ordinary use. Above bridge navigation only is permitted; below, one may bathe as well. The people of Hispellum, to whom the late Emperor Augustus assigned this locality, furnish baths at the public expense, and they also furnish lodgings. Nor is there a lack of villas, which, owing to the attractions of the river, stand on its borders. In short, there will be nothing there from which you may not derive pleasure; you will even be able to study, and will read a variety of productions by a variety of people, inscribed on every column and every wall in honour of the spring and the god. Many of these you will approve of, some you will laugh at — and yet, no; you, with your usual good-nature, will laugh at none of them.

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9. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

1 Olim non librum in manus, non stilum sumpsi, olim nescio quid sit otium quid quies, quid denique illud iners quidem, iucundum tamen nihil agere nihil esse: adeo multa me negotia Samicorum nec secedere nec studere patiuntur. 2 Nulla enim studia tanti sunt, ut amicitiae officium deseratur, quod religiosissime custodiendum studia ipsa praecipiunt. Vale.

9. — TO URSUS.

For a long time I have taken neither book nor pen in hand. For a long time I have not known what rest is or repose, or, in short, that state, so idle yet so agreeable, of doing nothing and being nothing. To such a degree do the multitude of my friends’ affairs debar me from seclusion and study. For no studies are of such importance that the office of friendship should be abandoned on their account — indeed, that this office should be most religiously guarded is a matter which is taught us by these very studies.

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10. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

1 Quo magis cupis ex nobis pronepotes videre, hoc tristior audies neptem tuam abortum fecisse, dum se praegnantem esse puellariter nescit, ac per hoc quaedam custodienda praegnantibus omittit, facit omittenda. Quem errorem magnis documentis expiavit, in summum periculum adducta. 2 Igitur, ut necesse est graviter accipias senectutem tuam quasi paratis posteris destitutam, sic debes agere dis gratias, quod ita tibi in praesentia pronepotes negaverunt, ut servarent neptem, illos reddituri, quorum nobis spem certiorem haec ipsa quamquam parum prospere explorata fecunditas facit. 3 Isdem nunc ego te quibus ipsum me hortor moneo confirmo. Neque enim ardentius tu pronepotes quam ego liberos cupio, quibus videor a meo tuoque latere pronum ad honores iter et audita latius nomina et non subitas imagines relicturus. Nascantur modo et hunc nostrum dolorem gaudio mutent. Vale.

10. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.

The stronger your desire to see great-grandchildren of yours born of us, the more you will grieve to hear that your granddaughter has had a miscarriage, while, girl like, she did not know that she was with child, and, in consequence, omitted certain things which should be observed by women in that state, and did other things which should have been omitted. She has expiated her mistake at the expense of a great lesson, having been brought into extreme peril. Hence, while you must necessarily be grieved at your old age being deprived of descendants, who had been, so to speak, prepared for you, yet you ought, at the same time, to thank the gods who refuse you great-grandchildren for the present, in such a way as to preserve the life of your granddaughter, and who will yet bestow on you those great-grandchildren, the expectation of whom is made surer by this very fruitfulness of my wife, though, to be sure, it has been ascertained under rather unfavourable circumstances. I am now exhorting, admonishing, and confirming you by the same methods as I employ towards myself. Nor, indeed, can great-grandchildren be desired by you more ardently than are children by me, children to whom I think myself destined to bequeath, on your side and on my own, an easy road to honours, names widely known, and family images which will endure. May they only be born, and turn this sorrow of ours into joy!

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11. C. PLINIUS HISPULLAE SUAE S.

1 Cum affectum tuum erga fratris filiam cogito etiam materna indulgentia molliorem, intellego prius tibi quod est posterius nuntiandum, ut praesumpta laetitia sollicitudini locum non relinquat. Quamquam vereor ne post gratulationem quoque in metum redeas, atque ita gaudeas periculo liberatam, ut simul quod periclitata sit perhorrescas. 2 Iam hilaris, iam sibi iam mihi reddita incipit refici, transmissumque discrimen convalescendo metiri. Fuit alioqui in summo discrimine, — impune dixisse liceat — fuit nulla sua culpa, aetatis aliqua. Inde abortus et ignorati uteri triste experimentum. 3 Proinde etsi non contigit tibi desiderium fratris amissi aut nepote eius aut nepte solari, memento tamen dilatum magis istud quam negatum, cum salva sit ex qua sperari potest. Simul excusa patri tuo casum, cui paratior apud feminas venia. Vale.

11. — TO HISPULLA.

When I think of your affection for your brother’s daughter, surpassing in tenderness even the indulgence of a mother, I feel that I ought to begin by announcing what ought to come later, in order that joy may take first possession of you and so leave no room for anxiety. And yet I am apprehensive that, even after rejoicing, you will return to your fears; that, while delighted at Calpurnia’s being freed from peril, you will shudder at the same time at her having been imperilled. She is cheerful now, and restored to herself and to me; she begins to regain strength, and by her progress towards recovery to measure the crisis she has passed through. She was, in fact, in the most critical condition (this be said without evil omen!), through no personal fault, rather through some fault due to her age. Hence her miscarriage, and the sad proofs of an unsuspected pregnancy. Accordingly, though it has not been your good fortune to assuage your regret for your lost brother by means of a grandson or granddaughter of his, yet remember that is a blessing which is delayed rather than denied, since she is safe from whom we may hope for it. At the same time excuse to your father a mishap which women are always more prepared to look on with indulgence.

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12. C. PLINIUS MINICIANO SUO S.

1 Hunc solum diem excuso: recitaturus est Titinius Capito, quem ego audire nescio magis debeam an cupiam. Vir est optimus et inter praecipua saeculi ornamenta numerandus. Colit studia, studiosos amat fovet provehit, multorum qui aliqua componunt portus sinus gremium, omnium exemplum, ipsarum denique litterarum iam senescentium reductor ac reformator. 2 Domum suam recitantibus praebet, auditoria non apud se tantum benignitate mira frequentat; mihi certe, si modo in urbe, defuit numquam. Porro tanto turpius gratiam non referre, quanto honestior causa referendae. 3 An si litibus tererer, obstrictum esse me crederem obeunti vadimonia mea, nunc, quia mihi omne negotium omnis in studiis cura, minus obligor tanta sedulitate celebranti, in quo obligari ego, ne dicam solo, certe maxime possum? 4 Quod si illi nullam vicem nulla quasi mutua officia deberem, sollicitarer tamen vel ingenio hominis pulcherrimo et maxime et in summa severitate dulcissimo, vel honestate materiae. Scribit exitus illustrium virorum, in his quorundam mihi carissimorum. 5 Videor ergo fungi pio munere, quorumque exsequias celebrare non licuit, horum quasi funebribus laudationibus seris quidem sed tanto magis veris interesse. Vale.

12. — TO MINICIANUS.

I must beg to be excused for just this one day. Titinius Capito is going to recite, and I hardly know whether it be more my duty or my desire to hear him. He is an excellent man, and one to be numbered among the special illustrations of our age; he cultivates literature, and loves, cherishes, and advances men of letters; he is the port, the harbour, the place of refuge for a number of those who do anything in the way of composition; an example to all; lastly, a restorer and reformer of letters, which are now in their decline. He lends his house to people who recite, and frequents audiences — and that not merely at his own abode — with rare good-nature; me certainly, provided he is in town, he has never failed. Besides, the nobler the incentive to gratitude, the more shabby it would be not to show one’s self grateful. Pray, if I were harassed by legal proceedings, should I consider myself bound to one who appeared to my recognisances; and now, because all my business, all my care is with literature, shall I be less obliged to one who frequents me with so much assiduity, in a matter which, if not the only one, is certainly the most important one which can lay me under an obligation? Yet, if I owed him no return, no mutual good office, so to speak, yet I should be attracted either by the genius of the man, which is so admirable, so grand, so gentle even when most serious, or else by the noble character of his theme. He is writing of the deaths of illustrious men, and among them of some who were very dear to me. I seem, then, to be discharging an office of piety when, in the case of those whose obsequies I could not attend, I am present at what may be termed their funeral eulogies, which, though late in time, are on that account all the more truthful.

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13. C. PLINIUS GENIALI SUO S.

1 Probo quod libellos meos cum patre legisti. Pertinet ad profectum tuum a disertissimo viro discere, quid laudandum quid reprehendendum, simul ita institui, ut verum dicere assuescas. 2 Vides quem sequi, cuius debeas implere vestigia. O te beatum, cui contigit unum atque idem optimum et coniunctissimum exemplar, qui denique eum potissimum imitandum habes, cui natura esse te simillimum voluit! Vale.

13. — TO GENIALIS.

I approve of your having read my little books in company with your father. It pertains to your advancement to learn from a man of the highest eloquence what deserves praise and what censure, and, at the same time, to be so trained as to learn to speak the truth. You see whom you ought to follow, in whose footsteps you ought to tread. Happy fellow! who have had the luck in one and the same person to meet with a model so excellent and so nearly related to you; who, in short, have him to imitate, above all others, whom nature willed that you should most resemble.

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14. C. PLINIUS ARISTONI SUO S.

1 Cum sis peritissimus et privati iuris et publici, cuius pars senatorium est, cupio ex te potissimum audire, erraverim in senatu proxime necne, non ut in praeteritum — serum enim -, verum ut in futurum si quid simile inciderit erudiar. 2 Dices: ‘Cur quaeris quod nosse debebas?’ Priorum temporum servitus ut aliarum optimarum artium, sic etiam iuris senatorii oblivionem quandam et ignorantiam induxit. 3 Quotus enim quisque tam patiens, ut velit discere, quod in usu non sit habiturus? Adde quod difficile est tenere quae acceperis nisi exerceas. Itaque reducta libertas rudes nos et imperitos deprehendit; cuius dulcedine accensi, cogimur quaedam facere ante quam nosse. 4 Erat autem antiquitus institutum, ut a maioribus natu non auribus modo verum etiam oculis disceremus, quae facienda mox ipsi ac per vices quasdam tradenda minoribus haberemus. 5 Inde adulescentuli statim castrensibus stipendiis imbuebantur ut imperare parendo, duces agere dum sequuntur adsuescerent; inde honores petituri adsistebant curiae foribus, et consilii publici spectatores ante quam consortes erant. 6 Suus cuique parcns pro magistro, aut cui parens non erat maximus quisque et vetustissimus pro parente. Quae potestas referentibus, quod censentibus ius, quae vis magistratibus, quae ceteris libertas, ubi cedendum ubi resistendum, quod silentii tempus, quis dicendi modus, quae distinctio pugnantium sententiarum, quae exsecutio prioribus aliquid addentium, omnem denique senatorium morem — quod fidissimum percipiendi genus — exemplis docebantur. 7 At nos iuvenes fuimus quidem in castris; sed cum suspecta virtus, inertia in pretio, cum ducibus auctoritas nulla, nulla militibus verecundia, nusquam imperium nusquam obsequium, omnia soluta turbata atquc etiam in contrarium versa, postremo obliviscenda magis quam tenenda. 8 Iidem prospeximus curiam, sed curiam trepidam et elinguem, cum dicere quod velles periculosum, quod nolles miserum esset. Quid tunc disci potuit, quid didicisse iuvit, cum senatus aut ad otium summum aut ad summum nefas vocaretur, et modo ludibrio modo dolori retentus numquam seria, tristia saepe censeret? 9 Eadem mala iam senatores, iam participes malorum multos per annos vidimus tulimusque; quibus ingenia nostra in posterum quoque hebetata fracta contusa sunt. 10 Breve tempus — nam tanto brevius omne quanto felicius tempus — quo libet scire quid simus, libet exercere quod scimus. Quo iustius peto primum ut errori, si quis est error, tribuas veniam, deinde medearis scientia tua cui semper fuit curae, sic iura publica ut privata sic antiqua ut recentia sic rara ut adsidua tractare. 11 Atque ego arbitror illis etiam, quibus plurimarum rerum agitatio frequens nihil esse ignotum patiebatur, genus quaestionis quod adfero ad te aut non satis tritum aut etiam inexpertum fuisse. Hoc et ego excusatior si forte sum lapsus, et tu dignior laude, si potes id quoque docere quod in obscuro est an didiceris.

12 Referebatur de libertis Afrani Dextri consulis incertum sua an suorum manu, scelere an obsequio perempti. Hos alius — Quis? Ego; sed nihil refert — post quaestionem supplicio liberandos, alius in insulam relegandos, alius morte puniendos arbitrabatur. Quarum sententiarum tanta diversitas erat, ut non possent esse nisi singulae. 13 Quid enim commune habet occidere et relegare? Non hercule magis quam relegare et absolvere; quamquam propior aliquanto est sententiae relegantis, quae absolvit, quam quae occidit — utraque enim ex illis vitam relinquit, haec adimit -, cum interim et qui morte puniebant et qui relegabant, una sedebant et temporaria simulatione concordiae discordiam differebant. 14 Ego postulabam, ut tribus sententiis constaret suus numerus, nec se brevibus indutiis duae iungerent. Exigebam ergo ut qui capitali supplicio afficiendos putabant, discederent a relegante, nec interim contra absolventes mox dissensuri congregarentur, quia parvolum referret an idem displiceret, quibus non idem placuisset. 15 Illud etiam mihi permirum videbatur, eum quidem qui libertos relegandos, servos supplicio afficiendos censuisset, coactum esse dividere sententiam; hunc autem qui libertos morte multaret, cum relegante numerari. Nam si oportuisset dividi sententiam unius, quia res duas comprehendebat, non reperiebam quemadmodum posset iungi sententia duorum tam diversa censentium.

16 Atque adeo permitte mihi sic apud te tamquam ibi, sic peracta re tamquam adhuc integra rationem iudicii mei reddere, quaeque tunc carptim multis obstrepentibus dixi, nunc per otium iungere. 17 Fingamus tres omnino iudices in hanc causam datos esse; horum uni placuisse perire libertos, alteri relegari, tertio absolvi. Utrumne sententiae duae collatis viribus novissimam periment, an separatim una quaeque tantundem quantum altera valebit, nec magis poterit cum secunda prima conecti quam secunda cum tertia? 18 Igitur in senatu quoque numerari tamquam contrariae debent, quae tamquam diversae dicuntur. Quodsi unus atque idem et perdendos censeret et relegandos, num ex sententia unius et perire possent et relegari? Num denique omnino una sententia putaretur, quae tam diversa coniungeret? 19 Quemadmodum igitur, cum alter puniendos, alter censeat relegandos, videri potest una sententia quae dicitur a duobus, quae non videretur una, si ab uno diceretur? Quid? lex non aperte docet dirimi debere sententias occidentis et relegantis, cum ita discessionem fieri iubet: ‘Qui haec censetis, in hanc partem, qui alia omnia, in illam partem ite qua sentitis’? Examina singula verba et expende: ‘qui haec censetis’, hoc est qui relegandos putatis, ‘in hanc partem’, id est in eam in qua sedet qui censuit relegandos. 20 Ex quo manifestum est non posse in eadem parte remanere eos, qui interficiendos arbitrantur. ‘Qui alia omnia’: animadvertis, ut non contenta lex dicere ‘alia’ addiderit ‘omnia’. Num ergo dubium est alia omnia sentire eos qui occidunt quam qui relegant? ‘In illam partem ite qua sentitis’: nonne videtur ipsa lex eos qui dissentiunt in contrariam partem vocare cogere impellere? Non consul etiam, ubi quisque remanere, quo transgredi debeat, non tantum sollemnibus verbis, sed manu gestuque demonstrat? 21 At enim futurum est ut si dividantur sententiae interficientis et relegantis, praevaleat illa quae absolvit. Quid istud ad censentes? quos certe non decet omnibus artibus, omni ratione pugnare, ne fiat quod est mitius. Oportet tamen eos qui puniunt et qui relegant, absolventibus primum, mox inter se comparari. Scilicet ut in spectaculis quibusdam sors aliquem seponit ac servat, qui cum victore contendat, sic in senatu sunt aliqua prima, sunt secunda certamina, et ex duabus sententiis eam, quae superior exstiterit, tertia exspectat. 22 Quid, quod prima sententia comprobata ceterae perimuntur? Qua ergo ratione potest esse non unus atque idem locus sententiarum, quarum nullus est postea? 23 Planius repetam. Nisi dicente sententiam eo qui relegat, illi qui puniunt capite initio statim in alia discedant, frustra postea dissentient ab eo cui paulo ante consenserint. 24 Sed quid ego similis docenti? cum discere velim, an sententias dividi an iri in singulas oportuerit. Obtinui quidem quod postulabam; nihilo minus tamen quaero, an postulare debuerim. Quemadmodum obtinui? Qui ultimum supplicium sumendum esse censebat, nescio an iure, certe aequitate postulationis meae victus, omissa sententia sua accessit releganti, veritus scilicet ne, si dividerentur sententiae, quod alioqui fore videbatur, ea quae absolvendos esse censebat numero praevaleret. Etenim longe plures in hac una quam in duabus singulis erant. 25 Tum illi quoque qui auctoritate eius trahebantur, transeunte illo destituti reliquerunt sententiam ab ipso auctore desertam, secutique sunt quasi transfugam quem ducem sequebantur. 26 Sic ex tribus sententiis duae factae, tenuitque ex duabus altera tertia expulsa, quae, cum ambas superare non posset, elegit ab utra vinceretur. Vale.

14. — TO ARISTO.

As you are so deeply versed in civil and constitutional law (of which senatorial law forms a part), I desire to learn from you particularly whether I did or did not make a mistake in the Senate on a recent occasion, that I may be instructed, not with a view to the past (for it would be too late for that), but to the future, should anything of a like kind present itself.

You will say, “Why inquire about what you ought to know?” Because the slavery of past times has introduced a certain oblivion and ignorance, as well of all other excellent sciences, so also of senatorial law. For few have the patience to be willing to learn what they will never have to practise. Add to this, that it is difficult to retain what you have learnt unless you do practise it. Thus it happened that the restoration of liberty surprised us in an untrained and inexperienced condition, and, enflamed by her charms, we are obliged to do certain things before we are masters of them. On the other hand, it was the ancient usage that we should learn from our elders, not only through our ears, but through our eyes as well, what we ourselves should presently have to do, and, by a kind of succession, to hand down to our juniors. Hence striplings were forthwith inured to service in the camps, that they might be habituated to command by obedience, and to act the part of leaders while learning to follow. Hence such as were to be candidates for public offices stationed themselves by the doors of the Senate-house, and were spectators of the national council before becoming members of it. Each had his own father for an instructor, or to him who had no father the oldest and most illustrious citizens stood in the place of one. What are the privileges of those who introduce motions, what the rights of those who pronounce on them, what the power of the magistrates, and the liberty accorded to the remaining Senators, where to yield and where to resist, what is the time for silence and what the limit of speech, how to distinguish between the parts of a conflicting proposition, how those who would add anything to a previous proposal may execute their purpose; in short, the whole practice of the Senate was taught by example, the surest mode of instruction.

Yet we, when youths, were, to be sure, in the camps. Yes, but at a time when prowess was suspected and inactivity was prized; when the leaders were without authority and the soldiers without shame; when the supreme control was nowhere and obedience nowhere; when all things were in a state of solution and confusion, and even inversion; in short, of a character to be forgotten rather than remembered. We also had a view of the Senate, but a cowering and speechless Senate, at a time when it was dangerous to speak according to one’s wishes and vile to speak against them. What could be learnt at such a period? and what could be the advantage of learning? when the Senate was summoned either to fall into a profound sleep or to sanction some atrocious villainy, and, detained now for the purpose of exciting laughter, now for that of inflicting pain, pronounced decisions which were never serious, though oftentimes sad.

These same evils we witnessed and endured for many years after we had ourselves become senators and sharers in them, by which means our intellects were permanently dulled, broken, and bruised. It is but a short time (every time is short in proportion as it is happy) since we have learnt with pleasure what we are, and can practise with pleasure what we know. And this gives me a greater right to ask, first, that you will pardon my mistake, if there be a mistake; next, that you would apply to it your remedial learning, whose care it has always been to investigate constitutional in the same way as civil law, what is ancient in the same way as what is modern, what is rare equally with what is common. And indeed I am of opinion that the kind of point which I am submitting to you was either not very familiar, or else actually unknown in practice to those predecessors of ours whose constant and varied experience left them in ignorance of scarce anything. Hence, not only shall I be the more readily excused if I have chanced to trip, but you will be the more entitled to credit if you can instruct me on a point which it is uncertain to me whether you have studied.

The debate was about the freedmen of Afranius Dexter, the Consul, who had perished either by his own or his servants’ hands, either through their crime or their obedience to his commands, it is uncertain which. As to these persons, one senator (“Who?” you ask. It was I; but this is of no consequence) opined that, having been put to the question, they should be exempted from punishment; a second, that they should be banished to an island; a third, that they should suffer death. So great was the difference between these proposals, that they could only be taken singly. For what is there in common between putting to death and banishing? Nothing more, by Hercules, than between banishing and acquitting. Though, to be sure, a proposal for acquitting is somewhat nearer to one for banishing than would be a proposal for putting to death, since both the former leave life untouched, while the last takes it away. Yet, meanwhile, those who were for the punishment of death and those who were for banishment sat together, and by a temporary simulation deferred the discord which underlay their concord. I demanded that the proper number of these three propositions should be established, and that two of them should not be joined together in a short truce. Hence I insisted that those who were for the infliction of the capital penalty should leave the side of those who were for banishment, and that those who were shortly about to differ among themselves should not in the interim be united in opposition to the party who were for an acquittal; because it was of very little consequence that they disagreed with the same proposal, seeing that they had previously agreed to different ones. This too seemed to me particularly strange, that while he who had pronounced for banishing the freedmen and inflicting the last penalty on the slaves had been compelled to divide his vote, yet he who was for punishing the freedmen with death should he told off among those who were for banishing them. For if it had been right that the proposition of one should be divided, as comprehending two different things, I could not discover in what way the propositions could be joined together of two persons who pronounced themselves so differently. And indeed permit me — in your hearing precisely as there, and though the question is settled precisely as though it were still alive — to give you the reasons for my opinion, and to put together now at my ease what I then threw out disjointedly amidst many stormy interruptions.

Let us suppose three judges in all to have been assigned to this cause, and that the decision of one of these had been that the freedmen should die; of the second, that they should be banished; of the third, that they should be acquitted. Pray, should two of these opinions, by their united strength, destroy the last? Or, taken separately, should not each of them be worth just what the other is, so that the first can no more be connected with the second than the second with the third? It results that, in the Senate as well, votes ought to be reckoned as being opposed to each other, which are given as being different from each other. What if one and the same man were to pronounce for death and banishment? would it be possible for these persons both to die and to be banished in accordance with this single vote? Indeed, could that be considered one vote at all which conjoined things so diverse? How, then, when one pronounces for punishing them with death, and another for banishing them, can that appear to be one vote because it is pronounced by two, which would not appear one vote if it were pronounced by one? What! does not the law clearly teach that the votes for death and those for banishment should be separated, when it orders divisions to be taken in this manner:—” Those who are of this opinion to this side; those who are of any other opinion to the side which accords with your opinion.” Examine these words singly and weigh them. “Those who are of this opinion,” that is to say, who think the men should he banished, “to this side” — that is to say, to the side on which the senator who has made the motion for banishment is sitting. From this it is clear that those who are in favour of putting them to death cannot remain on the same side. “Those who are of any other opinion.” You observe that the law, not content with saying “other,” has added to it “any.” Can there be a doubt, then, that those who put to death hold an entirely different opinion from those who banish? “To that side which accords with your opinion.” Does not the law itself seem to call, to compel, to drive, those who differ to the opposite side? Does not the Consul, even, point out to every one, and that not merely in the customary form of words, but with his hand and by his gestures, the place where he is to remain or to which he is to pass over? “But it will happen that if the votes for death and those for banishment be divided, the vote in favour of acquittal may prevail.” What does this matter to the persons voting? It certainly does not become them to strive by every art and every calculation to prevent a more merciful decision from being carried. “It is proper, in any case, that those who are for the death penalty and those who are for banishment should first be compared with those who acquit, and afterwards with each other. As, for example, at certain of the shows, some individual is separated and reserved by lot to compete with the victor, so in the Senate there are certain first and second trials of strength, and the one of two proposals which comes out victorious is waited on by a third.” Need I say that if the first proposal be carried the remaining ones are put an end to? How, then, can propositions be joined on a common ground for which no place can be found subsequently? To repeat this more clearly, when the motion for banishment is made, if those who are for death do not at once go to the other side, it will be in vain that they will differ at a subsequent stage from those with whom they have voted just before.

But why do I seem to be teaching when I want to learn whether these motions should have been divided, whether they should have been gone into singly? To be sure I obtained what I demanded; none the less, however, do I ask whether I ought to have made the demand. In what way was it obtained? Why, the senator who had moved that the extreme penalty should be inflicted (overpowered, I do not know whether by the legality, but certainly by the equity of my demand), threw up his own motion, and went over to the side of him who was for banishment: fearing, no doubt, that if the motions were taken separately — and, but for his action, it seemed likely that they would be — the one for acquittal would obtain a majority. And, indeed, there were many more of that one party than in either of the other two taken singly. Then those senators, too, who were led by his authority, thus left to themselves after he had gone over, abandoned a proposal which had been forsaken by its own author, and followed in his species of desertion the person whom they followed in his lead. So out of three proposals two resulted, and of these two one prevailed, the third being extinguished, which, as it could not overcome the two others, had to choose by which of the two it would be defeated.

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15. C. PLINIUS IUNIORI SUO S.

1 Oneravi te tot pariter missis voluminibus, sed oneravi primum quia exegeras, deinde quia scripseras tam graciles istic vindemias esse, ut plane scirem tibi vacaturum, quod vulgo dicitur, librum legere. 2 Eadem ex meis agellis nuntiantur. Igitur mihi quoque licebit scribere quae legas, sit modo unde chartae emi possint; aut necessario quidquid scripserimus boni malive delebimus. Vale.

15. — TO JUNIOR.

I have laid a burden on you by the despatch of so many volumes at once. However, I have burdened you, in the first place, because you had insisted on my doing so, and, in the next place, because you had written to me that the vintage was so slender in your parts as to make me see very clearly that you would have leisure (as the common phrase runs) “to pluck a book.” We have the same announcement from my own small estates. Consequently, on my side too, I shall be able to write something for you to read, if only paper can be bought anywhere. Should it be rough or porous, I shall either have not to write at all, or shall perforce make a smudge of whatever I write, be it good or bad.

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16. C. PLINIUS PATERNO SUO S.

1 Confecerunt me infirmitates meorum, mortes etiam, et quidem iuvenum. Solacia duo nequaquam paria tanto dolori, solacia tamen: unum facilitas manumittendi — videor enim non omnino immaturos perdidisse, quos iam liberos perdidi -, alterum quod permitto servis quoque quasi testamenta facere, eaque ut legitima custodio. 2 Mandant rogantque quod visum; pareo ut iussus. Dividunt donant relinquunt, dumtaxat intra domum; nam servis res publica quaedam et quasi civitas domus est. 3 Sed quamquam his solaciis acquiescam, debilitor et frangor eadem illa humanitate, quae me ut hoc ipsum permitterem induxit. Non ideo tamen velim durior fieri. Nec ignoro alios eius modi casus nihil amplius vocare quam damnum, eoque sibi magnos homines et sapientes videri. Qui an magni sapientesque sint, nescio; homines non sunt. 4 Hominis est enim affici dolore sentire, resistere tamen et solacia admittere, non solaciis non egere. 5 Verum de his plura fortasse quam debui; sed pauciora quam volui. Est enim quaedam etiam dolendi voluptas, praesertim si in amici sinu defleas, apud quem lacrimis tuis vel laus sit parata vel venia. Vale.

16. — TO PATERNUS.

I am prostrated by the ailments of my servants, by deaths among them, too, and of young ones into the bargain. I have two consolations, by no means on a par with the greatness of my sorrow, still consolations. One is my readiness in setting them free (for I do not seem to have lost quite prematurely such as had already gained their freedom when I lost them); the other is, that I permit even my slaves to make quasi-testamentary dispositions, observing these just as though they were legal documents. They enjoin and request whatever they choose, and I obey as if under orders. They distribute, give, and bequeath — at least, within the limits of the household. For to slaves the household is a kind of state, and stands in the place of a community.

Still, though soothed by these consolations, I am dispirited and broken by reason of the identical humanity of disposition which has prompted me to these same concessions. Yet I would not on that account be made harder, while not ignoring that others style mishaps of this sort a pecuniary loss and nothing more, and hence seem to themselves great and wise men. As for these, whether they be great and wise, I cannot tell; men they are not. For it is the part of a man to be affected by grief, to feel, yet at the same time to bear up and to admit of consolation, not to be in no need of consolation. However, about all this I have said more perhaps than I ought, yet less than I wished. There is, indeed, a certain pleasure even in grief, particularly if you weep into the bosom of a friend who is prepared to bestow on your tears either his approval or his pardon.

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17. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

1 Num istic quoque immite et turbidum caelum? Hic assiduae tempestates et crebra diluvia. Tiberis alveum excessit et demissioribus ripis alte superfunditur; 2 quamquam fossa quam providentissimus imperator fecit exhaustus, premit valles, innatat campis, quaque planum solum, pro solo cernitur. Inde quae solet flumina accipere et permixta devehere, velut obvius retro cogit, atque ita alienis aquis operit agros, quos ipse non tangit. 3 Anio, delicatissimus amnium ideoque adiacentibus villis velut invitatus retentusque, magna ex parte nemora quibus inumbratur fregit et rapuit; subruit montes, et decidentium mole pluribus locis clausus, dum amissum iter quaerit, impulit tecta ac se super ruinas eiecit atque extulit. 4 Viderunt quos excelsioribus terris illa tempestas deprehendit, alibi divitum apparatus et gravem supellectilem, alibi instrumenta ruris, ibi boves aratra rectores, hic soluta et libera armenta, atque inter haec arborum truncos aut villarum trabes atque culmina varie lateque fluitantia. 5 Ac ne illa quidem malo vacaverunt, ad quae non ascendit amnis. Nam pro amne imber assiduus et deiecti nubibus turbines, proruta opera quibus pretiosa rura cinguntur, quassata atque etiam decussa monumenta. Multi eius modi casibus debilitati obruti obtriti, et aucta luctibus damna.

6 Ne quid simile istic, pro mensura periculi vereor, teque rogo, si nihil tale, quam maturissime sollicitudini meae consulas, sed et si tale, id quoque nunties. Nam parvolum differt, patiaris adversa an exspectes; nisi quod tamen est dolendi modus, non est timendi. Doleas enim quantum scias accidisse, timeas quantum possit accidere. Vale.

17. — TO MACRINUS.

Is the weather as rough and unsettled with you as it is with us? Here we have constant storms and a succession of inundations. The Tiber has exceeded its channels, and is flowing high over its less elevated banks. Though its force is weakened by an outlet which the Emperor, in his great forethought, has constructed, yet it covers the valleys and pours over the fields, and where the surface is flat it presents itself to the eye in the place of the surface. Hence it forces backwards, as though it went to meet them, the streams which it usually receives and carries down in combination, and by this means covers, with waters not its own, a country which it does not itself touch. The Anio, most charming of rivers, and which on that account had seemed as it were to be invited by and made to slacken its course near the villas on its banks has destroyed and carried off in great part the woods that overshadowed it. It has undermined hills, and, impeded in many places by the mass of falling debris, while seeking its lost way, it has thrown down houses, and risen and swept over their ruins. Those who on loftier ground were not caught by the tempest in question beheld in one place the appliances of wealth and costly furniture; in another, agricultural implements; here, cattle, ploughs, herdsmen; there, the loose herds left to themselves, and among these objects the trunks of trees, or the rafters and roofs of villas, all drifting in wide variety. Nor, indeed, have even those localities to which the river did not ascend been exempted from damage. For, in lieu of the river, there was a continuous downpour, and whirlwinds were precipitated from the clouds, the fences surrounding valuable enclosures were overthrown, public monuments were shaken and even toppled down. Many persons were disabled and overwhelmed and crushed by accidents of this description, and loss of property has been aggravated by mourning.

I am apprehensive that something of the same kind in a proportionate degree may have imperilled you where you are: and I beg you, if there has been nothing of the sort, to have regard to my anxiety with all possible speed. But, if there e’en has been, announce that, just the same. For the difference is but trifling between suffering misfortunes and anticipating them; except, however, that there is a limit to grief, while there is no limit to fear. Our grief is indeed proportioned to what we know to have happened: our fears to what may happen.

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18. C. PLINIUS RUFINO SUO S.

1 Falsum est nimirum quod creditur vulgo, testamenta hominum speculum esse morum, cum Domitius Tullus longe melior apparuerit morte quam vita. 2 Nam cum se captandum praebuisset, reliquit filiam heredem, quae illi cum fratre communis, quia genitam fratre adoptaverat. Prosecutus est nepotes plurimis iucundissimisque legatis, prosecutus etiam proneptem. In summa omnia pietate plenissima ac tanto magis inexspectata sunt. 3 Ergo varii tota civitate sermones: alii fictum ingratum immemorem loquuntur, seque ipsos dum insectantur illum turpissimis confessionibus produnt, ut qui de patre avo proavo quasi de orbo querantur; alii contra hoc ipsum laudibus ferunt, quod sit frustratus improbas spes hominum, quos sic decipi pro moribus temporum est. Addunt etiam non fuisse ei liberum alio testamento mori: neque enim reliquisse opes filiae sed reddidisse, quibus auctus per filiam fuerat. 4 Nam Curtilius Mancia perosus generum suum Domitium Lucanum — frater is Tulli — sub ea condicione filiam eius neptem suam instituerat heredem, si esset manu patris emissa. Emiserat pater, adoptaverat patruus, atque ita circumscripto testamento consors frater in fratris potestatem emancipatam filiam adoptionis fraude revocaverat et quidem cum opibus amplissimis. 5 Fuit alioqui fratribus illis quasi fato datum ut divites fierent, invitissimis a quibus facti sunt. Quin etiam Domitius Afer, qui illos in nomen assumpsit, reliquit testamentum ante decem et octo annos nuncupatum, adeoque postea improbatum sibi, ut patris eorum bona proscribenda curaverit. 6 Mira illius asperitas, mira felicitas horum: illius asperitas, qui numero civium excidit, quem socium etiam in liberis habuit; felicitas horum, quibus successit in locum patris, qui patrem abstulerat. 7 Sed haec quoque hereditas Afri, ut reliqua cum fratre quaesita, transmittenda erant filiae fratris, a quo Tullus ex asse heres institutus praelatusque filiae fuerat, ut conciliaretur. Quo laudabilius testamentum est, quod pietas fides pudor scripsit, in quo denique omnibus affinitatibus pro cuiusque officio gratia relata est, relata et uxori. 8 Accepit amoenissimas villas, accepit magnam pecuniam uxor optima et patientissima ac tanto melius de viro merita, quanto magis est reprehensa quod nupsit. Nam mulier natalibus clara, moribus proba, aetate declivis, diu vidua mater olim, parum decore secuta matrimonium videbatur divitis senis ita perditi morbo, ut esse taedio posset uxori, quam iuvenis sanusque duxisset. 9 Quippe omnibus membris extortus et fractus, tantas opes solis oculis obibat, ac ne in lectulo quidem nisi ab aliis movebatur; quin etiam — foedum miserandumque dictu — dentes lavandos fricandosque praebebat. Auditum frequenter ex ipso, cum quereretur de contumeliis debilitatis suae, digitos se servorum suorum cotidie lingere. 10 Vivebat tamen et vivere volebat, sustentante maxime uxore, quae culpam incohati matrimonii in gloriam perseverantia verterat.

11 Habes omnes fabulas urbis; nam sunt omnes fabulae Tullus. Exspectatur auctio: fuit enim tam copiosus, ut amplissimos hortos eodem quo emerat die instruxerit plurimis et antiquissimis statuis; tantum illi pulcherrimorum operum in horreis quae neglegebat. Invicem tu, si quid istic epistula dignum, ne gravare. 12 Nam cum aures hominum novitate laetantur, tum ad rationem vitae exemplis erudimur. Vale.

18. — TO RUFINUS.

False, without doubt, is the vulgar belief that the wills made by men reflect their characters, since Domitius Tullus has shown himself a far better man at his death than in his life. For though he had held himself out as a bait to fortune-hunters, he left as his heiress a daughter who was common to himself and his brother, that is to say, she was his brother’s child and he had adopted her. Upon his grandsons he bestowed many very acceptable legacies, and even one on his great-grandson. In short, all his dispositions are replete with just affection, and they seem all the more so in that they were unexpected. Accordingly, various are the comments which are being made all over the city: some speak of him as a hypocrite, without gratitude and without memory, and, while they inveigh against him, betray their own selves by their disgraceful avowals, complaining as they do of a man who was a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, just as though he had been childless: others, on the contrary, laud him in this very particular that he has frustrated the impudent expectations of men whom thus to deceive, in the present state of society, is an act of prudence. They even add that he was not free to leave any other will behind him; for that he did not so much bequeath property to his daughter as restore that by which he had been enriched through the medium of this same daughter. For, Curtilius Mancia, detesting his son-in-law, Domitius Lucanus (the brother of Tullus), constituted the daughter of the latter — his own grandchild — his heiress, subject to the condition of her having been emancipated from the control of her father. Her father had emancipated her, upon which her uncle had adopted her, and the intention of the will having been cheated in this fashion, one brother — they being joint-owners of their estate — got the emancipated daughter back under the parental authority of the other brother, thanks to his fraudulent adoption, and that too with the most extensive property.

In other cases it seemed as it were the fate of these brothers to become rich even against the strongest inclinations of those who had made them so. Indeed, Domitius Afer, who adopted them, left a will declared before witnesses eighteen years previously, and so highly disapproved by him at a subsequent period that he caused their father’s property to be confiscated. Strange, ruthlessness on his part, and strange good fortune on theirs! Faithlessness in him to cut off from the roll of citizens a man who was his partner in such a matter as that of children: good fortune for them to have as successor in the place of father the very man who had taken off their father. But this property derived from Afer, together with everything else which he had acquired in company with his brother, Tullus was bound to transmit to the daughter of his brother, who had constituted him sole heir and preferred him to his daughter, in order to conciliate his favour. The more praiseworthy is this will which affection, good faith, and honour have dictated; in which, finally, all degrees of relationship are acknowledged according to their several obligations, and acknowledgment is made to the testator’s wife as well. She takes some charming country residences and a large sum of money, does this most excellent and long-suffering of wives: ay, and one who deserved all the better of her husband in proportion as she was blamed for marrying him. For this lady, who was of illustrious birth and spotless character, in the decline of life, after a long widowhood, and having aforetime borne children, was thought to have acted with no very good taste in prosecuting a marriage with a rich old man, such a prey to disease that he might well have been an object of disgust even to a wife whom he had wedded in his youth and strength. In fact, he was crippled and powerless in all his limbs, and could enjoy his vast wealth with his eyes alone: nor could he move on his couch even, save by the help of others. Moreover (indelicate as well as pitiable to relate) he had his teeth washed and brushed for him. He was often heard to say himself, when complaining of the miseries forced on him by his infirmities, that he “daily licked the fingers of his slaves.” Yet he lived on, and desired to live, kept up principally by his wife, who, by her steadfastness, had turned her fault in entering on such a marriage into a source of glory.

You have now all the talk of the town, for Tullus constitutes all the talk. The sale of his effects is looked for. Such indeed were his stores, that he has adorned the most extensive gardens, on the same day that he bought them, with statues in great profusion and of great antiquity; he had as many works of the highest art lying neglected in storerooms. In your turn, if there be anything in your parts worth a letter, don’t think it a trouble to write. For not only are men’s ears gladdened by news, but also we are instructed by examples to regulate our lives.

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19. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Et gaudium mihi et solacium in litteris, nihilque tam laetum quod his laetius, tam triste quod non per has minus triste. Itaque et infirmitate uxoris et meorum periculo, quorundam vero etiam morte turbatus, ad unicum doloris levamentum studia confugi, quae praestant ut adversa magis intellegam sed patientius feram. 2 Est autem mihi moris, quod sum daturus in manus hominum, ante amicorum iudicio examinare, in primis tuo. Proinde si quando, nunc intende libro quem cum hac epistula accipies, quia vereor ne ipse ut tristis parum intenderim. Imperare enim dolori ut scriberem potui; ut vacuo animo laetoque, non potui. Porro ut ex studiis gaudium sic studia hilaritate proveniunt. Vale.

19. — TO MAXIMUS.

My delight and my solace is in literary pursuits. There is nothing so joyful that it is not made more joyful, nothing so sad that it is not made less sad, through their means. Hence, when disordered by the sickness of my wife and the critical condition of my servants — indeed, by the deaths of some of them — I fled for refuge to my one comfort in sorrow — my studies. These furnish me with a keener sense of misfortunes, but at the same time with the power of bearing them more patiently. Now, it is my habit, when proposing to give anything to the public, to test it previously by the help of my friends’ judgment, and above all of yours. Accordingly, now, if ever, apply yourself to the book which you will receive with this letter; for I fear that I in my sorrowful condition have not sufficiently applied myself to it. I was indeed able to command my grief so far as to write, but not so as to write with a disengaged and cheerful mind. Now, as joy is the profit derived from letters, so do letters in their turn derive a profit from cheerfulness.

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20. C. PLINIUS GALLO SUO S.

