Pliny the Younger: EPISTVLARVM LIBRI DECEM

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.

1 You have frequently exhorted me to collect and publish those epistles, if any, which I had written a little more carefully. I have collected them, not with the order of time observed — for I was not composing a history — but as each came to hand. 2 It remains that you do not repent of your counsel, nor I of my compliance.

Ita enim fiet, ut eas quae adhuc neglectae iacent requiram et si quas addidero non supprimam. Vale.

Thus it will come about that I seek out those which still lie neglected, and, if I add any, I will not suppress them. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS <MATURO> ARRIANO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS ARRIANUS , GREETINGS.

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 ζήλῳ scripsisse videor. 2 Temptavi enim imitari Demosthenen semper tuum, Calvum nuper meum, dumtaxat figuris orationis; nam vim tantorum virorum, 'pauci quos aequus ...' assequi possunt.

1 Since I foresee that your arrival will be rather slower, I produce the book which I had promised in earlier letters. This I ask you, according to your custom, both to read and to emend, all the more because I seem to have written nothing before with equal zeal. 2 For I have tried to imitate Demosthenes—always yours—and Calvus—recently mine—at least in the figures of speech; for the force of such great men, 'the few whom kindly ...' can attain.

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 ληκύθους 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.

3 Nor did the subject matter itself — I fear lest I speak improperly — oppose this emulation: for it was almost wholly in the contestation of speaking, which roused me, dozing in long idleness, if only I am the sort of person who can be roused. 4 Yet we did not entirely shun the ληκύθους of our Marcus (lekythoi, “oil-flasks”), whenever we were reminded to step a little off the road by not-untimely amenities; for we wished to be keen, not dreary. 5 Nor is there any reason for you to think that under this exception I am asking for pardon.

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.

For, the more to engage your file, I will confess that both I myself and my companions do not shrink from edition, if only you perhaps add the white pebble to our error. 6 For plainly something must be published — and would that this especially which is prepared! You hear the vow of sloth — to be published moreover for several causes, chiefly because the little books which we have sent forth are said to be in people’s hands, although they have now shed the favor of novelty; unless, however, the booksellers are flattering our ears.

Sed sane blandiantur, dum per hoc mendacium nobis studia nostra commendent. Vale.

But by all means let them flatter, so long as through this lie they commend our studies to us. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS CANINIO RUFO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS CANINIUS RUFUS, GREETINGS.

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?

1 How fares Como, the darling of yours and mine? What of the most pleasant suburban retreat, what of that portico ever vernal, what of the most shady platanon, what of the euripus, green and gemlike, what of the lake lying below and serving, what of that gestatio, soft and yet firm, what of that bath which the most abundant sun fills and encircles, what of those triclinia for the many, those for the few, what of the bedchambers for day and for night? Do they possess you and share you by turns?

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.

2 Or, as you were wont, are you being called away by frequent excursions by the intention of attending to your estate? If they possess you, you are happy and blessed; if not, 'one of many.' 3 Why don’t you — for it is time — entrust the low and sordid cares to others, and yourself, in that lofty and rich secession, assert yourself to studies? Let this be your business, this your leisure; here labor, here rest; in these let wakefulness, in these even sleep be laid up.

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.

4 Fashion something and hammer it out, which may be perpetually yours. For the remaining of your things after you will by lot obtain one master after another; this will never cease to be yours if once it shall have begun. 5 I know what spirit, what genius I encourage; only strive that you yourself be worth as much to yourself as you will seem to others, if you will be to yourself.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS POMPEIAE CELERINAE SOCRUI S.

C. PLINY TO POMPEIA CELERINA, HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW, GREETING.

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.

1 What an abundance of provisions in the Ocriculan, in the Narnian, in the Carsulan, in your Perusian—indeed, in the Narnian even a bath! From my letters, for now there is no need of yours: that one brief and truthful one suffices. 2 By Hercules, the things that are mine are not so much mine as those that are yours; yet they differ in this, that your household receives me more solicitously and more attentively than my own.

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.

The same perhaps will befall you, if ever you turn aside to our place. 3 Which I would like you to do, first, that you may enjoy our things just as we do yours, then that my people may at last be roused, who await me with confidence and almost negligently. 4 For with gentle masters, among slaves fear by the very custom becomes obsolete; they are stirred by novelties, and they strive to be approved by their masters through others rather than through themselves.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS VOCONIO ROMANO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS VOCONIUS ROMANUS, GREETING.

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.

1 Have you seen anyone more timid, more abject than M. Regulus after the death of Domitian? Under whom he had committed flagitious deeds no less than under Nero, but more covert. He began to fear that I was angry with him, nor was he mistaken: I was angry.

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.

2 He had fostered the peril of Arulenus Rusticus, he had exulted at his death; to such a degree that he recited and published a book, in which he attacks Rusticus and even calls him 'the Stoics’ monkey', he adds 'branded with a Vitellian scar' — you recognize the eloquence of Regulus -, 3 he lacerates Herennius Senecio so intemperately indeed, that Mettius Carus said to him, 'What have you to do with my dead? Surely I am not troublesome to Crassus or Camerinus?' whom he had accused under Nero. 4 Regulus believed that I had taken these things painfully, and for that reason he had not invited me even when he recited the book.

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.

Moreover, he was recalling how gravely he had assailed me myself before the centumviri. 5 I appeared for Arrionilla, wife of Timon, at the request of Arulenus Rusticus; Regulus was on the opposite side. We were relying, for our part of the case, on the opinion of Mettius Modestus, an excellent man: he was then in exile, relegated by Domitian.

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.

Behold, Regulus to you: 'I ask,' he says, 'Secundus, what you think about Modestus.' You see what danger, if I had answered 'well'; what scandal if 'badly.' I cannot say anything else than that the gods stood by me then. 'I will answer,' I say, 'if the centumvirs are going to judge this matter.' Again he: 'I ask, what you think about Modestus.' 6 Again I: 'Witnesses used to be questioned about the accused, not about the condemned.' A third time he: 'Not now what about Modestus, but I ask what you think about the piety of Modestus.' 7 'You ask,' I say, 'what I think; but I deem it not even lawful to inquire about one concerning whom judgment has been pronounced.' He fell silent; praise and congratulation followed me, because I had not wounded my reputation by some answer perhaps useful yet dishonorable, nor had I entangled myself in the snares of so insidious a questioning.

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.

8 Now therefore, terror-struck by his conscience, he approaches Caecilius Celer, soon Fabius Iustus; he asks that they reconcile me to him. And not content, he makes his way to Spurinna; to him, suppliantly—as he is, when he is afraid, most abject: 'I beg that in the morning you see Pliny at home, but clearly in the morning — for I cannot bear this anxiety any longer — and that you somehow bring it about that he not be angry with me.' 9 I had awakened; a messenger from Spurinna: 'I am coming to you.' 'Nay rather, I to you.' We come together in the Portico of Livia, as each was making for the other. He sets out Regulus’s mandates, adds his own entreaties, as befitted a most excellent man on behalf of one most dissimilar, with restraint.

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.

To whom I said: 'You will consider yourself what you think must be reported back to Regulus. 10 It is not proper that you be deceived by me. I am awaiting Mauricus' — he had not yet returned from exile -: 'for that reason I can answer you in neither direction, being about to do whatever he shall have decreed; for it is fitting that he be the leader of this counsel, I the companion.' 11 A few days later Regulus himself meets me in the praetor’s office; having followed me there he asks for a private audience; he says that he fears lest it stick deep in my mind, that which he had once said in the centumviral court, when he was replying to me and to Satrius Rufus: 'Satrius Rufus, for whom there is no emulation with Cicero and who is content with the eloquence of our age'. 12 I replied that now I understand it was said malignly because he himself confesses it; otherwise it could have been thought honorable.

'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.

"For I," I said, "have an emulation with Cicero, nor am I content with the eloquence of our age; 13 for I believe it most foolish, for imitation, not to set the very best before oneself. But you, who remembered this judgment, why did you forget that other one, in which you asked me what I thought about the piety of Mettius Modestus?" He turned notably pale, although he is always pale, and, hesitating: "I asked not in order to harm you, but to harm Modestus." See the man’s cruelty, who does not even dissemble that he wished to harm an exile. 14 He subjoined an excellent pretext: "He wrote," he said, "in a certain letter, which was recited before Domitian: 'Regulus, the most worthless of all bipeds'"; which indeed Modestus had written most truly.

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.

15 Here was for us almost the end of the conversation; for I did not wish to advance further, so that I might keep everything free to myself until Mauricus should come. Nor does it escape me that Regulus is a 'dyskathaireton' (hard to remove); for he is wealthy and factious, is courted by many, is feared by more, which for the most part is stronger than love. 16 Yet it can happen that these things, once shaken, may collapse; for the favor of wicked men is as untrustworthy as they themselves.

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.

Yet, as I have often said, I am waiting for Mauricus. He is a grave and prudent man, instructed by many experiments, and one who can provide for future things from past ones. For me, both the plan of attempting something and of keeping quiet will be established on his authority.

17 Haec tibi scripsi, quia aequum erat te pro amore mutuo non solum omnia mea facta dictaque, verum etiam consilia cognoscere. Vale.

17 I have written these things to you, because it was equitable that you, in return for our mutual love, should know not only all my deeds and sayings, but even my counsels. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS CORNELIUS TACITUS, GREETINGS.