1 Ad quae noscenda iter ingredi, transmittere mare solemus, ea sub oculis posita neglegimus, seu quia ita natura comparatum, ut proximorum incuriosi longinqua sectemur, seu quod omnium rerum cupido languescit, cum facilis occasio, seu quod differimus tamquam saepe visuri, quod datur videre quotiens velis cernere. 2 Quacumque de causa, permulta in urbe nostra iuxtaque urbem non oculis modo sed ne auribus quidem novimus, quae si tulisset Achaia Aegyptos Asia aliave quaelibet miraculorum ferax commendatrixque terra, audita perlecta lustrata haberemus. 3 Ipse certe nuper, quod nec audieram ante nec videram, audivi pariter et vidi. Exegerat prosocer meus, ut Amerina praedia sua inspicerem. Haec perambulanti mihi ostenditur subiacens lacus nomine Vadimonis; simul quaedam incredibilia narrantur. 4 Perveni ad ipsum. Lacus est in similitudinem iacentis rotae circumscriptus et undique aequalis: nullus sinus, obliquitas nulla, omnia dimensa paria, et quasi artificis manu cavata et excisa. Color caerulo albidior, viridior et pressior; sulpuris odor saporque medicatus; vis qua fracta solidantur. Spatium modicum, quod tamen sentiat ventos, et fluctibus intumescat. 5 Nulla in hoc navis — sacer enim -, sed innatant insulae, herbidae omnes harundine et iunco, quaeque alia fecundior palus ipsaque illa extremitas lacus effert. Sua cuique figura ut modus; cunctis margo derasus, quia frequenter vel litori vel sibi illisae terunt terunturque. Par omnibus altitudo, par levitas; quippe in speciem carinae humili radice descendunt. 6 Haec ab omni latere perspicitur, eadem aqua pariter suspensa et mersa. Interdum iunctae copulataeque et continenti similes sunt, interdum discordantibus ventis digeruntur, non numquam destitutae tranquillitate singulae fluitant. 7 Saepe minores maioribus velut cumbulae onerariis adhaerescunt, saepe inter se maiores minoresque quasi cursum certamenque desumunt; rursus omnes in eundem locum appulsae, qua steterunt promovent terram, et modo hac modo illa lacum reddunt auferuntque, ac tum demum cum medium tenuere non contrahunt. 8 Constat pecora herbas secuta sic in insulas illas ut in extremam ripam procedere solere, nec prius intellegere mobile solum quam litori abrepta quasi illata et imposita circumfusum undique lacum paveant; mox quo tulerit ventus egressa, non magis se descendisse sentire, quam senserint ascendisse. 9 Idem lacus in flumen egeritur, quod ubi se paulisper oculis dedit specu mergitur alteque conditum meat ac, si quid antequam subduceretur accepit, servat et profert. 10 Haec tibi scripsi, quia nec minus ignota quam mihi nec minus grata credebam. Nam te quoque ut me nihil aeque ac naturae opera delectant. Vale.

20. — TO GALLUS.

Objects such as we are in the habit of undertaking journeys and traversing the sea to make acquaintance with, we neglect when they are situated under our eyes; whether it has been so provided by nature, that, while careless of what is close to us, we run after what is distant, or because the desire for all objects languishes where the opportunity is easy; or else that we defer, as being sure to see them often, sights which it is given us to enjoy whenever we choose. Whatever be the reason, there are a quantity of things in our city, and the neighbourhood of the city, which we do not even know by hearsay, let alone eyesight. Yet if Achaia, Egypt, Asia, had produced these, or any other land fruitful in marvels, and giving them repute too, we should have heard all about, and read all about and explored them. What, at any rate, I had never heard of or seen, I for my part lately heard of and saw at the same time.

My wife’s grandfather had pressed me to make an inspection of his estate near Ameria, As I was going over it, a lake lying under us was pointed out to me, named Vadimon; at the same time some incredible circumstances connected with it were related. I reached the lake itself. It is rounded into the shape of a horizontal wheel, regular on all sides, without a bay or obliquity of any kind; everything is measured to scale and even, as though hollowed and cut out by the hand of an artist. The colour of the water is lighter than dark blue but deeper than bluish green. It has an odour and a taste of sulphur, and the healing property of mending broken articles. Its size is small, yet such that it can feel the winds and swell into waves. There is no ship on it (for it is sacred), but floating on it are islands, all of them grassy with reeds and rushes, and other herbage which the swampy soil in its productiveness, or the banks of the lake themselves, bring forth. Each of them has its individual shape and dimensions, but all have their outer edges worn, in consequence of frequently striking either against the shore or against each other, and so rubbing and getting rubbed. All of them are of a like elevation and buoyancy, since their roots descend but a little way below the surface, after the fashion of a ship’s keel. These roots can be seen on every side, suspended and at the same time submerged in the water. Occasionally these islands are joined and coupled together, resembling a continent; occasionally they are dispersed by discordant winds; not infrequently, left to themselves, they float in single tranquillity. Often the smaller ones hang on to the larger, like little boats on to ships of burden; often larger and smaller ones take to a trial, as it were, of each other’s speed; then, again, all of them, driven upon the same part of the shore, form, where they have stopped, a promontory, and, sometimes here, sometimes there, conceal or restore to view portions of the lake. It is only when they are in the middle that they do not contract its circumference. It is certain that cattle in pursuit of herbage are in the habit of advancing into these islands, fancying them the edge of the lake, and do not perceive that the soil is moveable till reft from the shore — put on hoard and shipped, so to speak — they see with affright the lake all round them: presently going ashore wherever the wind has carried them, they no more know that they have disembarked than they knew that they had embarked. This same lake discharges itself into a river, which, after presenting itself to the eyes for a short time, loses itself underground, and flows on out of sight. If anything has been thrown into it before its disappearance it will preserve and reproduce the object.

All this I have written to you, believing that it would be no less new and no less agreeable to you than it was to me. For as with me, so with you, too, nothing is so delightful as the works of nature.

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21. C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

1 Ut in vita sic in studiis pulcherrimum et humanissimum existimo severitatem comitatemque miscere, ne illa in tristitiam, haec in petulantiam excedat. 2 Qua ratione ductus graviora opera lusibus iocisque distinguo. Ad hos proferendos et tempus et locum opportunissimum elegi, utque iam nunc assuescerent et ab otiosis et in triclinio audiri, Iulio mense, quo maxime lites interquiescunt, positis ante lectos cathedris amicos collocavi. 3 Forte accidit ut eodem die mane in advocationem subitam rogarer, quod mihi causam praeloquendi dedit. Sum enim deprecatus, ne quis ut irreverentem operis argueret, quod recitaturus, quamquam et amicis et paucis, id est iterum amicis, foro et negotiis non abstinuissem. Addidi hunc ordinem me et in scribendo sequi, ut necessitates voluptatibus, seria iucundis anteferrem, ac primum amicis tum mihi scriberem. 4 Liber fuit et opusculis varius et metris. Ita solemus, qui ingenio parum fidimus, satietatis periculum fugere. Recitavi biduo. Hoc assensus audientium exegit; et tamen ut alii transeunt quaedam imputantque quod transeant, sic ego nihil praetereo atque etiam non praeterire me dico. Lego enim omnia ut omnia emendem, quod contingere non potest electa recitantibus. 5 At illud modestius et fortasse reverentius; sed hoc simplicius et amantius. Amat enim qui se sic amari putat, ut taedium non pertimescat; et alioqui quid praestant sodales, si conveniunt voluptatis suae causa? Delicatus ac similis ignoto est, qui amici librum bonum mavult audire quam facere. 6 Non dubito cupere te pro cetera mei caritate quam maturissime legere hunc adhuc musteum librum. Leges, sed retractatum, quae causa recitandi fuit; et tamen non nulla iam ex eo nosti. Haec emendata postea vel, quod interdum longiore mora solet, deteriora facta quasi nova rursus et rescripta cognosces. Nam plerisque mutatis ea quoque mutata videntur, quae manent. Vale.

21. — TO ARRIANUS.

Just as in life, so in literature, I deem it the most excellent course, and the one most in accord with human nature, to mingle the grave with the gay, lest the former should degenerate into morbidness and the latter into sauciness. Led by this consideration, I vary my more serious works with sportive and jocular effusions. For the production in public of these latter, I chose the most fitting time as well as place, and — that they might without delay grow accustomed to a hearing from persons with nothing else to do, and at the dinner-table — in the month of July (when, for the most part, there is an interval of rest from the lawsuits), I arranged my friends with seats furnished with desks in front of the dining-couches. It so chanced that, on the morning of that day, I was unexpectedly called to assist a friend in court, and this furnished me with a ground for making some prefatory remarks. For I entreated that no one would charge me with want of respect for the work in hand, because, when intending to recite (even though only to friends, and to a small audience, which means to friends again), I had not refrained from the courts and from business. I added that, even in the matter of my writings, I followed this order of preferring duty to pleasure, the serious to the agreeable, and of writing for my friends first, for myself afterwards.

My book was composed of various little pieces, in various metres; for thus it is that we who have not much confidence in our genius are wont to avoid the risk of surfeiting people. I recited two days. The approval of my audience exacted this of me; and yet, though other readers skip certain parts, and take credit for skipping them, I pass over nothing, and even aver to my audiences that I pass over nothing. Indeed, I read the whole that I may correct the whole; and this cannot be the case with those who recite extracts. But, you will say that the latter course is more modest, and perhaps more respectful. Yes; but the former is the more straightforward and the more friendly. For he is friendly who thinks the friendship felt for him to be such that he is not in dread of being wearisome. Otherwise, what is the use of intimates if they only come together for the sake of their own amusement? He is a mere fop, and resembles a stranger, who would rather hear his friend’s good book than make it a good one.

I do not doubt that, in accordance with your usual affection for me, you will desire to read, as soon as possible, this newly compounded book. You shall read it, but in a revised form, for this was the object of my recitation. Yet you are already acquainted with many parts of it. These, subsequently either improved, or — which occasionally happens through long delay — altered for the worse, you will discover again, in a new form as it were, and rewritten. For where many changes have been made, even what is left seems to have undergone a change likewise.

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22. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

1 Nostine hos qui omnium libidinum servi, sic aliorum vitiis irascuntur quasi invideant, et gravissime puniunt, quos maxime imitantur? cum eos etiam, qui non indigent clementia ullius, nihil magis quam lenitas deceat. 2 Atque ego optimum et emendatissimum existimo, qui ceteris ita ignoscit, tamquam ipse cotidie peccet, ita peccatis abstinet tamquam nemini ignoscat. 3 Proinde hoc domi hoc foris hoc in omni vitae genere teneamus, ut nobis implacabiles simus, exorabiles istis etiam qui dare veniam nisi sibi nesciunt, mandemusque memoriae quod vir mitissimus et ob hoc quoque maximus Thrasea crebro dicere solebat: ‘Qui vitia odit, homines odit.’ Quaeris fortasse quo commotus haec scribam. 4 Nuper quidam — sed melius coram; quamquam ne tunc quidem. Vereor enim ne id quod improbo consectari carpere referre huic quod cum maxime praecipimus repugnet. Quisquis ille qualiscumque sileatur, quem insignire exempli nihil, non insignire humanitatis plurimum refert. Vale.

22. — TO GEMINUS.

You know them, don’t you, those men who, slaves to every evil passion, are as indignant at the vices of others as though they envied them, and who are for punishing most severely the persons whom they imitate most closely; whereas, even to those who need no one’s indulgence, nothing is more becoming than leniency. More than this, I esteem him the most excellent and the most faultless who so forgives others as though he himself sinned daily, and so abstains from sins as though he forgave no one. Accordingly let us hold to this, in private, in public, in every relation of life; to be implacable to ourselves and easy of entreaty even to those who are unable to make allowances for any but themselves. Let us commit to memory what one of the mildest, and, on that account, among others, one of the greatest of men, Thrasea, used frequently to say “He who hates vices hates mankind.”

You will perhaps ask what has moved me to write thus. A certain person recently — but it will be better to tell you when we meet; and yet, on second thoughts, not even then. For I fear that by inveighing against and censuring and recapitulating what I disapprove, I may be violating the very precepts which I am giving at this moment. Let the man, whoever and whatever he is, be nameless; by making him known, example would profit nothing; by leaving him unknown, good-nature will profit much.

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23. C. PLINIUS MARCELLINO SUO S.

1 Omnia mihi studia, omnes curas, omnia avocamenta exemit excussit eripuit dolor, quem ex morte Iuni Aviti gravissimum cepi. 2 Latum clavum in domo mea induerat, suffragio meo adiutus in petendis honoribus fuerat; ad hoc ita me diligebat, ita verebatur, ut me formatore morum, me quasi magistro uteretur. 3 Rarum hoc in adulescentibus nostris. Nam quotus quisque vel aetati alterius vel auctoritati ut minor cedit? Statim sapiunt, statim sciunt omnia, neminem verentur, neminem imitantur, atque ipsi sibi exempla sunt. Sed non Avitus, cuius haec praecipua prudentia, quod alios prudentiores arbitrabatur, haec praecipua eruditio quod discere volebat. 4 Semper ille aut de studiis aliquid aut de officiis vitae consulebat, semper ita recedebat ut melior factus; et erat factus vel eo quod audierat, vel quod omnino quaesierat. 5 Quod ille obsequium Serviano exactissimo viro praestitit! quem legatum tribunus ita et intellexit et cepit, ut ex Germania in Pannoniam transeuntem non ut commilito sed ut comes assectatorque sequeretur. Qua industria qua modestia quaestor, consulibus suis — et plures habuit — non minus iucundus et gratus quam utilis fuit! Quo discursu, qua vigilantia hanc ipsam aedilitatem cui praereptus est petiit! Quod vel maxime dolorem meum exulcerat. 6 Obversantur oculis cassi labores, et infructuosae preces, et honor quem meruit tantum; redit animo ille latus clavus in penatibus meis sumptus, redeunt illa prima illa postrema suffragia mea, illi sermones illae consultationes. 7 Afficior adulescentia ipsius, afficior necessitudinum casu. Erat illi grandis natu parens, erat uxor quam ante annum virginem acceperat, erat filia quam paulo ante sustulerat. Tot spes tot gaudia dies unus in diversa convertit. 8 Modo designatus aedilis, recens maritus recens pater intactum honorem, orbam matrem, viduam uxorem, filiam pupillam ignaram patris reliquit: Accedit lacrimis meis quod absens et impendentis mali nescius, pariter aegrum pariter decessisse cognovi, ne gravissimo dolori timore consuescerem. In tantis tormentis eram cum scriberem haec <ut haec> scriberem sola; neque enim nunc aliud aut cogitare aut loqui possum. Vale.

23. — TO MARCELLINUS.

All literary pursuits, all serious occupations, all amusements, have been banished, driven out, rooted from my mind by the poignant grief which the death of Julius Avitus has caused me. It was at my house that he put on the Latus Clavus. I assisted him with my support when he was a candidate for office; add to this, that he so loved and revered me that he treated me as the moulder of his character — as his master, so to speak. A rare thing this in the case of our young men. For how few of them will yield, as being inferior, either to the age or the authority of another? They are all at once wise; they all at once know everything; they revere no one; they imitate no one, and are indeed themselves their own models. Not so Avitus, whose chief wisdom was in esteeming others wiser than himself, whose chief erudition was in his desire to learn. He was always seeking some advice, either on the subject of his studies or the duties of life, and he always went away with a sense of being made better. And so he was, either from what he had heard, or at any rate from having inquired. What deference he paid to that most accomplished man Servianus, when the latter was Legate and he was military tribune. He so appreciated and at the same time captivated Servianus that in his march across from Germania to Pannonia he followed him, not as being one of his army, but as a companion and personal attendant. Such was his industry, such his unassuming character, than in his capacity of Quæstor he was no less pleasant and agreeable than useful to his Consuls, of whom he served several. How active, how indefatigable he was in his pursuit of this very office of Ædile, from the enjoyment of which he has been prematurely snatched away! And this it is which greatly aggravates my grief. There present themselves to my eyes his vain labours and fruitless applications, and the honour which he succeeded in deserving only. There returns to my mind that Latus Clavus assumed in my house; those first, those last efforts of mine on his behalf; the discourses, the consultations which we held together. I am touched by his own youth; I am touched by the misfortune suffered by his family.

He had a mother of great age, a wife whom he had married in her maidenhood a year before, a daughter not long born to him. So many hopes, so many joys did a single day turn to mourning! Just nominated Ædile, a new-made husband, a new-made father, he has left behind him a dignity never assumed, a childless mother, a widowed wife, an infant daughter who never knew her father. My sorrow is augmented by the fact that it was during my absence from him, and when I was unprepared for the impending misfortune, that I learnt at one and the same time his illness and his decease. Such is my anguish while writing on this subject, and on this subject alone. For indeed just now I can neither think nor speak of anything else.

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24. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Amor in te meus cogit, non ut praecipiam — neque enim praeceptore eges -, admoneam tamen, ut quae scis teneas et observes, aut nescire melius. 2 Cogita te missum in provinciam Achaiam, illam veram et meram Graeciam, in qua primum humanitas litterae, etiam fruges inventae esse creduntur; missum ad ordinandum statum liberarum civitatum, id est ad homines maxime homines, ad liberos maxime liberos, qui ius a natura datum virtute meritis amicitia, foedere denique et religione tenuerunt. 3 Reverere conditores deos et nomina deorum, reverere gloriam veterem et hanc ipsam senectutem, quae in homine venerabilis, in urbibus sacra. Sit apud te honor antiquitati, sit ingentibus factis, sit fabulis quoque. Nihil ex cuiusquam dignitate, nihil ex libertate, nihil etiam ex iactatione decerpseris. 4 Habe ante oculos hanc esse terram, quae nobis miserit iura, quae leges non victis sed petentibus dederit, Athenas esse quas adeas Lacedaemonem esse quam regas; quibus reliquam umbram et residuum libertatis nomen eripere durum ferum barbarum est. 5 Vides a medicis, quamquam in adversa valetudine nihil servi ac liberi differant, mollius tamen liberos clementiusque tractari. Recordare quid quaeque civitas fuerit, non ut despicias quod esse desierit; absit superbia asperitas. 6 Nec timueris contemptum. An contemnitur qui imperium qui fasces habet, nisi humilis et sordidus, et qui se primus ipse contemnit? Male vim suam potestas aliorum contumeliis experitur, male terrore veneratio acquiritur, longeque valentior amor ad obtinendum quod velis quam timor. Nam timor abit si recedas, manet amor, ac sicut ille in odium hic in reverentiam vertitur. 7 Te vero etiam atque etiam — repetam enim — meminisse oportet officii tui titulum ac tibi ipsum interpretari, quale quantumque sit ordinare statum liberarum civitatum. Nam quid ordinatione civilius, quid libertate pretiosius? 8 Porro quam turpe, si ordinatio eversione, libertas servitute mutetur! Accedit quod tibi certamen est tecum: onerat te quaesturae tuae fama, quam ex Bithynia optimam revexisti; onerat testimonium principis; onerat tribunatus, praetura atque haec ipsa legatio quasi praemium data. 9 Quo magis nitendum est ne in longinqua provincia quam suburbana, ne inter servientes quam liberos, ne sorte quam iudicio missus, ne rudis et incognitus quam exploratus probatusque humanior melior peritior fuisse videaris, cum sit alioqui, ut saepe audisti saepe legisti, multo deformius amittere quam non assequi laudem.

10 Haec velim credas, quod initio dixi, scripsisse me admonentem, non praecipientem; quamquam praecipientem quoque. Quippe non vereor, in amore ne modum excesserim. Neque enim periculum est ne sit nimium quod esse maximum debet. Vale.

24. — TO MAXIMUS.

My affection for you compels me, not to instruct you, for indeed you need no instructor, yet to remind you to bear in memory and practice what you already know, else it were better unknown. Reflect that you are sent to the province of Achaia, that true and genuine Greece, in which civilisation, letters, and even the fruits of the earth, are believed to have been discovered; that you are sent to order the status of free communities — that is, to men who are in the highest sense,. men, to freemen who are in the highest sense free, who have preserved their natural rights by their virtues, their services, their friendship for us, and, lastly, by compacts and religious sanctions. Respect the gods, their founders, and the names of their gods. Respect their ancient glory, and their very age itself, venerable in the case of men, sacred in the case of cities. Let their antiquity, their great deeds, their fables even, find honour with you. Rifle nothing from any man’s dignity or liberty, or even vainglory. Keep before your eyes that this is the land which sent us our legislation, which gave laws, not to the conquered, but to those who asked for them; that this is Athens to which you go; that this is Lacedaemon which you govern: that to rob these of the shadow still left them, and relics of their liberty, would be harsh, cruel, and barbarous. You see that doctors — although in sickness there is no difference between slave and free — yet treat freemen with greater tenderness and consideration. (Bear in mind what each community has been, not (with the view of despising it) what it has ceased to be. Far from you be all arrogance and asperity. Do not be afraid of contempt. Can he be contemned who holds the supreme power and the fasces, unless he be a mean, paltry creature, who begins by contemning himself. Power tries its strength ill by injuring others; veneration is ill acquired by terror; and love is far more efficacious for obtaining one’s ends than fear. For, fear vanishes when you have taken your departure, love remains; and as the former turns to hatred, so does the latter to reverence. You, for your part, ought assuredly again and again (for I will repeat myself) to call to mind the title of your office, and to interpret for your own self what and how great a matter it is “to order the status of free communities.” For what can be more to the interest of the citizens than order of government? Or what more precious than freedom? Again, what a disgrace if order be exchanged for anarchy and freedom for servitude! Add to this, that you have yourself for a rival; you are weighted by the admirable report of your Quæstorship which you brought back from Bithynia; you are weighted by the testimony of the Emperor, by your Tribuneship and your Prætorship, and by this very legation which has been conferred on you as a kind of recompense. Hence you must the more earnestly strive that you be not reputed to have acted with greater courtesy, integrity, and judgment in a distant province than in a nearer one; among those who are our subjects than among freemen; when despatched by lot than when despatched by the result of deliberate choice; when inexperienced and unknown than when tried and approved; since, as you have often heard and read, it is, in a general way, more disgraceful to lose reputation than not to acquire it.

I beg you to believe (as was said at the beginning) that I have written all this by way of reminder and not of instruction. And yet, after all, by way of instruction too. I am not afraid, forsooth, of having exceeded the limits of affection; nor, seeing that affection should be so strong, is there any danger of its being excessive.

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LIBER NONVS

BOOK IX.

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1. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Saepe te monui, ut libros quos vel pro te vel in Plantam, immo et pro te et in illum — ita enim materia cogebat -, composuisti quam maturissime emitteres; quod nunc praecipue morte eius audita et hortor et moneo. 2 Quamvis enim legeris multis legendosque dederis, nolo tamen quemquam opinari defuncto demum incohatos, quos incolumi eo peregisti. Salva sit tibi constantiae fama. Erit autem, si notum aequis iniquisque fuerit non post inimici mortem scribendi tibi natam esse fiduciam, sed iam paratam editionem morte praeventam. 3 Et simul vitabis illud ‘ouch hosiê phthimenoisi’. Nam quod de vivente scriptum de vivente recitatum est, in defunctum quoque tamquam viventem adhuc editur, si editur statim. Igitur si quid aliud in manibus, interim differ; hoc perfice, quod nobis qui legimus olim absolutum videtur. Sed iam videatur et tibi, cuius cunctationem nec res ipsa desiderat, et temporis ratio praecidit. Vale.

1. — TO MAXIMUS.

I HAVE often recommended you to issue with all speed the productions you have composed whether, in your own defence, or against Plauta — or rather both in your own defence and against him, for so the occasion required — and now, especially, having heard of his death, I strongly urge, as well as recommend you, to the same effect. For, although you have read them and given them to read to many, yet I would not have any person whatever suppose that you have begun only after his decease what in fact you had completed in his life-time. Let your reputation for intrepidity be intact. And so it will be, if it be known to friends and foes that it was not merely after your enemy’s death that the courage to write was born in you, but that you were quite ready for publication and were only forestalled by his death. At the same time you will avoid the reproach

“Unjust are all the insults o’er the dead.” (Homer, Odyssey xxii. 412. —

For that which has been written and read aloud on the subject of a living person, if published, even after his decease, is published, as it were, against a person still living, provided this be done at once. Consequently, if you have anything else in hand, lay it aside for the time. Put the finishing touch to this work, which to me, who have read it formerly, seems long since complete; however, let it now seem so to you too, since not only does the matter itself require no delay on your part, but a consideration of the particular juncture should cut all delay short.

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2. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

1 Facis iucunde quod non solum plurimas epistulas meas verum etiam longissimas flagitas; in quibus parcior fui partim quia tuas occupationes verebar, partim quia ipse multum distringebar plerumque frigidis negotiis quae simul et avocant animum et comminuunt. Praeterea nec materia plura scribendi dabatur. 2 Neque enim eadem nostra condicio quae M. Tulli, ad cuius exemplum nos vocas. Illi enim et copiosissimum ingenium, et par ingenio qua varietas rerum qua magnitudo largissime suppetebat; 3 nos quam angustis terminis claudamur etiam tacente me perspicis, nisi forte volumus scholasticas tibi atque, ut ita dicam, umbraticas litteras mittere. 4 Sed nihil minus aptum arbitramur, cum arma vestra cum castra, eum denique cornua tubas sudorem pulverem soles cogitamus. 5 Habes, ut puto, iustam excusationem, quam tamen dubito an tibi probari velim. Est enim summi amoris negare veniam brevibus epistulis amicorum, quamvis scias illis constare rationem. Vale.

2. — TO SABINUS.

You are very obliging in pressing me not only for frequent letters, but for very long ones into the bargain. I have been somewhat chary in this matter, partly from a regard for your avocations, partly from my having been myself much engrossed by matters, in general of small interest, which, however, at the same time distract and weary the attention. Besides, I had no materials for writing more. Nor, indeed, is my situation the same as that of M. Tullius, whose example you invite me to follow. For not merely was he gifted with a most prolific genius, but events in great variety and of great importance supplied that genius with abundant material. How narrow are the limits in which I am enclosed, you well know, without my telling you, unless haply I should wish to send you letters of the school-exercise kind, and from the shade of the closet, if I may so express it. But nothing, to my mind, could be less apposite, when I think of your arms, your camps, in fine, your horns and trumpets and sweat and dust and burning suns.

You are now furnished, as I think, with a reasonable excuse, and yet I am not sure that I should wish it to be approved by you. For it is a sign of the highest affection to refuse to make allowance for the shortness of one’s friends’ letters, even although one may know that it can be satisfactorily accounted for.

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3. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

1 Alius aliud: ego beatissimum existimo, qui bonae mansuraeque famae praesumptione perfruitur, certusque posteritatis cum futura gloria vivit. Ac mihi nisi praemium aeternitatis ante oculos, pingue illud altumque otium placeat. 2 Etenim omnes homines arbitror oportere aut immortalitatem suam aut mortalitatem cogitare, et illos quidem contendere eniti, hos quiescere remitti, nec brevem vitam caducis laboribus fatigare, ut video multos misera simul et ingrata imagine industriae ad vilitatem sui pervenire. 3 Haec ego tecum quae cotidie mecum, ut desinam mecum, si dissenties tu; quamquam non dissenties, ut qui semper clarum aliquid et immortale meditere. Vale.

3. — TO PAULINUS.

Different men have different ideas on the subject, but I for my part deem that individual the most fortunate who enjoys to the full the foretaste of a noble and enduring fame, and, assured of posthumous reputation, lives in the company of his future glory. And, for me indeed, if the prize of immortality were not before my eyes, the usual snug and sound repose would be my choice. For I suppose it is the duty of all men to think of themselves as either immortal or mortal; in the former case, certainly, to contend and to exert themselves; in the latter, to keep quiet, to repose themselves, and not to fatigue their short existence by fleeting efforts; as I see many do, who, by a wretched and at the same time thankless appearance of activity, only attain in the end to a contempt for themselves. All this, which I say daily to myself, I now say to you, that I may leave off saying it to myself, if you dissent; though to be sure you, in your character of one who is always meditating some great and immortal work, will not dissent.

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4. C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

1 Vererer ne immodicam orationem putares, quam cum hac epistula accipies, nisi esset generis eius ut saepe incipere saepe desinere videatur. am singulis criminibus singulae velut causae continentur. 2 Poteris ergo, undecumque coeperis ubicumque desieris, quae deinceps sequentur et quasi incipientia legere et quasi cohaerentia, meque in universitate longissimum, brevissimum in partibus iudicare. Vale.

4. — TO MACRINUS.

I should be afraid you would think the oration, which you will receive with this letter, of immoderate length, if it were not of such a kind as to seem to have many beginnings and many endings. For under each separate charge is contained as it were a separate cause. So, at whatever point you begin, or at whatever place you leave off, you will be able to read what next follows both in the light of a new commencement and a connected sequel, and so to pronounce me, if extremely long as to the whole, yet extremely short as to the separate parts.

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5. C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

1 Egregie facis — inquiro enim — et persevera, quod iustitiam tuam provincialibus multa humanitate commendas; cuius praecipua pars est honestissimum quemque complecti, atque ita a minoribus amari, ut simul a principibus diligare. 2 Plerique autem dum verentur, ne gratiae potentium nimium impertire videantur, sinisteritatis atque etiam malignitatis famam consequuntur. 3 A quo vitio tu longe recessisti, scio, sed temperare mihi non possum quominus laudem similis monenti, quod eum modum tenes ut discrimina ordinum dignitatumque custodias; quae si confusa turbata permixta sunt, nihil est ipsa aequalitate inaequalius. Vale.

5. — TO ¤IRO.

You are acting admirably (I have been enquiring about you, as you see), and pray persevere, in commending your love of justice to the provincials by much kindly consideration; the chief part of which consists in surrounding with your regard all the most respectable citizens, and being so loved by the smaller folk that you may at the same time be approved by the leading people. For many, while they are apprehensive of seeming to give in too much to the interest of the powerful, obtain a reputation for ill-breeding, and even for ill-nature. Of this fault you have kept yourself well clear; I know it. Nevertheless I cannot refrain from bestowing praise on you, under the guise of advice, for maintaining a due mean, so as to preserve the distinctions of ranks and dignities; for, if these are confounded, disordered, and intermingled, nothing can be more unequal than this very equality.

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6. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO SUO S.

1 Omne hoc tempus inter pugillares ac libellos iucundissima quiete transmisi. ‘Quemadmodum’ inquis ‘in urbe potuisti?’ Circenses erant, quo genere spectaculi ne levissime quidem teneor. Nihil novum nihil varium, nihil quod non semel spectasse sufficiat. 2 Quo magis miror tot milia virorum tam pueriliter identidem cupere currentes equos, insistentes curribus homines videre. Si tamen aut velocitate equorum aut hominum arte traherentur, esset ratio non nulla; nunc favent panno, pannum amant, et si in ipso cursu medioque certamine hic color illuc ille huc transferatur, studium favorque transibit, et repente agitatores illos equos illos, quos procul noscitant, quorum clamitant nomina relinquent. 3 Tanta gratia tanta auctoritas in una vilissima tunica, mitto apud vulgus, quod vilius tunica, sed apud quosdam graves homines; quos ego cum recordor, in re inani frigida assidua, tam insatiabiliter desidere, capio aliquam voluptatem, quod hac voluptate non capior. 4 Ac per hos dies libentissime otium meum in litteris colloco, quos alii otiosissimis occupationibus perdunt. Vale.

6. — TO CALVISIUS.

I have been passing all this time between my writing-tablets and my books in the most delicious calm. “However,” you ask, “have you been able to do this in town?” The Circensian games were on, — a species of exhibition which does not attract me even in the faintest degree. There is no novelty, no variety about them, nothing which one is not satisfied with having seen once only. This makes me all the more astonished that so many thousands of persons should have such a childish desire to see, over and over again, horses running, and men standing in chariots. If, at least, they were attracted by the speed of the horses or the skill of the men, there would be some reason in the thing. As it is, it is a bit of cloth that they applaud, a bit of cloth that they love, and if during the race itself and in the very heat of the contest such and such colours were to change wearers, the favour and applause of the public would change over with them, and the very drivers, the very horses whom they know from afar and whose names they shout out, would all at once be deserted. Such is the influence, such the importance, of a contemptible jacket! I say nothing of the vulgar, itself more contemptible than the jacket; but such is the case with certain persons of standing. When I remember that these can settle down so insatiably to what is so inane, insipid, and tedious, I take some pleasure in the fact that I am not taken by this pleasure. So, I employ in literature my idle hours, throughout these days which others waste in the idlest of occupations.

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7. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

1 Aedificare te scribis. Bene est, inveni patrocinium; aedifico enim iam ratione quia tecum. Nam hoc quoque non dissimile quod ad mare tu, ego ad Larium lacum. 2 Huius in litore plures meae villae, sed duae maxime ut delectant ita exercent. 3 Altera imposita saxis more Baiano lacum prospicit, altera aeque more Baiano lacum tangit. Itaque illam tragoediam, hanc appellare comoediam soleo, illam quod quasi cothurnis, hanc quod quasi socculis sustinetur. Sua utrique amoenitas, et utraque possidenti ipsa diversitate iucundior. 4 Haec lacu propius, illa latius utitur; haec unum sinum molli curvamine amplectitur, illa editissimo dorso duos dirimit; illic recta gestatio longo limite super litus extenditur, hic spatiosissimo xysto leviter inflectitur; illa fluctus non sentit haec frangit; ex illa possis despicere piscantes, ex hac ipse piscari, hamumque de cubiculo ac paene etiam de lectulo ut e naucula iacere. Hae mihi causae utrique quae desunt astruendi ob ea quae supersunt. 5 Etsi quid ego rationem tibi? apud quem pro ratione erit idem facere. Vale.

7. — TO ROMANUS.

You write that you are engaged in building. ’Tis well.

I have found my defence; for I build with reason the moment that I do so in your company. Indeed there is this further resemblance between us, that you are building by the sea-side, and I by the Larian Lake. There are several villas of mine on the shore of this lake, but two of them, while they greatly delight me, exercise me in an equal degree. One of them, placed on the rocks, after the fashion of Baiæ, overlooks the lake; another, similarly after the fashion of Baiæ, is at the edge of the lake. Hence I am in the habit of calling the former “Tragedy,” and the latter “Comedy,” because one is supported as it were by a high buskin, and the other by a low sock. Each of them has its special charm, which their very diversity renders more agreeable to the possessor of both.

One enjoys a nearer, the other a more extended view of the lake; one, with a gentle curve, embraces a small bay, the other, situated on a lofty crag, separates two small bays from each other; there a promenade stretches for a long way, in a straight line, along the shore, here it gently curves in the shape of a spacious terrace-walk; one of them does not feel the waves, and the other breaks them. From the former you can look down on the people fishing, from the latter you can fish yourself, and throw your line from your room, and actually from your sofa almost, just as from a skiff. These are my reasons for adding to each what is wanting, in view of the superabundant advantages already enjoyed by both. But why enter into reasons with you? It will stand for a good reason with you that you are doing the same thing.

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8. C. PLINIUS AUGURINO SUO S.

1 Si laudatus a te laudare te coepero, vereor ne non tam proferre iudicium meum quam referre gratiam videar. Sed licet videar, omnia scripta tua pulcherrima existimo, maxime tamen illa de nobis. 2 Accidit hoc una eademque de causa. Nam et tu, quae de amicis, optime scribis, et ego, quae de me, ut optima lego. Vale.

8. — TO AUGURINUS.

If, after you have praised me, I shall begin to praise you, I am apprehensive of seeming to be repaying a favour rather than proffering a judgment. Yet, though it should seem so, I esteem all your writings to be admirable; chiefly, however, those which are about me. This happens owing to one and the same cause; for not only do you write exceedingly well on the subject of your friends, but I too, as I read, find what is written on the subject of myself exceedingly good.

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9. C. PLINIUS COLONO SUO S.

1 Unice probo quod Pompei Quintiani morte tam dolenter afficeris, ut amissi caritatem desiderio extendas, non ut plerique qui tantum viventes amant seu potius amare se simulant, ac ne simulant quidem nisi quos florentes vident; nam miserorum non secus ac defunctorum obliviscuntur. Sed tibi perennis fides tantaque in amore constantia, ut finiri nisi tua morte non possit. 2 Et hercule is fuit Quintianus, quem diligi deceat ipsius exemplo. Felices amabat, miseros tuebatur, desiderabat amissos. Iam illa quanta probitas in ore, quanta in sermone cunctatio, quam pari libra gravitas comitasque! quod studium litterarum, quod iudicium! qua pietate cum dissimillimo patre vivebat! quam non obstabat illi, quo minus vir optimus videretur, quod erat optimus filius! 3 Sed quid dolorem tuum exulcero? Quamquam sic amasti iuvenem ut hoc potius quam de illo sileri velis, a me praesertim cuius praedicatione putas vitam eius ornari, memoriam prorogari, ipsamque illam qua est raptus aetatem posse restitui. Vale.

9. — TO COLONUS.

I particularly applaud you for being so grievously affected by the death of Pomponius Quintianus, that you prolong your regard for the lost one by means of your regrets; not like so many who care only for the living, or rather pretend to care for them, and indeed do not even pretend, except in the case of those whom they see to be prosperous. For they forget the unfortunate, no less than if they were dead. But your faithfulness is unfailing, and your constancy in love such that it can be ended only by your death. And, by Hercules, Quintianus was a man who ought to be cherished on the strength of his own example. He loved the successful, defended the wretched, mourned for the lost. What nobility in his mien to start with! What deliberation in his speech! How evenly balanced his severity and his playfulness! What his love for letters! What his judgment! How dutifully did he live with a father most unlike himself! How the fact of his being the best of sons was no hindrance to his seeming the best of men! But why do I aggravate your grief? Yet you so loved the young man that you would rather have this, than that silence should be kept about him, particularly by me, by whose commendation you think that his life may be illustrated, his memory prolonged, and that very youth, from which he has been snatched, restored to him.

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10. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

1 Cupio praeceptis tuis parere; sed aprorum tanta penuria est, ut Minervae et Dianae, quas ais pariter colendas, convenire non possit. 2 Itaque Minervae tantum serviendum est, delicate tamen ut in secessu et aestate. In via plane non nulla leviora statimque delenda ea garrulitate qua sermones in vehiculo seruntur extendi. His quaedam addidi in villa, cum aliud non liberet. Itaque poemata quiescunt, quae tu inter nemora et lucos commodissime perfici putas. 3 Oratiunculam unam alteram retractavi; quamquam id genus operis inamabile inamoenum, magisque laboribus ruris quam voluptatibus simile. Vale.

10. — TO TACITUS.

I am desirous of obeying your precepts, yet such is the scarcity of wild boars that Minerva and Diana (who, according to you, should be worshipped in company) can - cannot be brought together. So Minerva alone must be served; gingerly, however, in a manner suitable to retirement and the summer-time. On my road I worked out a few things — unmistakeable trifles that deserve to be at once blotted out — with the kind of garrulity with which talk is scattered about in carriages. I have made some additions to them at my country house, as I did not choose to write anything else. Hence my poetry — which you think can be most suitably turned out among groves and woods — is dormant. I have retouched one and another of my small orations. Yet this kind of work is ungrateful and displeasing, and resembles rather the labours than the pleasures of the country.

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11. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

1 Epistulam tuam iucundissimam accepi, eo maxime quod aliquid ad te scribi volebas, quod libris inseri posset. Obveniet materia vel haec ipsa quam monstras, vel potior alia. Sunt enim in hac offendicula non nulla: circumfer oculos et occurrent. 2 Bibliopolas Lugduni esse non putabam ac tanto libentius ex litteris tuis cognovi venditari libellos meos, quibus peregre manere gratiam quam in urbe collegerint delector. Incipio enim satis absolutum existimare, de quo tanta diversitate regionum discreta hominum iudicia consentiunt. Vale.

11. — TO GEMINUS.

I have received yours, which has been most agreeable to me, and especially so from your wishing something to be addressed to you such as might be inserted in the Books of Letters. Material for this will turn up; either precisely that which you indicate, or in preference something else; for in the case of the former there are several objections. Cast your eyes round, and they will occur to you. I did not think there were booksellers at Lyons, and was all the more pleased to learn from your letter that my works have a ready sale there. I am rejoiced that such favour as they have acquired in town, continues to attend them abroad. Indeed, I begin to think that my productions must be tolerably finished, when, in regions so diverse, the judgments of men so widely separated from each other are yet in harmony about them.

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12. C. PLINIUS IUNIORI SUO S.

1 Castigabat quidam filium suum quod paulo sumptuosius equos et canes emeret. Huic ego iuvene digresso: ‘Heus tu, numquamne fecisti, quod a patre corripi posset? “Fecisti” dico. Non interdum facis quod filius tuus, si repente pater ille tu filius, pari gravitate reprehendat? Non omnes homines aliquo errore ducuntur? Non hic in illo sibi, in hoc alius indulget?’ 2 Haec tibi admonitus immodicae severitatis exemplo, pro amore mutuo scripsi, ne quando tu quoque filium tuum acerbius duriusque tractares. Cogita et illum puerum esse et te fuisse, atque ita hoc quod es pater utere, ut memineris et hominem esse te et hominis patrem. Vale.

12. — TO JUNIOR.

A certain person was chiding his son for being somewhat too extravagant in his purchases of horses and dogs. Said I to him, when the young man had left us, “Harkee!” have you never done what might have been rebuked by your father? Have done, do I say? Do you not sometimes do that which your son, if he were suddenly turned into your father and you into his son, might reprehend with the like severity? Are not all men led by some error or other? Does not one man indulge himself in one respect, and another in another?” Admonished by this example of excessive severity, I have, in accordance with our mutual affection, thus written to you, lest you too should at any time treat your son too sharply and rudely. Reflect, not only that he is a boy, but that you have been one, and so use this your position of father as to remember that you are both a man and the father of a man.

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13. C. PLINIUS QUADRATO SUO S.

1 Quanto studiosius intentiusque legisti libros quos de Helvidi ultione composui, tanto impensius postulas, ut perscribam tibi quaeque extra libros quaeque circa libros, totum denique ordinem rei cui per aetatem non interfuisti.

2 Occiso Domitiano statui mecum ac deliberavi, esse magnam pulchramque materiam insectandi nocentes, miseros vindicandi, se proferendi. Porro inter multa scelera multorum nullum atrocius videbatur, quam quod in senatu senator senatori, praetorius consulari, reo iudex manus intulisset. 3 Fuerat alioqui mihi cum Helvidio amicitia, quanta potuerat esse cum eo, qui metu temporum nomen ingens paresque virtutes secessu tegebat; fuerat cum Arria et Fannia, quarum altera Helvidi noverca, altera mater novercae. Sed non ita me iura privata, ut publicum fas et indignitas facti et exempli ratio incitabat. 4 Ac primis quidem diebus redditae libertatis pro se quisque inimicos suos, dumtaxat minores, incondito turbidoque clamore postulaverat simul et oppresserat. Ego et modestius et constantius arbitratus immanissimum reum non communi temporum invidia, sed proprio crimine urgere, cum iam satis primus ille impetus defremuisset et languidior in dies ira ad iustitiam redisset, quamquam tum maxime tristis amissa nuper uxore, mitto ad Anteiam — nupta haec Helvidio fuerat -; rogo ut veniat, quia me recens adhuc luctus limine contineret. 5 Ut venit, ‘Destinatum est’ inquam ‘mihi maritum tuum non inultum pati. Nuntia Arriae et Fanniae’ — ab exsilio redierant -, ‘consule te, consule illas, an velitis ascribi facto, in quo ego comite non egeo; sed non ita gloriae meae faverim, ut vobis societate eius invideam.’ Perfert Anteia mandata, nec illae morantur.

6 Opportune senatus intra diem tertium. Omnia ego semper ad Corellium rettuli, quem providentissimum aetatis nostrae sapientissimumque cognovi: in hoc tamen contentus consilio meo fui veritus ne vetaret; erat enim cunctantior cautiorque. Sed non sustinui inducere in animum, quominus illi eodem die facturum me indicarem, quod an facerem non deliberabam, expertus usu de eo quod destinaveris non esse consulendos quibus consultis obsequi debeas. 7 Venio in senatum, ius dicendi peto, dico paulisper maximo assensu. Ubi coepi crimen attingere, reum destinare, adhuc tamen sine nomine, undique mihi reclamari. Alius: ‘Sciamus, quis sit de quo extra ordinem referas’, alius: ‘Quis est ante relationem reus?’, alius: ‘Salvi simus, qui supersumus.’ 8 Audio imperturbatus interritus: tantum susceptae rei honestas valet, tantumque ad fiduciam vel metum differt, nolint homines quod facias an non probent. Longum est omnia quae tunc hinc inde iacta sunt recensere. 9 Novissime consul: ‘Secunde, sententiae loco dices, si quid volueris.’ ‘Permiseras’ inquam ‘quod usque adhuc omnibus permisisti.’ 10 Resido; aguntur alia. Interim me quidam ex consularibus amicis, secreto curatoque sermone, quasi nimis fortiter incauteque progressum corripit revocat, monet ut desistam, adicit etiam: ‘Notabilem te futuris principibus fecisti.’ ‘Esto’ inquam ‘dum malis.’ 11 Vix ille discesserat, rursus alter: ‘Quid audes? Quo ruis? Quibus te periculis obicis? Quid praesentibus confidis incertus futurorum? Lacessis hominem iam praefectum aerarii et brevi consulem, praeterea qua gratia quibus amicitiis fultum!’ Nominat quendam, qui tunc ad orientem amplissimum exercitum non sine magnis dubiisque rumoribus obtinebat. 12 Ad haec ego: “ëOmnia praecepi atque animo mecum ante peregi” nec recuso, si ita casus attulerit, luere poenas ob honestissimum factum, dum flagitiosissimum ulciscor.’

13 Iam censendi tempus. Dicit Domitius Apollinaris consul designatus, dicit Fabricius Veiento, Fabius Postuminus, Bittius Proculus collega Publici Certi, de quo agebatur, uxoris autem meae quam amiseram vitricus, post hos Ammius Flaccus. Omnes Certum nondum a me nominatum ut nominatum defendunt crimenque quasi in medio relictum defensione suscipiunt. 14 Quae praeterea dixerint, non est necesse narrare: in libris habes; sum enim cuncta ipsorum verbis persecutus. 15 Dicunt contra Avidius Quietus, Cornutus Tertullus: Quietus, iniquissimum esse querelas dolentium excludi, ideoque Arriae et Fanniae ius querendi non auferendum, nec interesse cuius ordinis quis sit, sed quam causam habeat; 16 Cornutus, datum se a consulibus tutorem Helvidi filiae petentibus matre eius et vitrico; nunc quoque non sustinere deserere officii sui partes, in quo tamen et suo dolori modum imponere et optimarum feminarum perferre modestissimum affectum; quas contentas esse admonere senatum Publici Certi cruentae adulationis et petere, si poena flagitii manifestissimi remittatur, nota certe quasi censoria inuratur. 17 Tum Satrius Rufus medio ambiguoque sermone ‘Puto’ inquit ‘iniuriam factam Publicio Certo, si non absolvitur; nominatus est ab amicis Arriae et Fanniae, nominatus ab amicis suis. Nec debemus solliciti esse; idem enim nos, qui bene sentimus de homine, et iudicaturi sumus. Si innocens est, sicut et spero et malo et, donec aliquid probetur, credo, poteritis absolvere.’ 18 Haec illi quo quisque ordine citabantur. Venitur ad me. Consurgo, utor initio quod in libro est, respondeo singulis. Mirum qua intentione, quibus clamoribus omnia exceperint, qui modo reclamabant: tanta conversio vel negotii dignitatem vel proventum orationis vel actoris Constantiam subsecuta est. 19 Finio. Incipit respondere Veiento; nemo patitur; obturbatur obstrepitur, adeo quidem ut diceret: ‘Rogo, patres conscripti, ne me cogatis implorare auxilium tribunorum.’ Et statim Murena tribunus: ‘Permitto tibi, vir clarissime Veiento, dicere.’ Tunc quoque reclamatur. 20 Inter moras consul citatis nominibus et peracta discessione mittit senatum, ac paene adhuc stantem temptantemque dicere Veientonem reliquit. Multum ille de hac — ita vocabat — contumelia questus est Homerico versu: ‘ô geron, ê mala dê se neoi teirousi machêtai’. 21 Non fere quisquam in senatu fuit, qui non me complecteretur exoscularetur certatimque laude cumularet, quod intermissum iam diu morem in publicum consulendi susceptis propriis simultatibus reduxissem; quod denique senatum invidia liberassem, qua flagrabat apud ordines alios, quod severus in ceteros senatoribus solis dissimulatione quasi mutua parceret.

22 Haec acta sunt absente Certo; fuit enim seu tale aliquid suspicatus sive, ut excusabatur, infirmus. Et relationem quidem de eo Caesar ad senatum non remisit; obtinui tamen quod intenderam: 23 nam collega Certi consulatum, successorem Certus accepit, planeque factum est quod dixeram in fine: ‘Reddat praemium sub optimo principe, quod a pessimo accepit.’ Postea actionem meam utcumque potui recollegi, addidi multa. 24 Accidit fortuitum, sed non tamquam fortuitum, quod editis libris Certus intra paucissimos dies implicitus morbo decessit. 25 Audivi referentes hanc imaginem menti eius hanc oculis oberrasse, tamquam videret me sibi cum ferro imminere. Verane haec, affirmare non ausim; interest tamen exempli, ut vera videantur.

26 Habes epistulam, si modum epistulae cogites, libris quos legisti non minorem; sed imputabis tibi qui contentus libris non fuisti. Vale.

13. — TO QUADRATUS.

In proportion to the interest and attention with which you have read the books composed by me, on the subject of the vindication of Helvidius, is the eagerness of your demand that I should write to you in detail on such matters as are not contained in the books, and on such as bear reference to them, in short, as to the whole process of an affair which you were too young to be personally interested in.

After Domitian had been put to death, I deliberated within myself, and resolved that here was a great and noble opportunity for pursuing the guilty, vindicating the unfortunate, and bringing one’s self into notice. Further, among the numerous crimes of numerous people, none seemed more atrocious than that, in the Senate, a Senator should have laid hands on a Senator, a man of prætorian on a man of consular rank, a judge on an accused person. Independently of this, there was a friendship between myself and Helvidius as intimate as there could be with one who, through dread of the times, hid in seclusion his great name, and the great qualities which matched it. I was a friend, too, of Arria and Fannia, one of whom was Helvidius’s stepmother, and the other that stepmother’s parent. But I was not so much incited by private obligations as by public justice, by the disgraceful character of the deed, by a consideration of the example to be made.

Accordingly, during the first few days of restored liberty, every one on his own account had been at once impeaching and crushing his own private enemies (at least the smaller ones) with a confused and turbulent clamour. I, for my part, deemed it a more temperate and also a more courageous course to attack a monstrous criminal, not by means of the popular resentment of the day, but by means of his own individual crime. So, as soon as that first impulse had sufficiently cooled down, and fury growing daily feebler had come back to a sense of justice — though I was at that time particularly sad, having lately lost my wife — I sent to Anteia, the widow of Helvidius, and asked her to come to me, since my still recent bereavement kept me within doors. On her arrival, “It has been decided,” said I, “by me, not to suffer your husband to remain unavenged. Announce this to Arria and Fannia” (they had returned from exile). “Consult yourself, consult them, as to whether you wish to participate in an action in which I need no associate; yet I am not so solicitous about my own glory as to grudge you a share in it.” Anteia conveyed the message, and the ladies did not hesitate. The Senate, very opportunely, was to meet within three days.

I always referred everything to Corellius, knowing him for the most far-seeing and wisest man of our time. On this occasion, however, I was content with my own counsel, fearing that he would put his veto on it for he was inclined to hesitation and caution. But I could not prevail on myself to refrain from intimating to him, the same day, what I was about to do in a matter about which I was not deliberating, having learnt by experience that, where you have made up your mind, it is best not to seek advice from those whose advice you would be bound to obey.

I attended the Senate, begged leave to speak, and spoke for a short time with the greatest approval. When I began to touch on the charge, and to hint at a person to be charged (yet still without naming him), there came reclamations from all sides. Said one, “Let us know who it is that you are accusing out of order!” Another, “Who can be charged before being put in accusation by the Senate?” A third, “Spare us who survive!” I heard them without perturbance or dismay; such strength lies in the goodness of one’s cause; and so great a difference does it make in the way of giving you confidence or frightening you, whether people do not like what you are doing, or do not approve of it. It would be tedious to recount everything that was thrown out from one quarter and another. Last of all the Consul said, “Secundus, when you are called on for your vote, you will be able to speak if you choose.” I replied, “You will have accorded me a permission, which up to this time you have accorded to every one.” I resumed my seat, and other business was transacted.

Meanwhile, one of my friends of consular rank deeming me to have advanced myself with too much daring and rashness, reproved me in some private and anxious words, recalling me, and warning me to stop. He went so far as to add, “You have made yourself a marked man in the eyes of future Princes.”

“So be it,” said I, “provided they are had Princes.” Scarce had he departed, when again another, “What daring is this? Whither are you rushing? What dangers are you throwing yourself in the way of? Why trust to the present state of things, while uncertain as to the future? You are attacking a man who is already Præfect of the Treasury, and who will shortly be Consul; a man, besides, supported by such interest and such connections!” He named a certain person, who at that time commanded a powerful and renowned army in the East — not without strong and suspicious rumours being connected with him. To this I answered, “All I’ve foreseen, and each event have weighed? Nor will I refuse, if fortune shall so bring it to pass, to suffer for a deed of the highest honour, provided I avenge one of the deepest guilt.”

It was now time for pronouncing our opinions. Domitius Apollinaris, Consul-Elect, spoke; there spoke also Rabricius Veiento, Rabius Postumius, and Yettius Proculus, the colleague of Publicius Certus (the person under discussion), who was moreover the stepfather of the wife whom I had lost. After these came Ammius Flaccus. They all of them defended Certus — though he had not yet been named by me — just as though he had been named, and by their defence took up a charge which I had left, so to speak, unattached. What further they said it is not necessary to relate. You have it in the books, for I have gone through the whole, using their own words. Avidius Quietus and Cornutus Tertullus spoke on the other side. Quietus said, “It would be most unjust that the complaints of aggrieved parties should be excluded; that, consequently, the right of presenting their plaints should not be taken from Arria and Fannia; nor was it of any consequence what rank a person belonged to, but what cause he had.” Cornutus said “that the consuls had assigned him as guardian to the daughter of Helvidius, at the request of her mother and stepfather, nor would he now endure to desert the duties of his office; in the discharge of which, however, he would set bounds to his own grief, and would merely convey the extremely temperate sentiments of these admirable ladies. They were content to call the attention of the Senate to the bloodthirsty sycophancy of Publicius Certus, and to beg that, in case punishment for guilt of the clearest kind were remitted, he might at any rate be branded by some mark, like that inflicted by the Censor.” Upon this, Satrius Rufus made a kind of half-and-half ambiguous speech. “I think,” said he, “that injury has been inflicted on Publicius Certus, if he is not acquitted. He has been named by the friends of Arria and Fannia, and he has been named by his own friends. Nor ought we to feel a difficulty about this; for we, the same who now pronounce favourably on the man, will also have to judge him. If he is innocent, as I hope and wish, and, until something be proved against him, believe, you will be able to acquit him.”

So they spoke, in the order in which each was called upon. Then came my turn. I rose and preluded, as in the book, replying to each severally. It was astonishing with what attention, what plaudits, everything that fell from me was received by the very persons who had just before been crying out upon me. Such was the change which ensued, either from the great importance of the affair, or the success of the oration, or the intrepidity of the speaker. I came to an end. Veiento commenced replying, but no one would endure him. There was a great noise and disturbance, so great indeed as to make him say, “I entreat, Conscript Fathers, that you will not compel me to invoke the aid of the Tribune.” Upon which, Murena, the Tribune, immediately exclaimed, “I give you leave to speak, most noble Veiento.” Even then he was shouted at. Meanwhile, the Consul called over the names, got through the division, and dismissed the Senate, leaving Veiento still almost on his legs and trying to speak. He complained loudly of this insult (so he called it), citing Homer’s line —

“Old man, by younger warriors thou’rt oppressed.”

There was scarce any one in the Senate who did not embrace and salute me, and vie in loading me with praises for having reintroduced the practice, so long interrupted, of consulting the public welfare, at the risk of incurring personal animosities; for having, in short, freed the Senate from the odium which was kindled against it among other orders, as being severe against the rest, and, with a kind of reciprocal connivance, indulgent to Senators alone.

All this took place in the absence of Certus; for he was absent, either because he suspected something of the kind, or (as the excuse was made for him) because he was ill. Cæsar, indeed, did not refer to the Senate any communication with regard to him; nevertheless I obtained what I had aimed at. For the colleague of Certus got the Consulship, and Certus himself was superseded, and what I had said at the end of my speech was completely carried out: “Let him give up, under the best, the distinction which he obtained under the worst of Princes.”

Subsequently I put together again my speech, as best I could, and made many additions. It happened by chance (but so as not to appear like chance) that Certus died a victim to disease within a very few days after the publication of my book. I heard people relate how this was the image which flitted before his mind and his eye — he seemed to see me threatening him with a sword. Whether this was true or not I would not venture to say positively; yet it would be to the interest of example that it should be held to be true.

Here you have a letter which, if you consider the limits of a letter, is no shorter than the hook you have read. But you must lay this to your own account, for not having been contented with the hook.

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14. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

Nec ipse tibi plaudis, et ego nihil magis ex fide quam de te scribo. Posteris an aliqua cura nostri, nescio; nos certe meremur, ut sit aliqua, non dico ingenio — id enim superbum -, sed studio et labore et reverentia posterorum. Pergamus modo itinere instituto, quod ut paucos in lucem famamque provexit, ita multos e tenebis et silentio protulit. Vale.

14. — TO TACITUS.

You are not the man for self-applause; yet there is nothing which I write with more sincerity than what I write about you. Whether posterity will have any care for us I know not, yet we certainly deserve that it should have some: I do not say on account of our genius (that would be arrogance), but on account of our zeal, our labours, our regard for posterity. Let us only pursue the road we have determined on, one which, though it may have conducted but few to sunlight and fame, has yet brought many out of obscurity and oblivion.

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15. C. PLINIUS FALCONI SUO S.

1 Refugeram in Tuscos, ut omnia ad arbitrium meum facerem. At hoc ne in Tuscis quidem: tam multis undique rusticorum libellis et tam querulis inquietor, quos aliquanto magis invitus quam meos lego; nam et meos invitus. 2 Retracto enim actiunculas quasdam, quod post intercapedinem temporis et frigidum et acerbum est. Rationes quasi absente me negleguntur. 3 Interdum tamen equum conscendo et patrem familiae hactenus ago, quod aliquam partem praediorum, sed pro gestatione percurro. Tu consuetudinem serva, nobisque sic rusticis urbana acta perscribe. Vale.

15. — TO FALCO.

I fled for refuge to my Tuscan estate, with the view of acting according to my own fancy in all things; but not even in my Tuscan estate is this possible. I am troubled with such numerous applications on all sides from the farmers, and such grumbling ones; productions which I am rather more unwilling to read than my own writings; for even my own writings I read unwillingly. I am retouching certain short speeches, a work which, after a temporary intermission, is insipid and disagreeable. The estate accounts are neglected, as though I were absent. Occasionally, however, I mount my horse, and act the landlord so far as to ride over some portion of the farms, though merely for exercise. Do you keep up your habit, and write me in full (since you see what sort of a countryman I am) of the doings in town.

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16. C. PLINIUS MAMILIANO SUO S.

1 Summam te voluptatem percepisse ex isto copiosissimo genere venandi non miror, cum historicorum more scribas numerum iniri non potuisse. Nobis venari nec vacat nec libet: non vacat quia vindemiae in manibus, non libet quia exiguae. 2 Devehimus tamen pro novo musto novos versiculos tibique iucundissime exigenti ut primum videbuntur defervisse mittemus. Vale.

16. — TO MAMILIANUS.

I do not wonder that you have derived the greatest pleasure from such an abundant species of chase, when you write to me, after the manner of historians, that “the numbers could not be counted.” For my part, I have neither leisure nor inclination for hunting; no leisure, because my vintage is on hand; no inclination, because the vintage is small. However, in the place of new wine, I am drawing off some new verses, and, as you are so polite in requiring them, will send them to you as soon as they shall seem to have laid aside their fermentation.

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17. C. PLINIUS GENITORI SUO S.

1 Recepi litteras tuas quibus quereris taedio tibi fuisse quamvis lautissimam cenam, quia scurrae cinaedi moriones mensis inerrabant. 2 Vis tu remittere aliquid ex rugis? Equidem nihil tale habeo, habentes tamen fero. Cur ergo non habeo? Quia nequaquam me ut inexspectatum festivumve delectat, si quid molle a cinaedo, petulans a scurra, stultum a morione profertur. 3 Non rationem sed stomachum tibi narro. Atque adeo quam multos putas esse, quos ea quibus ego et tu capimur et ducimur, partim ut inepta partim ut molestissima offendant! Quam multi, cum lector aut lyristes aut comoedus inductus est, calceos poscunt aut non minore cum taedio recubant, quam tu ista — sic enim appellas — prodigia perpessus es! 4 Demus igitur alienis oblectationibus veniam, ut nostris impetremus. Vale.

17. — TO GENITOR.

Your letter is to hand, in which you complain that a dinner of the most sumptuous description bored you, in consequence of buffoons, wantons, and fools strolling about the tables. Pray, smooth those wrinkles of yours a bit! To be sure I keep nothing of the kind, yet I bear with those who do. Why don’t I keep them? Because I derive not the slightest pleasure either in the way of surprise or gaiety from any exhibition of looseness on the part of a wanton, or sauciness on the part of a buffoon, or silliness on the part of a fool. I am stating to you not my reasons, but my taste. And in truth, how many do you suppose there are who in the same way are offended at the things by which you and I are captivated and allured, deeming them to be partly foolish and partly irksome in a high degree! How many there are who, when a reader, or a performer on the lyre, or a comedian is introduced, call for their shoes, or remain at table with no less ennui than that with which you sat out these monstrosities, as you style them! Let us then make allowance for other people’s amusements, that we may obtain allowance for our own.

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18. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

1 Qua intentione, quo studio, qua denique memoria legeris libellos meos, epistula tua ostendit. Ipse igitur exhibes negotium tibi qui elicis et invitas, ut quam plurima communicare tecum velim. 2 Faciam, per partes tamen et quasi digesta, ne istam ipsam memoriam, cui gratias ago, assiduitate et copia turbem oneratamque et quasi oppressam cogam pluribus singula posterioribus priora dimittere. Vale.

18. — TO SABINUS.

How great has been the attention, the interest, the memory, in fine, with which you have read my small productions, is shown by your letter. You are therefore spontaneously cutting out work for yourself by enticing and alluring me to communicate to you as many as possible of my writings. I will do so, yet in parts at a time, and portioned out, so to speak, lest that very memory of yours which I have to thank should be confused by the constant succession and mass of matter, and, weighted and as it were oppressed, should lose its hold on particulars in consequence of their quantity, and on what has preceded in consequence of what follows.

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19. C. PLINIUS RUSONI SUO S.

1 Significas legisse te in quadam epistula mea iussisse Verginium Rufum inscribi sepulcro suo:

Hic situs est Rufus, pulso qui Vindice quondam
imperium asseruit non sibi sed patriae.

Reprehendis quod iusserit, addis etiam melius rectiusque Frontinum, quod vetuerit omnino monumentum sibi fieri, meque ad extremum quid de utroque sentiam consulis. 2 Utrumque dilexi, miratus sum magis quem tu reprehendis, atque ita miratus ut non putarem satis umquam posse laudari, cuius nunc mihi subeunda defensio est. 3 Omnes ego qui magnum aliquid memorandumque fecerunt, non modo venia verum etiam laude dignissimos iudico, si immortalitatem quam meruere sectantur, victurique nominis famam supremis etiam titulis prorogare nituntur. 4 Nec facile quemquam nisi Verginium invenio, cuius tanta in praedicando verecundia quanta gloria ex facto. 5 Ipse sum testis, familiariter ab eo dilectus probatusque, semel omnino me audiente provectum, ut de rebus suis hoc unum referret, ita secum aliquando Cluvium locutum: ‘Scis, Vergini, quae historiae fides debeatur; proinde si quid in historiis meis legis aliter ac velis rogo ignoscas.’ Ad hoc ille: ‘Tune ignoras, Cluvi, ideo me fecisse quod feci, ut esset liberum vobis scribere quae libuisset?’ 6 Age dum, hunc ipsum Frontinum in hoc ipso, in quo tibi parcior videtur et pressior, comparemus. Vetuit exstrui monumentum, sed quibus verbis? ‘Impensa monumenti supervacua est; memoria nostri durabit, si vita meruimus.’ An restrictius arbitraris per orbem terrarum legendum dare duraturam memoriam suam quam uno in loco duobus versiculis signare quod feceris? 7 Quamquam non habeo propositum illum reprehendendi, sed hunc tuendi; cuius quae potest apud te iustior esse defensio, quam ex collatione eius quem praetulisti? 8 Meo quidem iudicio neuter culpandus, quorum uterque ad gloriam pari cupiditate, diverso itinere contendit, alter dum expetit debitos titulos, alter dum mavult videri contempsisse. Vale.

19. — TO RUSO.

You intimate to me that you have read in a certain letter of mine how Verginius Rufus ordered this epitaph to be placed on his tomb —

“Here Rufus lies, who Vindex overcame,

Not for his own, but for his country’s fame.”

You find fault with him for having ordered this; you go so far as to add that Frontinus acted better and more appropriately in forbidding any monument whatever to be erected to himself; and you end by consulting me as to my opinion in either case. I loved both of them. I had the greater admiration for the one whom you find fault with; such admiration, indeed, as to think that he never could he sufficiently praised, though I have now to undertake his defence. I judge all those who have done anything great and memorable to be in the highest deserving, not only of excuse, but actually of praise, if they pursue with eagerness the immortality which they have merited, and strive to prolong the renown of a name destined to live, even through the medium of sepulchral inscriptions. Nor can I easily find any one besides Verginius whose modesty in setting forth his deeds has equalled his glory in performing them. I, who enjoyed his intimate affection and approval, can personally testify that only on a single occasion in my hearing did he go so far as to relate just this one anecdote on the subject of his own actions, namely, that Cluvius had once addressed him in these terms: “You know, Verginius, the truthfulness which is due to history; accordingly, if you should read anything in my histories different from what you would wish, pray forgive me.” To which he replied, “Are you ignorant, Cluvius, that I did what I did precisely that it might be free to you authors to write what you chose?”

Come, now, let us compare this very Frontinus in the very respect in which he seems to you more modest and restrained. He forbad a monument to be constructed; but in what words? “The expense of a monument is superfluous. My memory will endure if my life deserved it.” Do you think it more modest to give out, to be read over the whole world, that one’s memory will endure, than in one single spot to inscribe what you have done, in a couple of verses? Though, to be sure, it is not my object to find fault with Frontinus, but to defend Verginius; and what can be a juster defence of him, as far as you are concerned, than that which arises from a comparison with him of the person you have preferred? In my judgment, indeed, neither of them is to be blamed, since both strove after glory with equal longing, though by a different road — one by desiring the inscription which was his due, the other by choosing rather the appearance of despising it.

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20. C. PLINIUS VENATORI SUO S.

1 Tua vero epistula tanto mihi iucundior fuit quanto longior erat, praesertim cum de libellis meis tota loqueretur; quos tibi voluptati esse non miror, cum omnia nostra perinde ac nos ames. 2 Ipse cum maxime vindemias graciles quidem, uberiores tamen quam exspectaveram colligo, si colligere est non numquam decerpere uvam, torculum invisere, gustare de lacu mustum, obrepere urbanis, qui nunc rusticis praesunt meque notariis et lectoribus reliquerunt. Vale.

20. — TO VENATOR.

Your letter, assuredly, was all the more agreeable to me in proportion to its length, particularly as the whole of it was on the subject of my small productions; and I do not wonder at these being a pleasure to you, since you love everything connected with me just as you love me in person. I am, at the present moment, gathering in my vintage, a slender one, to be sure, yet a more plentiful one than I had anticipated — if “gathering in” it can be called to pluck a grape now and then, to visit the press, to taste the new wine out of the vat, to drop in on my servants from town, who are now overlooking the country ones, and who have left me to the company of my secretaries and readers.

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21. C. PLINIUS SABINIANO SUO S.

1 Libertus tuus, cui suscensere te dixeras, venit ad me advolutusque pedibus meis tamquam tuis haesit. Flevit multum, multum rogavit, multum etiam tacuit, in summa fecit mihi fidem paenitentiae verae: credo emendatum quia deliquisse se sentit. 2 Irasceris, scio, et irasceris merito, id quoque scio; sed tunc praecipua mansuetudinis laus, cum irae causa iustissima est. 3 Amasti hominem et, spero, amabis: interim sufficit ut exorari te sinas. Licebit rursus irasci, si meruerit, quod exoratus excusatius facies. Remitte aliquid adulescentiae ipsius, remitte lacrimis, remitte indulgentiae tuae. Ne torseris illum, ne torseris etiam te; torqueris enim cum tam lenis irasceris. 4 Vereor ne videar non rogare sed cogere, si precibus eius meas iunxero; iungam tamen tanto plenius et effusius, quanto ipsum acrius severiusque corripui, destricte minatus numquam me postea rogaturum. Hoc illi, quem terreri oportebat, tibi non idem; nam fortasse iterum rogabo, impetrabo iterum: sit modo tale, ut rogare me, ut praestare te deceat. Vale.

21. — TO SABINIANUS.

Your freedman, whom you told me you were so angry with, came to me and prostrated himself, and clung to my feet as though they had been your own. There were many tears, many prayers, and even much silence on his part; in short, he convinced me of his penitence. I believe him to be truly amended, because he feels that he has sinned. You are angry, I know, and you are rightly angry, that I know too; but it is precisely when there is the most just ground for anger that clemency is entitled to the highest praise. You have loved the man, and I hope you will love him again; meanwhile it will suffice that you permit yourself to be entreated. It will be lawful for you to be angry with him anew if he shall have deserved it; and if you are entreated now, you will do this with a better excuse. Make some allowance in view of the man’s youth, in view of his tears, in view of your own goodness of heart. Do not torment him, and do not torment yourself into the bargain. For you are tormented, you, who are so gentle, when you are angry. I fear that I shall seem not so much to entreat as to compel, should my prayers be joined to his. I will, however, join them, and they are all the stronger and the more profuse in proportion to the sharpness and severity with which I reprimanded him, having strictly threatened him that I would never again make an application to you. So much to him, for it was proper that he should be frightened; I do not say the same to you. For possibly I may again apply to you, and again obtain my object. May it only be such as it will become me to ask for and you to vouchsafe!

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22. C. PLINIUS SEVERO SUO S.

1 Magna me sollicitudine affecit Passenni Pauli valetudo, et quidem plurimis iustissimisque de causis. Vir est optimus honestissimus, nostri amantissimus; praeterea in litteris veteres aemulatur exprimit reddit, Propertium in primis, a quo genus ducit, vera suboles eoque simillima illi in quo ille praecipuus. 2 Si elegos eius in manus sumpseris, leges opus tersum molle iucundum, et plane in Properti domo scriptum. Nuper ad lyrica deflexit, in quibus ita Horatium ut in illis illum alterum effingit: putes si quid in studiis cognatio valet, et huius propinquum. Magna varietas magna mobilitas: amat ut qui verissime, dolet ut qui impatientissime, laudat ut qui benignissime, ludit ut qui facetissime, omnia denique tamquam singula absolvit. 3 Pro hoc ego amico, pro hoc ingenio non minus aeger animo quam corpore ille, tandem illum tandem me recepi. Gratulare mihi, gratulare etiam litteris ipsis, quae ex periculo eius tantum discrimen adierunt, quantum ex salute gloriae consequentur. Vale.

22. — TO SEVERUS.

The illness of Passienus Paullus has caused me great anxiety, and this for many excellent reasons. He is a man of the highest worth and honour, and one who is greatly attached to me; moreover, in literature he rivals, recalls, and reproduces the ancients, particularly Propertius, from whom he is descended, whose genuine offspring he is, and whom he most resembles in the points’ in which the former excelled. If you take his elegiacs in hand, you will read a polished, dainty, charming book, an evident production of the household of Propertius. Recently he has turned to lyrics, in which he presents us with Horace, just as in the former kind of poetry with Propertius. You would suppose, if relationship has any power in letters, that he must be Horace’s kinsman as well. He is full of variety and flexibility. His love passages are those of a genuine lover; he mourns like one who will not be consoled; his praise is of the most benign, and his playfulness of the most humorous character; in short, he bestows the same pains on the tout ensemble as on the several parts. Sick in mind (no less than he was sick in body) on account of such a friend and such a genius, I have at length recovered him and have myself recovered. Congratulate me, congratulate literature itself too, which has encountered as great a risk from his peril as it will obtain glory in consequence of his safety.

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23. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

1 Frequenter agenti mihi evenit, ut centumviri cum diu se intra iudicum auctoritatem gravitatemque tenuissent, omnes repente quasi victi coactique consurgerent laudarentque; 2 frequenter e senatu famam qualem maxime optaveram rettuli: numquam tamen maiorem cepi voluptatem, quam nuper ex sermone Corneli Taciti. Narrabat sedisse secum circensibus proximis equitem Romanum. Hunc post varios eruditosque sermones requisisse: ‘Italicus es an provincialis?’ Se respondisse: ‘Nosti me, et quidem ex studiis.’ 3 Ad hoc illum: ‘Tacitus es an Plinius?’ Exprimere non possum, quam sit iucundum mihi quod nomina nostra quasi litterarum propria, non hominum, litteris redduntur, quod uterque nostrum his etiam e studiis notus, quibus aliter ignotus est.

4 Accidit aliud ante pauculos dies simile. Recumbebat mecum vir egregius, Fadius Rufinus, super eum municeps ipsius, qui illo die primum venerat in urbem; cui Rufinus demonstrans me: ‘Vides hunc?’ Multa deinde de studiis nostris; et ille ‘Plinius est’ inquit. 5 Verum fatebor, capio magnum laboris mei fructum. An si Demosthenes iure laetatus est, quod illum anus Attica ita noscitavit: ‘Houtos esti Dêmosthenes’, celebritate nominis mei gaudere non debeo? Ego vero et gaudeo et gaudere me dico. 6 Neque enim vereor ne iactantior videar, cum de me aliorum iudicium non meum profero, praesertim apud te qui nec ullius invides laudibus et faves nostris. Vale.

23. — TO MAXIMUS.

Often has it happened to me, when pleading, that the Centumviri, after keeping for a long while to their judicial dignity and gravity, have suddenly — as though vanquished and compelled to the act — risen from their seats in a body and applauded me. Often have I obtained from the Senate the highest glory I had aspired to. Yet never have I received greater pleasure than lately from what was told me by Cornelius Tacitus. He related how a Roman knight was sitting by him at the last Circensian games. After a conversation of a varied and learned character, the gentleman asked him, “Are you from Italy or the provinces?” He replied, “You know me, and from your reading too.” Upon which the other inquired, “Are you Tacitus or Pliny?” I cannot express how delightful it is to me that our names, as though belonging to literature, and not to human beings, are thus connected with literature; that each of us is known by means of his pursuits, even to those to whom he is otherwise unknown.

Another similar occurrence took place a very few days ago. That distinguished man Fabius Rufinus was my neighbour at table, and above him was one of his townsmen, who had come to Rome that day for the first time. Rufinus, pointing me out to him, said, “Do you see this gentleman?” and proceeded to talk at length of my literary pursuits. Said the other, “It must he Pliny.” To acknowledge the truth, I enjoy a great reward from my labours. Why, if Demosthenes was rightly delighted because an old woman of Athens recognised him in these terms, “This is Demosthenes!” ought not I to rejoice in the celebrity of my name? And truly I do rejoice, and own that I rejoice. Nor indeed do I fear to seem too much puffed up, since it is the opinion of others about me, and not my own, that I am putting forward; and especially since this is to you, who not only do not grudge the praises bestowed on any man, but also favour those bestowed on me.

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24. C. PLINIUS SABINIANO SUO S.

Bene fecisti quod libertum aliquando tibi carum reducentibus epistulis meis in domum in animum recepisti. Iuvabit hoc te; me certe iuvat, primum quod te tam tractabilem video, ut in ira regi possis, deinde quod tantum mihi tribuis, ut vel auctoritati meae pareas vel precibus indulgeas. Igitur et laudo et gratias ago; simul in posterum moneo, ut te erroribus tuorum, etsi non fuerit qui deprecetur, placabilem praestes. Vale.

24. — TO SABINIANUS.

You have done well in taking back to your home and your heart the freedman formerly so dear to you, with my letter for his passport. This will be a satisfaction to you. It is certainly a satisfaction to me: first, because I see you to be so tractable that even in your anger you are capable of being ruled; in the next place, because you make so much account of me as either to yield to my authority or to comply with my prayers. So I praise as well as thank you. At the same time, I admonish you, as to the future, to show yourself placable in regard to the errors of those about you, even though there should be no one by to intercede in their behalf.

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25. C. PLINIUS MAMILIANO SUO S.

1 Quereris de turba castrensium negotiorum et, tamquam summo otio perfruare, lusus et ineptias nostras legis amas flagitas, meque ad similia condenda non mediocriter incitas. 2 Incipio enim ex hoc genere studiorum non solum oblectationem verum etiam gloriam petere, post iudicium tuum viri eruditissimi gravissimi ac super ista verissimi. 3 Nunc me rerum actus modice sed tamen distringit; quo finito aliquid earundem Camenarum in istum benignissimum sinum mittam. Tu passerculis et columbulis nostris inter aquilas vestras dabis pennas, si tamen et tibi placebunt; si tantum sibi, continendos cavea nidove curabis. Vale.

25. — TO MAMILIANUS.

You complain of the mass of business in the camp, and yet, as though you were in entire enjoyment of the most complete repose, you read my sportive effusions and trifles, you delight in them, call for them, and strongly urge me to the composition of others like them. Indeed I begin to seek, not only recreation, but even glory, from this kind of pursuit, after the favourable judgment of a man so learned, so respected, and above all so truthful, as yourself. At present, business in court, though it does not entirely occupy me, still does so to some extent. When it is concluded, I shall despatch some product of these same Muses to that kindliest bosom of yours. You will suffer my little sparrows and doves to fly among your eagles, on condition, however, of their being approved by you as well as by themselves. If the latter only, you will take care and shut them up in their cages or nests.

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26. C. PLINIUS LUPERCO SUO S.

1 Dixi de quodam oratore saeculi nostri recto quidem et sano, sed parum grandi et ornato, ut opinor, apte: ‘Nihil peccat, nisi quod nihil peccat.’ 2 Debet enim orator erigi attolli, interdum etiam effervescere ecferri, ac saepe accedere ad praeceps; nam plerumque altis et excelsis adiacent abrupta. Tutius per plana sed humilius et depressius iter; frequentior currentibus quam reptantibus lapsus, sed his non labentibus nulla, illis non nulla laus etiamsi labantur. 3 Nam ut quasdam artes ita eloquentiam nihil magis quam ancipitia commendant. Vides qui per funem in summa nituntur, quantos soleant excitare clamores, cum iam iamque casuri videntur. 4 Sunt enim maxime mirabilia quae maxime insperata, maxime opericulosa utque Graeci magis exprimunt, ‘parabola’. Ideo nequaquam par gubernatoris est virtus, cum placido et cum turbato mari vehitur: tunc admirante nullo, illaudatus inglorius subit portum, at cum stridunt funes curvatur arbor gubernacula gemunt, tunc ille clarus et dis maris proximus.

5 Cur haec? Quia visus es mihi in scriptis meis adnotasse quaedam ut tumida quae ego sublimia, ut improba quae ego audentia, ut nimia quae ego plena arbitrabar. Plurimum autem refert, reprehendenda adnotes an insignia. 6 Omnis enim advertit, quod eminet et exstat; sed acri intentione diiudicandum est, immodicum sit an grande, altum an enorme. Atque ut Homerum potissimum attingam, quem tandem alterutram in partem potest fugere ‘amphi de salpinxen megas ouranos, êeri d’ enchos ekeklito’ et totum illud ‘oute thalassês kyma toson boaa’? 7 Sed opus est examine et libra, incredibile sint haec et inania an magnifica caelestia. Nec nunc ego me his similia aut dixisse aut posse dicere puto — non ita insanio -, sed hoc intellegi volo, laxandos esse eloquentiae frenos, nec angustissimo gyro ingeniorum impetus refringendos.

8 ‘At enim alia condicio oratorum, alia poetarum. Quasi vero M. Tullius minus audeat! Quamquam hunc omitto; neque enim ambigi puto. Sed Demosthenes ipse, ille norma oratoris et regula, num se cohibet et comprimit, cum dicit illa notissima: ‘anthrôpoi miaroi, kolakes kai alastores’ et rursus ‘ou lithois eteichisa tên polin oude plinthois egô’ et statim ‘ouk ek men thalassês tên Euboian probebalesthai pro tês Attikês’ et alibi:íegô de oimai men, ô andres Athênaioi, nê tous theous ekeinon methyein tô megethei tôn pepragmenôn’? 9 Iam quid audentius illo pulcherrimo ac longissimo excessu: ‘nosêma gar ...’? Quid haec breviora superioribus, sed audacia paria: ‘tote egô men tô Pythôni thrasynomenô kai pollô reonti kath’ hêmôn’? Ex eadem nota ‘hotan de ek pleonexias kai ponêrias <tis> hôsper houtos ischysê, hê prôtê prophasis kai mikron ptaisma hapanta anechaitise kai dielyse’. Simile his ‘apeschoinismenos hapasi tois en tê polei dikaiois’ et ibidem ‘sy ton eis tauta eleon proudôkas, Aristogeiton, mallon d’ anêrêkas holôs. Mê dê, pros hous autos echôsas limenas kai probolôn eneplêsas, pros toutous hormizou. Et dixerat: ‘toutô d’ oudena horô tôn topôn toutôn basimon onta, alla panta apokrêmna, pharangas, barathra’. Et deinceps ‘dedoika, mê doxête tisi ton aei boulomenon einai ponêron tôn en tê polei paidotribein’, nec satis: ‘oude gar tous progonous hypolambanô ta dikastêria tauta hymin oikodomêsai, hina tous toioutous en autois moscheuête’, ad hoc: ‘ei de kapêlos esti ponêrias kai palinkapêlos kai metaboleus’ et mille talia, ut praeteream quae ab Aeschine ‘thaumata’, non ‘rêmata’ vocantur.

10 In contrarium incidi: dices hunc quoque ob ista culpari. Sed vide, quanto maior sit, qui reprehenditur, ipso reprehendente et maior ob haec quoque; in aliis enim vis, in his granditas eius elucet. 11 Num autem Aeschines ipse eis, quae in Demosthene carpebat, abstinuit? <ëChrê gar, ô andres Athênaioi, to auto> phthengesthai ton rêtora kai ton nomon® hotan de heteran men phônên aphiê ho nomos, heteran de ho rêtôr ...’. Alio loco: ‘epeita anaphainetai peri pantôn en tô psêphismati.’ Iterum alio: ‘all’ enkathêmenoi kai enedreuontes en tê akroasei eiselaunete auton eis tous paranomous logous’. 12 Quod adeo probavit, ut repetat: ‘all’ hôsper en tais hippodromiais eis ton tou pragmatos auton dromon eiselaunete’. Iam illa custoditius pressiusque: ‘sy de helkopoieis, <kai mallon soi melei tôn authêmerôn logôn ê tês sôtêrias tês poleôs’, altius illa: ‘ouk apopempsesthe ton anthrôpon hôs koinên tôn Hellênôn symphoran; ê syllabontes hôs> lêstên tôn pragmatôn <ep’ onomatôn> dia tês politeias pleonta <timôrêsesthe>; 13 Exspecto, ut quaedam ex hac epistula ut illud ‘gubernacula gemunt’ et ‘dis maris proximus’ isdem notis quibus ea, de quibus scribo, confodias; intellego enim me, dum veniam prioribus peto, in illa ipsa quae adnotaveras incidisse. Sed confodias licet, dum modo iam nunc destines diem, quo et de illis et de his coram exigere possimus. Aut enim tu me timidum aut ego te temerarium faciam. Vale.