1 Ridebis, et licet rideas. Ego, ille quem nosti, apros tres et quidem pulcherrimos cepi. 'Ipse?' inquis.

1 You will laugh, and you may laugh. I, the man whom you know, captured three boars, and indeed the finest. 'Yourself?' you ask.

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.

Myself; yet not in such a way as to depart altogether from my inertia and quiet. I was sitting by the nets; there was nearby not a boar-spear or a lance, but a stylus and writing tablets; I was meditating something and noting it down, so that, if my hands were empty, I might nonetheless carry back waxes full. 2 You have no cause to contemn this genre of studying; it is marvelous how the mind is excited by the agitation and motion of the body; moreover, on all sides the woods and solitude, and that very silence which is given for hunting, are great incitements of thought.

3 Proinde cum venabere, licebit auctore me ut panarium et lagunculam sic etiam pugillares feras: experieris non Dianam magis montibus quam Minervam inerrare. Vale.

3 Accordingly, when you go a-hunting, with me as your author it will be permitted that, just as you carry a bread-basket and a little flask, so also you carry your writing-tablets: you will find that not Diana roams the mountains more than Minerva. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS OCTAVIO RUFO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS OCTAVIUS RUFUS, GREETINGS.

1 Vide in quo me fastigio collocaris, cum mihi idem potestatis idemque regni dederis quod Homerus Iovi Optimo Maximo: τῷ δ᾽ἕτερον μὲν ἔδωκε πατήρ ἕτερον δ᾽ ἀνένευσεν. 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.

1 See on what pinnacle you place me, since you have given me the same power and the same reign that Homer gave to Jupiter Best and Greatest: “to him the Father granted one thing, but with a nod refused another.” 2 For I too can, with a like nod and counter-nod, answer your wish. For indeed, just as it is right for me—especially with you insisting—to excuse the advocacy for the Baetici against a single man, so it suits neither our good faith nor the constancy that you prize to be present against the province which I once bound to myself by so many services, so many labors, so many even perils of mine. 3 I shall therefore hold to this tempering: that out of the two, of which you ask the one or the other, I choose rather that in which I satisfy not only your zeal but also your judgment.

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 ἦ καὶ κυανέῃσιν ἐπ᾽ ὀφρύσι νεῦσε. 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.

For I ought not so much to consider what you, most excellent man, want at present, as what you will always approve. 4 I hope that I shall be at Rome around the Ides of October, and, being present, I will confirm these same things to Gallus as well by your and my good faith; to whom, however, even now you may pledge concerning my mind, “indeed, he nodded with his dark eyebrows.” 5 For why should I not deal with you everywhere in Homeric verses? inasmuch as you do not allow me to deal with you in yours, for which I burn with such desire that I seem to myself able to be bribed by this one reward alone—to be present even against the Baeticans.

6 Paene praeterii, quod minime praetereundum fuit, accepisse me careotas optimas, quae nunc cum ficis et boletis certandum habent. Vale.

6 I had almost omitted, what least ought to have been omitted, that I have received the finest carrots, which now have to vie with figs and boletes. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS POMPEIO SATURNINO SUO S.

G. PLINY TO HIS POMPEIUS SATURNINUS, GREETINGS.

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.

1 Very opportunely your letters were delivered to me, in which you were pressing that I send you something from my writings, just when I had destined that very thing. Therefore you added spurs to one running of his own accord, and equally you removed both for yourself the excuse of refusing the labor and for me the modesty of exacting it. 2 For it befits neither me to use timidly what has been offered, nor you to be burdened by what you have demanded.

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.

However, there is no reason for you to expect any new work from an idle man. For I am going to request that you again make time for the speech which I delivered among my fellow townsmen when I was about to dedicate the library. 3 I do remember, indeed, that you have already annotated certain things, but in a general way; therefore now I ask that you not only attend to its whole, but also pursue the particulars with the file, as you are wont.

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.

For even after emendation it will be open to us either to publish or to withhold. 4 Nay rather, perhaps this very hesitation of ours into one or the other judgment the method of emendation will lead, which either, while it reconsiders more frequently, will find it unworthy of edition, or worthy, while it tests that very thing, it will bring about. 5 Although the causes of this my hesitation rest not so much in the writings as in the very kind of the material: for it is somewhat, as it were, more vainglorious and more exalted.

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!

This will burden our modesty, even if the style itself be compressed and subdued, because we are compelled to discourse both about the munificence of our parents and about our own. 6 This is a two-edged and slippery topic, even when necessity panders to it. For indeed, if even another’s praises are wont to be received with not very fair ears, how difficult it is to obtain that the oration of one disserting about himself or his own not seem irksome!

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.

For we envy not only honesty itself but somewhat more its glory and its proclamation, and we less twist and carp at right deeds precisely when they are laid away in obscurity and silence. 7 For which cause I often debate with myself whether we ought to have composed this, whatever it is, for ourselves only, or also for others. As for us, this admonishes: that most things which are necessary to the doing of a matter, once accomplished, do not retain either equal usefulness or favor.