26. — TO LUPERCUS.

I once said — aptly, as I think — of a certain orator of our epoch, who, though correct and sensible, was lacking in grandeur and ornamentation, “His only sin is that he does not sin.” Indeed, an orator ought to be excited and elevated, at times even to boil over and be hurried along, and so, often to approach a precipice; for what is high and lofty generally has a chasm adjoining it. The road over a plain is safer, but at the same time humbler and lower; runners meet with more falls than crawlers, but the latter get no credit for not falling, while the former get some, even though they do fall. For, as in the case of certain accomplishments, so in that of eloquence — nothing commends it so much as its hazards. You see what applause dancers on a lofty tight-rope generally elicit when they seem on the point of falling; for we most admire what is most unexpected and dangerous, and, as the Greeks more strongly express it, most “dare-devilish.” Hence the worth of a helmsman is by no means the same when sailing on a quiet as when on a stormy sea. In the former case he enters the harbour without being admired by any one — without praise, without glory. But when the cordage creaks, and the mast bends, and the rudder groans, then what a great man he is, and how near to a sea-god!

Why all this? Because you seem to me to have noted certain passages in my writings as being turgid which I thought elevated, as audacious which I thought bold, as extravagant which I thought full. Now, it makes a great difference whether what you note be reprehensible or merely conspicuous. For every one has his attention attracted by what is prominent and stands out in relief; only, diligent attention is necessary for judging between what is sublime and what exceeds the bounds, what is lofty and what is extravagant. And, to quote Homer for choice, pray who can forget, whichever way they be judged, the words —

“All around

The mighty heaven gave out a trumpet sound;”

and

“His spear upon a cloud reclined;”

and all that passage,

“Nor such the shout of Ocean’s wave.”

But you want a tongued-balance and scales to ascertain whether these expressions are impossible and unmeaning, or on the other hand glorious and divine. Not that I am now supposing myself to have ever uttered or to be capable of uttering anything like this. I am not such a madman. But I only wish this to be understood, that the reins of eloquence should be left loose, and the flights of genius should not be restrained in the narrowest of circles.

But it will be said that the conditions of oratory are one thing and those of poetry another. Just as if M. Tullius were less daring! However, I pass him by, for indeed I do not think the subject admits of doubt. But Demosthenes himself, that pattern and model orator, pray does he contain or restrain himself when he utters those well-known words, “Base, fawning, accursed wretches of men!” or again, “It is not with stones or bricks that I have fortified the city;” and directly afterwards, “Ought not Euboea to have been made to flank Attica on the sea-board?” and elsewhere, “For my part, Athenians, by the Gods, I think that the man is drunk with the magnitude of his own exploits.” What indeed can be more daring than that most exquisite and lengthy digression beginning with “’Tis a terrible malady”? How about this, shorter than the preceding, but equal in boldness, “Then I (yielded not) to Python in his insolence and flowing with his full tide against you”? Of the same stamp is this, “When a man is powerful through rapacity and wickedness, like this one, the first occasion, the smallest stumble, will altogether unseat and destroy him.” A similar expression is “Roped off from all civic rights,” and in the same place, “You, Aristogeiton, have surrendered all the pity that might have been felt for such deeds as these, or rather you have entirely extinguished it. Do not, therefore, come for anchorage to harbours which you have yourself blocked up and filled with piles.” He had previously said, “For I fear lest some may think that you are engaged in training such of the citizens as are desirous of turning out scoundrels.” And afterwards, “I see that none of these topics can offer a passage for this man, nothing but precipices and chasms and yawning pits.” It is not enough to say, “For I do not understand that our ancestors built these courts for you in order that you might plant in them such fellows as these;” he adds, “If he is a dealer and a retailer and a huckster in villainy,” and a thousand things of the same kind, to pass over what Æschines called “monstrosities,” not “expressions.”

I have chanced upon what seems to contradict me. You will say that even Demosthenes is found fault with in these respects; but just see how much greater is the person criticised than the critic himself, and greater actually on account of these very things. For in other points his power, in these his sublimity shines forth. And pray did Æschines himself abstain from what he reproved in Demosthenes? “For the orator and the law should speak in unison; but when the law sends out one voice and the orator another....” Elsewhere, “Since it appears that concerning everything, in the decree... Again elsewhere, “But, sitting and lying in wait for him at the hearing, drive him into lawless language,” which he so much approved as to repeat, “But as in the horse-races, drive him to the same course in the business.” Pray is this more guarded or temperate, “You are irritating the wound,... seizing him as a political pirate sailing through the state,” and the rest of it?

I expect that some things in this very letter, as, for instance, the expression, “The rudder groans,” and “Near to a sea-god,” will be spitted by you with the same marks of disapproval as those about which I write. For I am aware that while apologising for previous passages of mine I have fallen into the very things which you had set your mark to. However, I give you leave to spit them, provided only you at once appoint a day when we may treat in person both of the other passages and of these. For either you shall make me cautious or else I shall make you rash.

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27. C. PLINIUS PATERNO SUO S.

1 Quanta potestas, quanta dignitas, quanta maiestas, quantum denique numen sit historiae, cum frequenter alias tum proxime sensi. Recitaverat quidam verissimum librum, partemque eius in alium diem reservaverat. 2 Ecce amici cuiusdam orantes obsecrantesque, ne reliqua recitaret. Tantus audiendi quae fecerint pudor, quibus nullus faciendi quae audire erubescunt. Et ille quidem praestitit quod rogabatur — sinebat fides -; liber tamen ut factum ipsum manet manebit legeturque semper, tanto magis quia non statim. Incitantur enim homines ad noscenda quae differuntur. Vale.

27. — TO PATERNUS.

What power, what dignity, what majesty, what divinity, in short, there is in history! This I have lately, as well as on numerous other occasions, experienced. A gentleman had recited a composition strongly marked by truth, and had reserved a portion of it for another day. Lo and behold the friends of a certain personage begged and entreated him not to recite the remainder. Such is the shame of listening to what they have done, on the part of the very people who are not in the least ashamed of doing what they blush to listen to. As for the writer, he granted their request, a thing which honour permitted him to do. The composition, however, like the deed itself, remains, and will remain, and will always be read, and that all the more because not immediately. For men are stimulated to make acquaintance with what is deferred.

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28. C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

1 Post longum tempus epistulas tuas, sed tres pariter recepi, omnes elegantissimas amantissimas, et quales a te venire praesertim desideratas oportebat. Quarum una iniungis mihi iucundissimum ministerium, ut ad Plotinam sanctissimam feminam litterae tuae perferantur: perferentur. 2 Eadem commendas Popilium Artemisium: statim praestiti quod petebat. Indicas etiam modicas te vindemias collegisse: communis haec mihi tecum, quamquam in diversissima parte terrarum, querela est. 3 Altera epistula nuntias multa te nunc dictare nunc scribere, quibus nos tibi repraesentes. Gratias ago; agerem magis si me illa ipsa, quae scribis aut dictas, legere voluisses. Et erat aequum ut te mea ita me tua scripta cognoscere, etiamsi ad alium quam ad me pertinerent. 4 Polliceris in fine, cum certius de vitae nostrae ordinatione aliquid audieris, futurum te fugitivum rei familiaris statimque ad nos evolaturum, qui iam tibi compedes nectimus, quas perfringere nullo modo possis. 5 Tertia epistula continebat esse tibi redditam orationem pro Clario eamque visam uberiorem, quam dicente me audiente te fuerit. Est uberior; multa enim postea inserui. Adicis alias te litteras curiosius scriptas misisse; an acceperim quaeris. Non accepi et accipere gestio. Proinde prima quaque occasione mitte appositis quidem usuris, quas ego — num parcius possum? — centesimas computabo. Vale.

28. — TO ROMANUS.

After a long interval I have received your letters — three at the same time, however — all of them very choice and friendly compositions, and such as letters coming from you should be, particularly when they are so greatly desired. In one of these you impose on me a most agreeable service, that of forwarding your communications to that august lady Plotina. They shall be forwarded. In the same letter you commend to me Popilius Artemisius. I immediately granted his request. You also intimate to me that you have got in but a moderate vintage. This complaint is common to both of us, though in such widely different parts of the world.

In your second letter you announce that you are at times dictating, and at others writing, a good deal having for its object to bring me before your mind. I thank you, and would thank you still more if you had allowed me to read the actual compositions which you are writing or dictating. And it would be fair that I should be made acquainted with your writings, just as you have been with mine, even although they had related to some other person than myself. At the end, you promise — so soon as you shall have heard anything definite about my arrangements — that you will play the runaway to your belongings and forthwith fly off to me, who am already preparing chains for you such as you will in nowise be able to break through.

The third letter contained news that my oration for Clarius had reached you, and that it had seemed to you fuller than when you heard me speak it. It is fuller; for I subsequently made many additions to it. You add that you sent me another letter more carefully composed, and you ask whether I have received it. I have not received it, and I long to do so. Accordingly, send me a copy on the very first opportunity, with something added to it by way of interest, which I shall compute (can I put it lower?) at twelve per cent.

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29. C. PLINIUS RUSTICO SUO S.

1 Ut satius unum aliquid insigniter facere quam plura mediocriter, ita plurima mediocriter, si non possis unum aliquid insigniter. Quod intuens ego variis me studiorum generibus nulli satis confisus experior. 2 Proinde, cum hoc vel illud leges, ita singulis veniam ut non singulis dabis. An ceteris artibus excusatio in numero, litteris durior lex, in quibus difficilior effectus est? Quid autem ego de venia quasi ingratus? Nam si ea facilitate proxima acceperis qua priora, laus potius speranda quam venia obsecranda est. Mihi tamen venia sufficit. Vale.

29. — TO RUSTICUS.

Just as it is better to excel in any one pursuit than to do a number of things moderately well, so it is better to do a number of things moderately well, if you are unable to excel in any one. Observing this, I try my hand at various kinds of literature, not being sufficiently confident about any of them. So when you read this or that of mine, allow for each single composition as not standing by itself. Pray, in the case of the other arts, is the number of productions an excuse for shortcomings; and is there to be a harder law in the case of literature, in which the execution is so much more difficult? Yet why do I talk of allowance, like an ingrate? For if you receive my newest productions with the same favour as the preceding ones, I have rather to hope for praise than to supplicate allowance. However, the latter will he sufficient for me.

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30. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

1 Laudas mihi et frequenter praesens et nunc per epistulas Nonium tuum, quod sit liberalis in quosdam: et ipse laudo, si tamen non in hos solos. Volo enim eum, qui sit vere liberalis, tribuere patriae propinquis, affinibus amicis, sed amicis dico pauperibus, non ut isti qui iis potissimum donant, qui donare maxime possunt. 2 Hos ego viscatis hamatisque muneribus non sua promere puto sed aliena corripere. Sunt ingenio simili qui quod huic donant auferunt illi, famamque liberalitatis avaritia petunt. 3 Primum est autem suo esse contentum, deinde, quos praecipue scias indigere, sustentantem foventemque orbe quodam socialitatis ambire. Quae cuncta si facit iste, usquequaque laudandus est; si unum aliquid, minus quidem, laudandus tamen: 4 tam rarum est etiam imperfectae liberalitatis exemplar. Ea invasit homines habendi cupido, ut possideri magis quam possidere videantur. Vale.

30. — TO GEMINUS.

You praise your friend Nonius to me — often by word of mouth, and now by letter — for being so generous towards certain people. And so do I praise him, provided he is not so towards these alone. For I will have it that the truly generous man gives to his country, his relations, his connections, his friends; I speak of his ‘poor friends, not like those who choose as the objects of their donations such as can best make a return. I consider these people with their presents — all smeared with bird-lime, and furnished with a hook — to be not so much bringing forth out of their own as clutching at other people’s property. Those are of a like character, who take from one what they give to another, seeking through avarice a reputation for generosity. Now, the principal thing is to be content with one’s own; after that, to support, to cherish, and, as it were, to encompass in a circle of fellowship those whom one knows to be particularly in need. If your friend does all these things, he is thoroughly to be commended; if any one of them, to a smaller degree indeed, yet still to be commended, so rare is the type of even imperfect generosity. Such a passion for getting has seized on men that they seem to be taken possession of rather than to be possessors.

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31. C. PLINIUS SARDO SUO S.

1 Postquam a te recessi, non minus tecum, quam cum ad te fui. Legi enim librum tuum identidem repetens ea maxime — non enim mentiar -, quae de me scripsisti, in quibus quidem percopiosus fuisti. Quam multa, quam varia, quam non eadem de eodem nec tamen diversa dixisti! 2 Laudem pariter et gratias agam? Neutrum satis possum et, si possem, timerem ne arrogans esset ob ea laudare, ob quae gratias agerem. Unum illud addam, omnia mihi tanto laudabiliora visa quanto iucundiora, tanto iucundiora quanto laudabiliora erant. Vale.

31. — TO SARDUS.

Since leaving you, I have been no less in your company than when with you. For I have read your book, reperusing ever and anon those parts chiefly (I will not deny the truth) in which you have written about me. In these indeed you have been particularly copious. How many and how varied the things you have said — things which, though about the same person, are not the same, and yet do not contradict each other. Shall I commend you, and thank you at the same time? I can do neither sufficiently, and, even if I could, should fear it might be presumptuous to commend you on account of what I had to thank you for. This only will I add, that everything in your book seemed to me the more commendable in proportion as it was agreeable to me, and the more agreeable in proportion as it was commendable.

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32. C. PLINIUS TITIANO SUO S.

Quid agis, quid acturus es? Ipse vitam iucundissimam — id est, otiosissimam — vivo. Quo fit, ut scribere longiores epistulas nolim, velim legere, illud tamquam delicatus, hoc tamquam otiosus. Nihil est enim aut pigrius delicatis aut curiosius otiosis. Vale.

32. — TO TITIANUS.

What are you about? And what are you going to be about? For my part, I am leading the pleasantest, that is, the idlest, of lives. Hence it comes to pass that I don’t like writing long letters, and like reading them — the former in my character of an exquisite, and the latter in that of an idler. For there is nothing more slothful than your exquisite, or more inquisitive than your idler.

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33. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

1 Incidi in materiam veram sed simillimam fictae, dignamque isto laetissimo altissimo planeque poetico ingenio; incidi autem, dum super cenam varia miracula hinc inde referuntur. Magna auctori fides: tametsi quid poetae cum fide? Is tamen auctor, cui bene vel historiam scripturus credidisses.

2 Est in Africa Hipponensis colonia mari proxima. Adiacet navigabile stagnum; ex hoc in modum fluminis aestuarium emergit, quod vice alterna, prout aestus aut repressit aut impulit, nunc infertur mari, nunc redditur stagno. 3 Omnis hic aetas piscandi navigandi atque etiam natandi studio tenetur, maxime pueri, quos otium lususque sollicitat. His gloria et virtus altissime provehi: victor ille, qui longissime ut litus ita simul natantes reliquit. 4 Hoc certamine puer quidam audentior ceteris in ulteriora tendebat. Delphinus occurrit, et nunc praecedere puerum nunc sequi nunc circumire, postremo subire deponere iterum subire, trepidantemque perferre primum in altum, mox flectit ad litus, redditque terrae et aequalibus. 5 Serpit per coloniam fama; concurrere omnes, ipsum puerum tamquam miraculum aspicere, interrogare audire narrare. Postero die obsident litus, prospectant mare et si quid est mari simile. Natant pueri, inter hos ille, sed cautius. Delphinus rursus ad tempus, rursus ad puerum. Fugit ille cum ceteris. Delphinus, quasi invitet et revocet, exsilit mergitur, variosque orbes implicat expeditque. 6 Hoc altero die, hoc tertio, hoc pluribus, donec homines innutritos mari subiret timendi pudor. Accedunt et alludunt et appellant, tangunt etiam pertrectantque praebentem. Crescit audacia experimento. Maxime puer, qui primus expertus est, adnatat nanti, insilit tergo, fertur referturque, agnosci se amari putat, amat ipse; neuter timet, neuter timetur; huius fiducia, mansuetudo illius augetur. 7 Nec non alii pueri dextra laevaque simul eunt hortantes monentesque. Ibat una — id quoque mirum — delphinus alius, tantum spectator et comes. Nihil enim simile aut faciebat aut patiebatur, sed alterum illum ducebat reducebat, ut puerum ceteri pueri. 8 Incredibile, tam verum tamen quam priora, delphinum gestatorem collusoremque puerorum in terram quoque extrahi solitum, harenisque siccatum, ubi incaluisset in mare revolvi. 9 Constat Octavium Avitum, legatum proconsulis, in litus educto religione prava superfudisse unguentum, cuius illum novitatem odoremque in altum refugisse, nec nisi post multos dies visum languidum et maestum, mox redditis viribus priorem lasciviam et solita ministeria repetisse. 10 Confluebant omnes ad spectaculum magistratus, quorum adventu et mora modica res publica novis sumptibus atterebatur. Postremo locus ipse quietem suam secretumque perdebat: placuit occulte interfici, ad quod coibatur. 11 Haec tu qua miseratione, qua copia deflebis ornabis attolles! Quamquam non est opus affingas aliquid aut astruas; sufficit ne ea quae sunt vera minuantur. Vale.

33. — TO CANINIUS.

I have fallen in with a subject which, though true, bears a close resemblance to fiction, and is worthy of your lively and elevated and thoroughly poetical genius. I fell in with it, moreover, among a variety of marvels which were being related by different guests at a dinner party. The authority for it is a man of the highest veracity; though, by the by, what has a poet got to do with veracity? However, this particular authority is such as you might have trusted, even if you had designed to write history.

There is in Africa a colonial town named Hippo, close to the sea. Adjoining it is a navigable lagoon, out of which flows an estuary after the manner of a river, whose waters are alternately carried to the sea or returned to the lagoon, according as they are driven back or impelled by the tide. The inhabitants of every age are strongly addicted to fishing, boating, and likewise swimming; particularly the boys, who are attracted by idleness and sport. In their eyes, it is glory and renown to swim out a long way; the victor is he who has left the shore, as well as his fellows, the furthest distance behind him. In this kind of contest, a certain lad, bolder than the rest, was getting far out to sea. Suddenly a dolphin met him, and at one time went in front of, at another followed, and then swam round him, at last took him on his back, then put him off, then took him on again, next bore the trembling lad seaward, and presently turning back to the shore, restored him to terra firma and his companions.

The report of this crept through the town; all the inhabitants flocked up and contemplated the lad himself as a kind of prodigy, they questioned him, and listened to him, and repeated his story. Next day they took possession of the shore, and gazed upon the sea and everything that looked like sea. The boys swam, and among them the one in question, but with greater caution. Again to time came the dolphin, and again he made for the boy, who fled with his companions. The dolphin, as though inviting and recalling him, leapt out of the water, and dived and twined and untwined himself in a variety of circles. The same thing happened the next day, and a third day, and on several days, till these men, brought up to the sea, began to be ashamed of their fears. They approached and called to him jestingly; they even handled him, and he submitted to be stroked. Their boldness grew by use. But, before all others, the boy who had had the first experience of him, swam by him, jumped on his back, was carried to and fro, and, fancying he was recognised and loved by him, was himself taken with love for the dolphin. Neither of them is afraid, neither is an object of fear, the confidence of the one and the tameness of the other go on increasing. Other boys too, on the right and left, swim with their friend, cheering and exhorting him. What is also marvellous, another dolphin accompanied this one, but only in the character of a spectator and attendant, for he neither performed nor submitted to anything of the same kind; he merely led the other and escorted him back, just as the rest of the boys did with this boy. Though it seems incredible (yet it is just as true as what has preceded), this dolphin, that carried and played with boys, would often leave his element for the land, and after drying himself in the sands, would, as soon as he had grown warm, roll back into the sea. It is ascertained that Octavius Avitus the Pro-consular Legate, led by a vicious superstition, poured ointment on him after he had been attracted to the shore, and that the strangeness of the thing and the smell caused him to escape back into the deep, and that he was not seen for many days afterwards, and then languid and dull; yet soon afterwards he regained his spirits, and resumed his former friskiness and his accustomed offices. There was a confluence of all the officials of the province to see the sight, whose arrival and sojourn were exhausting the modest revenues of the town in unwonted expenses. Finally, the place itself was parting with its repose and retired character. It was decided to put to death privately the object of all this assemblage.

With what tender commiseration, with what exuberance, will you weep over and embellish and exalt this tale! There is, however, no need for your inventing or adding anything fresh to it. It will suffice if what is true suffer no diminution.

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34. C. PLINIUS TRANQUILLO SUO S.

1 Explica aestum meum: audio me male legere, dumtaxat versus; rationes enim commode, sed tanto minus versus. Cogito ergo recitaturus familiaribus amicis experiri libertum meum. Hoc quoque familiare, quod elegi non bene sed melius — scio — lecturum, si tamen non fuerit perturbatus. 2 Est enim tam novus lector quam ego poeta. Ipse nescio, quid illo legente interim faciam, sedeam defixus et mutus et similis otioso an, ut quidam, quae pronuntiabit, murmure oculis manu prosequar. Sed puto me non minus male saltare quam legere. Iterum dicam, explica aestum meum vereque rescribe, num sit melius pessime legere quam ista vel non facere vel facere. Vale.

34. — TO TRANQUILLUS.

Relieve me of my difficulty. I hear that I read badly — poetry at least — orations, indeed, well enough, and, on that very account, poetry less well. So being about to have a recitation before some intimate friends, I am thinking of making trial of my freedman. This, too, is a mark of intimacy that I have selected a man who will not read well, though he will read better than me, provided he does not become confused, for he is as unpractised a reader as I am a poet. Now what I myself am to do all the time he is reading I know not. Should I sit wrapt and mute and like a person with nothing in hand? Or, after the fashion of some, should I accompany his delivery with mutterings and motions of the eyes and hands? But I fancy I am as bad at pantomime as at reading. Again, I say, relieve me of my difficulty, and write me back word candidly whether it be better to read execrably than to be either doing or not doing such things as these.

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35. C. PLINIUS ATRIO SUO S.

1 Librum, quem misisti, recepi et gratias ago. Sum tamen hoc tempore occupatissimus. Ideo nondum eum legi, cum alioqui valdissime cupiam. Sed eam reverentiam cum litteris ipsis tum scriptis tuis debeo, ut sumere illa nisi vacuo animo irreligiosum putem. 2 Diligentiam tuam in retractandis operibus valde probo. Est tamen aliquis modus, primum quod nimia cura deterit magis quam emendat, deinde quod nos a recentioribus revocat simulque nec absolvit priora et incohare posteriora non patitur. Vale.

35. — TO ATRIUS.

I have received the book you sent me, and thank you for it. I am, however, at the present time greatly occupied. Consequently I have not yet read it, though for the rest extremely anxious to do so. But I owe such respect not only to literature itself, but also to your writings, as to deem it impiety to take them in hand save with a mind quite disengaged. I strongly approve your diligence in the revision of your works. Yet there is a certain limit to this; in the first place, because too much care serves to impair rather than to emend; next, because it calls us off from newer attempts, and, while it does not make perfect what went before, prevents us from commencing what ought to come after.

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36. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

1 Quaeris, quemadmodum in Tuscis diem aestate disponam. Evigilo cum libuit, plerumque circa horam primam, saepe ante, tardius raro. Clausae fenestrae manent; mire enim silentio et tenebris ab iis quae avocant abductus et liber et mihi relictus, non oculos animo sed animum oculis sequor, qui eadem quae mens vident, quotiens non vident alia. 2 Cogito, si quid in manibus, cogito ad verbum scribenti emendantique similis, nunc pauciora nunc plura, ut vel difficile vel facile componi tenerive potuerunt. Notarium voco et die admisso quae formaveram dicto; abit rursusque revocatur rursusque dimittitur. 3 Ubi hora quarta vel quinta — neque enim certum dimensumque tempus -, ut dies suasit, in xystum me vel cryptoporticum confero, reliqua meditor et dicto. Vehiculum ascendo. Ibi quoque idem quod ambulans aut iacens; durat intentio mutatione ipsa refecta. Paulum redormio, dein ambulo, mox orationem Graecam Latinamve clare et intente non tam vocis causa quam stomachi lego; pariter tamen et illa firmatur. 4 Iterum ambulo ungor exerceor lavor. Cenanti mihi, si cum uxore vel paucis, liber legitur; post cenam comoedia aut lyristes; mox cum meis ambulo, quorum in numero sunt eruditi. Ita variis sermonibus vespera extenditur, et quamquam longissimus dies bene conditur. 5 Non numquam ex hoc ordine aliqua mutantur; nam, si diu iacui vel ambulavi, post somnum demum lectionemque non vehiculo sed, quod brevius quia velocius, equo gestor. Interveniunt amici ex proximis oppidis, partemque diei ad se trahunt interdumque lasso mihi opportuna interpellatione subveniunt. 6 Venor aliquando, sed non sine pugillaribus, ut quamvis nihil ceperim non nihil referam. Datur et colonis, ut videtur ipsis, non satis temporis, quorum mihi agrestes querelae litteras nostras et haec urbana opera commendant. Vale.

36. — TO FUSCUS.

You ask how I dispose of my day in summer-time at my place in Tuscany. I wake when I choose, generally about six o’clock, often before that, rarely later. My window’s remain closed; for, thus marvellously withdrawn from all distractions, by means of the silence and the darkness, I am my own master and am left to myself; I make my eyes wait on my mind, not my mind on the eyes; and the eyes will see the same things as the mind, when they have nothing else to see. I ponder whatever I have in hand, ponder it just as if writing it out word for word and correcting it, at one time a shorter, at another a longer portion, according as it has been difficult or easy to compose or to recollect. I call for my amanuensis, and, letting in the daylight, dictate what I have put together; he goes away, is recalled, is dismissed afresh. At ten or eleven o’clock (for the time is not fixed or subject to regulation), according to the weather, I betake myself to the terrace-walk or else to the cloisters, where I meditate and dictate the sequel; then I get into my carriage. There, too, I employ myself in the same way as when walking or lying on my couch; my attention remains constant, being refreshed by the change itself. Next, I go to sleep again for a short time, then walk, and presently read a Greek or Latin oration aloud and with emphasis, not so much for the sake of my voice as my digestion, yet my voice is also strengthened at the same time. Again I walk, am anointed, exercise myself and bathe. At dinner, if taken in company with my wife or a small party, a book is read out. After dinner comes the comedian or a performer on the lyre; shortly afterwards, I take a stroll with my attendants, in the number of whom are some persons of cultivation. In this way the evening is occupied by varied conversation, and the day, however long, is soon brought to an end.

At times some changes are made in the above disposition. For if I have been a long while on my couch, or walking, it is only after a nap and a reading that I take the air, not in a carriage, but — which takes less time, as being more rapid — on horseback. Friends drop in with their visits from the neighbouring villages, engrossing to themselves part of my day; and now and then, when I am wearied with study, these seasonable interruptions are of service to me. Occasionally I hunt, but not without my note-books, so that, if I fail in taking something, I may at any rate have some to bring home. Some time, though not, as they think, enough, is given to my tenants, whose rustic grumblings enhance the pleasures of my literary pursuits, and of those occupations which smack of the city.

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37. C. PLINIUS PAULINO SUO S.

1 Nec tuae naturae est translaticia haec et quasi publica officia a familiaribus amicis contra ipsorum commodum exigere, et ego te constantius amo quam ut verear, ne aliter ac velim accipias, nisi te Kalendis statim consulem videro, praesertim cum me necessitas locandorum praediorum plures annos ordinatura detineat, in qua mihi nova consilia sumenda sunt. 2 Nam priore lustro, quamquam post magnas remissiones, reliqua creverunt: inde plerisque nulla iam cura minuendi aeris alieni, quod desperant posse persolvi; rapiunt etiam consumuntque quod natum est, ut qui iam putent se non sibi parcere. 3 Occurrendum ergo augescentibus vitiis et medendum est. Medendi una ratio, si non nummo sed partibus locem ac deinde ex meis aliquos operis exactores, custodes fructibus ponam. Et alioqui nullum iustius genus reditus, quam quod terra caelum annus refert. 4 At hoc magnam fidem acres oculos numerosas manus poscit. Experiundum tamen et quasi in veteri morbo quaelibet mutationis auxilia temptanda sunt. 5 Vides, quam non delicata me causa obire primum consulatus tui diem non sinat; quem tamen hic quoque ut praesens votis gaudio gratulatione celebrabo. Vale.

37. — TO PAULINUS.

It is not in your nature to exact customary and, as it were, conventional services from your intimates, against their own convenience; and, moreover, my affection for you is too steadfast to make me fear that you will take it otherwise than I could wish if I fail to attend immediately on the Kalends -to see you made Consul, particularly as I am detained by the necessity of letting my farms, a business which will settle matters for several years, and in connection with which I shall have to make fresh arrangements. For during the last five years, though the tenants have had large remissions made them, their arrears have grown: hence most of them have ceased to take any pains to diminish debts which they despair of being able to pay in full. They even ravage and consume the produce, as though they began to think that if they spared it it would not be for their own benefit. These increasing abuses must consequently be met and remedied. The only plan for remedying them is to let the farms, not at a fixed rent, but for a share of the produce, and then to set some of my servants to supervise the work and guard the crops; and in any case, there is no fairer return than that which the soil, the climate, and the seasons bring in. This plan, it is true, requires great honesty, sharp eyes, and numerous hands. Yet the experiment must be made; and, as in the case of a disease of long standing, we must try and resort to any kind of change. You see it is no fanciful reason which prevents me from attending on the first day of your Consulship, which I shall nevertheless celebrate here, just as if I were there, with prayers and joy and congratulations.

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38. C. PLINIUS SATURNINO SUO S.

Ego vero Rufum nostrum laudo, non quia tu ut ita facerem petisti sed quia est ille dignissimus. Legi enim librum omnibus numeris absolutum, cui multum apud me gratiae amor ipsius adiecit. Iudicavi tamen; neque enim soli iudicant qui maligne legunt. Vale.

38. — TO SATURNINUS.

I do praise our friend Rufus, not because you begged me to do so, but because he is most worthy of praise. For I have read his book, so perfect in all points, and my love for the writer added much to its favour with me. Yet I exercised my judgment on it; nor indeed do those only exercise their judgments who read with ill-natured intent.

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39. C. PLINIUS MUSTIO SUO S.

1 Haruspicum monitu reficienda est mihi aedes Cereris in praediis in melius et in maius, vetus sane et angusta, cum sit alioqui stato die frequentissima. 2 Nam Idibus Septembribus magnus e regione tota coit populus, multae res aguntur, multa vota suscipiuntur, multa redduntur; sed nullum in proximo suffugium aut imbris aut solis. 3 Videor ergo munifice simul religioseque facturus, si aedem quam pulcherrimam exstruero, addidero porticus aedi, illam ad usum deae has ad hominum. 4 Velim ergo emas quattuor marmoreas columnas, cuius tibi videbitur generis, emas marmora quibus solum, quibus parietes excolantur. Erit etiam faciendum ipsius deae signum, quia antiquum illud e ligno quibusdam sui partibus vetustate truncatum est. 5 Quantum ad porticus, nihil interim occurrit, quod videatur istinc esse repetendum, nisi tamen ut formam secundum rationem loci scribas. Neque enim possunt circumdari templa: nam solum templi hinc flumine et abruptissimis ripis, hinc via cingitur. 6 Est ultra viam latissimum pratum, in quo satis apte contra templum ipsum porticus explicabuntur; nisi quid tu melius invenies, qui soles locorum difficultates arte superare. Vale.

39. — TO MUSTIUS.

By the advice of the Haruspices, the temple of Ceres, which stands on my property, will have to be repaired, embellished, and enlarged. It is, to be sure, old and small, though, for all that, it is very crowded on a particular day. FŸR, on the Ides of September, a large assemblage is gathered there from the whole district, much business is transacted, many vows are undertaken, and many are paid, yet there is no refuge near at hand against either the rain or the sun. It seems to me, therefore, that I shall be acting in accordance with the dictates of generosity as well as of religion by constructing the temple in the handsomest style, and adding to it a colonnade — the former for the use of the goddess, the latter for the use of men. Consequently I should be obliged by your buying four columns of marble, of whatever sort you think fit; also by your buying marble for the adornment of the floor and the walls. Moreover, there will have to be either made or bought a statue of the goddess herself, because the old one which is there, and which is of wood, is in some of its parts mutilated through age. As to the colonnade, nothing occurs to me in the interval which seems to be required from your neighbourhood, unless indeed you would draw up a plan in accordance with the locality. It cannot be built round the temple, for the ground on which the temple stands is closed in on one side by a river with extremely steep banks, and on the other by a road. Beyond the road there is an extensive meadow, in which the colonnade might find space conveniently enough, opposite to the temple itself; unless you shall discover anything better, who are accustomed to overcome difficulties of locality by your art.

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40. C. PLINIUS FUSCO SUO S.

1 Scribis pergratas tibi fuisse litteras meas, quibus cognovisti quemadmodum in Tuscis otium aestatis exigerem; requiris quid ex hoc in Laurentino hieme permutem. 2 Nihil, nisi quod meridianus somnus eximitur multumque de nocte vel ante vel post diem sumitur, et, si agendi necessitas instat, quae frequens hieme, non iam comoedo vel lyristae post cenam locus, sed illa, quae dictavi, identidem retractantur, ac simul memoriae frequenti emendatione proficitur. 3 Habes aestate hieme consuetudinem; addas huc licet ver et autumnum, quae inter hiemem aestatemque media, ut nihil de die perdunt, de nocte parvolum acquirunt. Vale.

40. — TO FUSCUS.

You write that you were much pleased with my letter, from which you learnt how I spend my summer holidays on my Tuscan estate, and you inquire what of all this is changed in winter-time at my Laurentine villa. Nothing, except that my midday siesta is cut off, and a good deal is taken from the night, either before sunrise or after sunset and if there is any pressing necessity for appearing in court (as there often is in winter) there is no longer place for a comedian or a lyrical performer after dinner, but I often go over again what I have dictated, and at the same time my memory is helped by this frequent revision. You now know my habits in summer and in winter. You may add to this, spring and autumn, in which, as being the intermediate seasons between summer and winter, I lose nothing of my working day, and gain a little from the night.

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LIBER X. C. PLINII CAECILII SECVNDI EPISTVLARVM LIBER DECIMVS AD TRAIANVM IMPERATOREM CVM EIVSDEM RESPONSIS

BOOK X. CORRESPONDENCE WITH TRAJAN.

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1. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Tua quidem pietas, imperator sanctissime, optaverat, ut quam tardissime succederes patri; sed di immortales festinaverunt virtutes tuas ad gubernacula rei publicae quam susceperas admovere. 2 Precor ergo ut tibi et per te generi humano prospera omnia, id est digna saeculo tuo contingant. Fortem te et hilarem, imperator optime, et privatim et publice opto.

1. — TO TRAJAN.

THOUGH your dutiful affection had made you desire, most august Emperor, to succeed your father at as late a period as possible, yet the immortal gods have hastened to advance your great virtues to the helm of the State, of which you had already undertaken the administration. I pray, then, that all prosperity — in other words, all that is worthy of your epoch — may fall to your lot, and, through you, to that of the human race. I offer private as well as public aspirations for your health and spirits, most noble Emperor.

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2. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Exprimere, domine, verbis non possum, quantum mihi gaudium attuleris, quod me dignum putasti iure trium liberorum. Quamvis enim Iuli Serviani, optimi viri tuique amantissimi, precibus indulseris, tamen etiam ex rescripto intellego libentius hoc ei te praestitisse, quia pro me rogabat. 2 Videor ergo summam voti mei consecutus, cum inter initia felicissimi principatus tui probaveris me ad peculiarem indulgentiam tuam pertinere; eoque magis liberos concupisco, quos habere etiam illo tristissimo saeculo volui, sicut potes duobus matrimoniis meis credere. 3 Sed di melius, qui omnia integra bonitati tuae reservarunt; malui hoc potius tempore me patrem fieri, quo futurus essem et securus et felix.

2. — TO TRAJAN.

I cannot express in words, my Liege, what joy you have conferred on me, in that you have deemed me worthy of the rights belonging to the father of three children; for though you have conceded this to the prayers of Julius Servianus, an admirable man, most devoted to you, yet I understand from your rescript itself that you have granted it all the more willingly, because he was asking on my account. I seem, then, to have attained the summit of my wishes, now that at the commencement of your most auspicious reign you have proved me to be an object of your especial favour. And all the greater is my longing for children, whom I wished to have even in the dismal period that is past, as you may judge from my two marriages. But the gods have decreed better, who reserved things as they were till your kindly reign. They preferred that I should become a father, rather at this time, when I should be destined to be one in security and happiness.

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3 A. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Ut primum me, domine, indulgentia vestra promovit ad praefecturam aerarii Saturni, omnibus advocationibus, quibus alioqui numquam eram promiscue functus, renuntiavi, ut toto animo delegato mihi officio vacarem. 2 Qua ex causa, cum patronum me provinciales optassent contra Marium Priscum, et petii veniam huius muneris et impetravi. Sed cum postea consul designatus censuisset agendum nobiscum, quorum erat excusatio recepta, ut essemus in senatus potestate pateremurque nomina nostra in urnam conici, convenientissimum esse tranquillitati saeculi tui putavi praesertim tam moderatae voluntati amplissimi ordinis non repugnare. 3 Cui obsequio meo opto, ut existimes constare rationem, cum omnia facta dictaque mea probare sanctissimis moribus tuis cupiam.

3 A (20.) — TO TRAJAN.

The moment, sir, I was promoted by your favour, and that of your father, to the post of Prefect of the Treasury of Saturn, I renounced all employment as an advocate (which, independently of this, I had never exercised in a promiscuous fashion), in order to devote my whole attention to the functions delegated to me. For which reason, when the Provincials chose me as their patron against Marius Priscus, I begged to be excused this office, and obtained my wish. But when subsequently the Consul-Elect gave it as his opinion that we, whose excuse had been accepted, should be urged to place ourselves at the disposal of the Senate, and to suffer our names to be thrown with others into the urn, I deemed it most in accord with the even tenor of your reign not to resist the desire, especially such a moderate one, of the most honourable House. I hope that this compliance of mine will be thought by you to be justified, since it is my wish to make all my acts and deeds approved to your most noble disposition.

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3 B. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Et civis et senatoris boni partibus functus es obsequium amplissimi ordinis quod iustissime exigebat, praestando. Quas partes impleturum te secundum susceptam fidem confido.

3 B (21.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You have discharged the part of a good citizen and a good Senator in yielding that compliance, which was so justly required of you, to the most honourable House. And I have full confidence that you will carry out this part in faithful accord with your undertaking.

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4. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Indulgentia tua, imperator optime, quam plenissimam experior, hortatur me, ut audeam tibi etiam pro amicis obligari; inter quos sibi vel praecipuum locum vindicat Voconius Romanus, ab ineunte aetate condiscipulus et contubernalis. 2 Quibus ex causis et a divo patre tuo petieram, ut illum in amplissimum ordinem promoveret. Sed hoc votum meum bonitati tuae reservatum est, quia mater Romani liberalitatem sestertii quadragies, quod conferre se filio codicillis ad patrem tuum scriptis professa fuerat, nondum satis legitime peregerat; quod postea fecit admonita a nobis. 3 Nam fundos emancipavit, et cetera quae in emancipatione implenda solent exigi consummavit. 4 Cum sit ergo finitum, quod spes nostras morabatur, non sine magna fiducia subsigno apud te fidem pro moribus Romani mei, quos et liberalia studia exornant et eximia pietas, quae hanc ipsam matris liberalitatem et statim patris hereditatem et adoptionem a vitrico meruit. 5 Auget haec et natalium et paternarum facultatium splendor; quibus singulis multum commendationis accessurum etiam ex meis precibus indulgentiae tuae credo. 6 Rogo ergo, domine, ut me exoptatissimae mihi gratulationis compotem facias et honestis, ut spero, affectibus meis praestes, ut non in me tantum verum et in amico gloriari iudiciis tuis possim.

4 (3.) — PLINY TO TRAJAN.

Your kindness, most noble Emperor, which is experienced by me to the full, prompts me to be so bold as to lie under obligation to you on behalf of my friends as well. Among these, Voconius Romanus claims for himself, I would say, even the first place, my schoolfellow and companion from early life; for which reasons I had already asked the deceased Emperor, your father, to promote him to senatorial rank. But this prayer of mine has been reserved for your grace, since the mother of Romanus had not yet completed, with due formalities, the gift of four hundred thousand sesterces, which she had undertaken to bestow on her son in a petition addressed to your father. This she did afterwards on my admonition; for she has made over to him certain estates, and has accomplished the remaining forms which are usually required for completing a transfer. Seeing, then, that what delayed my hopes is now settled, it is not without considerable assurance that I pledge you my credit for the character of my friend Romanus, set off as it is by literary acquirements, and by his remarkable family affection, which has deserved for him this very benefaction from his mother, as well as his immediate entrance on his father’s estate and his adoption by his stepfather. All this is enhanced by the splendour of his birth and of his paternal property, and I have such confidence in your kindness as to believe that these several matters will actually receive much additional recommendation from my prayers. I therefore beg, sir, that you will put me in possession of a much-coveted subject for rejoicing, and will grant to an affection, which is, I hope, an honourable one, the power of glorying in your judgments, not as regards myself only, but my friend as well.

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5. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Proximo anno, domine, gravissima valetudine usque ad periculum vitae vexatus iatralipten assumpsi; cuius sollicitudini et studio tuae tantum indulgentiae beneficio referre gratiam parem possum. 2 Quare rogo des ei civitatem Romanam. Est enim peregrinae condicionis manumissus a peregrina. Vocatur ipse Arpocras, patronam habuit Thermuthin Theonis, quae iam pridem defuncta est. Item rogo des ius Quiritium libertis Antoniae Maximillae, ornatissimae feminae, Hediae et Antoniae Harmeridi; quod a te petente patrona peto.

5 (4.) — TO TRAJAN.

Last year, sir, being tormented by a severe disease, even to the peril of my life, I engaged a doctor on the Iatraliptic system, whose solicitude and zeal I can make an equal return for, only through favour of your kindness. Wherefore I pray you to grant him the Roman citizenship; for his status is that of a foreigner, and he was manumitted by a foreign lady. His own name is Harpocras. His patroness was Thermuthis, the wife of Theon, who is long since dead. At the same time, I would beg you to grant naturalisation to Hedia and Harmeris, the freedwomen of a most distinguished lady, Antonia Maximilla; a request which I make of you at the desire of their patroness.

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6. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Ago gratias, domine, quod et ius Quiritium libertis necessariae mihi feminae et civitatem Romanam Arpocrati, iatraliptae meo, sine mora indulsisti. Sed cum annos eius et censum sicut praeceperas ederem, admonitus sum a peritioribus debuisse me ante ei Alexandrinam civitatem impetrare, deinde Romanam, quoniam esset Aegyptius. 2 Ego autem, quia inter Aegyptios ceterosque peregrinos nihil interesse credebam, contentus fueram hoc solum scribere tibi, esse eum a peregrina manumissum patronamque eius iam pridem decessisse. De qua ignorantia mea non queror, per quam stetit ut tibi pro eodem homine saepius obligarer. Rogo itaque, ut beneficio tuo legitime frui possim, tribuas ei et Alexandrinam civitatem [et Romanam]. Annos eius et censum, ne quid rursus indulgentiam tuam moraretur, libertis tuis quibus iusseras misi.

6 (22.) — TO TRAJAN.

I thank you, sir, for granting, without delay, naturalisation to the freedwoman of a lady who is a friend of mine, as well as the Roman citizenship to Harpocras, my Iatraliptic doctor.§ But when I had given in the age and fortune of the latter, as you had bidden me to do, I was informed by persons of greater experience that, inasmuch as he was an Egyptian, I ought first to have obtained for him the citizenship of Alexandria, and afterwards that of Rome. For my part, however, owing to my thinking that there was no difference between Egyptians and other foreigners, I was content simply to write to you to the effect that he had been manumitted by a foreign lady, and that his patroness was long since dead. I will not complain of this ignorance of mine, since it has been the cause of my being under more frequent obligations to you on account of the same person. I beg, therefore, in order that your favour may be lawfully enjoyed by me, that you would accord him the citizenship of Alexandria as well as of Rome. His age and fortune (that there may be no fresh delay in the way of your kindness) I have sent in to those freedmen of yours to whom you ordered me to send them.

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7. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Civitatem Alexandrinam secundum institutionem principum non temere dare proposui. Sed cum Arpocrati, iatraliptae tuo, iam civitatem Romanam impetraveris, huic quoque petitioni tuae negare non sustineo. Tu, ex quo nomo sit, notum mihi facere debebis, ut epistulam tibi ad Pompeium Plantam praefectum Aegypti amicum meum mittam.

7 (23.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I have made it a rule, in accordance with the established custom of the emperors, to be cautious in bestowing the citizenship of Alexandria; but since you have already obtained that of Rome for Harpocras, your Iatraliptic doctor, I cannot bring myself to refuse this further application of yours. You will have to inform me from what district he comes, that I may forward you a letter for my friend Pompeius Planta, the Prefect of Egypt.

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8. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Cum divus pater tuus, domine, et oratione pulcherrima et honestissimo exemplo omnes cives ad munificentiam esset cohortatus, petii ab eo, ut statuas principum, quas in longinquis agris per plures successiones traditas mihi quales acceperam custodiebam, permitteret in municipium transferre adiecta sua statua. 2 Quod quidem ille mihi cum plenissimo testimonio indulserat; ego statim decurionibus scripseram, ut assignarent solum in quo templum pecunia mea exstruerem; illi in honorem operis ipsius electionem loci mihi obtulerant. 3 Sed primum mea, deinde patris tui valetudine, postea curis delegati a vobis officii retentus, nunc videor commodissime posse in rem praesentem excurrere. Nam et menstruum meum Kalendis Septembribus finitur, et sequens mensis complures dies feriatos habet. 4 Rogo ergo ante omnia permittas mihi opus quod incohaturus sum exornare et tua statua; deinde, ut hoc facere quam maturissime possim, indulgeas commeatum. 5 Non est autem simplicitatis meae dissimulare apud bonitatem tuam obiter te plurimum collaturum utilitatibus rei familiaris meae. Agrorum enim, quos in eadem regione possideo, locatio, cum alioqui CCCC excedat, adeo non potest differri, ut proximam putationem novus colonus facere debeat. Praeterea continuae sterilitates cogunt me de remissionibus cogitare; quarum rationem nisi praesens inire non possum. 6 Debebo ergo, domine, indulgentiae tuae et pietatis meae celeritatem et status ordinationem, si mihi ob utraque haec dederis commeatum XXX dierum. Neque enim angustius tempus praefinire possum, cum et municipium et agri de quibus loquor sint ultra centesimum et quinquagesimum lapidem.

8 (24.) — TO TRAJAN.

Your late imperial father, sir, having exhorted all citizens to the exercise of liberality, as well in an admirable discourse as by his own most noble example, I begged of him that some statues of emperors (which had been handed down to me through several successions, and which I was taking care of, just as I had received them, on some distant estates of mine) might, by his leave, be transferred to the chief town, with the addition of his own statue. This he accorded me, with the most ample expression of his approval, and I at once wrote to the Decurions to assign me a piece of ground on which I might build a temple at my own expense. They, in honour of the work itself, offered me the choice of a situation. But I was prevented first by my own and next by your father’s illness, and subsequently by the cares of the office which you and he imposed on me. Now, it seems to me that I can most conveniently make an excursion to the spot itself; for my month of attendance expires on the Kalends of September, and the following month has many holidays in it. I beg therefore, before all things, that you will permit me to embellish the work I am about to commence, by the addition of your statue; and next, in order that I may do this as soon as possible, that you will grant me a furlough. Yet it is not consistent with my straightforwardness to dissemble from your grace that you will incidentally render a great service to my private interests. For the lettings of the estates in my possession in this very district, besides that they exceed the sum of four hundred thousand sesterces, are so far from being a matter capable of being deferred that the new tenants must immediately prune the vines. Moreover, successive bad seasons compel me to think of making remissions, and I cannot calculate these except on the spot. I shall owe then, sir, to your favour both the acceleration of my pious project and the settlement of my affairs, if on both these accounts you grant me a furlough of thirty days. Indeed I cannot fix beforehand a shorter period, since the town and the estates of which I speak are beyond the hundred and fiftieth milestone from the city.

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9. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Et multas et omnes publicas causas petendi commeatus reddidisti; mihi autem vel sola voluntas tua suffecisset. Neque enim dubito te, ut primum potueris, ad tam districtum officium reversurum. Statuam poni mihi a te eo quo desideras loco, quamquam eius modi honorum parcissimus tamen patior, ne impedisse cursum erga me pietatis tuae videar.

9 (25.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You have given me many reasons, public as well as private, for requesting a furlough. As far as I am concerned, however, your simple desire would have sufficed. For I do not doubt that you will return the moment you are able to a post which makes such calls on you as yours does. Though very sparing of honours of this description, yet I permit a statue to be erected to me in the place you wish, lest I should seem to impede the flow of your affection toward me.

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10. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Exprimere, domine, verbis non possum, quanto me gaudio affecerint epistulae tuae, ex quibus cognovi te Arpocrati, iatraliptae meo, et Alexandrinam civitatem tribuisse, quamvis secundum institutionem principum non temere eam dare proposuisses. Esse autem Arpocran ‘nomou Memphitou’ indico tibi. 2 Rogo ergo, indulgentissime imperator, ut mihi ad Pompeium Plantam praefectum Aegypti amicum tuum, sicut promisisti, epistulam mittas. Obviam iturus, quo maturius, domine, exoptatissimi adventus tui gaudio frui possim, rogo permittas mihi quam longissime occurrere tibi.

10 (5.) — TO TRAJAN.

I cannot express in words, sir, the joy communicated to me by your letters, from which I learnt that you had granted in addition the citizenship of Alexandria on Harpocras, my Iatraliptic doctor, though you had made it a rule, in accordance with the established custom of the emperors, to be cautious in bestowing it. I must now signify to you that Harpocras is from the district of Memphis, and must ask you therefore, most indulgent Emperor, to send me a letter for your friend Pompeius Planta, the Prefect of Egypt, according to promise. As I am going to meet you, my Liege, in order the sooner to enjoy the delight of your eagerly expected advent, I pray that you will permit me to go as far as possible to your encounter.

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11. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Proxima infirmitas mea, domine, obligavit me Postumio Marino medico; cui parem gratiam referre beneficio tuo possum, si precibus meis ex consuetudine bonitatis tuae indulseris. 2 Rogo ergo, ut propinquis eius des civitatem, Chrysippo Mithridatis uxorique Chrysippi, Stratonicae Epigoni, item liberis eiusdem Chrysippi, Epigono et Mithridati, ita ut sint in patris potestate utque iis in libertos servetur ius patronorum. Item rogo indulgeas ius Quiritium L. Satrio Abascanto et P. Caesio Phosphoro et Panchariae Soteridi; quod a te volentibus patronis peto.

11 (6.) — TO TRAJAN.

My recent illness, sir, has placed me under an obligation to Postumius Marinus, a physician, to whom I can make an equal return by your favour, if you shall comply with my prayers according to the habit of your grace. I beg then that you will confer the citizenship on his relations — Chrysippus, the son of Mithridates, and the wife of Chrysippus, Stratonica, the daughter of Epigonus; also on the sons of the same Chrysippus, Epigonus, and Mithridates, with the proviso of their being subject to their father, and a reservation of their rights as patrons over their freedmen. At the same time I beg you to grant naturalisation to L. Satrius Abascantus, P. Cæsius Phosphorus, and Pancharias Soteris. This I ask of you with the consent of their patrons.

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12. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Scio, domine, memoriae tuae, quae est bene faciendi tenacissima, preces nostras inhaerere. Quia tamen in hoc quoque indulsisti, admoneo simul et impense rogo, ut Attium Suram praetura exornare digneris, cum locus vacet. 2 Ad quam spem alioqui quietissimum hortatur et natalium splendor et summa integritas in paupertate et ante omnia felicitas temporum, quae bonam conscientiam civium tuorum ad usum indulgentiae tuae provocat et attollit.

12 (7.) — TO TRAJAN.

I know, sir, that my prayers are implanted in that memory of yours, so retentive in the matter of kindly actions. Since, however, you have indulged me on this subject as well as on others, I must remind you and at the same time earnestly entreat you to deign to honour Accius Sura with the Prætorship whenever the post is vacant. To this hope, though otherwise a most retiring man, he is exhorted both by the splendour of his birth and the great integrity which he showed in poverty, and, above all, by the felicity of the times which invites and elevates the good consciences of your subjects to the experience of your kindness.

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13. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Cum sciam, domine, ad testimonium laudemque morum meorum pertinere tam boni principis iudicio exornari, rogo dignitati, ad quam me provexit indulgentia tua, vel auguratum vel septemviratum, quia vacant adicere digneris, ut iure sacerdotii precari deos pro te publice possim, quos nunc precor pietate privata.

13 (8.) — TO TRAJAN.

Since I know, sir, that it will pertain to the attestation and approval of my character to be distinguished by the judgment of so excellent a prince, I beg that you will deign to add to the dignity to which your favour has advanced me the post either of Augur or of Septemvir, seeing that they are vacant, that by right of my sacred office I may be able to pray to the gods for you publicly as I now pray to them in my private devotions.

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14. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Victoriae tuae, optime imperator, maximae, pulcherrimae, antiquissimae et tuo nomine et rei publicae gratulor, deosque immortales precor, ut omnes cogitationes tuas tam laetus sequatur eventus, cum virtutibus tantis gloria imperii et novetur et augeatur.

14 (9.) — TO TRAJAN.

I hail with congratulations, most excellent Emperor, both on your own account and that of the State, this victory of yours, so great, so noble, so worthy of antiquity! And I pray the immortal gods that all your counsels may be followed by a like happy event, that by your lofty virtues the glory of the empire may be renewed as well as increased.

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15. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Quia confido, domine, ad curam tuam pertinere, nuntio tibi me Ephesum cum omnibus meis ‘hyper Malean’ navigasse quamvis contrariis ventis retentum. Nunc destino partim orariis navibus, partim vehiculis provinciam petere. Nam sicut itineri graues aestus, ita continuae navigationi etesiae reluctantur.

15 (26.) — TO TRAJAN.

As I am convinced, sir, that the news will be of interest to you, I beg to announce that I have sailed past the promontory of Malea and reached Ephesus, with all my suite, though retarded by contrary winds. Now I propose to make for my province, partly by coasting-boats, partly by land conveyances. For as the excessive heats are an impediment to a land journey, so in like manner the Etesian winds  oppose continuous navigation.

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16. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Recte renuntiasti, mi Secunde carissime. Pertinet enim ad animum meum, quali itinere provinciam pervenias. Prudenter autem constituis interim navibus, interim vehiculis uti, prout loca suaserint.

16 (27.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You were quite right in reporting to me, my dearest Secundus. For I am greatly interested in the way you have taken for reaching your province. Your determination is prudent, too, to use ships at one time and land conveyances at another, as may be recommended by the localities.

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17 A. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Sicut saluberrimam navigationem, domine, usque Ephesum expertus ita inde, postquam vehiculis iter facere coepi, gravissimis aestibus atque etiam febriculis vexatus Pergami substiti. 2 Rursus, cum transissem in orarias nauculas, contrariis ventis retentus aliquanto tardius quam speraveram, id est XV Kal. Octobres, Bithyniam intravi. Non possum tamen de mora queri, cum mihi contigerit, quod erat auspicatissimum, natalem tuum in provincia celebrare. 3 Nunc rei publicae Prusensium impendia, reditus, debitores excutio; quod ex ipso tractatu magis ac magis necessarium intellego. Multae enim pecuniae variis ex causis a privatis detinentur; praeterea quaedam minime legitimis sumptibus erogantur. 4 Haec tibi, domine, in ipso ingressu meo scripsi.

17 A (28.) — TO TRAJAN.

Just as I experienced a very healthy voyage as far as Ephesus, sir, so when I had commenced my land journey from that point, I was troubled with the most scorching heats and even slight attacks of fever, and stopped at Pergamus. Again, on changing into the coasting-boats, I was retarded by contrary winds, and did not arrive in Bithynia till somewhat later than I had hoped, that is to say, on the seventeenth of September. I cannot, however, complain of the delay, since I was fortunate enough to be able to celebrate your birthday in the province, a most auspicious circumstance. Now I am examining into the expenditure, revenues, and debts due to the commonwealth of Prusa, and the inspection itself shows me more and more the necessity of this. For many sums of money are retained, on various pretexts, by private individuals; besides, some are laid out in expenditure that is anything but legitimate.

The above, sir, I wrote directly on my arrival.

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17 B. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Quinto decimo Kal. Octob., domine, provinciam intravi, quam in eo obsequio, in ea erga te fide, quam de genere humano mereris, inveni. 2 Dispice, domine, an necessarium putes mittere huc mensorem. Videntur enim non mediocres pecuniae posse revocari a curatoribus operum, si mensurae fideliter agantur. Ita certe prospicio ex ratione Prusensium, quam cum maxime tracto.

17 B. — TO TRAJAN.

On the seventeenth of September, sir, I came to my province, which I found in that state of submission and loyalty to you which you deserve on the part of mankind. Pray, sir, consider whether you deem it necessary to send here an architect. For it seems that no small amount may be got back from those in charge of the public constructions, if the measurements are faithfully executed. So I certainly foresee, from the accounts of the Prusenses, which I am at this moment examining.

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18. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Cuperem sine querela corpusculi tui et tuorum pervenire in Bithyniam potuisses, ac simile tibi iter ab Epheso ei navigationi fuisset, quam expertus usque illo eras. 2 Quo autem die pervenisses in Bithyniam, cognovi, Secunde carissime, litteris tuis. Provinciales, credo, prospectum sibi a me intellegent. Nam et tu dabis operam, ut manifestum sit illis electum te esse, qui ad eosdem mei loco mittereris. 3 Rationes autem in primis tibi rerum publicarum excutiendae sunt; nam et esse eas vexatas satis constat. Mensores vix etiam iis operibus, quae aut Romae aut in proximo fiunt, sufficientes habeo; sed in omni provincia inveniuntur, quibus credi possit, et ideo non deerunt tibi, modo velis diligenter excutere.

18 (29.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I wish you could have reached Bithynia without any damage to your slender frame or to your suite, and that your journey from Ephesus had resembled the sea-voyage which you had experienced up to that point. As to the day of your arrival in Bithynia, I was informed of that, dearest Secundus, by your letter. The provincials will, I trust, understand that I have had their interests in view. For you, for your part, will take care to make it plain to them that you have been selected to be sent to them as representing me.

Before all things, however, you should examine the public accounts, for that they are in a state of confusion is quite clear. As for architects, I have scarce enough of them even for the works which are being carried on in Rome and its vicinity. But in every province persons are to be found who can be trusted; so they will not fail you, if only you choose to make diligent search for them.

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19. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Rogo, domine, consilio me regas haesitantem, utrum per publicos civitatium servos, quod usque adhuc factum, an per milites asservare custodias debeam. Vereor enim, ne et per publicos parum fideliter custodiantur, et non exiguum militum numerum haec cura distringat. 2 Interim publicis servis paucos milites addidi. Video tamen periculum esse, ne id ipsum utrisque neglegentiae causa sit, dum communem culpam hi in illos, illi in hos regerere posse confidunt.

19 (30.) — TO TRAJAN.

I beg, sir, you would direct me by your counsel, who am in doubt whether I ought to intrust the custody of prisoners to the public slaves (which has been the custom to this time) or to soldiers. For I fear the public slaves may not guard them with sufficient fidelity, and on the other hand that this occupation may distract no small number of soldiers. Meanwhile, I have added a few soldiers to the public slaves. Yet I see there is a danger that this very arrangement may be a cause of negligence to both parties, each party making sure that they will he able to retort upon the others the neglect common to both of them.

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20. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Nihil opus sit, mi Secunde carissime, ad continendas custodias plures commilitones converti. Perseveremus in ea consuetudine quae isti provinciae est, ut per publicos servos custodiantur. 2 Etenim, ut fideliter hoc faciant, in tua severitate ac diligentia positum est. In primis enim, sicut scribis, verendum est, ne, si permisceantur servis publicis milites, mutua inter se fiducia neglegentiores sint; sed et illud haereat nobis, quam paucissimos a signis avocandos esse.

20 (31.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

There is no need, dearest Secundus, that a number of our fellow-soldiers should be transferred to the guard of prisoners. Let us persevere in the custom, which is that of your province, of guarding them by means of the public slaves. For indeed their doing this faithfully depends on your strictness and vigilance. The great fear certainly is, as you write, that by mixing up soldiers with public slaves, both parties, by trusting in each other, will be made more careless. And besides, let us not forget this, that the smallest possible number of soldiers should be called away from the standards.

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21. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Gavius Bassus praefectus orae Ponticae et reverentissime et officiosissime, domine, venit ad me et compluribus diebus fuit mecum, quantum perspicere potui, vir egregius et indulgentia tua dignus. Cui ego notum feci praecepisse te ut ex cohortibus, quibus me praeesse voluisti, contentus esset beneficiariis decem, equitibus duobus, centurione uno. 2 Respondit non sufficere sibi hunc numerum, idque se scripturum tibi. Hoc in causa fuit, quominus statim revocandos putarem, quos habet supra numerum.

21 (32.) — PLINY TO TRAJAN.

Gavius Bassus, the Prefect of the coast of Pontus, came to me most respectfully and dutifully, sir, and remained with me several days. As far as I could discern, he is an excellent man, and one worthy of your favour. I informed him of your orders, that out of the cohorts which you had been pleased to place me in command of, he must be contented with ten beneficiarii, two horsemen and one centurion. He replied that this number would not suffice him, and that he would write to you to that effect. This was the reason why I did not think it proper at once to recall those he has with him over the number.

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22. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Et mihi scripsit Gavius Bassus non sufficere sibi eum militum numerum, qui ut daretur illi, mandatis meis complexus sum. Cui quae rescripsissem, ut notum haberes, his litteris subici iussi. Multum interest, res poscat an hoc nomine eis uti latius velit. 2 Nobis autem utilitas demum spectanda est, et, quantum fieri potest, curandum ne milites a signis absint.

22 (33.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Gavins Bassus has written to me too, that the number of soldiers which I had directed to be assigned to him was insufficient. That you may know my reply, I have ordered it to be appended to this letter. It makes a great difference whether necessity requires, or whether people are merely wanting to extend their commands. For us, the public advantage is alone to be considered, and as far as possible care be taken that the soldiers be not absent from their standards.

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23. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Prusenses, domine, balineum habent; est sordidum et vetus. Itaque magni aestimant novum fieri; quod videris mihi desiderio eorum indulgere posse. 2 Erit enim pecunia, ex qua fiat, primum ea quam revocare a privatis et exigere iam coepi; deinde quam ipsi erogare in oleum soliti parati sunt in opus balinei conferre; quod alioqui et dignitas civitatis et saeculi tui nitor postulat.

23 (34.) — TO TRAJAN.

The people of Prusa, sir, have public baths which are both mean and old. They desire, therefore, with your kind permission, to restore them. I, however, being of opinion that new ones should be built... it seems to me that you might indulge them in their desire. For there will be money out of which this may be done: first, that which I have already begun to call in and claim from private individuals; secondly, that which they themselves have been in the habit of expending on oil, and are now prepared to contribute towards the building of the baths. This is a work besides, which is demanded both by the importance of the city and the glory of your reign.

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24. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Si instructio novi balinei oneratura vires Prusensium non est, possumus desiderio eorum indulgere, modo ne quid ideo aut intribuatur aut minus illis in posterum fiat ad necessarias erogationes.

24 (35.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

If the construction of new baths is not likely to burden the resources of the Prusenses, we are able to indulge them in their desire, provided always that in no way are they either to he taxed for this object, or have their means impaired for the future in respect to the necessary expenditure of the State.

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25. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Servilius Pudens legatus, domine, VIII Kal. Decembres Nicomediam venit meque longae exspectationis sollicitudine liberavit.

25 (10.) — TO TRAJAN.

Servilius Pudens, my lieutenant, sir, arrived at Nicomedia on the twenty-fourth of November, and freed me from the anxiety of a long expectation.

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26. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Rosianum Geminum, domine, artissimo vinculo mecum tua in me beneficia iunxerunt; habui enim illum quaestorem in consulatu. Mei sum observantissimum expertus; tantam mihi post consulatum reverentiam praestat, et publicae necessitudinis pignera privatis cumulat officiis. 2 Rogo ergo, ut ipse apud te pro dignitate eius precibus meis faveas. Cui et, si quid mihi credis, indulgentiam tuam dabis; dabit ipse operam ut in iis, quae ei mandaveris, maiora mereatur. Parciorem me in laudando facit, quod spero tibi et integritatem eius et probitatem et industriam non solum ex eius honoribus, quos in urbe sub oculis tuis gessit, verum etiam ex commilitio esse notissimam. 3 Illud unum, quod propter caritatem eius nondum mihi videor satis plene fecisse, etiam atque etiam facio teque, domine, rogo, gaudere me exornata quaestoris mei dignitate, id est per illum mea, quam maturissime velis.

26 (11.) — TO TRAJAN.

Rosianus Geminus, sir, has been attached to me with the closest bonds by means of the favour you have conferred on me. For I had him for my Quæstor during my consulship, when I found him a most loyal subordinate. Since my consulship he exhibits the same respect for me, and heaps private services upon the proofs he had given of our public friendship. I beg, then, that in accordance with his worth, and in compliance with my prayers, you will conceive a favourable opinion of one to whom, if you have any confidence in me, you will further exhibit marks of your kindness. He himself will take care, in the discharge of what you shall commit to him, to deserve still greater things. I am rendered more sparing in my praises of him by the hope that his integrity and virtue and industry are particularly known to you, not only from the offices which he has filled in the city under your eyes, but also from the fact of his having served in the army with you. The one thing which, in consequence of my affection for him, I do not seem to myself to have yet done fully enough, I must do again and again; that is, I must beg of you, sir, that it be your pleasure with all speed to cause me to rejoice at the advancement in dignity of my Quæstor, or, in other words, through him of myself.

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27. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Maximus libertus et procurator tuus, domine, praeter decem beneficiarios, quos assignari a me Gemellino optimo viro iussisti, sibi quoque confirmat necessarios esse milites sex. Hos interim, sicut inveneram, in ministerio eius relinquendos existimavi, praesertim cum ad frumentum comparandum iret in Paphlagoniam. Quin etiam tutelae causa, quia ita desiderabat, addidi duos equites. In futurum, quid servari velis, rogo rescribas.

27 (36.) — TO TRAJAN.

Maximus, sir, your freedman and provincial agent, assures me that, besides the ten beneficiarii which you commanded me to assign to the worthy Gemellinus, he is himself likewise in want of soldiers... of these in the meanwhile.... I thought that the number I found should be left at his service, particularly as he was going to Paphlagonia to procure corn. Moreover, for the sake of protection, I added, at his desire, two horsemen. I would beg of you to write me word what practice you would have observed for the future.

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28. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Nunc quidem proficiscentem ad comparationem frumentorum Maximum libertum meum recte militibus instruxisti. Fungebatur enim et ipse extraordinario munere. Cum ad pristinum actum reversus fuerit, sufficient illi duo a te dati milites et totidem a Virdio Gemellino procuratore meo, quem adiuvat.

28 (37.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

On the present occasion, you have been quite right in furnishing my freedman Maximus with soldiers, as he was setting out to procure corn. For he, as well as they, was discharging an extraordinary office. But when he shall have returned to his pristine functions, he must be content with the two soldiers assigned him by you and the same number by Virdius Gemellinus, my agent, whose assistant he is.

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29. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Sempronius Caelianus, egregius iuvenis, repertos inter tirones duos servos misit ad me; quorum ego supplicium distuli, ut te conditorem disciplinae militaris firmatoremque consulerem de modo poenae. 2 Ipse enim dubito ob hoc maxime quod, ut iam dixerant sacramento, ita nondum distributi in numeros erant. Quid ergo debeam sequi rogo, domine, scribas, praesertim cum pertineat ad exemplum.

29 (38.) — TO TRAJAN.

Sempronius Cælianus, a young man of remarkable merit, has sent me two slaves discovered among the recruits. I have deferred their punishment in order to consult you, the restorer and establisher of military discipline, as to the nature of the penalty. My principal hesitation is on this account, that, though they had already pronounced the military oaths, they had not as yet been assigned to any corps. I beg then, sir, you would write me word what course I should follow, particularly as this pertains to example.

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30. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Secundum mandata mea fecit Sempronius Caelianus mittendo ad te eos, de quibus cognosci oportebit, an capitale supplicium meruisse videantur. Refert autem, voluntarii se obtulerint an lecti sint vel etiam vicarii dati. 2 Lecti <si> sunt, inquisitio peccavit; si vicarii dati, penes eos culpa est qui dederunt; si ipsi, cum haberent condicionis suae conscientiam, venerunt, animadvertendum in illos erit. Neque enim multum interest, quod nondum per numeros distributi sunt. Ille enim dies, quo primum probati sunt, veritatem ab iis originis suae exegit.

30 (39.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Sempronius Cælianus has acted in accordance with my instructions in sending to you persons concerning whom it will be necessary to make inquiry whether they seem to have merited the extreme penalty. Now it is material whether they offered themselves as volunteers, or were chosen, or again were merely presented as substitutes. If they were chosen, the recruiting officers were in fault: if they were presented as substitutes, the blame is with those who so presented them: if they came spontaneously, with a knowledge of their condition, it will be proper to punish them. Nor is it of much consequence that they have not yet been assigned to a corps. For the very day they were passed, it was their duty to tell the truth about their origin.

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31. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Salva magnitudine tua, domine, descendas oportet ad meas curas, cum ius mihi dederis referendi ad te, de quibus dubito. 2 In plerisque civitatibus, maxime Nicomediae et Nicaeae, quidam vel in opus damnati vel in ludum similiaque his genera poenarum publicorum servorum officio ministerioque funguntur, atque etiam ut publici servi annua accipiunt. Quod ego cum audissem, diu multumque haesitavi, quid facere deberem. 3 Nam et reddere poenae post longum tempus plerosque iam senes et, quantum affirmatur, frugaliter modesteque viventes nimis severum arbitrabar, et in publicis officiis retinere damnatos non satis honestum putabam; eosdem rursus a re publica pasci otiosos inutile, non pasci etiam periculosum existimabam. 4 Necessario ergo rem totam, dum te consulerem, in suspenso reliqui. Quaeres fortasse, quem ad modum evenerit, ut poenis in quas damnati erant exsolverentur: et ego quaesii, sed nihil comperi, quod affirmare tibi possim. Ut decreta quibus damnati erant proferebantur, ita nulla monumenta quibus liberati probarentur. 5 Erant tamen, qui dicerent deprecantes iussu proconsulum legatorumve dimissos. Addebat fidem, quod credibile erat neminem hoc ausum sine auctore.

31 (40.) — TO TRAJAN.

Saving your majesty, sir, it behoves you to condescend to my difficulties, seeing that you have given me the right to refer to you in all matters of doubt. In many cities, and particularly Nicomedia and Nicæa, certain persons who had been condemned to the mines, or the arena, and similar kinds of punishment, exercise the office and ministry of public slaves, and even, in the capacity of public slaves, receive annual wages. On hearing this, I hesitated much and long as to what I ought to do. For, on the one hand, to remit to their punishment, after a great lapse of time, men, most of whom are now in years and who are alleged to be leading honest and discreet lives, seemed to me to be too severe: on the other hand, to retain convicts in public employments appeared to me not quite respectable. Again, I judged that for these people to be supported by the commonwealth in idleness would be useless; and that if they were not supported, there would be actual danger. Perforce, therefore, I have left the whole matter in suspense, till I had consulted you. You will perhaps inquire how it came to pass that they were exempted from the punishments to which they had been condemned, and so did I inquire, but could get no positive information to lay before you. For though the decrees, by which they had been condemned, were produced, no documents were forthcoming to prove their having been let off. There were, however, some who said that they had obtained their dismissal by their prayers at the bidding of the Proconsuls or Legates. What imparts credit to this is, that it must be supposed no one would venture on such an act without authority.

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32. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Meminerimus idcirco te in istam provinciam missum, quoniam multa in ea emendanda apparuerint. Erit autem vel hoc maxime corrigendum, quod qui damnati ad poenam erant, non modo ea sine auctore, ut scribis, liberati sunt, sed etiam in condicionem proborum ministrorum retrahuntur. 2 Qui igitur intra hos proximos decem annos damnati nec ullo idoneo auctore liberati sunt, hos oportebit poenae suae reddi; si qui vetustiores invenientur et senes ante annos decem damnati, distribuamus illos in ea ministeria, quae non longe a poena sint. Solent et ad balineum, ad purgationes cloacarum, item munitiones viarum et vicorum dari.

32 (41.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Remember that you were sent to the province in which you now are on this very account, that there was much in it which seemed to need rectifying. Now this will be a matter specially requiring correction, that those who have been condemned to punishments should not only have been released from them, as you write, without authority, but should even be removed into the category of respectable servants. Those, then, who have been condemned within the last ten years and have not been liberated by any competent authority, it will be proper to remit to their punishment: if there shall he found some older and aged persons who have been condemned more than ten years ago, we must distribute them in such offices as are not far from being penal. For persons of this kind are usually assigned to the baths, the cleansing of the latrines, also to working on the roads and in the streets.

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33. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Cum diversam partem provinciae circumirem, Nicomediae vastissimum incendium multas privatorum domos et duo publica opera, quamquam via interiacente, Gerusian et Iseon absumpsit. 2 Est autem latius sparsum, primum violentia venti, deinde inertia hominum quos satis constat otiosos et immobiles tanti mali spectatores perstitisse; et alioqui nullus usquam in publico sipo, nulla hama, nullum denique instrumentum ad incendia compescenda. Et haec quidem, ut iam praecepi, parabuntur; 3 tu, domine, dispice an instituendum putes collegium fabrorum dumtaxat hominum CL. Ego attendam, ne quis nisi faber recipiatur neve iure concesso in aliud utantur; nec erit difficile custodire tam paucos.

33 (42.) — TO TRAJAN.

While I was making a tour through the opposite side of the province, an immense conflagration at Nicomedia consumed a number of private houses and two public edifices — though separated by a road — the Gerusia and Temple of Isis. It spread the wider first through violence of the wind and next through the apathy of the inhabitants, who, it is quite clear, remained idle and motionless spectators of the sad calamity: and, independently of this, there was nowhere any fire-engine for public use, no water-bucket, in short, no implement for keeping down conflagrations. As for these, indeed, in accordance with my orders already given, they will be provided. Do you, sir, consider whether you think a guild of firemen should be instituted, limited to one hundred and fifty men. I will see to it that no one shall be admitted except he be a fireman, and that they shall not use the rights accorded them for any other purpose. Nor will it be difficult to watch such a small number of men.

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34. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Tibi quidem secundum exempla complurium in mentem venit posse collegium fabrorum apud Nicomedenses constitui. Sed meminerimus provinciam istam et praecipue eas civitates eius modi factionibus esse vexatas. Quodcumque nomen ex quacumque causa dederimus iis, qui in idem contracti fuerint, hetaeriae eaeque brevi fient. 2 Satius itaque est comparari ea, quae ad coercendos ignes auxilio esse possint, admonerique dominos praediorum, ut et ipsi inhibeant ac, si res poposcerit, accursu populi ad hoc uti.

34 (43.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

It has come into your head, I see, in accordance with a common precedent, that a guild of firemen might be constituted among the inhabitants of Nicomedia. But I bear in mind that that province of yours, and particularly those cities, are subject to trouble from associations of this description. Whatever name, for whatever reason, we give to these reunions they will shortly become... and secret societies. It is better, then, to procure what may be of assistance in restraining fires, and to admonish owners of property to be themselves ready to keep them down; moreover, if the circumstances require it, to employ the concourse of spectators for the same object.

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35. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Sollemnia vota pro incolumitate tua, qua publica salus continetur, et suscepimus, domine, pariter et solvimus precati deos, ut velint ea semper solvi semperque signari.

35 (44.) — TO TRAJAN.

We are at the same time, sir, renewing and acquitting our solemn vows for your safety, on which the public prosperity depends, praying the gods to grant that they may be ever thus acquitted and thus attested.

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36. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Et solvisse vos cum provincialibus dis immortalibus vota pro mea salute et incolumitate et nuncupasse libenter, mi Secunde carissime, cognovi ex litteris tuis.

36 (45.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I have learnt with pleasure, dearest Secundus, from your letter that, in company with the Provincials, you have both acquitted and renewed your vows for my health and safety to the immortal Gods.

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37. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 In aquae ductum, domine, Nicomedenses impenderunt HS XXX CCCXVIII, qui imperfectus adhuc omissus, destructus etiam est; rursus in alium ductum erogata sunt CC. Hoc quoque relicto novo impendio est opus, ut aquam habeant, qui tantam pecuniam male perdiderunt. 2 Ipse perveni ad fontem purissimum, ex quo videtur aqua debere perduci, sicut initio temptatum erat, arcuato opere, ne tantum ad plana civitatis et humilia perveniat. Manent adhuc paucissimi arcus: possunt et erigi quidam lapide quadrato, qui ex superiore opere detractus est; aliqua pars, ut mihi videtur, testaceo opere agenda erit, id enim et facilius et vilius. 3 Sed in primis necessarium est mitti a te vel aquilegem vel architectum, ne rursus eveniat quod accidit. Ego illud unum affirmo, et utilitatem operis et pulchritudinem saeculo tuo esse dignissimam.

37 (46.) — TO TRAJAN.

The inhabitants of Nicomedia, sir, spent three millions three hundred and twenty-nine thousand sesterces on an aqueduct which was left still unfinished and was even demolished. Two millions of sesterces have been disbursed afresh on another aqueduct. This, too, having been left off, there is need of some further outlay, that those who have mischievously thrown away such large sums may have water at any rate. I have in person found my way to a spring of great purity, from which it seems that the water ought to he conducted to the spot (as was originally attempted) by means of arches, so that it may not reach only to the flat and low-lying parts of the city. A very few arches still remain, and some may further be erected of the squared stones taken from the former construction; some portions, as it seems to me, will have to be made of brickwork, which is both handier and cheaper. But, first of all, it is necessary that a conduit-master or architect should be sent, that what has taken place before may not happen again. All I can say is, that the utility and beauty of the construction will be in all respects worthy of your reign.

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38. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Curandum est, ut aqua in Nicomedensem civitatem perducatur. Vere credo te ea, qua debebis, diligentia hoc opus aggressurum. Sed medius fidius ad eandem diligentiam tuam pertinet inquirere, quorum vitio ad hoc tempus tantam pecuniam Nicomedenses perdiderint, ne, dum inter se gratificantur, et incohaverint aquae ductus et reliquerint. Quid itaque compereris, perfer in notitiam meam.

33 (47.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Care must be taken that water be conducted to the city of Nicomedia. I have full confidence that you will address yourself to this work with all due diligence. But, by the God of Truth, it concerns that same diligence of yours to inquire by whose fault the inhabitants of Nicomedia have thrown away so much money up to this time, and whether they have not been playing into each other’s hands in commencing and then abandoning these aqueducts. Accordingly, whatever you discover on this head, bring to my knowledge.

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39. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Theatrum, domine, Nicaeae maxima iam parte constructum, imperfectum tamen, sestertium - ut audio; neque enim ratio operis excussa est - amplius centies hausit: vereor ne frustra. 2 Ingentibus enim rimis desedit et hiat, sive in causa solum umidum et molle, sive lapis ipse gracilis et putris: dignum est certe deliberatione, sitne faciendum an sit relinquendum an etiam destruendum. Nam fulturae ac substructiones, quibus subinde suscipitur, non tam firmae mihi quam sumptuosae uidentur. 3 Huic theatro ex priuatorum pollicitationibus multa debentur, ut basilicae circa, ut porticus supra caveam. Quae nunc omnia differuntur cessante eo, quod ante peragendum est. 4 Iidem Nicaeenses gymnasium incendio amissum ante aduentum meum restituere coeperunt, longe numerosius laxiusque quam fuerat, et iam aliquantum erogauerunt; periculum est, ne parum utiliter; incompositum enim et sparsum est. Praeterea architectus, sane aemulus eius a quo opus incohatum est, adfirmat parietes quamquam uiginti et duos pedes latos imposita onera sustinere non posse, quia sine caemento medii farti nec testaceo opere praecincti.

5 Claudiopolitani quoque in depresso loco, imminente etiam monte ingens balineum defodiunt magis quam aedificant, et quidem ex ea pecunia, quam buleutae additi beneficio tuo aut iam obtulerunt ob introitum aut nobis exigentibus conferent. 6 Ergo cum timeam ne illic publica pecunia, hic, quod est omni pecunia pretiosius, munus tuum male collocetur, cogor petere a te non solum ob theatrum, uerum etiam ob haec balinea mittas architectum, dispecturum utrum sit utilius post sumptum qui factus est quoquo modo consummare opera? ut incohata sunt, an quae uidentur emendanda corrigere, quae transferenda transferre, ne dum servare uolumus quod impensum est, male impendamus quod addendum est.

39 (48.) — TO TRAJAN.

The theatre of Nicæa, sir, which is now in great part constructed, though yet unfinished, has absorbed, as I hear (for the accounts for the building have not yet been gone into), more than ten millions of sesterces, and I fear to no purpose. For it is subsiding and gaping with huge fissures, either by reason of the soil being wet and spongy, or because the stone itself is poor and friable. It certainly deserves consideration whether it ought to be completed, or abandoned, or even demolished, for the props and substructions, by which it is from time to time kept up, seem to me to be sources of expenditure rather than of strength. Many additions are promised to this theatre by private individuals, as, for instance, galleries all round, and porticoes over the spectators’ seats, all of which are now delayed, owing to the stoppage of the work which must first be completed.

These same people of Nicæa have begun to rebuild the gymnasium, which was destroyed by fire before my arrival, with many more parts and on a larger scale than before, and they have already gone to some expense; as the danger is, to small advantage, for it is ill-arranged and scattered. Moreover, an architect, a rival to be sure of the one by whom the work was commenced, affirms that the walls, though two and twenty feet in thickness, are unable to support the weight imposed on them, in consequence of their being stuffed with cement in the middle and not encased in brickwork.

The people of Claudiopolis, too, are excavating, rather than building, huge baths in a low situation, with a hill actually hanging over it; and this, too, out of the moneys which the new members of their Council, added by your favour, have either already paid as their entrance-fees, or are paying in at our demand. Since, then, I fear that, in the one case, the public money, and, in the other, what is of more value than any money, the produce of your favour, may be badly invested, I am compelled to ask you, not only on account of the theatre, but also of these baths, to send an architect. He will judge whether it be more advantageous, after the outlay which has been incurred, to complete the works, in one way or another, as they have been begun, or to rectify what may seem to need improvement, and to transfer operations which may need to be transferred; lest, while we are desirous of not losing what has been spent, we spend badly what will have to be further added.

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40. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Quid oporteat fieri circa theatrum, quod incohatum apud Nicaeenses est, in re praesenti optime deliberabis et constitues. Mihi sufficiet indicari, cui sententiae accesseris: Tunc autem a priuatis exige opera, cum theatrum, propter quod illa promissa sunt, factum erit. 2 Gymnasiis indulgent Graeculi; ideo forsitan Nicaeenses maiore animo constructionem eius aggressi sunt: sed oportet illos eo contentos esse, quod possit illis sufficere. 3 Quid Claudiopolitanis circa balineum quod parum, ut scribis, idoneo loco incohauerunt suadendum sit, tu constitues. Architecti tibi deesse non possunt. Nulla prouincia non et peritos et ingeniosos homines habet; modo ne existimes breuius esse ab urbe mitti, cum ex Graecia etiam ad nos uenire soliti sint.

40 (49.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

As to what is proper to be done in connection with the theatre, which has been commenced at Nicæa, you who are on the spot will be best able to consider and determine. I shall be satisfied to have intimated to me the opinion at which you arrive. The parts of the work due from private individuals, you will take care to exact from them, then only when the theatre, on account of which they have been promised, is built. These Greeklings are addicted to gymnasia; so perhaps the people of Nicæa have set about building theirs with too much zest; they must, however, be content with one which shall suffice for their necessities.

As to the advice to be given to the people of Claudiopolis, in connection with their baths (which they have commenced in what you describe as an unsuitable spot), it is for you to determine. You cannot be short of architects. There is no province which does not contain experienced and ingenious men of this kind; provided you do not suppose it is shorter to send them from Rome, when they are actually in the habit of coming to us from Greece.

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41. C. PLINIVS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Intuenti mihi et fortunae tuae et animi magnitudinem conuenientissimum uidetur demonstrari opera non minus aeternitate tua quam gloria digna, quantumque pulchritudinis tantum utilitatis habitura. 2 Est in Nicomedensium finibus amplissimus lacus. Per hunc marmora fructus ligna materiae et sumptu modico et labore usque ad uiam nauibus, inde magno labore maiore impendio uehiculis ad mare deuehuntur ... hoc opus multas manus poscit. At eae porro non desunt. Nam et in agris magna copia est hominum et maxima in civitate, certaque spes omnes libentissime aggressuros opus omnibus fructuosum. 3 Superest ut tu libratorem vel architectum si tibi videbitur mittas, qui diligenter exploret, sitne lacus altior mari, quem artifices regionis huius quadraginta cubitis altiorem esse contendunt. 4 Ego per eadem loca invenio fossam a rege percussam, sed incertum utrum ad colligendum umorem circumiacentium agrorum an ad committendum flumini lacum; est enim imperfecta. Hoc quoque dubium, intercepto rege mortalitate an desperato operis effectu. 5 Sed hoc ipso - feres enim me ambitiosum pro tua gloria - incitor et accendor, ut cupiam peragi a te quae tantum coeperant reges.

41 (50.) — TO TRAJAN.

When I contemplate the grandeur of your fortunes and of your mind, it seems to me in the highest degree appropriate to designate to you such works as shall be worthy no less of your immortality than of your glory, as shall be marked by their utility no less than by their excellence. On the borders of the Nicomedian territory there is an extensive lake, by means of which marble, agricultural produce, firewood, and building materials are conveyed, at small cost and labour, in ships to a road, and from that point with much labour, and still more expense, in wagons to the sea.... This work demands many hands, but these, to be sure, are not wanting, for there is a large supply of men in the country parts, and a still larger in the city, and we may confidently expect that all of them will with much alacrity engage in a work which will be of advantage to all. It remains for you, if you shall see fit, to send us a surveyor, or else an architect, who shall carefully examine whether the lake is higher than the sea — the experts in these parts contending that it is higher by forty cubits. I find that a trench was cut in this identical direction by the king; but it is uncertain whether this was done for the purpose of collecting the moisture from the surrounding country, or in order to turn the lake into the river. For it is not completed. And this, too, is doubtful, whether the king was arrested by death, or whether he despaired of carrying through the work. But this very circumstance (for you will suffer me to be ambitious on account of your glory) incites and stimulates me to wish that you may complete that which kings have only commenced.

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42. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Potest nos sollicitare lacus iste, ut committere illum mari velimus; sed plane explorandum est diligenter, ne si emissus in mare fuerit totus effluat certe, quantum aquarum et unde accipiat. Poteris a Calpurnio Macro petere libratorem, et ego hinc aliquem tibi peritum eius modi operum mittam.

42 (51.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

The lake which you mention is such as may possibly induce in us the desire to open it out to the sea. But a careful examination is evidently necessary, lest if its waters be sent down to the sea, they should be entirely drained off, and certainly as to the quantity of its waters and the source whence it derives them. You can ask for a surveyor from Calpurnius Macer, and I will send you from here some person experienced in this kind of work.

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43. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Requirenti mihi Byzantiorum rei publicae impendia, quae maxima fecit, indicatum est, domine, legatum ad te salutandum annis omnibus cum psephismate mitti, eique dari nummorum duodena milia. 2 Memor ergo propositi tui legatum quidem retinendum, psephisma autem mittendum putavi, ut simul et sumptus levaretur et impleretur publicum officium. 3 Eidem civitati imputata sunt terna milia, quae viatici nomine annua dabantur legato eunti ad eum qui Moesiae praeest publice salutandum. Haec ego in posterum circumcidenda existimavi. 4 Te, domine, rogo ut quid sentias rescribendo aut consilium meum confirmare aut errorem emendare digneris.

43 (52.) — TO TRAJAN.

On my calling for an account of the expenditure of the community of Byzantium (which has been very great), I learnt, sir, that an envoy is sent to pay his respects to you every year, bearer of a popular decree to that effect, and that twelve thousand sesterces are given him. So, bearing in mind your course of action, I deemed it right to keep back the envoy and to send on the decree, that at the same time the expense might be lightened and a public duty fulfilled. The same city was debited with three thousand sesterces, which, under the head of travelling expenses, were given annually to the envoy who went to pay his respects publicly to the Governor of Mœsia. These sums, I considered, ought for the future to be cut down. I beg, sir, that you would write me word what you think, and so deign either to confirm my judgment or to correct my mistake.

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44. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Optime fecisti, Secunde carissime, duodena ista Byzantiis quae ad salutandum me in legatum impendebantur remittendo. Fungentur his partibus, etsi solum psephisma per te missum fuerit. Ignoscet illis et Moesiae praeses, si minus illum sumptuose coluerint.

44 (53.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You have acted admirably, dearest Secundus, in remitting to the inhabitants of Byzantium those twelve thousand sesterces which were spent on an envoy for the purpose of paying me their respects... although the decree alone shall have been sent through you. The Governor of Mœsia, too, will forgive them if they show their regard for him in a less expensive way.

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45. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Diplomata, domine, quorum dies praeterit, an omnino observari et quam diu velis, rogo scribas meque haesitatione liberes. Vereor enim, ne in alterutram partem ignorantia lapsus aut illicita confirmem aut necessaria impediam.

45 (54.) — TO TRAJAN.

With regard to diplomas, sir, the date of which has expired, I would beg you to write whether you wish them to be regarded at all, and if so for how long? This will free me from doubt. For I fear that through ignorance I may make a mistake one way or the other, and either confirm what is unlawful or obstruct what is necessary.

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46. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Diplomata, quorum praeteritus est dies, non debent esse in usu. Ideo inter prima iniungo mihi, ut per omnes provincias ante mittam nova diplomata, quam desiderari possint.

46 (55.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Diplomas, the date of which has expired, ought not to be in force. Consequently I make it one of my first rules to send new diplomas to all the provinces before they can possibly be required.

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47. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Cum vellem, domine, Apameae cognoscere publicos debitores et reditum et impendia, responsum est mihi cupere quidem universos, ut a me rationes coloniae legerentur, numquam tamen esse lectas ab ullo proconsulum; habuisse privilegium et vetustissimum morem arbitrio suo rem publicam administrare. 2 Exegi ut quae dicebant quaeque recitabant libello complecterentur; quem tibi qualem acceperam misi, quamvis intellegerem pleraque ex illo ad id, de quo quaeritur, non pertinere. 3 Te rogo ut mihi praeire digneris, quid me putes observare debere. Vereor enim ne aut excessisse aut non implesse officii mei partes videar.

47 (56.) — TO TRAJAN.

Upon my desiring, sir, to be made acquainted with the debts due to the State of Apamea, and its income and expenditure, I was told in reply that, while every one was anxious that the accounts of the colony should be inspected by me, yet that they never had been inspected by any of the pro-consuls, since they were in possession of a prerogative and a very ancient usage of administering the public affairs at their own discretion. I insisted upon all that they said and recited being included in a memorial, which I have sent to you just as I received it, though perceiving that much of its contents does not relate to the subject of inquiry. I beg you to deign to instruct me as to the course you deem it right for me to follow. For I fear lest I should seem either to have exceeded or not to have duly fulfilled the functions of my office.

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48. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Libellus Apamenorum, quem epistulae tuae iunxeras, remisit mihi necessitatem perpendendi qualia essent, propter quae videri volunt eos, qui pro consulibus hanc provinciam obtinuerunt, abstinuisse inspectatione rationum suarum, cum ipse ut eas inspiceres non recusaverint. 2 Remuneranda est igitur probitas eorum, ut iam nunc sciant hoc, quod inspecturus es, ex mea voluntate salvis, quae habent, privilegiis esse facturum.

48 (57.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

The memorial of the Apameni, which you have joined to your letter, has freed me from the necessity of carefully examining the reasons on the strength of which they wish it to appear that the Proconsuls who have governed their province have abstained from inspecting their accounts, since they have not opposed your inspecting them. Their probity should therefore be rewarded, and they should at once be told that in inspecting the accounts you will be acting by my orders, without prejudice to the prerogatives they enjoy.

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49. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Ante adventum meum, domine, Nicomedenses priori foro novum adicere coeperunt, cuius in angulo est aedes vetustissima Matris Magnae aut reficienda aut transferenda, ob hoc praecipue quod est multo depressior opere eo quod cum maxime surgit. 2 Ego cum quaererem, num esset aliqua lex dicta templo, cognovi alium hic, alium apud nos esse morem dedicationis. Dispice ergo, domine, an putes aedem, cui nulla lex dicta est, salva religione posse transferri; alioqui commodissimum est, si religio non impedit.

49 (58.) — TO TRAJAN.

Before my arrival, sir, the inhabitants of Nicomedia had begun to add a new Forum to their old one, in a corner of which is a temple of the great mother of the gods, which must be either rebuilt or removed, particularly as it is much lower than the construction which is at the present moment rising. When I inquired whether the temple had been in any way formally consecrated, I learnt that the mode of dedication here differs from ours. Consider, then, sir, whether you think that a temple which has not been formally consecrated can be removed without prejudice to religion. In other respects, it would be most convenient to do so — if religion is no obstacle.

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50. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Potes, mi Secunde carissime, sine sollicitudine religionis, si loci positio videtur hoc desiderare, aedem Matris Deum transferre in eam quae est accommodatior; nec te moveat, quod lex dedicationis nulla reperitur, cum solum peregrinae civitatis capax non sit dedicationis, quae fit nostro iure.

50 (59.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You may, dearest Secundus, without religious scruples — if the situation of the place seems to require it — remove the temple of the mother of the gods to one that is better accommodated to it. Nor need you be troubled about finding no form of dedication, since the soil of a foreign city does not admit of the kind of dedication which takes place under our laws.

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51. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Difficile est, domine, exprimere verbis, quantam perceperim laetitiam, quod et mihi et socrui meae praestitisti, ut affinem eius Caelium Clementem in hanc provinciam transferres. 2 Ex illo enim et mensuram beneficii tui penitus intellego, cum tam plenam indulgentiam cum tota domo mea experiar, cui referre gratiam parem ne audeo quidem, quamvis maxime possim. Itaque ad vota confugio deosque precor, ut iis, quae in me assidue confers, non indignus existimer.

51 (12.) — TO TRAJAN.

‘ It is difficult, sir, to express in words the great pleasure which I felt at your consenting, at the request of my mother-in-law and myself, to transfer her relative Cælius Clemens to this province. For hence I thoroughly understand the measure of your kindness, since I experience such full favour, with all my kindred — a favour I dare not attempt to make a like return for, even though I had it entirely in my power. So I fly to prayers, and entreat the gods that I may not be deemed unworthy of those things which you are so assiduous in conferring on me.

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52. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Diem, domine, quo servasti imperium, dum suscipis, quanta mereris laetitia celebravimus, precati deos ut te generi humano, cuius tutela et securitas saluti tuae innisa est, incolumem florentemque praestarent. Praeivimus et commilitonibus ius iurandum more sollemni, eadem provincialibus certatim pietate iurantibus.

52 (60.) — TO TRAJAN.

We have celebrated, sir, the day on which you saved the Empire by taking it on yourself, with all the joy which you merit: and we prayed the gods to preserve you in life and prosperity to the human race whose safeguard and security depends on your welfare. We set the example to the troops, too, in swearing allegiance in the customary way, which the provincials did in the same form, and with emulous loyalty.

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53. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Quanta religione et laetitia commilitones cum provincialibus te praeeunte diem imperii mei celebraverint, libenter, mi Secunde carissime, agnovi litteris tuis.

53 (61.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I have learnt with pleasure from your letter, my dearest Secundus, how religiously and joyfully the troops, together with the provincials, followed you in celebrating the day of my accession.

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54. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Pecuniae publicae, domine, providentia tua et ministerio nostro et iam exactae sunt et exiguntur; quae vereor ne otiosae iaceant. Nam et praediorum comparandorum aut nulla aut rarissima occasio est, nec inveniuntur qui velint debere rei publicae, praesertim duodenis assibus, quanti a privatis mutuantur. 2 Dispice ergo, domine, numquid minuendam usuram ac per hoc idoneos debitores invitandos putes, et, si nec sic reperiuntur, distribuendam inter decuriones pecuniam, ita ut recte rei publicae caveant; quod quamquam invitis et recusantibus minus acerbum erit leviore usura constituta.

54 (62.) — TO TRAJAN.

The public moneys, sir, are, through your forethought and our ministry, either already collected or in the course of collection; and I fear they will lie idle. For there are no opportunities, or else very rare ones, of buying land: nor are persons to be found who are willing to be debtors to the state, particularly at twelve per cent., the rate at which they can borrow from private individuals. Consider then, sir, whether you think that the rate of interest should be lowered, and by these means eligible borrowers be attracted, and if even thus such persons are not to be found, whether the money should be distributed among the Decurions, on condition of their furnishing proper security to the state; which arrangement — though they may not like it, and may be for declining it — would be made less burdensome, in consequence of a lower rate of interest having been fixed.

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55. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Et ipse non aliud remedium dispicio, mi Secunde carissime, quam ut quantitas usurarum minuatur, quo facilius pecuniae publicae collocentur. Modum eius, ex copia eorum qui mutuabuntur, tu constitues. Invitos ad accipiendum compellere, quod fortassis ipsis otiosum futurum sit, non est ex iustitia nostrorum temporum.

55 (63.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I myself can perceive no other remedy, my dearest Secundus, than that the rate of interest should be lowered, in order to facilitate the investment of the public moneys.

You yourself must fix the limit in accordance with the number of those who shall be ready to borrow. To compel persons against their will to take what they themselves may perhaps find no employment for — this is a course which does not accord with the equity of my reign.

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56. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Summas, domine, gratias ago, quod inter maximas occupationes <in> iis, de quibus te consului, me quoque regere dignatus es; quod nunc quoque facias rogo. 2 Adiit enim me quidam indicavitque adversarios suos a Servilio Calvo, clarissimo viro, in triennium relegatos in provincia morari: illi contra ab eodem se restitutos affirmaverunt edictumque recitaverunt. Qua causa necessarium credidi rem integram ad te referre. 3 Nam, sicut mandatis tuis cautum est, ne restituam ab alio aut a me relegatos, ita de iis, quos alius et relegaverit et restituerit, nihil comprehensum est. Ideo tu, domine, consulendus fuisti, quid observare me velles, tam hercule quam de iis qui in perpetuum relegati nec restituti in provincia deprehenduntur. 4 Nam haec quoque species incidit in cognitionem meam. Est enim adductus ad me in perpetuum relegatus <a> Iulio Basso proconsule. Ego, quia sciebam acta Bassi rescissa datumque a senatu ius omnibus, de quibus ille aliquid constituisset, ex integro agendi, dumtaxat per biennium, interrogavi hunc, quem relegaverat, an adisset docuissetque proconsulem. <Negavit.> 5 Per quod effectum est, ut te consulerem, reddendum eum poenae suae an gravius aliquid et quid potissimum constituendum putares et in hunc et in eos, si qui forte in simili condicione invenirentur. Decretum Calvi et edictum, item decretum Bassi his litteris subieci.

56 (64.) — TO TRAJAN.

I return you, sir, the deepest thanks for deigning, amidst your great occupations, to direct me also as to those matters on which I have consulted you, and I would beg you to do this on the present occasion as well. For a person has come to me and informed me that his adversaries, though banished for three years by that distinguished man Servilius Calvus, still remain in the province. They, on the other hand, have affirmed that they were reinstated by the same governor, and have recited his edict to that effect. For this reason, I have thought it necessary to refer the matter in its entirety to you. For though it was provided in your mandates that I was not to reinstate persons banished by a former governor, or by myself, yet nothing was included in them on the subject of those who had been both banished and reinstated by a former governor. Therefore you, sir, had to be consulted as to what practice you would have me follow, as also, by Hercules, with regard to those who, though banished for life and never reinstated, are caught in the province. For this particular case too has fallen under my cognisance. A person was brought before me who was banished for life by Julius Bassus, the proconsul. Knowing that the acts of Bassus had been rescinded, and that the Senate had given to all those who had been the subjects of any of his decisions the right of trying the matter afresh, that is during a period of two years, I inquired of this person whom Bassus had banished, whether he had gone to the proconsul and instructed him. He said he had not. Hence I was brought to consult you as to whether he should be remitted to his punishment or whether you think that some still heavier penalty, and if so what particular one, should be constituted for him and for those, if such there happen to be, who may be found in a like case. I have appended to this letter the decree of Calvus and the edict, also the decree of Bassus.

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57. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Quid in persona eorum statuendum sit, qui a P. Servilio Calvo proconsule in triennium relegati et mox eiusdem edicto restituti in provincia remanserunt, proxime tibi rescribam, cum causas eius facti a Calvo requisiero. 2 Qui a Iulio Basso in perpetuum relegatus est, cum per biennium agendi facultatem habuerit, si existimat se iniuria relegatum, neque id fecerit atque in provincia morari perseverarit, vinctus mitti ad praefectos praetorii mei debet. Neque enim sufficit eum poenae suae restitui, quam contumacia elusit.

57 (65.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

As to the determination to be arrived at in the case of those persons who, having been banished for three years by P. Servilius Calvus, the proconsul, were soon afterwards reinstated by an edict of the same proconsul, and have remained in the province, I will shortly write you in reply, when I shall have inquired of Calvus himself his reasons for thus acting. The man who was banished for life by Julius Bassus — inasmuch as he had the power of taking action for the space of two years, in case he thought himself unjustly banished, and yet failed to do this, and moreover persisted in tarrying in the province — must be sent a prisoner to my Prætorian prefects. For it is not enough that he should be remitted to his former punishment, after evading it by his contumacy.

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58. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Cum citarem iudices, domine, conventum incohaturus, Flavius Archippus vacationem petere coepit ut philosophus. 2 Fuerunt, qui dicerent non liberandum eum iudicandi necessitate, sed omnino tollendum de iudicum numero reddendumque poenae, quam fractis vinculis evasisset. 3 Recitata est sententia Veli Pauli proconsulis, qua probabatur Archippus crimine falsi damnatus in metallum: ille nihil proferebat, quo restitutum se doceret; allegabat tamen pro restitutione et libellum a se Domitiano datum et epistulas eius ad honorem suum pertinentes et decretum Prusensium. Addebat his et tuas litteras scriptas sibi, addebat et patris tui edictum et epistulam, quibus confirmasset beneficia a Domitiano data. 4 Itaque, quamvis eidem talia crimina applicarentur, nihil decernendum putavi, donec te consulerem de eo, quod mihi constitutione tua dignum videbatur. Ea quae sunt utrimque recitata his litteris subieci.

EPISTULA DOMITIANI AD TERENTIUM MAXIMUM

5 Flavius Archippus philosophus impetravit a me, ut agrum ei ad c circa PrusiadamÅ, patriam suam, emi iuberem, cuius reditu suos alere posset. Quod ei praestari volo. Summam expensam liberalitati meae feres.

EIUSDEM AD LAPPIUM MAXIMUM

6 Archippum philosophum, bonum virum et professioni suae etiam moribus respondentem, commendatum habeas velim, mi Maxime, et plenam ei humanitatem tuam praestes in iis, quae verecunde a te desideraverit.

EDICTUM DIVI NERVAE

7 Quaedam sine dubio, Quirites, ipsa felicitas temporum edicit, nec exspectandus est in iis bonus princeps, quibus illum intellegi satis est, cum hoc sibi civium meorum spondere possit vel non admonita persuasio, me securitatem omnium quieti meae praetulisse, ut et nova beneficia conferrem et ante me concessa servarem. 8 Ne tamen aliquam gaudiis publicis afferat haesitationem vel eorum qui impetraverunt diffidentia vel eius memoria qui praestitit, necessarium pariter credidi ac laetum obviam dubitantibus indulgentiam meam mittere. 9 Nolo existimet quisquam, quod alio principe vel privatim vel publice consecutus <sit> ideo saltem a me rescindi, ut potius mihi debeat. Sint rata et certa, nec gratulatio ullius instauratis egeat precibus, quem fortuna imperii vultu meliore respexit. le novis beneficiis vacare patiantur, et ea demum sciant roganda esse quae non habent.

EPISTULA EIUSDEM AD TULLIUM IUSTUM

10 Cum rerum omnium ordinatio, quae prioribus temporibus incohatae consummatae sunt, observanda sit, tum epistulis etiam Domitiani standum est.

58 (66.) — TO TRAJAN.

On my summoning the judges, sir, when opening my provincial court, Flavius Archippus began to plead excuse on the ground of being a philosopher. It was said by some that instead of being freed from the obligation of acting as judge, he ought to be removed altogether from the judicial list, and remitted to the punishment which he had escaped by breaking his chains. A decision of Velius Paulus, the proconsul, was cited, proving Archippus to have been condemned to the mines on a charge of forgery. He brought forward nothing to show that he had been reinstated: he alleged, however, in favour of his reinstatement, a memorial presented by himself to Domitian, and letters of the latter in which he was honourably mentioned, as also as a decree of the Prusenses. To these he added a letter written to him by yourself too, and an edict and a letter of your father confirming the favours granted by Domitian. Consequently, though such crimes were laid to the charge of this man, I deemed that nothing should be decreed till I had consulted you on a point which seemed worthy of being settled by you. I have added to this letter what was cited on both sides.

THE EPISTLE OF DOMITIAN TO TERENTIUS MAXIMUS.

Flavius Archippus, the philosopher, has begged me to grant him, in the neighbourhood of Prusa, his native place, some land sufficiently productive to maintain his family by its revenue. I will that this be accorded him. The whole sum expended you will charge to my liberality.

OF THE SAME TO L. APPIUS MAXIMUS.

I desire to recommend to you, my dear Maximus, Archippus the philosopher, a worthy man, and one whose conduct answers to his profession; and that you show him the full measure of your kindness in such things as he shall ask of you in moderation.

EDICT OF NERVA.

There are some things, Quirites, without doubt, which the felicity of these times spontaneously enjoins; nor is the goodness of a prince to be tested, in matters in which it is sufficient that it be understood: since the assurance, needing no reminder, of my subjects, is a warrant to them, that I have preferred the general security to my own repose, in order to confer many new favours, as well as to maintain those conceded before my time. In order, however, that no uncertainty may be introduced into the public joy, either through the diffidence of those who have obtained favours or through the recollection of him who granted them, I have deemed it at the same time a necessity and a pleasure, with the view of meeting all suspicions, to announce my kindly intentions. I am unwilling any one should suppose that what he has obtained either privately or publicly from another prince will be annulled by me, though it were only with the view of his owing it to me rather than another. All these things are hereby settled and confirmed: nor are fresh prayers necessary to complete the enjoyment of any one on whom the imperial favour has smiled. Let my subjects suffer me to find leisure for fresh benefits, and let them know that those things only are to be asked for which they do not possess.

LETTER OF THE SAME TO TULLIUS JUSTUS.

Inasmuch as all public ordinances which have received a commencement and completion in former reigns are to be observed, regard must also be paid to the letters of Domitian.

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59. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Flavius Archippus per salutem tuam aeternitatemque petit a me, ut libellum quem mihi dedit mitterem tibi. Quod ego sic roganti praestandum putavi, ita tamen ut missurum me notum accusatrici eius facerem, a qua et ipsa acceptum libellum his epistulis iunxi, quo facilius velut audita utraque parte dispiceres, quid statuendum putares.

59 (67.) — TO TRAJAN.

Flavius Archippus has conjured me, “by your health and immortality,” to send you the memorial he has handed to me. I have thought it right to comply with a request so couched, on condition, however, of my informing the prosecutrix that I was going to send it. I got a memorial from her as well, and have appended it to these letters, that having, as it were, heard both sides, you might be in a better condition to judge what you think should be determined.

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60. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Potuit quidem ignorasse Domitianus, in quo statu esset Archippus, cum tam multa ad honorem eius pertinentia scriberet; sed meae naturae accommodatius est credere etiam statui eius subventum interventu principis, praesertim cum etiam statuarum ei honor totiens decretus sit ab iis, qui <non> ignorabant, quid de illo Paulus proconsul pronuntiasset. 2 Quae tamen, mi Secunde carissime, non eo pertinent, ut si quid illi novi criminis obicitur, minus de eo audiendum putes. Libellos Furiae Primae accusatricis, item ipsius Archippi, quos alteri epistulae tuae iunxeras, legi.

60 (68.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Domitian, to be sure, may have been ignorant of the situation of Archippus, when he wrote so much tending to his honour. But it is more in accordance with my nature to suppose that the intervention of the Emperor was actually for the purpose of relieving his situation, especially as such an honour as that of a statue was so often decreed to him by persons who were not ignorant of the sentence passed on him by the Proconsul Paulus. All this, however, my dearest Secundus, must not go so far as to make you think you should be the slower to hear, in case anything in the shape of a fresh charge is brought against him. I have read the memorials of Furia Prima, the prosecutrix, also those of Archippus himself, which you appended to your former letters.

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61. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Tu quidem, domine, providentissime vereris,ne commissus flumini atque ita mari lacus effluat; sed ego in re praesenti invenisse videor, quem ad modum huic periculo occurrerem. 2 Potest enim lacus fossa usque ad flumen adduci nec tamen in flumen emitti, sed relicto quasi margine contineri pariter et dirimi. Sic consequemur, ut neque aqua viduetur flumini mixtus et sit perinde ac si misceatur. Erit enim facile per illam brevissimam terram, quae interiacebit, advecta fossa onera transponere in flumen. 3 Quod ita fiet si necessitas coget, et - spero - non coget. Est enim et lacus ipse satis altus et nunc in contrariam partem flumen emittit, quod interclusum inde et quo volumus aversum, sine ullo detrimento lacus tantum aquae quantum nunc portat effundet. Praeterea per id spatium, per quod fossa fodienda est, incidunt rivi; qui si diligenter colligantur, augebunt illud quod lacus dederit. 4 Enimvero, si placeat fossam longius ducere et altius pressam mari aequare nec in flumen, sed in ipsum mare emittere, repercussus maris servabit et reprimet, quidquid e lacu veniet. Quorum si nihil nobis loci natura praestaret, expeditum tamen erat cataractis aquae cursum temperare. 5 Verum et haec et alia multo sagacius conquiret explorabitque librator, quem plane, domine, debes mittere, ut polliceris. Est enim res digna et magnitudine tua et cura. Ego interim Calpurnio Macro clarissimo viro auctore te scripsi, ut libratorem quam maxime idoneum mitteret.

61 (69.) — TO TRAJAN.

You, sir, to be sure, with your great forethought, are apprehensive that if the lake be made to communicate with the river and so with the sea, it may be dried up. I, however, who am on the spot, fancy I have discovered a way of obviating this danger. The lake may be brought by means of a canal up to the river, and yet not be discharged into it, but be at the same time retained and kept separate from it, by leaving, as it were, a margin between the two. By this means we shall obtain as a result, that while the lake shall not seem to be emptied by being poured into the river, yet it will be as good as poured into it. For over this very small intermediate space it will be easy to transport to the river the cargoes brought to that point by means of the canal. The work will be so executed if necessity compels, though I hope it will not compel. For not only is the lake sufficiently high of itself, but also at the present moment it discharges a river on the opposite side, which may be dammed off from that direction, and diverted as we wish, and so, without any loss to the lake, be made to give all the water which it now carries. Moreover, on the ground along which the canal will have to be made, rivulets occur which, if they are carefully collected, will add to what the lake gives us. If, again, it be decided to prolong the canal, to dig it narrower, and to bring it on a level with the sea, and so to make it communicate not with the river but with the sea itself, the counter-pressure of the sea will preserve and keep back whatever comes from the lake. If the nature of the locality allowed of nothing of this kind, yet it would be easy to check the rapidity of the stream by means of sluices. However, these and other matters will be inquired into and investigated with much more sagacity by the surveyor whom you, sir, ought clearly to send according to promise. For the matter is one worthy of your greatness and your attention. I meanwhile have written to that distinguished man, Calpurnius Macer, at your suggestion, to send me as competent a surveyor as possible.

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62. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Manifestum, mi Secunde carissime, nec prudentiam nec diligentiam tibi defuisse circa istum lacum, cum tam multa provisa habeas, per quae nec periclitetur exhauriri et magis in usu nobis futurus sit. Elige igitur id quod praecipue res ipsa suaserit. Calpurnium Macrum credo facturum, ut te libratore instruat, neque provinciae istae his artificibus carent.

62 (70.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

It is clear, my dearest Secundus, that you have been wanting neither in prudence nor in diligence in the matter of the lake of which you speak: since you have provided so many expedients, by means of which not only will there be no danger of its being exhausted, but also it will be made more serviceable to us. Choose, then, whatever the circumstances themselves shall particularly recommend. I take it that Calpurnius Macer will arrange to furnish you with a surveyor, nor are those provinces deficient in professionals of this kind.

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63. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Scripsit mihi, domine, Lycormas libertus tuus ut, si qua legatio a Bosporo venisset urbem petitura, usque in adventum suum retineretur. Et legatio quidem, dumtaxat in eam civitatem, in qua ipse sum, nulla adhuc venit, sed venit tabellarius Sauromatae <regis>, quem ego usus opportunitate, quam mihi casus obtulerat, cum tabellario qui Lycormam ex itinere praecessit mittendum putavi, ut posses ex Lycormae et regis epistulis pariter cognoscere, quae fortasse pariter scire deberes.

63 (13.) — TO TRAJAN.

Lycormas, your freedman, has written me word, sir, that if any embassy came here from Bosphorus, on its way to Rome, it should be detained till his arrival. Now no embassy has as yet come, at any rate to the city in which I am: but a courier has come from the king of Sarmatia: and availing myself of the opportunity which chance offered, I have thought it right to send him on in company with the courier who preceded Lycormas, that you might be informed at the same time, by the letters of Lycormas and those of the king, of matters which perhaps ought to come to your knowledge at one and the same time.

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64. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Rex Sauromates scripsit mihi esse quaedam, quae deberes quam maturissime scire. Qua ex causa festinationem tabellarii, quem ad te cum epistulis misit, diplomate adiuvi.

64 (14.) — TO TRAJAN.

The king of Sarmatia has written me word that there are some matters on which you ought to be informed as soon as possible. For this reason I have helped to hasten the courier, whom he has sent to you with despatches, by the grant of a passport.

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65. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Magna, domine, et ad totam provinciam pertinens quaestio est de condicione et alimentis eorum, quos vocant ‘threptous’. 2 In qua ego auditis constitutionibus principum, quia nihil inveniebam aut proprium aut universale, quod ad Bithynos referretur, consulendum te existimavi, quid observari velles; neque putavi posse me in eo, quod auctoritatem tuam posceret, exemplis esse contentum. 3 Recitabatur autem apud me edictum, quod dicebatur divi Augusti, ad Andaniam pertinens; recitatae et epistulae divi Vespasiani ad Lacedaemonios et divi Titi ad eosdem et Achaeos et Domitiani ad Avidium Tigrinum et Armenium Brocchum proconsules, item ad Lacedaemonios; quae ideo tibi non misi, quia et parum emendata et quaedam non certae fidei videbantur, et quia vera et emendata in scriniis tuis esse credebam.

65 (71.) — TO TRAJAN.

A great question, sir, and one affecting the whole province, is that of the status and keep of those who are called “foundlings.” In this matter, after hearing the constitutions of the Emperors, as I could find nothing in them either of a particular or a general kind applicable to the Bithynians, I have judged it proper to consult you as to the course you would have pursued: nor, indeed, did I think that in a matter demanding your supreme judgment I could possibly be satisfied with a mere precedent. An edict was, however, cited to me, which was said to be one by the Emperor Augustus relating to Annia. Letters were also cited of the Emperor Vespasian to the Lacedæmonians, of the Emperor Titus to the same, and of Domitian to the proconsuls Avidius Nigrinus and Armenius Brocchus, also to the Lacedæmonians. These I have not sent to you, because they seemed to me to be mere rough drafts and some of them of doubtful authenticity, and because I believe the genuine and corrected letters to be among your archives.

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66. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Quaestio ista, quae pertinet ad eos qui liberi nati expositi, deinde sublati a quibusdam et in servitute educati sunt, saepe tractata est, nec quicquam invenitur in commentariis eorum principum, qui ante me fuerunt, quod ad omnes provincias sit constitutum. 2 Epistulae sane sunt Domitiani ad Avidium Nigrinum et Armenium Brocchum, quae fortasse debeant observari: sed inter eas provincias, de quibus rescripsit, non est Bithynia; et ideo nec assertionem denegandam iis qui ex eius modi causa in libertatem vindicabuntur puto, neque ipsam libertatem redimendam pretio alimentorum.

66 (72.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

This question — relating to those who, born free, have been exposed, and have been subsequently taken up by certain parties and reared in servitude — has been often treated of; yet there is nothing to be found in the commentaries of the Emperors who have preceded me, in the shape of a settled rule for all the provinces. There are, to be sure, letters of Domitian to Avidius Nigrinus and Armenius Brocchus, which, perhaps, ought to be had in regard, but between those provinces which are the subjects of his rescript... among which is Bithynia. I think, therefore, that an adjudication of freedom should not be refused to those who claim their liberty on these grounds, and, moreover, that this same liberty does not need to be purchased at the price of their keep.

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67. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Legato Sauromatae regis; cum sua sponte Nicaeae, ubi me invenerat, biduo substitisset, longiorem moram faciendam, domine, non putavi, primum quod incertum adhuc erat, quando libertus tuus Lycormas venturus esset, deinde quod ipse proficiscebar in diversam provinciae partem, ita officii necessitate exigente. 2 Haec in notitiam tuam perferenda existimavi, quia proxime scripseram petisse Lycormam, ut legationem, si qua venisset a Bosporo, usque in adventum suum retinerem. Quod diutius faciendi nulla mihi probabilis ratio occurrit, praesertim cum epistulae Lycormae, quas detinere, ut ante praedixi, nolui, aliquot diebus hinc legatum antecessurae viderentur.

67 (15.) — TO TRAJAN.

The ambassador of the king of Sarmatia having, of his own choice, halted a couple of days at Nicæa, where he found me, I judged, sir, that he ought not to be detained longer: first, because it was still uncertain when your freedman Lycormas would come, and next because I was myself starting for the other side of the province where the requirements of my office called me. I have thought these circumstances should be brought to your knowledge, because I recently wrote to you that Lycormas had asked me to detain till his arrival any embassy that might come from Bosphorus. No satisfactory reason occurs to me for doing this any longer, particularly as the letters of Lycormas (which I was unwilling, as I have before told you, to detain) seemed likely to precede this ambassador by some days.

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68. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Petentibus quibusdam, ut sibi reliquias suorum aut propter iniuriam vetustatis aut propter fluminis incursum aliaque his similia quocumque secundum exemplum proconsulum transferre permitterem, quia sciebam in urbe nostra ex eius modi causa collegium pontificum adiri solere, te, domine, maximum pontificem consulendum putavi, quid observare me velis.

68 (73.) — TO TRAJAN.

Certain parties have petitioned me to allow them, in accordance with the precedents of former governors, to transfer the ashes of their relations, either on account of the injuries done by time, or the encroachments of the river, or on a variety of other similar grounds. Knowing that at Rome, in cases of this kind, application is wont to be made to the Pontifical College, I have thought it right to consult you, sir, who are Pontifex Maximus, as to what course you would have me follow.

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69. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Durum est iniungere necessitatem provincialibus pontificum adeundorum, si reliquias suorum propter aliquas iustas causas transferre ex loco in alium locum velint. Sequenda ergo potius tibi exempla sunt eorum, qui isti provinciae praefuerunt, et ut causa cuique, ita aut permittendum aut negandum.

69 (74.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

It would be hard to inflict on the provincials the necessity of applying to the Pontifices, if they are desirous, on any good grounds, of transferring the ashes of their relatives from the place where these lie to some other. You should, therefore, rather follow the precedents of those who have governed that province: and give the permission, or refuse it in each case, according to the merits.

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70. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Quaerenti mihi, domine, Prusae ubi posset balineum quod indulsisti fieri, placuit locus in quo fuit aliquando domus, ut audio, pulchra, nunc deformis ruinis. Per hoc enim consequemur, ut foedissima facies civitatis ornetur, atque etiam ut ipsa civitas amplietur nec ulla aedificia tollantur, sed quae sunt vetustate sublapsa relaxentur in melius. 2 Est autem huius domus condicio talis: legaverat eam Claudius Polyaenus Claudio Caesari iussitque in peristylio templum ei fieri, reliqua ex domo locari. Ex ea reditum aliquamdiu civitas percepit; deinde paulatim partim spoliata, partim neglecta cum peristylio domus tota collapsa est, ac iam paene nihil ex ea nisi solum superest; quod tu, domine, sive donaveris civitati sive venire iusseris, propter opportunitatem loci pro summo munere accipiet. 3 Ego, si permiseris, cogito in area vacua balineum collocare, eum autem locum, in quo aedificia fuerunt, exedra et porticibus amplecti atque tibi consecrare, cuius beneficio elegans opus dignumque nomine tuo fiet. 4 Exemplar testamenti, quamquam mendosum, misi tibi; ex quo cognosces multa Polyaenum in eiusdem domus ornatum reliquisse, quae ut domus ipsa perierunt, a me tamen in quantum potuerit requirentur.

70 (75.) — TO TRAJAN.

On my inquiring, sir, whereabouts in Prusa the baths which you have accorded could be built, I pitched upon a spot where there was once, I am told, a fine house, now an unsightly ruin. In this way we shall insure that the extremely filthy aspect of the city will be improved, and even that the city itself will be enlarged, without any buildings being pulled down, but such as are crumbling with age being rebuilt on a larger and improved scale.

The circumstances of this house, however, are as follows. Claudius Polyænus left it by will to Claudius Cæsar, with the injunction that a temple should be raised to him in the peristyle, and the rest of the house should be let. For some time the commonwealth derived a revenue from it: afterwards, by degrees, partly through plunder, partly through neglect, the whole house has tumbled to pieces, peristyle included: and indeed by this time hardly anything of it remains but the ground on which it stood. If you, sir, would either make a present of this ground to the state, or order it to be sold, the act would be received as a great boon, on account of the eligibility of the site. For my part, if you will allow me, I design to place the baths where the open court was, and to enclose the place where the buildings were with a vestibule and colonnades to be dedicated to you, the benefactor to whom will be owing this handsome construction, worthy of your name. I have forwarded you a copy, though it is an imperfect one, of the will. From this you will see that Polyænus left many things for the adornment of this same house, which have disappeared with the house itself. However, I will make as diligent inquiry as possible for them.

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71. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Possumus apud Prusenses area ista cum domo collapsa, quam vacare scribis, ad exstructionem balinei uti. Illud tamen parum expressisti, an aedes in peristylio Claudio facta esset. Nam, si facta est, licet collapsa sit, religio eius occupavit solum .

71 (76.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

The inhabitants of Prusa are permitted to use the courtyard with the ruined house, which you tell me is vacant, for the construction of their baths. There is one thing, however, which you have not made sufficiently clear: whether the temple to Claudius was erected in the peristyle. For if it was erected, then, although it may have fallen down, the ground on which it stood is sacred.

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72. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Postulantibus quibusdam, ut de agnoscendis liberis restituendisque natalibus et secundum epistulam Domitiani scriptam Minicio Rufo et secundum exempla proconsulum ipse cognoscerem, respexi ad senatus consultum pertinens ad eadem genera causarum, quod de iis tantum provinciis loquitur, quibus proconsules praesunt; ideoque rem integram distuli, dum <tu>, domine, praeceperis, quid observare me velis.

72 (77.) — TO TRAJAN.

Having been applied to by certain parties to take personal cognisance of claims of freedom and the restoration of birthrights, in accordance with the rescript of Domitian written to Minucius Rufus, and the precedents set by proconsuls, I referred to the acts of the Senate pertaining to this kind of cause. It speaks of those provinces only which are governed by proconsuls. Consequently I have deferred the matter as it stands till you, sir, shall have advised what course you would have me follow.

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73. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Si mihi senatus consultum miseris quod haesitationem tibi fecit, aestimabo an debeas cognoscere de agnoscendis liberis et natalibus veris restituendis.

73 (73.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

When you have sent me the act of the Senate which has caused you to hesitate, I shall judge whether you ought to take cognisance of claims of freedom and the restoration of birthrights.

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74. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Appuleius, domine, miles qui est in statione Nicomedensi, scripsit mihi quendam nomine Callidromum, cum detineretur a Maximo et Dionysio pistoribus, quibus operas suas locaverat, confugisse ad tuam statuam perductumque ad magistratus indicasse, servisse aliquando Laberio Maximo, captumque a Susago in Moesia et a Decibalo muneri missum Pacoro Parthiae regi, pluribusque annis in ministerio eius fuisse, deinde fugisse, atque ita in Nicomediam pervenisse. 2 Quem ego perductum ad me, cum eadem narrasset, mittendum ad te putavi; quod paulo tardius feci, dum requiro gemmam, quam sibi habentem imaginem Pacori et quibus ornatus fuisset subtractam indicabat. 3 Volui enim hanc quoque, si inveniri potuisset, simul mittere, sicut glebulam misi, quam se ex Parthico metallo attulisse dicebat. Signata est anulos meo, cuius est aposphragisma quadriga.

74 (16.) — TO TRAJAN.

Appuleius, sir, an officer quartered at Nicomedia, has written to me of a certain person named Callidromus, who having been detained by Maximus and Dionysius, two bakers, in whose service he had engaged himself, fled for refuge to your statue. Being brought before the magistrates, he declared that he had formerly been in the service of Laberius Maximus, that he was made prisoner by Susagus in Mœsia, and sent by Decebalus as a present to Pacorus, the king of Parthia. In his service he remained for a number of years, and subsequently made his escape, and so came to Nicomedia. I had him brought before me, and, on his repeating the same story, have thought it right to send him to you. This I have delayed doing for a short time, while I searched for a gem which he declared had been stolen from him, and which contained the portrait of Pacorus in his insignia. For I wished to send this to you at the same time, if it could have been found, as I have sent a nugget which he says he brought from a mine in Parthia. It is sealed up with my ring, the device of which is a chariot with four horses.

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75. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Iulius, domine, Largus ex Ponto nondum mihi visus ac ne auditus quidem - scilicet iudicio tuo credidit - dispensationem quandam mihi erga te pietatis suae ministeriumque mandavit. 2 Rogavit enim testamento, ut hereditatem suam adirem cerneremque, ac deinde praeceptis quinquaginta milibus nummum reliquum omne Heracleotarum et Tianorum civitatibus redderem, ita ut esset arbitrii mei utrum opera facienda, quae honori tuo consecrarentur, putarem an instituendos quinquennales agonas, qui Traiani appellarentur. Quod in notitiam tuam perferendum existimavi ob hoc maxime, ut dispiceres quid eligere debeam.

75 (79.) — TO TRAJAN.

Julius Largus of Pontus, sir, whom I had never seen or even heard of — he must, to be sure, have confided in your judgment — has made me, as it were, the steward and minister of his affection towards you. For he has requested me in his will to enter upon his estate, and after taking for myself a sum of fifty thousand sesterces to bestow the whole of the residue on the cities of Heraclea and Tios; with the proviso that it should be at my option to decide whether buildings should be erected, to be consecrated in honour of you, or quinquennial games should be instituted, to be called the games of Trajan. I have thought it right to bring this to your knowledge, chiefly that you might consider what choice I ought to make.

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76. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Iulius Largus fidem tuam quasi te bene nosset elegit. Quid ergo potissimum ad perpetuitatem memoriae eius faciat, secundum cuiusque loci condicionem ipse dispice et quod optimum existimaveris, id sequere.

76 (80.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Julius Largus has selected you, for your good faith, as though he had known you well. You must yourself, then, consider what may best serve for perpetuating his memory, in accordance with the conditions of each locality: and what you shall deem most suitable, that do.

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77. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Providentissime, domine, fecisti, quod praecepisti Calpurnio Macro clarissimo viro, ut legionarium centurionem Byzantium mitteret. 2 Dispice an etiam Iuliopolitanis simili ratione consulendum putes, quorum civitas, cum sit perexigua, onera maxima sustinet tantoque graviores iniurias quanto est infirmior patitur. 3 Quidquid autem Iuliopolitanis praestiteris, id etiam toti provinciae proderit. Sunt enim in capite Bithyniae, plurimisque per eam commeantibus transitum praebent.

77 (81.) — TO TRAJAN.

You have acted most providently, sir, in ordering that distinguished man Calpurnius Macer to send a legionary centurion to Byzantium. Consider whether you are of opinion that a similar privilege might be conferred on the inhabitants of Juliopolis. Their city, being but a very small one, has very great burdens to bear: and is exposed to oppressions which are all the heavier in proportion to its weakness. Moreover, whatever you accord to the people of Juliopolis will be of service to the whole province. For they are at the entrance of Bithynia, and give passage to most of those who resort to it.

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78. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Ea condicio est civitatis Byzantiorum confluente undique in eam commeantium turba, ut secundum consuetudinem praecedentium temporum honoribus eius praesidio centurionis legionarii consulendum habuerimus. <Si> 2 Iuliopolitanis succurrendum eodem modo putaverimus, onerabimus nos exemplo; plures enim eo quanto infirmiores erunt idem petent. Fiduciam <eam> diligentiae <tuae> habeo, ut credam te omni ratione id acturum, ne sint obnoxii iniuriis. 3 Si qui autem se contra disciplinam meam gesserint, statim coerceantur; aut, si plus admiserint quam ut in re praesenti satis puniantur, si milites erunt, legatis eorum quod deprehenderis notum facies aut, si in urbem versus venturi erunt, mihi scribes.

78 (82.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

The condition of the city of Byzantium is such, owing to the great confluence of travellers into it from all parts, that, in accordance with the usage of previous times, I considered it proper to provide for its repute by a Legionary Centurion’s guard. If we shall think fit to assist the people of Juliopolis in the same way, we shall be burdening ourselves with a precedent. A number of others, and all the more so, the weaker they are, will be making the same request. I have such confidence in your diligence as to believe that you will use every exertion to prevent their being exposed to acts of oppression. If, however, any persons shall behave themselves contrary to my injunctions, let them be at once imprisoned: or if their offences are too great to be adequately punished in a summary way; in case they are soldiers, inform their generals of what you have discovered: in case they are coming to Rome, write to me.

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79. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Cautum est, domine, Pompeia lege quae Bithynis data est, ne quis capiat magistratum neve sit in senatu minor annorum triginta. Eadem lege comprehensum est, ut qui ceperint magistratum sint in senatu. 2 Secutum est dein edictum divi Augusti, quo permisit minores magistratus ab annis duobus et viginti capere. 3 Quaeritur ergo an, qui minor triginta annorum gessit magistratum, possit a censoribus in senatum legi, et, si potest, an ii quoque, qui non gesserint, possint per eandem interpretationem ab ea aetate senatores legi, a qua illis magistratum gerere permissum est; quod alioqui factitatum adhuc et esse necessarium dicitur, quia sit aliquanto melius honestorum hominum liberos quam e plebe in curiam admitti. 4 Ego a destinatis censoribus quid sentirem interrogatus eos quidem, qui minores triginta annis gessissent magistratum, putabam posse in senatum et secundum edictum Augusti et secundum legem Pompeiam legi, quoniam Augustus gerere magistratus minoribus annis triginta permisisset, lex senatorem esse voluisset qui gessisset magistratum. 5 De iis autem qui non gessissent, quamvis essent aetatis eiusdem cuius illi quibus gerere permissum est, haesitabam; per quod effectum est ut te, domine, consulerem, quid observari velles. Capita legis, tum edictum Augusti litteris subieci.

79 (83.) — TO TRAJAN.

It was provided, sir, by a law of Pompey’s given to the Bithynians, that no person should hold a public office, or sit in the Senate, under the age of thirty years. The same law included a provision that those who had been admitted to public offices should sit in the Senate. After this came an edict of the Emperor Augustus, allowing younger men to take office, the limit being two and twenty years. The question is, then, whether a man under thirty years of age, who has held office can be chosen by the Censors as a senator? And if he can, whether such also as have not held it, can, by a like interpretation, be chosen senators from the same age at which it is allowed them to hold an office? a thing which, besides has not only been often done up to the present time, but is even said to be necessary, since it is somewhat better that the sons of men of position should be admitted into the Senate rather than plebeians. Having been asked for my opinion by the Censors elect, I thought that those under thirty years of age who had held office might be chosen senators, in accordance both with the edict of Augustus and the law of Pompey: inasmuch as Augustus had allowed persons under thirty to hold office, and the law enacted that he who had held office should be a senator. As to such as had not held it, although of the same age as those who had been allowed to hold it, I hesitated. Hence I have been brought to consult you, sir, as to what course you would have followed. I have appended to this edict the heads of the law, also the edict of Augustus.

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80. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Interpretationi tuae, mi Secunde carissime, idem existimo: hactenus edicto divi Augusti novatam esse legem Pompeiam, ut magistratum quidem capere possent ii, qui non minores duorum et viginti annorum essent, et qui cepissent, in senatum cuiusque civitatis pervenirent. Ceterum non capto magistratu eos, qui minores triginta annorum sint, quia magistratum capere possint, in curiam etiam loci cuiusque non existimo legi posse.

80 (84.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I agree with you, dearest Secundus, in your interpretation, that Pompey’s law has been amended by the Emperor Augustus’s edict so far as this, that persons can be admitted to public offices, who are not under twenty-two years of age, and that such as had been so admitted should find their way into the Senate of each commonwealth. But, where no office has been entered on, I do not think that those who are under thirty years are capable of being chosen senators in their several localities, on the ground that they are eligible for such offices.

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81. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Cum Prusae ad Olympum, domine, publicis negotiis intra hospitium eodem die exiturus vacarem, Asclepiades magistratus indicavit appellatum me a Claudio Eumolpo. Cum Cocceianus Dion in bule assignari civitati opus cuius curam egerat vellet, tum Eumolpus assistens Flavio Archippo dixit exigendam esse a Dione rationem operis, ante quam rei publicae traderetur, quod aliter fecisset ac debuisset. 2 Adiecit etiam esse in eodem positam tuam statuam et corpora sepultorum, uxoris Dionis et filii, postulavitque ut cognoscerem pro tribunali. 3 Quod cum ego me protinus facturum dilaturumque profectionem dixissem, ut longiorem diem ad struendam causam darem utque in alia civitate cognoscerem petiit. 4 Ego me auditurum Nicaeae respondi. Ubi cum consedissem cogniturus, idem Eumolpus tamquam si adhuc parum instructus dilationem petere coepit, contra Dion ut audiretur exigere. 5 Dicta sunt utrimque multa, etiam de causa. Ego cum dandam dilationem et <te> consulendum existimarem in re ad exemplum pertinenti, dixi utrique parti ut postulationum suarum libellos darent. Volebam enim te ipsorum potissimum verbis ea quae erant proposita cognoscere. 6 Et Dion quidem se daturum dixit. Eumolpus respondit complexurum se libello quae rei publicae peteret, ceterum quod ad sepultos pertineret non accusatorem se sed advocatum Flavi Archippi, cuius mandata pertulisset. Archippus, cui Eumolpus sicut Prusiade assistebat, dixit se libellum daturum. At nec Eumolpus nec Archippus quam<quam> plurimis diebus exspectati adhuc mihi libellos dederunt; Dion dedit, quem huic epistulae iunxi. 7 Ipse in re praesenti fui et vidi tuam quoque statuam in bibliotheca positam, id autem in quo dicuntur sepulti filius et uxor Dionis in area collocatum, quae porticibus includitur. 8 Te, domine, rogo ut me in hoc praecipue genere cognitionis regere digneris, cum alioqui magna sit exspectatio, ut necesse est in ea re quae et in confessum venit et exemplis defenditur.

81 (85.) — TO TRAJAN.

While I was employed in public business in my own apartments at Prusa under Mount Olympus, sir, being about to leave the same day, Asclepiades, a magistrate, announced that an appeal had been lodged with me by Claudius Eumolpus. Coccianus Dion having moved in the Council that a construction which he had had the charge of should be assigned to the city, thereupon Eumolpus, backed by Flavius Archippus, declared that Dion should be required to furnish the accounts relating to the construction before it was handed over to the city, on the ground of his not having acted as he ought to have done. He added, moreover, that in this same construction there were placed, together with your statue, the corpses of interred persons — those of Dion’s wife and son; and he demanded that I should try the matter publicly. Upon my telling him that I would immediately do this, and would adjourn my departure accordingly, he asked me to grant a longer interval for the purpose of getting up the case, and to try it in some other city. I replied that I would hear it at Nicæa. When I had taken my seat there for the purpose of trying it, the same Eumolpus, on the plea of not yet being sufficiently prepared, began by asking for an adjournment: Dion, on the other hand, demanded that it should be heard. A great deal was said on both sides, and on the merits of the case as well. For my part, being of opinion that an adjournment should be granted, and counsel taken of you in a matter likely to form a precedent, I told each side to give in a written statement of their respective demands, for I desired that you should know what was put forward, above all things, in the very words of the parties themselves. Dion said he would give this in, and Eumolpus replied that he would include in a written statement his claims on behalf of the commonwealth; but that as regarded the interred bodies, he was not the accuser, but only the advocate of Flavius Archippus, whose instructions he had obeyed. Archippus, however, who stood by Eumolpus here as at Prusa, said that he would hand in a statement. Such being the case, neither Eumolpus nor Archippus, though waited for for many days, have as yet sent me their statements. Dion has sent his, which I have joined to this letter. I myself went to the spot, and saw that your statue was added to the library. The edifice, however, where the son and wife of Dion are said to be buried is situated in the courtyard, which is enclosed by a colonnade. I pray, sir, that you would deign to direct me, especially in such a kind of investigation as this, as to which, moreover, great interest is felt. Indeed this must be the case in a matter where the charge is at the same time acknowledged and defended by precedents.

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82. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Potuisti non haerere, mi Secunde carissime, circa id de quo me consulendum existimasti, cum propositum meum optime nosses, non ex metu nec terrore hominum aut criminibus maiestatis reverentiam nomini meo acquiri. 2 Omissa ergo ea quaestione, quam non admitterem etiam si exemplis adiuvaretur, ratio totius operis effecti sub cura Cocceiani Dionis excutiatur, cum et utilitas civitatis exigat nec aut recuset Dion aut debeat recusare.

82 (86.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You might have been free from doubt, dearest Secundus, as to the matter on which you have thought it right to consult me, since you perfectly well knew my settled purpose not to attract awe to my name through fear or the terrors of men, or charges of treason. Leaving out of the question, then, an inquiry which I should not entertain even if it were supported by precedents, let the entire accounts of the construction carried out under the supervision of Coccianus Dion be investigated, since this is a course demanded by the interests of the city, and which Dion neither can oppose nor is entitled to oppose.

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83. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Rogatus, domine, a Nicaeensibus publice per ea, quae mihi et sunt et debent esse sanctissima, id est per aeternitatem tuam salutemque, ut preces suas ad te perferrem, fas non putavi negare acceptumque ab iis libellum huic epistulae iunxi.

83 (87.) — TO TRAJAN.

The Nicæans have publicly entreated me, sir, by what to me both are and ought to be most sacred, that is by your wellbeing and immortal fame, that I would transmit their prayers to you. Not thinking it right to refuse the request, I have appended to this letter a memorial received from them.

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84. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Nicaeensibus, qui intestatorum civium suorum concessam vindicationem bonorum a divo Augusto affirmant, debebis vacare contractis omnibus personis ad idem negotium pertinentibus, adhibitis Virdio Gemellino et Epimacho liberto meo procuratoribus, ut aestimatis etiam iis, quae contra dicuntur, quod optimum credideritis, statuatis.

84 (88.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

It will be your duty to entertain the affair of the Nicæans, who affirm that the Emperor Augustus granted their city the right to claim the property of such of its citizens as died intestate. You will have to convoke all persons concerned in this business, summoning to your assistance Virbius Gemellinus and Epimachus, my freedman, the imperial agents, in order that, having likewise duly weighed what is urged on the opposite side, you may together determine as you shall judge best.

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85. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Maximum libertum et procuratorem tuum, domine, per omne tempus, quo fuimus una, probum et industrium et diligentem ac sicut rei tuae amantissimum ita disciplinae tenacissimum expertus, libenter apud te testimonio prosequor, ea fide quam tibi debeo.

85 (17.) — TO TRAJAN.

Having found Maximus, your freedman and agent, sir, throughout the whole time that we have been together, to be an upright, active, and diligent man, one who is devoted to your interests, and at the same time most observant of discipline, I gladly give my testimony in his favour with that fidelity which I owe you.

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86 A. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Gavium Bassum, domine, praefectum orae Ponticae integrum probum industrium atque inter ista reverentissimum mei expertus, voto pariter et suffragio prosequor, ea fide quam tibi debeo.

86 A (18.) — TO TRAJAN.

Having found Gavius Bassus, sir, the prefect of the Pontic coast, to be a man of integrity, uprightness, and industry, and with all this most respectful towards myself, I tender my wishes and suffrages on his behalf with that fidelity which I owe you.

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86 B. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

... quam ea quae speret instructum commilitio tuo, cuius disciplinae debet, quod indulgentia tua dignus est. Apud me et milites et pagani, a quibus iustitia eius et humanitas penitus inspecta est, certatim ei qua privatim qua publice testimonium perhibuerunt. Quod in notitiam tuam perfero, ea fide quam tibi debeo.

86 B (18.) — TO TRAJAN.

... Trained by having served under your command, to whose schooling he owes it that he is worthy of your favour. Both soldiers and civilians, who have had thorough experience of his impartiality and affability, have vied with each other in conveying to me their testimony, private as well as public, on his behalf. This I bring to your notice with that fidelity which I owe you.

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87. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Nymphidium Lupum, domine, primipilarem commilitonem habui, cum ipse tribunus essem ille praefectus: inde familiariter diligere coepi. Crevit postea caritas ipsa mutuae vetustate amicitiae. 2 Itaque et quieti eius inieci manum et exegi, ut me in Bithynia consilio instrueret. Quod ille amicissime et otii et senectutis ratione postposita et iam fecit et facturus est. 3 Quibus ex causis necessitudines eius inter meas numero, filium in primis, Nymphidium Lupum, iuvenem probum industrium et egregio patre dignissimum, suffecturum indulgentiae tuae, sicut primis eius experimentis cognoscere potes, cum praefectus cohortis plenissimum testimonium meruerit Iuli Ferocis et Fusci Salinatoris clarissimorum virorum. Meum gaudium, domine, meamque gratulationem filii honore cumulabis.

87 (19.) — TO TRAJAN.

Nymphidius Lupus, sir, a former Primipilus, was my comrade in arms at the time when I myself was Tribune and he was Præfect. From that time I began to cherish him closely. Subsequently my regard for him grew from the very length of our mutual friendship. On the strength of this, I have laid violent hands on his repose, and have forced him to assist me with his counsel in Bithynia. This he has not only already done, but will continue to do in the most friendly way, and laying aside all considerations of ease and age. For these reasons I reckon his belongings among my own, and particularly his son Nymphidius Lupus, a young man of probity and energy, one in every way worthy of his distinguished father, and who will do credit to your indulgent notice of him. This indeed you may learn from the first proofs he has given as Præfect of a cohort, in which capacity he gained the highest character from those eminent men, Julius Ferox and Fuscus Salinator. My joy and self-congratulation will be satisfied by the advancement of the son.

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88. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Opto, domine, et hunc natalem et plurimos alios quam felicissimos agas aeternaque laude florentem virtutis tuae gloriam ... quam incolumis et fortis aliis super alia operibus augebis.

88 (89.) — TO TRAJAN.

I pray, sir, that you may have the happiest of birthdays, and many others like it, and that in strength and security you may ever be adding by fresh achievements to that glory flourishing with immortal renown, which you derive from your virtues.

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89. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Agnosco vota tua, mi Secunde carissime, quibus precaris, ut plurimos et felicissimos natales florente statu rei publicae nostrae agam.

89 (90.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I acknowledge with thanks, dearest Secundus, the prayers you offer that I may have many birthdays, and very happy ones, with our country in a flourishing condition.

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90. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Sinopenses, domine, aqua deficiuntur; quae videtur et bona et copiosa ab sexto decimo miliario posse perduci. Est tamen statim ab capite paulo amplius passus mille locus suspectus et mollis, quem ego interim explorari modico impendio iussi, an recipere et sustinere opus possit. 2 Pecunia curantibus nobis contracta non deerit, si tu, domine, hoc genus operis et salubritati et amoenitati valde sitientis coloniae indulseris.

90 (91.) — TO TRAJAN.

The inhabitants of Sinope, sir, are short of water, which it seems might be brought in, of good quality and in abundance, from a distance of sixteen miles. There is, however, close upon the source, that is a little more than a mile off, a suspicious and boggy spot: this I have meanwhile ordered to be examined, at a small expense, to see whether it is capable of receiving and supporting an aqueduct. We shall not want for money, which I have taken care to collect, provided you, sir, accord this kind of construction in view of the salubrity and attractiveness of a very thirsty town.

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91. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Ut coepisti, Secunde carissime, explora diligenter, an locus ille quem suspectum habes sustinere opus aquae ductus possit. Neque dubitandum puto, quin aqua perducenda sit in coloniam Sinopensem, si modo et viribus suis assequi potest, cum plurimum ea res et salubritati et voluptati eius collatura sit.

91 (92.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

As you have begun, dearest Secundus, so go on carefully to investigate whether the particular spot, which is suspicious to you, can bear such a work as an aqueduct. For I do not doubt that water should be brought into the town of Sinope, provided the town itself can effect this at its own charge only: since such a result would add much both to its salubrity and to its agreeableness.

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92. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Amisenorum civitas libera et foederata beneficio indulgentiae tuae legibus suis utitur. In hac datum mihi libellum ad ‘epanous’ pertinentem his litteris subieci, ut tu, domine, dispiceres quid et quatenus aut permittendum aut prohibendum putares.

92 (93.) — TO TRAJAN.

The free and confederate city of the Amiseni, by favour of your indulgence, enjoys its own laws. A petition was handed to me there relating to “Charitable Collections,” which I have appended to this letter, that you, sir, might judge what things (and how far things of this kind) should be either allowed or prohibited.

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93. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Amisenos, quorum libellum epistulae tuae iunxeras, si legibus istorum, quibus beneficio foederis utuntur, concessum est eranum habere, possumus quo minus habeant non impedire, eo facilius si tali collatione non ad turbas et ad illicitos coetus, sed ad sustinendam tenuiorum inopiam utuntur. In ceteris civitatibus, quae nostro iure obstrictae sunt, res huius modi prohibenda est.

93 (94.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

As to the Amiseni, whose petition you have appended to your letter: if by their laws (which they enjoy in virtue of their confederation with us) it is permitted them to have charitable collections, we cannot prevent their doing so: and all the less, if they employ contributions of this kind, not in assembling crowds and illegal gatherings, but in aiding the needs of the indigent. In the other cities which are bound by our laws, things of this kind must be prohibited.

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94. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Suetonium Tranquillum, probissimum honestissimum eruditissimum virum, et mores eius secutus et studia iam pridem, domine, in contubernium assumpsi, tantoque magis diligere coepi quanto nunc propius inspexi. 2 Huic ius trium liberorum necessarium faciunt duae causae; nam et iudicia amicorum promeretur et parum felix matrimonium expertus est, impetrandumque a bonitate tua per nos habet quod illi fortunae malignitas denegavit. 3 Scio, domine, quantum beneficium petam, sed peto a te cuius in omnibus desideriis meis indulgentiam experior. Potes enim colligere quanto opere cupiam, quod non rogarem absens si mediocriter cuperem.

94 (95.) — TO TRAJAN.

Suetonius Tranquillus, sir, is a most upright, honourable, and learned man. Having long been attracted by his character and studious pursuits, I have admitted him to my intimacy, and the more closely I have observed him, the more have I begun to cherish him. The rights enjoyed by those who have three children are rendered a necessity to him for two reasons. His deserts often obtain for him a mention in his friends’ wills, and at the same time his marriage has not turned out fruitful. It is from your bounty that he must obtain, through my intercession, what the malignity of Fortune has refused him. I know, sir, how great is the favour which I ask. But it is of you that I am asking it, you whose indulgence I experience in all my requests. You may, moreover, gather how ardent must be my desire in a matter which I should not ask you for, when absent from you, if that desire were merely of an ordinary character.

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95. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Quam parce haec beneficia tribuam, utique, mi Secunde carissime, haeret tibi, cum etiam in senatu affirmare soleam non excessisse me numerum, quem apud amplissimum ordinem suffecturum mihi professus sum. Tuo tamen desiderio subscripsi et dedisse me ius trium liberorum Suetonio Tranquillo ea condicione, qua assuevi, referri in commentarios meos iussi.

95 (96.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

How sparing I am in bestowing such favours as these you must certainly remember, my dearest Secundus, seeing that I often declare in the Senate itself that I have not gone beyond the number of favoured persons which, in the presence of that illustrious assembly, I promised should suffice me. However, I have subscribed to your wishes, and have ordered it to be entered on my registers, that I have accorded to Suetonius Tranquillus the rights of those who have three children, on the usual conditions.

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96. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI. (Emperor’s Instructions Regarding Christians)

1 Sollemne est mihi, domine, omnia de quibus dubito ad te referre. Quis enim potest melius vel cunctationem meam regere vel ignorantiam instruere? Cognitionibus de Christianis interfui numquam: ideo nescio quid et quatenus aut puniri soleat aut quaeri. 2 Nec mediocriter haesitavi, sitne aliquod discrimen aetatum, an quamlibet teneri nihil a robustioribus differant; detur paenitentiae venia, an ei, qui omnino Christianus fuit, desisse non prosit; nomen ipsum, si flagitiis careat, an flagitia cohaerentia nomini puniantur. Interim, <in> iis qui ad me tamquam Christiani deferebantur, hunc sum secutus modum. 3 Interrogavi ipsos an essent Christiani. Confitentes iterum ac tertio interrogavi supplicium minatus; perseverantes duci iussi. Neque enim dubitabam, qualecumque esset quod faterentur, pertinaciam certe et inflexibilem obstinationem debere puniri. 4 Fuerunt alii similis amentiae, quos, quia cives Romani erant, adnotavi in urbem remittendos.

Mox ipso tractatu, ut fieri solet, diffundente se crimine plures species inciderunt. 5 Propositus est libellus sine auctore multorum nomina continens. Qui negabant esse se Christianos aut fuisse, cum praeeunte me deos appellarent et imagini tuae, quam propter hoc iusseram cum simulacris numinum afferri, ture ac vino supplicarent, praeterea male dicerent Christo, quorum nihil cogi posse dicuntur qui sunt re vera Christiani, dimittendos putavi. 6 Alii ab indice nominati esse se Christianos dixerunt et mox negaverunt; fuisse quidem sed desisse, quidam ante triennium, quidam ante plures annos, non nemo etiam ante viginti. <Hi> quoque omnes et imaginem tuam deorumque simulacra venerati sunt et Christo male dixerunt. 7 Affirmabant autem hanc fuisse summam vel culpae suae vel erroris, quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire, carmenque Christo quasi deo dicere secum invicem seque sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere, sed ne furta ne latrocinia ne adulteria committerent, ne fidem fallerent, ne depositum appellati abnegarent. Quibus peractis morem sibi discedendi fuisse rursusque coeundi ad capiendum cibum, promiscuum tamen et innoxium; quod ipsum facere desisse post edictum meum, quo secundum mandata tua hetaerias esse vetueram. 8 Quo magis necessarium credidi ex duabus ancillis, quae ministrae dicebantur, quid esset veri, et per tormenta quaerere. Nihil aliud inveni quam superstitionem pravam et immodicam.

9 Ideo dilata cognitione ad consulendum te decucurri. Visa est enim mihi res digna consultatione, maxime propter periclitantium numerum. Multi enim omnis aetatis, omnis ordinis, utriusque sexus etiam vocantur in periculum et vocabuntur. Neque civitates tantum, sed vicos etiam atque agros superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est; quae videtur sisti et corrigi posse. 10 Certe satis constat prope iam desolata templa coepisse celebrari, et sacra sollemnia diu intermissa repeti passimque venire <carnem> victimarum, cuius adhuc rarissimus emptor inveniebatur. Ex quo facile est opinari, quae turba hominum emendari possit, si sit paenitentiae locus.

96 (97.) — TO TRAJAN. (Emperor’s Instructions Regarding Christians)

It is with me, sir, an established custom to refer to you all matters on which I am in doubt. Who, indeed, is better able, either to direct my scruples or to instruct my ignorance?

I have never been present at trials of Christians, and consequently do not know for what reasons, or how far, punishment is usually inflicted or inquiry made in their case. Nor have my hesitations been slight: as to whether any distinction of age should be made, or persons however tender in years should be viewed as differing in no respect from the full-grown: whether pardon should be accorded to repentance, or he who has once been a Christian should gain nothing by having ceased to be one: whether the very profession itself if unattended by crime, or else the crimes necessarily attaching to the profession, should be made the subject of punishment.

Meanwhile, in the case of those who have been brought before me in the character of Christians, my course has been as follows: — I put it to themselves whether they were or were not Christians. To such as professed that they were, I put the inquiry a second and a third time, threatening them with the supreme penalty. Those who persisted, I ordered to execution. For, indeed, I could not doubt, whatever might be the nature of that which they professed, that their pertinacity, at any rate, and inflexible obstinacy, ought to be punished. There were others afflicted with like madness, with regard to whom, as they were Roman citizens, I made a memorandum that they were to be sent for judgment to Rome. Soon, the very handling of this matter causing, as often happens, the area of the charge to spread, many fresh examples occurred. An anonymous paper was put forth containing the names of many persons. Those who denied that they either were or had been Christians, upon their calling on the gods after me, and upon their offering wine and incense before your statue, which for this purpose I had ordered to be introduced in company with the images of the gods, moreover upon their reviling Christ — none of which things it is said can such as are really and truly Christians be compelled to do — these I deemed it proper to dismiss. Others named by the informer admitted that they were Christians, and then shortly afterwards denied it, adding that they had been Christians, but had ceased to be so, some three years, some many years, more than one of them as much as twenty years, before. All these, too, not only honoured your image and the effigies of the gods, but also reviled Christ. They affirmed, however, that this had been the sum, whether of their crime or their delusion; they had been in the habit of meeting together on a stated day, before sunrise, and of offering in turns a form of invocation to Christ, as to a god; also of binding themselves by an oath, not for any guilty purpose, but not to commit thefts, or robberies, or adulteries, not to break their word, not to repudiate deposits when called upon; these ceremonies having been gone through, they had been in the habit of separating, and again meeting together for the purpose of taking food — food, that is, of an ordinary and innocent kind. They had, however, ceased from doing even this, after my edict, in which, following your orders, I had forbidden the existence of Fraternities. This made me think it all the more necessary to inquire, even by torture, of two maid-servants, who were styled deaconesses, what the truth was. I could discover nothing else than a vicious and extravagant superstition: consequently, having adjourned the inquiry, I have had recourse to your counsels. Indeed, the matter seemed to me a proper one for consultation, chiefly on account of the number of persons imperilled. For many of all ages and all ranks, ay, and of both sexes, are being called, and will be called, into danger. Nor are cities only permeated by the contagion of this superstition, but villages and country parts as well; yet it seems possible to stop it and cure it. It is in truth sufficiently evident that the temples, which were almost entirely deserted, have begun to be frequented, that the customary religious rites which had long been interrupted are being resumed, and that there is a sale for the food of sacrificial beasts, for which hitherto very few buyers indeed could be found. From all this it is easy to form an opinion as to the great number of persons who may be reclaimed, if only room be granted for penitence.

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97. TRAIANUS PLINIO

1 Actum quem debuisti, mi Secunde, in excutiendis causis eorum, qui Christiani ad te delati fuerant, secutus es. Neque enim in universum aliquid, quod quasi certam formam habeat, constitui potest. 2 Conquirendi non sunt; si deferantur et arguantur, puniendi sunt, ita tamen ut, qui negaverit se Christianum esse idque re ipsa manifestum fecerit, id est supplicando dis nostris, quamvis suspectus in praeteritum, veniam ex paenitentia impetret. Sine auctore vero propositi libelli <in> nullo crimine locum habere debent. Nam et pessimi exempli nec nostri saeculi est.

97 (98.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You have followed the right mode of procedure, my dear Secundus, in investigating the cases of those who had been brought before you as Christians. For, indeed, it is not possible to establish any universal rule, possessing as it were a fixed form. These people should not be searched for; if they are informed against and convicted they should be punished; yet, so that he who shall deny being a Christian, and shall make this plain in action, that is by worshipping our gods, even though suspected on account of his past conduct, shall obtain pardon by his penitence. Anonymous informations, however, ought not to be allowed a standing in any kind of charge; a course which would not only form the worst of precedents, but which is not in accordance with the spirit of our time.

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98. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Amastrianorum civitas, domine, et elegans et ornata habet inter praecipua opera pulcherrimam eandemque longissimam plateam; cuius a latere per spatium omne porrigitur nomine quidem flumen, re vera cloaca foedissima, ac sicut turpis immundissimo aspectu, ita pestilens odore taeterrimo. 2 Quibus ex causis non minus salubritatis quam decoris interest eam contegi; quod fiet si permiseris curantibus nobis, ne desit quoque pecunia operi tam magno quam necessario.

98 (99.) — TO TRAJAN.

The city of Amastris, sir, which is handsome and tastefully built, possesses among its finest constructions a very beautiful and at the same time very long boulevard, all along one side of which runs what indeed is called a river, but is in reality a very foul sewer, hideous with its filthy aspect, and equally pestilent from its disgusting odour. For this reason it is a concern of salubrity no less than of appearance, that it should be covered up. This shall be done, with your permission, on our undertaking that money too shall not be wanting for the execution of a work as important as it is necessary.

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99. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Rationis est, mi Secunde carissime, contegi aquam istam, quae per civitatem Amastrianorum fluit, si intecta salubritati obest. Pecunia ne huic operi desit, curaturum te secundum diligentiam tuam certum habeo.

99 (100.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

It stands to reason, my dearest Secundus, that the water in question which flows through the city of Amastris should be covered up, if in its uncovered state it is injurious to health. As to money not failing for the work, that I am confident you will see to with your customary diligence.

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100. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Vota, domine, priore anno nuncupata alacres laetique persolvimus novaque rursus certante commilitonum et provincialium pietate suscepimus, precati deos ut te remque publicam florentem et incolumem ea benignitate servarent, quam super magnas plurimasque virtutes praecipua sanctitate obsequio deorum honore meruisti.

100 (101.) — TO TRAJAN.

We have acquitted ourselves, sir, with joy and alacrity of the vows offered up last year, and have taken on ourselves fresh ones, troops and provincials vying with each other in loyal affection. We have prayed the gods to preserve you and the commonwealth in prosperity and safety, with all the favour which — in addition to your other great and numerous virtues — you have merited by your exemplary piety, submission, and godliness.

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101. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Solvisse vota dis immortalibus te praeeunte pro mea incolumitate commilitones cum provincialibus laetissimo consensu et in futurum nuncupasse libenter, mi Secunde carissime, cognovi litteris tuis.

101 (102.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I have been pleased to learn from your letter, my dearest Secundus, that troops and provincials have, with most cheerful consent, acquitted themselves of their vows for my safety to the immortal gods, yourself leading the way, and that they have offered fresh vows for the future.

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102. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Diem, quo in te tutela generis humani felicissima successione translata est, debita religione celebravimus, commendantes dis imperii tui auctoribus et vota publica et gaudia.

102 (103.) — TO TRAJAN.

We have celebrated, with due rites, the day on which the guardianship of the human race was transferred to you, by a most happy succession; commending to the gods, the ordainers of your rule, our public vows and our joys.

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103. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Diem imperii mei debita laetitia et religione commilitonibus et provincialibus praeeunte te celebratum libenter cognovi litteris tuis.

103 (104.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I have been pleased to learn from your letter that the day of my accession has been celebrated with due joyfulness and religious rites by the troops and provincials, yourself leading the way.

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104. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Valerius, domine, Paulinus excepto Paulino ius Latinorum suorum mihi reliquit; ex quibus rogo tribus interim ius Quiritium des. Vereor enim, ne sit immodicum pro omnibus pariter invocare indulgentiam tuam, qua debeo tanto modestius uti, quanto pleniorem experior. Sunt autem pro quibus peto: C. Valerius Astraeus, C. Valerius Dionysius, C. Valerius Aper.

104 (105.) — TO TRAJAN.

Valerius Paulinus, sir, has bequeathed to me the patronage of his freedmen, to the exclusion of Paulinus. Of these, I pray you to grant the Roman citizenship to three for the present; for I fear it would be exceeding the bounds to invoke your favour on behalf of all of them at the same time; a favour which it behoves me to be all the more modest in availing myself of, in proportion to the great fulness in which I experience it. These, however, for whom I am applying are, C. Valerius Astræus, C. Valerius Dionysius, and C. Valerius Axer.

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105. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Cum honestissime iis, qui apud fidem tuam a Valerio Paulino depositi sunt, consultum velis mature per me, iis interim, quibus nunc petisti, dedisse me ius Quiritium referri in commentarios meos iussi idem facturus in ceteris, pro quibus petieris.

105 (106.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

It is most generous on your part to seek the speedy advantage, through my agency, of those who have been confided to your honour by Valerius Paulinus; accordingly, I have ordered an entry to be made in my registers to the effect that I have granted the Roman citizenship to those, for the present, for whom you have now asked it; and will do the same for others on behalf of whom you shall hereafter ask it.

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106. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Rogatus, domine, a P. Accio Aquila, centurione cohortis sextae equestris, ut mitterem tibi libellum per quem indulgentiam pro statu filiae suae implorat, durum putavi negare, cum scirem quantam soleres militum precibus patientiam humanitatemque praestare.

106 (107.) — TO TRAJAN.

Having been requested, sir, by P. Accius Aquila, a centurion of the Sixth Cavalry Cohort, to forward you a memorial, in which he implores your favourable consideration of his daughter’s status, I thought it hard to refuse him, knowing as I do the great patience and kindliness which you exhibit towards the prayers of soldiers.

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107. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Libellum P. Accii Aquilae, centurionis sextae equestris, quem mihi misisti, legi; cuius precibus motus dedi filiae eius civitatem Romanam. Libellum rescriptum, quem illi redderes, misi tibi.

104 (108.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

I have read the memorial of P. Accius Aquila, a centurion in the Sixth Cavalry Cohort, which you forwarded to me, and, moved by his prayers, I have granted the Roman citizenship to his daughter. I have forwarded to you a certificate of the rescript, for you to hand to him.

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108. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Quid habere iuris velis et Bithynas et Ponticas civitates in exigendis pecuniis, quae illis vel ex locationibus vel ex venditionibus aliisve causis debeantur, rogo, domine, rescribas. Ego inveni a plerisque proconsulibus concessam iis protopraxian eamque pro lege valuisse. 2 Existimo tamen tua providentia constituendum aliquid et sanciendum per quod utilitatibus eorum in perpetuum consulatur. Nam quae sunt ab illis instituta, sint licet sapienter indulta, brevia tamen et infirma sunt, nisi illis tua contingit auctoritas.

105 (109.) — TO TRAJAN.

I should be obliged, sir, by your writing me word as to the rights you would wish the cities of Bithynia and Pontus to enjoy, in respect to calling in moneys owing to them either in the shape of rent, or for sales of property, or for any other reason. For my part, I have found that a preference over other creditors has been accorded them by most of the proconsuls, and has obtained the force of law. I am of opinion, however, that some rule should be established, and ratified by your wisdom, of a kind to conduce to their permanent interests. For as for what has been instituted by others, wise as such grants may have been, yet they are but temporary, and wanting in stability, unless they should enjoy the advantage of your authorisation.

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109. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Quo iure uti debeant Bithynae vel Ponticae civitates in iis pecuniis, quae ex quaque causa rei publicae debebuntur, ex lege cuiusque animadvertendum est. Nam, sive habent privilegium, quo ceteris creditoribus anteponantur, custodiendum est, sive non habent, in iniuriam privatorum id dari a me non oportebit.

109 (110.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

As to the rights which the cities of Bithynia and Pontus should enjoy in the matter of moneys which shall he owing, on any account, to the commonwealth, this must be looked to, according to the laws of each city. For in case it possesses a privilege in virtue of which it is preferred to the remaining creditors, then that privilege must be observed; in case it does not possess it, it will not be proper that it should be granted by me, to the detriment of private individuals.

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110. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Ecdicus, domine, Amisenorum civitatis petebat apud me a Iulio Pisone denariorum circiter quadraginta milia donata ei publice ante viginti annos bule et ecclesia consentiente, utebaturque mandatis tuis, quibus eius modi donationes vetantur. 2 Piso contra plurima se in rem publicam contulisse ac prope totas facultates erogasse dicebat. Addebat etiam temporis spatium postulabatque, ne id, quod pro multis et olim accepisset, cum eversione reliquae dignitatis reddere cogeretur. Quibus ex causis integram cognitionem differendam existimavi, ut te, domine, consulerem, quid sequendum putares.

110 (111.) — TO TRAJAN.

The Syndic of the city of Amisus, sir, has sued Julius Piso before me for a sum of about forty thousand denarii, a public grant made to him twenty years ago, with the consent of the Senate and assembled Commons: citing your ordinances by which donations of this kind are forbidden. Piso, in reply, said that he had contributed large sums, and, indeed, spent nearly the whole of his means, on behalf of the commonwealth. He pleaded further the lapse of time, and begged that he might not be forced to give back, to the ruin of his remaining fortunes, that which he had received in return for many services, and a long while ago. Upon this I have thought it right to adjourn the whole case, in order to consult you, sir, as to the course you would have pursued.

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111. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Sicut largitiones ex publico fieri mandata prohibent, ita, ne multorum securitas subruatur, factas ante aliquantum temporis retractari atque in irritum vindicari non oportet. Quidquid ergo ex hac causa actum ante viginti annos erit, omittamus. Non minus enim hominibus cuiusque loci quam pecuniae publicae consultum volo.

111 (112.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

Although my ordinances forbid the making of largesses on public account, yet, to prevent the security of many persons from being undermined, when these have been made some time ago, it is not expedient that they should be reconsidered and their invalidity established. Whatever, then, shall have been done not less than twenty years before, in this case, must be passed over. For I desire to have regard for the individuals of each place, no less than the public moneys.

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112. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Lex Pompeia, domine, qua Bithyni et Pontici utuntur, eos, qui in bulen a censoribus leguntur, dare pecuniam non iubet; sed ii, quos indulgentia tua quibusdam civitatibus super legitimum numerum adicere permisit, et singula milia denariorum et bina intulerunt. 2 Anicius deinde Maximus proconsul eos etiam, qui a censoribus legerentur, dumtaxat in paucissimis civitatibus aliud aliis iussit inferre. 3 Superest ergo, ut ipse dispicias, an in omnibus civitatibus certum aliquid omnes, qui deinde buleutae legentur, debeant pro introitu dare. Nam, quod in perpetuum mansurum est, a te constitui decet, cuius factis dictisque debetur aeternitas.

112 (113.) — TO TRAJAN.

By the law of Pompey, sir, by which the inhabitants of Bithynia and Pontus are governed, such persons as are chosen into the council by the censors are not ordered to pay any fee. Those, however, whom your favour has permitted certain of the cities to add over and above the lawful number, have contributed sometimes a thousand, sometimes two thousand, denarii apiece. Upon this, the proconsul, Anicius Maximus, ordered such likewise as were chosen by the censors (that is to say, in a small number of cities) to pay fees of various amounts. It remains for you yourself to consider whether in all the cities all persons who shall hereafter be chosen councillors ought not to pay some fixed sum as an entrance fee; for it becomes you to make a permanent settlement, whose words and deeds immortality awaits.

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113. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Honorarium decurionatus omnes, qui in quaque civitate Bithyniae decuriones fiunt, inferre debeant necne, in universum a me non potest statui. Id ergo, quod semper tutissimum est, sequendam cuiusque civitatis legem puto, sed verius eos, qui invitati fiunt decuriones, id existimo acturos, ut praestatione ceteris praeferantur.

113 (114.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

It is impossible for me to lay down a general rule as to whether all persons who in every city of Bithynia are created councillors should, or should not, furnish an honorarium on their admission to the councilship. think, then — and this is always the safest course — that the law of each city should he followed....

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114. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Lege, domine, Pompeia permissum Bithynicis civitatibus ascribere sibi quos vellent cives, dum ne quem earum civitatium, quae sunt in Bithynia. Eadem lege sancitur, quibus de causis e senatu a censoribus eiciantur. 2 Inde me quidam ex censoribus consulendum putaverunt, an eicere deberent eum qui esset alterius civitatis. 3 Ego quia lex sicut ascribi civem alienum vetabat, ita eici e senatu ob hanc causam non iubebat, praeterea, quod affirmabatur mihi in omni civitate plurimos esse buleutas ex aliis civitatibus, futurumque ut multi homines multaeque civitates concuterentur ea parte legis, quae iam pridem consensu quodam exolevisset, necessarium existimavi consulere te, quid servandum putares. Capita legis his litteris subieci.

114 (115.) — TO TRAJAN.

By the law of Pompey, sir, it is permitted to the cities of Bithynia to enroll among their citizens any persons they please, provided they are not of any of the other cities in Bithynia. In the same law are enacted the grounds on which persons may be ejected from the Senate by the censors. Upon this, certain of the censors thought it right to consult me as to whether they ought to eject one who was from another city. Inasmuch as the law, though forbidding the enrolment of one from another city, yet did not order that this should be a ground of ejection from the Senate; moreover, since I was assured that in every city there were a number of councillors from other cities, and that much disturbance would be caused to many individuals and to many cities,... that part of the law which had long since become obsolete through a kind of general consent,... I have thought it necessary to consult you as to what you would have observed. I have appended to this letter the principal clauses of the law.

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115. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Merito haesisti, Secunde carissime, quid a te rescribi oporteret censoribus consulentibus, an <manere deberent> in senatu aliarum civitatium, eiusdem tamen provinciae cives. Nam et legis auctoritas et longa consuetudo usurpata contra legem in diversum movere te potuit. Mihi hoc temperamentum eius placuit, ut ex praeterito nihil novaremus, sed manerent quamvis contra legem asciti quarumcumque civitatium cives, in futurum autem lex Pompeia observaretur; cuius vim si retro quoque velimus custodire, multa necesse est perturbari.

115 (116.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

No wonder you were in doubt, dearest Secundus, as to the proper reply for you to make to the censors who consulted you.... For the authority of the law on the one hand, and, on the other, the long usage which has obtained in opposition to the law, might well move you in opposite directions. I have decided upon thus compromising the matter: that we make no change in what is past, but that the citizens who have been naturalised, though illegally, of whatever city they be, shall remain where they arc; for the future, however, that Pompey’s law be observed. If we were for maintaining its provisions retrospectively as well, much disturbance would necessarily follow.

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116. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Qui virilem togam sumunt vel nuptias faciunt vel ineunt magistratum vel opus publicum dedicant, solent totam bulen atque etiam e plebe non exiguum numerum vocare binosque denarios vel singulos dare. Quod an celebrandum et quatenus putes, rogo scribas. 2 Ipse enim, sicut arbitror, praesertim ex sollemnibus causis, concedendum ius istud invitationis, ita vereor ne ii qui mille homines, interdum etiam plures vocant, modum excedere et in speciem ‘dianomês’ incidere videantur.

116 (117.) — TO TRAJAN.

Persons who attain their majority, or contract a marriage, or enter on a public office, or inaugurate a public work, are in the habit of inviting the whole of the council, and even a considerable number of the population, and presenting them with a couple of denarii, and sometimes one, per man. I should be obliged by your writing me word whether you think these celebrations should be permitted, and if so, how far. For my part, although I am of opinion that the right to issue invitations should be conceded, especially on solemn occasions, yet at the same time I fear that those who invite a thousand individuals, and sometimes even more, may seem to exceed the bounds, and to fall into an appearance of distributing largesses.

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117. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Merito vereris, ne in speciem ‘dianomês’ incidat invitatio, quae et in numero modum excedit et quasi per corpora, non viritim singulos ex notitia ad sollemnes sportulas contrahit. Sed ego ideo prudentiam tuam elegi, ut formandis istius provinciae moribus ipse moderareris et ea constitueres, quae ad perpetuam eius provinciae quietem essent profutura.

117 (118.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

No wonder you are afraid that an invitation “should fall into an appearance of distributing largesses,” which not only exceeds the bounds in point of numbers, but also collects together to a ceremonious dole people in bands, so to speak, not man by man, each one on grounds of personal acquaintance. But I have made choice of your intelligence on this very account, that in forming the manners of that province of yours you should yourself ordain and establish what may be of advantage to the permanent quiet of the province.

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118. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Athletae, domine, ea quae pro iselasticis certaminibus constituisti, deberi sibi putant statim ex eo die, quo sunt coronati; nihil enim referre, quando sint patriam invecti, sed quando certamine vicerint, ex quo invehi possint. Ego contra scribo ‘iselastici nomine’: itaque Åeorum vehementer addubitem an sit potius id tempus, quo ‘eisêlasan’ intuendum. 2 Iidem obsonia petunt pro eo agone, qui a te iselasticus factus est, quamvis vicerint ante quam fieret. Aiunt enim congruens esse, sicut non detur sibi pro iis certaminibus, quae esse iselastica postquam vicerunt desierunt, ita pro iis dari quae esse coeperunt. 3 Hic quoque non mediocriter haereo, ne cuiusquam retro habeatur ratio dandumque, quod tunc cum vincerent non debebatur. Rogo ergo, ut dubitationem meam regere, id est beneficia tua interpretari ipse digneris.

118 (119.) — TO TRAJAN.

The athletes, sir, consider that the rewards which you have established in the case of the Iselastic contests are owing to them from the very day on which they were crowned; for they say it is not at all material at what time they made their public entry into their native place, but at what time they were victors in the contest, by reason of which they were empowered to make such entry. I, on the other hand, observe that they have been given under the name of “Iselastic;” and this makes me strongly inclined to doubt whether it be not rather the time of their making their public entry which must be looked at.

These same persons ask for pensions in the case of a contest, which has been made an Iselastic one by you, though they should have been victors before it was so made. For they say it is only consistent that just as this money is not given them for those contests which have ceased to be Iselastic after their victory, so it should be given to them for those which have begun to be Iselastic after their victory. Here, too, I am in no small doubt whether one can take account of what is past, and whether anything should be given them which was not owing to them at the time when they were victors. I pray you, then, to deign to determine my doubts, that is to say, to interpret your own benefactions.

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119. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Iselasticum tunc primum mihi videtur incipere deberi, cum quis in civitatem suam ipse ‘eisêlasen’. Obsonia eorum certaminum, quae iselastica esse placuit mihi, si ante iselastica non fuerunt, retro non debentur. Nec proficere pro desiderio athletarum potest, quod eorum, quae postea iselastica non esse constitui, quam vicerunt, accipere desierunt. Mutata enim condicione certaminum nihilo minus, quae ante perceperant, non revocantur.

119 (120.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

The Iselastic rewards ought, it seems to me, to begin from the time when a man has made his personal entry into his own city. Pensions for those contests which I have been pleased to make Iselastic, in case they were not Iselastic before, are not due retrospectively. Nor can it avail in view of the athletes’ request, that they ceased to receive these monies for those contests which subsequently to their victory I decided should not be Iselastic. For though the character of these contests was changed, nevertheless what these people had previously received is not asked for back again.

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120. C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

1 Usque in hoc tempus, domine, neque cuiquam diplomata commodavi neque in rem ullam nisi tuam misi. Quam perpetuam servationem meam quaedam necessitas rupit. 2 Uxori enim meae audita morte avi volenti ad amitam suam excurrere usum eorum negare durum putavi, cum talis officii gratia in celeritate consisteret, sciremque te rationem itineris probaturum, cuius causa erat pietas. Haec tibi scripsi, quia mihi parum gratus fore videbar, si dissimulassem inter alia beneficia hoc unum quoque me debere indulgentiae tuae, quod fiducia eius quasi consulto te non dubitavi facere, quem si consuluissem, sero fecissem.

120 (121.) — TO TRAJAN.

Up to this time, sir, I have never accommodated anybody with a passport, or issued one for any other service than your own. A kind of necessity has broken through this constant practice of mine. For my wife having heard of the death of her grandfather, and being desirous of setting off to her aunt’s, I thought it hard to deny her the use of a passport, seeing that the whole grace of such an attention consisted in its expedition, and that I knew I could give good reason for a journey the motive of which was family affection. This I have written to you, because it seemed to me that I should be deficient in gratitude if I concealed the fact of my being indebted to your kindness, among other favours, for this one. I mean, that my confidence in your kindness has caused me not to hesitate in doing, without consulting you, what if I had consulted you, would have been done too late.

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121. TRAIANUS PLINIO

Merito habuisti, Secunde carissime, fiduciam animi mei nec dubitandum fuisset, si exspectasses donec me consuleres, an iter uxoris tuae diplomatibus, quae officio tuo dedi, adiuvandum esset, cum apud amitam suam uxor tua deberet etiam celeritate gratiam adventus sui augere.

121 (122.) — TRAJAN TO PLINY.

You were right, dearest Secundus, in being confident in my intentions. Nor could you hesitate to do what would have been done too late if you had consulted me as to whether your wife’s journey should be aided by passports such as I have authorised you to issue, particularly as your wife was bound, in the case of her aunt, to enhance the grace of her arrival by her expedition.

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The Biography

Remains of the Basilica Julia, where the Centumviral court met in the Forum, Rome — Pliny was active in the Roman legal system, especially in the sphere of the Roman Centumviral court, which dealt with inheritance cases. Later, he was a well-known prosecutor and defender at the trials of a series of provincial governors.

An artist’s impression of inside the Basilica Julia

INTRODUCTION TO PLINY THE YOUNGER by J. B. Firth

Some slight memoir and critical estimate of the author of this collection of Letters may perhaps be acceptable to those who are unfamiliar with the circumstances of the times in which he lived. Moreover, few have studied the Letters themselves without feeling a warm affection for the writer of them. He discloses his character therein so completely, and, in spite of his glaring fault of vanity and his endless love of adulation, that character is in the main so charming, that one can easily understand the high esteem in which Pliny was held by the wide circle of his friends, by the Emperor Trajan, and by the public at large. The correspondence of Pliny the Younger depicts for us the everyday life of a Roman gentleman in the best sense of the term. We see him practising at the Bar; we see him engaged in the civil magistracies at Rome, and in the governorship of the important province of Bithynia; we see him consulted by the Emperor on affairs of state, and occupying a definite place among the “Amici Caesaris.” Best of all, perhaps, we see him in his daily life, a devoted scholar, never so happy as when he is in his study, laboriously seeking to perfect his style, whether in verse or prose, by the models of the great writers of the past and the criticisms of the friends whom he has summoned, in a friendly way, to hear his compositions read or recited. Or again we find him at one of his country villas, enjoying a well-earned leisure after the courts have risen at Rome and all the best society has betaken itself into the country to escape the heats and fevers of the capital. We see him managing his estates, listening to the complaints of his tenants, making abatements of rent, and grumbling at the agricultural depression and the havoc that the bad seasons have made with his crops. Or he spends a day in the open air hunting, yet never omits to take with him a book to read or tablets on which to write, in case the scent is cold and game is not plentiful. In short, the Letters of Pliny the Younger give us a picture of social life as it was in the closing years of the first, and the opening years of the second century of the Christian era, which is as fascinating as it is absolutely unique.

Pliny was born either in 61 or 62 A.D. at Comum on Lake Larius. His father, Lucius Caecilius Cilo, had been aedile of the colony, and, dying young, left a widow, who with her two sons, sought protection with her brother, Caius Plinius Secundus, the famous author of the Natural History. The elder Pliny in his will adopted the younger of the two boys, and so Publius Caecilius Secundus — as he was originally called — took thenceforth the name of Caius Plinius, L.F. Caecilius Secundus. Though later usage has assigned him the name of Pliny the Younger, he was known to his contemporaries and usually addressed as Secundus. But in his early years Pliny was placed under the guardianship of Virginius Rufus, one of the most distinguished Romans of his day, a successful and brilliant general who had twice refused the purple, when offered to him by his legionaries, and who lived to a ripe old age — the Wellington of his generation. So it was at Comum that he spent his early boyhood, and his affection for his birthplace led him in later years to provide for the educational needs of the youth of the district, who had previously been obliged to go to Mediolanum (Milan) to obtain their schooling. What can be better, he asks, than for children to be educated where they are born, so that they may grow to love their native place by residing in it? Pliny was fortunate in having so distinguished an uncle. On the accession of Vespasian, the elder Pliny was called to Rome by the Emperor, and when his nephew — vixdum adolescentus — joined him in the capital, he took charge of his studies. At the age of fourteen the young student had composed a Greek tragedy, to which he playfully refers in one of his letters, and in Rome he had the benefit of attending the lectures of the great Quintilian and Nicetes Sacerdos, and of making literary friendships which were to prove of the utmost value to him in after years. Pliny tells us that his uncle looked to him for assistance in his literary work, and he was thus engaged when his uncle lost his life in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79, so graphically described in the two famous letters to Tacitus. That Pliny deeply felt the loss of his relative and patron is shown by the eloquent tribute he paid to his memory, and doubtless, as his death occurred just at his own entry into public life, he was deprived of an influence which might have helped him greatly in his career. Domitian was on the throne, when, in 82, Pliny joined the 3rd Gallic legion, stationed in Syria, as military tribune. Service in the field, however, was not to his liking, and, as soon as his period of soldiering was over, he hurried back to Rome to win his spurs at the Bar and climb the ladder of civic distinction. He became Quaestor in 89 on the recommendation of the Emperor, Tribune in 91, and Praetor in 93.

So far his advancement had been rapid, but evil times succeeded. Domitian went from bad to worse. Always moody, suspicious, and revengeful, he began to imitate the worst vices of his predecessors of the line of Augustus. His hand fell heavily upon the Senatorial order, and another era of proscription began, in which the dreaded delatores again became the “terror” of Rome. It was a time of spoliation and murder, and Pliny writes of it with a shudder. Contrasting with the happy regime of Trajan that which prevailed in his youth and early manhood, he declares that virtue was regarded with suspicion and a premium set upon idleness, that in the camps the generals lacked authority and the soldiers had no sense of obedience, while, when he entered the Senate, he found it a craven and tongueless assembly (Curiam trepidam et elinguem), only convened to perpetrate some piece of villainy for the Emperor, or to humiliate the Senators by the sense of their own impotence. Pliny was not the man to make a bold stand against tyranny, and, during those perilous years, one can well believe that he did his best to avoid compromising himself, though his sympathies were wholly on the side of his proscribed friends. He was a typical official, suave and polished in manner, yet without that perilous enthusiasm which would simply have marked him for destruction. For two years he was Prefect of the Military Treasury, an office directly in the gift of the Emperor, and it would seem, therefore, that his character for uprightness stood him in good stead with the tyrant even in his worst years. He did not, like so many of the Roman nobles, retire from public life and enter into the sullen opposition which enraged the Emperors even more than active and declared antagonism.

In one passage, indeed, Pliny declares that he, too, was on the black list of the Emperor, but the words must not be taken too literally. He was given to boasting, and he may easily have represented, when the danger was past, that the peril in which he had stood was greater than it really was. No doubt he felt keenly the judicial murder of his friends Senecio, Rusticus, and Helvidius, and the banishment of Mauricus, Gratilla, Arria, and Fannia — for women were not spared in the general proscription; but, after all, the fact that he held office during the closing years of Domitian’s life is ample proof that he knew how to walk circumspectly, and did not allow his detestation of the informers to compromise his safety. When at length, in 96, the Emperor was assassinated in the palace, and the Senate raised Nerva to the purple, Pliny stepped forward as the champion of the oppressed, and impeached Publicius Certus for compassing the death of Helvidius Priscus, though he was only so far successful that he prevented Certus from enjoying the consulship which had been promised him. Pliny revised the speech and published it in book form, and Certus died a few days after it appeared, haunted, so Pliny tells us, by the vision of his prosecutor pursuing him, sword in hand. Nerva’s reign was short, but he was succeeded by one of the best of the Roman Emperors, Trajan, a prince under whose just, impartial and strong rule, a man of Pliny’s character was bound to thrive and pass from office to office. In 98 he had been appointed by Nerva Prefect of the Treasury of Saturn, and in 100 he held the Consulship for two months, while still retaining his post at the Treasury, and delivered his well-known Panegyric on the 1st of September in that year. Either in 103 or 104 he was advanced to the Augurate, and two years later was appointed Curator of the Tiber. Then in 111 or 112 — according to Mommsen’s Chronology — Trajan bestowed upon him a signal mark of his esteem by selecting him for the Governorship of the province of Pontus and Bithynia, which he had transferred from the list of senatorial to that of imperial provinces. Pliny was given the special title of Legate Propraetor with full Consular powers, and he remained in his province for at least fifteen months. After that the curtain falls. Whether he died in Bithynia, or shortly after his return to Rome, or whether he lived on to enjoy the ripe old age of which he writes so pleasantly in his letters, we do not know. Certainly the probabilities are that, if he had lived, he would have continued to correspond with his friends, and the absence of further letters makes for the probability that he died in about his fiftieth year.

In judging these letters for their literary value, the first thing which strikes the reader is that Pliny did not write for his friends alone. Whatever the subject of the epistle, whether it was an invitation to dinner, a description of the charms of the country, an account of a visit to a friend, or an expression of condolence with some one in his or her bereavement, he never allowed his pen to run on carelessly. He scarcely ever prattles in his letters or lets himself go. One always sees in the writer the literary man, who knows that his correspondence is being passed round from hand to hand, and who hopes that it will find readers among posterity. Consequently there is an air of studied artificiality about many of the letters, which was more to the taste of the eighteenth than the nineteenth century. They remind one in many ways of Richardson and Mackenzie, and Pliny would have been recognised by those two writers, and by the latter in particular, as a thorough “man of sentiment.” Herein they differ greatly from the other important collection which has come down to us from classical times, the Letters of Cicero. Pliny, indeed, — and in this he was a true disciple of his old teacher Quintilian, — took the great Roman orator as his model. Nothing pleased him more than for his friends to tell him that he was the Cicero of his time. Like Marcus Tullius, he was the foremost pleader of his day; like him again he dabbled in poetry, and his verses, so far as we know them, were sorry stuff. Yet again like his master, he fondly believed that he enjoyed the special inspiration of the Muses. Pliny, unfortunately for his reputation, gives us a few samples, which are quite as lame and jingling as the famous “O fortunatam natam, me Consule, Romam!” which had made generations of Romans smile. And so, as Cicero was in all things his master, Pliny too wrote letters, excellent in their way, but lacking the vivacity and directness of his model, and, of course, wholly deficient in the political interest which makes Cicero’s correspondence one of the most important authorities for the history of his troublous time. Pliny’s Letters cover the period from the accession of Nerva down to 113 A.D. None precede the death of Domitian in September 96. That is to say, they were written in an era of profound political peace, and most of them in the reign of Trajan, whose rule Pliny accepted with enthusiastic admiration. One certainly could have wished that he had written freely to his friends during the last years of Domitian’s tyranny, for the value of such contemporary documents would have been enormous. But he would only have risked his life by so doing, and that he had no desire to do. It was not until the tyrant had fallen under the sword of Stephanus that he felt it safe to trust his thoughts to paper. The new era which was inaugurated loosened his tongue and made him breathe more freely. He exulted that at last an honest man could venture to hold his head high without drawing down upon himself the vengeance of the vile informers who throve upon the misfortunes of the State.

Two of Pliny’s correspondents and friends were Cornelius Tacitus and Suetonius Tranquillus. Yet no one can read either the Histories and Annals of Tacitus or the Lives of the Caesars and then pass to a reading of Pliny’s Letters without being struck by the enormous difference in their tone and spirit. It is almost impossible to believe that their respective authors were contemporaries. When turning over the pages of Tacitus one feels that the vices and despotism of the Emperors and the Empire had crushed all spirit out of the world, had made quiet family life impossible, and had stamped out every trace of justice and clean living. It is a remarkable fact that the great writers of the first century, as soon as the Augustan era had closed, should have been masters of a merciless satire, which has rarely been equaled in the history of the world, and never excelled. When we think of Roman society, as it was in the early Empire, our thoughts recur to the lurid canvases which have been painted for us by Juvenal, by Tacitus, by Lucan, by Seneca, and by Petronius — pictures which have made the world shudder, and have led even careful historians astray. Pliny supplies the needful corrective and gives us the reverse side of the medal. Like the authors we have mentioned, he too writes of the evil days which he himself has passed through, as of a horrid nightmare from which he has just awakened; but from his letters, artificial and stilted as they are in some respects, we learn that there were still to be found those who had not bowed the knee to Baal.

And so, with this volume in our hands, we obtain a personal introduction to a number of distinguished Romans and Roman matrons, whose names have been preserved for all time by the Younger Pliny. His circle of friends was a large one. Let us mention a few of them. We have already spoken of Virginius Rufus, the grand old soldier and patriot, who, dying at the age of eighty-four, was awarded a public funeral, while Cornelius Tacitus, then Consul, delivered the panegyric in his honour. Vestricius Spurinna was another distinguished general of the old school, and Pliny relates with enthusiasm how he paid a visit to him in his country-house when Spurinna was seventy-seven years of age and had retired from public office. He tells us how his friend spent his day, how he drove and walked and played tennis to keep himself in health, wrote Greek and Latin lyrics, and maintained a keen interest in all that went on in the capital. Corellius Rufus is another of the older men of whom Pliny writes with sincere affection, and he helped to pay the debt of gratitude he owed him by numerous acts of kindness to his daughter Crellia. Voconius Romanus is another of his closest friends, and Pliny tells us that he wrote such admirable letters that you would think the Muses themselves must speak in Latin. His literary associates numbered among them Caius Cornelius Tacitus, Silius Italicus the poet — whose veneration for Virgil was so great that he kept his master’s birthday with more solemnity than his own, and visited his tomb on the Bay of Naples with as much respect as worshippers pay to a temple, — Martial the epigrammatist, Suetonius Tranquillus the historian, and others such as Passennus Paullus, Caninius Rufus, Virgilius Romanus, and Caius Fannius, whose works have not survived the wreck of time, though Pliny showers upon all of them enthusiastic and indiscriminate praise. Again, he enjoyed the friendship of a number of distinguished foreigners, professional rhetoricians and philosophers, who came back to Rome after their sentence of banishment, passed by Domitian, had been revoked by Nerva and Trajan. Euphrates, Artemidorus, and Isaeus were the three most famous, and their respective styles are carefully described by Pliny. Even more interesting perhaps is the gallery of Roman ladies, whose portraits are limned with so fine and discriminating a touch. Juvenal again is responsible for much misconception as to the part the women of Rome played in Roman society. The appalling Sixth Satire, in which he unhesitatingly declares that most women — if not all — are bad, and that virtue and chastity are so rare as to be almost unknown, in which he roundly accuses them of all the vices known to human depravity, reads like a monstrous and disgraceful libel on the sex when one turns to Pliny and makes the acquaintance of Arria, Fannia, Corellia, and Calpurnia. The characters of Arria and Fannia are well known; they are among the heroines of history. But in Pliny there are numerous references to women whose names are not even known to us, but the terms in which they are referred to prove what sweet, womanly lives they led. For example, he writes to Geminus: “Our friend Macrinus has suffered a grievous wound. He has lost his wife, who would have been regarded as a model of all the virtues even if she had lived in the good old days. He lived with her for thirty-nine years, without so much as a single quarrel or disagreement.” “Vixit cum hac triginta novem annis sine jurgio, sine offensa. One is reminded of the fine line of Propertius, in which Cornelia boasts of the blameless union of herself and her husband, Paullus —

“Viximus insignes inter utramque facem.”

This is no isolated example. One of the most pathetic letters is that in which Pliny writes of the death of the younger daughter of his friend Fundanus, a girl in her fifteenth year, who had already “the prudence of age, the gravity of a matron, and all the maidenly modesty and sweetness of a girl.” Pliny tells us how it cut him to the quick to hear her father give directions that the money he had meant to lay out on dresses and pearls and jewels for her betrothal should be spent on incense, unguents, and spices for her bier. What a different picture from anything we find in Juvenal, who would fain have us believe that Messalina was the type of the average Roman matron of his day!

Such were some of Pliny’s friends. His distinguished position at the Bar drew him a host of clients; his official status and his friendship with Trajan gave him the entree into any society he liked. He was, moreover, a man of considerable wealth, generous, even lavish, with his money, and his disposition was one of the kindest. He was always ready to believe the best of any one, always prepared to do a friend a service, devoted to his wife and her relations, and anxious to deal justly and honourably with all men. We have called him vain, and vain he undoubtedly was to an extraordinary degree. But Pliny’s vanity is never offensive. The very naivete with which he acknowledges his failing disarms all criticism and merely renders it amusing. Indeed, it is doubtful whether he would have admitted that it was a failing at all, inasmuch as it was his love of praise which spurred him on to literary endeavour. The Romans, in their grand manner, affected a certain magniloquence which is alien to the Anglo-Saxon cast of thought, and if Horace could declare of his own odes that he had erected a monument more durable than brass, Pliny, who always had the great masters before him, naturally fell into the same rather vainglorious train of thought. His frankest confession is to be found in a letter to Titinius Capito, who had urged him to write history, when he says: “Me autem nihil aeque ac diuturnitatis amor et cupido sollicitat, res homine dignissima, eo presertime qui nullius sibi conscius culpae posteritatis memoriam non reformidet.” Or again, he admits that he is not Stoic enough to be merely content with the consciousness of having done his duty. He craves for a public testimony thereto, a little applause from the bystanders, a vote of thanks from those whom he has benefited. Most of us desire the same — the difference is that Pliny does not mind owning up to it. But this vanity of his peeps out in curious places. When we find him speaking of a young Roman of fashion standing for hours in a crowd to listen to his pleading in the courts, or of his audience pressing him not to omit a single line of his poems, or of the deferential way in which certain young barristers of promise hang on his lips, copy his gestures and bow to his judgment, one cannot resist a smile. When he tells us that he went on calmly reading and taking notes during the eruption of Vesuvius, though the hot ashes were threatening to overwhelm the villa in which he was staying, or when he quotes the really execrable verses which some scribbler of the day composed in his honour, with the most exquisite self-complacency, one is tempted to show a little impatience at such extravagant self-satisfaction. Tacitus again — that supreme master of irony — must have occasionally curled his thin lip on reading some of the epistles which were addressed to him by his friend Pliny. It is a tribute to Pliny’s powers of literary discernment that he appreciated the marvellous ability of Tacitus, though had he failed to do so, we should have rated him for his blindness. No cultured Roman could fail to see that Tacitus had brought a new literary style to a pitch of the highest perfection, and his fame throughout his lifetime was enormous. So apparently was Pliny’s, and the latter boasts that their names are mentioned together in everyday conversation, and in the last wills and testaments of people with literary taste. Tacitus one day was sitting at the games, and got into conversation with a stranger sitting in the next seat. It took a literary turn, and the stranger was delighted with the learning that Tacitus displayed. “Are you a Roman, or from the country” said he. “You know me quite well,” answered Tacitus, “from the books you have studied.” “Then,” rejoined the stranger, “you must be either Tacitus or Pliny.” It was Tacitus himself who told Pliny the story, and one can imagine how it would delight him. He promptly sits down and tells it to his friend Maximus, and adds another story of a similar character. But the most extraordinary passage of all occurs in a letter (vii. 20) to Tacitus himself. In it Pliny says that when he was a young man and Tacitus was already famous, he determined to make him his model. There were, he said, many brilliant geniuses, but you — such was the affinity of our natures — seemed to me to be the most easy to imitate, and the most worthy of imitation. Maxime imitabilis, maxime imitandus videbaris. Unconscious conceit could go no farther!

And yet one can pardon this egregious vanity when one thinks of Pliny’s other qualities. Who else is there in Roman literature who so thoroughly corresponds with our modern ideal of a rich, generous, cultured public servant? In one place we find him providing for the educational needs of his birthplace, Comum. In another he renounces his share of an inheritance, and bestows it upon his old township. Or he buys a statue for a temple, finds the money for a new shrine, pays the debts of an acquaintance, gives a friend’s daughter a handsome dowry, opens his purse and enables another deserving friend to acquire the status of a senator, or finds Martial his travelling expenses. All the rising young authors and barristers in Rome looked to him for encouragement and support; he was ready to attend their public readings, to rise when the reading was over and say a few words of encouragement, to canvass for them if they were standing for office, and enlist on their behalf all the influence at his command. And he only asked in return a little deference and acknowledgment of his kindness! Most interesting of all, we find him giving a farm to his old nurse, and asking a friend to look after it for her. He sends a slave of his, who was troubled with consumption, to Egypt for a change of air, and afterwards to the colony of Forum Julii, the modern Frejus on the Riviera. Pliny writes of the slaves of his household just as any kind- hearted Jamaican planter would have written before the Emancipation Act, and it is to be noted that the head slaves of a Roman gentleman’s establishment were often Greeks of high literary attainments, and treated by their masters as intimate and affectionate friends. Pliny narrates with a shock of uneasiness and horror the story of a Roman knight who was beaten to death by the servants of his household, and, though he admits that the knight had been cruel and overbearing, such an untimely fate brought home to him the insecurity of all masters — that insecurity which led the Romans to punish with such merciless severity any attack by a slave upon his owner. Not that Pliny had any cause for self-reproach! He tells us in a charming letter his rule of conduct with his dependants, and the theory on which he conducted his household. According to his view, “Servis respublica quaedam et quasi civitas domus est.” Consequently, he allowed them to make wills and leave their property as they desired, provided only that the recipients were also members of the household, and, what was better still, he speaks of his “facilitas manumittendi” — his readiness to give them their freedom for faithful service. One can well imagine that Pliny’s was a model family, that it was his pride to be in every sense of the word a just paterfamilias, and that he showed his slaves great consideration for their welfare. He complains, indeed, jocularly in one place that too much kindness is not good for servants, as it leads them to presume upon the easy-going temperament of their master, but that is only a good- natured grumble on the perennial servant problem.

Pliny was thrice married, twice under Domitian, but his second wife died in 97, and the lady who figures in the letters is his third wife Calpurnia, grand-daughter of Calpurnius Fabatus, and niece of a lady named Hispulla. We get a charming picture of their mutual happiness in a letter written by Pliny to Hispulla, who had had charge of his wife’s education when she was a girl. He praises her intelligence, her economy, her love for him, and the interest she takes in his career. When he is pleading in the courts she has messengers to bring her word of the success of the speech and the result of the trial; when he is giving a reading to his friends, Calpurnia sits behind a curtain and greedily drinks in the praises they bestow. She sets his verses to music, and Hispulla, who made the match, is neatly rewarded at the conclusion of the letter by Pliny saying that both he and his wife vie with one another in seeing who can thank her the more. When Calpurnia was obliged to leave her husband and go to Campania for her health, we find Pliny writing her tender love-letters, describing his anxiety on her behalf, telling her how he conjures up the very things he most dreads, how he reads and re-reads her letters, which are his only comfort, and begging her to write him certainly once, and if possible, twice a day. Then in the prettiest passage of all, he tells her how, at the hours when he used to visit her, he finds his feet carrying him to the door of her chamber and turns away from the threshold of the empty room, sad as a lover who finds the door closed against him. The glimpses which Roman literature affords us of the conjugal happiness of man and wife are comparatively few. Cicero, indeed, wrote in a similar strain to his wife Terentia, and used even tenderer diminutives than Pliny, but the sequel was that he soon afterwards divorced her and married a rich ward. We do not know the sequel in the case of Pliny. All we know is that he nearly lost his wife in a dangerous illness brought on by a miscarriage, and that she accompanied him to Bithynia during his governorship. Whether she bore him the child which he so ardently desired is not stated, but the probabilities are against it, as there is no mention of such an event in the letters. His correspondence clearly proves that for all his ambition he was essentially a family man. Nothing could be finer than his description of the heroic devotion of Arria to her husband, and the pathos with which he describes the conduct of Fannia, who concealed the death of her dearly loved son from her sick husband Paetus, telling him the boy was well and resting quietly, and controlling her motherly tears until she could keep them back no longer, and rushed from the room to give them free course. Then, “Satiata siccis oculis composito vultu redibat, tanquam orbitatem foris reliquisset.” No one could have written that beautiful sentence but a man of tender heart and sympathies.

Pliny’s tastes were catholic. He writes with delight, but without pretending to be a connoisseur, of an antique statuette which he had purchased out of a legacy. Some rich men in Rome had the mania for antiques — Corinthian bronzes were the rage in Pliny’s day — as badly as those who haunt our modern sale-rooms. Pliny’s hobby, if he had been living in our time, would probably have been books. He is one of the most bookish men of antiquity. Wherever he went his books went with him; in his carriage, in his gardens they never left his side. He betrays, moreover, a taste for the beauties of nature which is distinctly un-Roman. Even the Roman poets were almost utterly oblivious to the charms of scenery. When Horace points out of the window to the snow lying deep on Soracte, it is not to emphasise the beauty of the scene, but a preliminary to telling the boy to pile the logs of Algidus upon the fire. Even Virgil, who occasionally paints a bit of landscape or seascape in the Aeneid, does so in a half-hearted fashion, as a mere preface to the incident which is to follow, not from a poet’s love of beauty. In Pliny, on the other hand, we find the modern love for a beautiful view. Me nihil aeque ac natura opera delectant. When he describes his Tuscan villa he uses language with which we feel in complete harmony. He specifies the places from which the best views may be obtained; and if the garden seems to our taste to have been laid out in rather a formal way, with its box-trees cut into different shapes of animals and birds, he was in that respect only following the fashion of his day, and his delight in the unadorned beauties of the surrounding country has a genuine ring in it. In another curious respect Pliny was ahead of his times. He had no taste for the Circensian games and the brutalities of the gladiatorial shows. Writing to Sempronius Rufus (iv. 22), he bluntly declares that he wishes they could be abolished in Rome, inasmuch as they degrade the character and morals of the whole world. In another passage (ix. 6) he says that the Circensian games have not the smallest attraction for him — ne levissime quidem teneor. He cannot understand why so many thousands of grown-up people take such a childish pleasure in watching horses running races. It is not the speed of the horses or the skill of the drivers which is the attraction, — if it were, there might be some reason for their enthusiasm, — what they go to see is the victory of their pet racing colours, the triumph of the reds, blues, or greens. Favent panno, pannum amant.

We find him writing on all manner of subjects. He asks his scientific friends to explain to him the mystery of a spring whose waters ebb and flow, of a lake which contained floating islands, and in one letter he tells a fascinating ghost story of quite the conventional type, about a haunted house, which drove any unwary tenant crazy, and the ghost of a murdered man which walked with clanking chains. Pliny was no cut and dried philosopher. Like his master Cicero he was an eclectic, and pinned his faith to no single creed. Whatever was human interested him, and on whatever interested him he put pen to paper. It need scarcely be said how valuable these letters are in filling up the gaps of Roman history. We have to thank Pliny for our knowledge of the great eruption of Vesuvius which overwhelmed Pompeii and Herculaneum, and it was probably only due to the accident that the elder Pliny was one of the victims that we possess the two striking letters in which the disaster is described. In another letter our author describes how the Emperor Trajan sent for him and others to his country seat at Centum Cellae, to help him to try certain important cases, and then he tells us of the modest, simple living of Trajan — Suavitas simplicitasque convictus — and the presents he gave them on their departure. The debates in the Senate, the trials in the Court of the Hundred, the public readings in the city, which — first introduced by Asinius Pollio in the time of Augustus — were then the fashion, — of all these Pliny gives us a clear presentment. His charity is hardly ever at fault. Only when he writes of Regulus and Pallas does he dip his pen in gall. But Regulus had been his bitter enemy and an informer, and the memory of Pallas was justly execrated.

A few words may be added respecting the letters which form the Tenth Book of his correspondence, and which show us Pliny acting as Governor of the province of Pontus and Bithynia. He had been sent there because the finances of many of the cities had been allowed to fall into a shocking state, and because the Emperor wanted a man whom he could thoroughly trust to put them straight. No doubt Pliny, while flattered at this proof of Trajan’s regard, felt the severance from his friends and ordinary pursuits which this term of absence necessitated. But compare his attitude with that of Cicero as Governor of Cilicia! Cicero crawled on the outward journey, and when he reached his destination he counted the days to his return like a bullied school-boy counts the days to the end of the term. He writes to his friends in the capital, begging and praying of them that they will prevent his being obliged to stay for a second year. All his thoughts are of Rome and how to return there. The wretched provincials bore him to distraction; he yearns for the wider arena of the capital in which to play the swelling part to which he aspires. There is, in short, not a trace in Cicero’s letters from his province to show that he took the slightest interest in his new surroundings. Pliny displays a far different spirit. He reminds us more of the Colonial Governor of our own day. He is interested in the past history and traditions of the country, he is anxious that the cities shall have good water supplies, good baths, good theatres, good gymnasia. He is for ever suggesting to the Emperor that he should send architects to consult with him on some important public work. And these letters disclose to us what a wonderful system of organised government the Roman Empire possessed. Pliny even writes to Trajan to ask permission that an evil-smelling sewer may be covered over in a town called Amastria. If all the governors of the provinces wrote home for orders on such points, the Emperor must indeed have been busy, and some of his replies to Pliny show that Trajan hinted very plainly that a governor ought to have some initiative of his own. None the less, the tenour of this correspondence proves that Trajan held the threads of government very jealously in his own hands. When Pliny suggested the establishment of a small fire-brigade in Nicomedia, where the citizens had stood enjoying the aesthetic beauty of a disastrous fire which destroyed whole streets, instead of putting it out, Trajan sharply vetoed the suggestion, on the ground that the Greeks were factious people and would turn even a fire-brigade to illicit and seditious purposes.

There is, of course, one letter to Trajan which has achieved world-wide fame, that in which he asks the Emperor how he wishes him to deal with the Christians who were brought before him and refused to worship the statues of the Emperor and the gods. So much has been written upon this subject that it is almost superfluous to add more. Yet it may be pointed out that the letter only confirms our estimate of the kindliness and scrupulous justice of Pliny. He acquits the Christians of all criminal practices; he bears testimony to the purity of their lives and their principles. What baffles and vexes him is their “pertinacity and inflexible obstinacy” — Neque enim dubitabam, qualecunque esset quod fateretur, pertinaciam certe et inflexibilem obstinationem debere puniri. He could not understand, in other words, why, when the theory of the Roman religion was so tolerant, the Christians should be so intolerantly narrow-minded and bigoted. As we have said, Pliny was an eclectic, and an eclectic is the last person to understand the frame of mind which glories in martyrdom. Such was Pliny’s attitude towards the purely religious side of the question, but that, after all, was not the main issue. With him, as the representative of the Roman Emperor, the crime of the Christians lay not so much in their refusal to worship the statues of Jupiter and the heavenly host of the Pagan mythology, as in their refusal to worship the statue of the Emperor. Church and State have never been so closely identified in any form of government as in that of the early Roman Empire. The genius of the Emperor was the genius of the Empire; to refuse to sprinkle a few grains of incense on the ara of Trajan was an act of gross political treason to the best of rulers. No wonder, therefore, that Pliny felt constrained to punish these harmless members of a sect which he could not understand. Trajan’s reply is equally clear and distinct. He discountenanced all inquisition and persecution. The Christians are not to be hunted down, no notice is to be taken of anonymous accusations, and if any suspected person renounces his error and offers prayers publicly to the gods of Rome, no further action is to be taken against him. On the other hand, if the case is proved and the accused still remains obstinate, punishment must follow and the law be maintained. Pliny evidently thought that if the Christians were given a chance of renouncing their past folly the growth of the new religion would be checked. He speaks of a certain revival of the old religion, of the temples once more being thronged by worshippers, and the sacrificial victims again finding buyers, though almost in the same sentence he describes “the contagion of the Christian superstition” as having spread not only in the towns but into the villages and rural districts. He did not foresee that in process of time a Roman Emperor would himself embrace the new faith and persecute the upholders of the old with the same vigour as was in his day applied to the repression of the new.

Nicomedia, on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Pliny is believed to have died suddenly during his appointment in Bithynia-Pontus, c. 112 AD, as no events referred to in his letters occur later than this time.