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.

8 And, so as not to fetch examples farther back, what was more useful than to pursue by the pen an account of munificence? For through this we were achieving, first, that we might dwell upon honorable thoughts; then, that by a longer tractation we might clearly perceive their beauty; finally, that we might beware of repentance as the companion of sudden largess. From these there arose a certain discipline in the despising of money.

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.

9 For since nature has constrained all men to its custody, we on the contrary were being released from the common chains of avarice by a love of liberality long and much weighed, and our munificence seemed so much the more laudable, because we were drawn to it not by some impulse, but by counsel. 10 There was added to these reasons that we promised not games or gladiators, but annual expenses for the aliment of the freeborn. Moreover, the pleasures of the eyes and ears are so far from needing commendation that they ought not so much to be incited by oration as restrained; 11 but that someone should willingly undertake the tedium and labor of education must be obtained not only by rewards but also by exquisite exhortations.

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.

12 For if physicians accompany salubrious but pleasure-lacking foods with more flattering speeches, how much more was it fitting to introduce, with the comity of oration, a most useful benefaction that consults the public, though not equally popular? especially since we had to strive that what was being given to parents might also be approved by the world, and that the rest might patiently both await and deserve the honor of the few. 13 But just as then we were devoted more to common advantages than to private vaunting, when we wished the intention and the effect of our benefaction to be understood, so now, in the manner of publishing, we fear lest perhaps we may seem to have served not the utilities of others but our own praise.

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.

14 Moreover, we remember with how much higher a spirit the fruit of honor is laid up in conscience rather than in fame. For glory ought to follow, not to be sought; nor, if by some chance it does not follow, is that which has merited glory therefore less fair. 15 Those, indeed, who adorn their benefactions with words are believed not to proclaim because they have done them, but to have done them in order that they might proclaim.

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.

Thus what would have been magnificent when another relates it, dwindles when the very one who had carried it out recounts it; for when men cannot destroy the deed, they assail its vaunting. Thus, if you have done things that should be kept silent, the deed itself is assailed; if you do not keep silence about things that ought to be praised, you yourself are blamed. 16 But a certain peculiar rationale hinders me.

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.

For indeed I delivered this very discourse not among the people, but among the decurions, and not in the open but in the curia. 17 Therefore I fear it may not be sufficiently congruent that, since in speaking I fled the assentation and acclamation of the crowd, I should now pursue the same by that edition; and since I separated the plebs itself, for whose benefit counsel was being taken, by the threshold and walls of the curia, lest I fall into any appearance of ambition, that I should now even court those to whom from our office nothing pertains except the example, as it were by obtrusive ostentation. 18 You have the causes of my hesitation; I will nevertheless comply with your counsel, whose authority will suffice me in place of a reason.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS MINICIO FUNDANO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS MINICIUS FUNDANUS, GREETINGS.

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.

1 It is remarkable how on individual days in the city one’s plan either is consistent or seems consistent, yet over several days joined together it is not consistent. 2 For if you were to ask someone, 'What have you done today?', he would answer: 'I attended the ceremony of the toga virilis, I frequented betrothals or nuptials; this man asked me to sign a testament, that one into advocacy, that one into a council.' 3 These things, on the day you have done them, are necessary; the same things, if you reckon that you have done them every day, seem empty—much more so when you have withdrawn. Then there comes the recollection: 'How many days I have spent on such frigid affairs!' 4 This has befallen me, since at my Laurentine I either read something or write, or even give time to the body, by whose supports the spirit is sustained.

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!

5 I hear nothing that I repent of having heard, I say nothing that I repent of having said; no one with me carps at anyone with sinister talk, I myself reprehend no one, unless indeed myself when I write a little incommodiously; by no hope, by no fear am I made anxious, by no rumors am I disquieted: I speak only with myself and with my little books. 6 O upright and sincere life! O sweet and honorable leisure, and almost more beautiful than every business!

O mare, o litus, verum secretumque μουσεῖον, 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.

O sea, O shore, true and secret museum, how many things you discover, how many you dictate! 7 Therefore you too, leave that din and empty dashing-about and those many inept labors at the first opportunity, and hand yourself over to studies or to leisure. 8 For it is better, as our Atilius said most eruditely and most wittily, to be at leisure than to do nothing.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS ATTIO CLEMENTI SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS ATTIUS CLEMENS, GREETINGS.

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.

1 If ever our city has flourished in liberal studies, now it most especially flourishes. 2 There are many and illustrious examples; one would suffice, Euphrates the philosopher. This man I, in Syria, when as a rather young man I was serving in the military, inspected thoroughly and at home, and I labored to be loved by him, although there was no need to labor.

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.

For he is accessible and exposed, and full of the humanity which he prescribes. 3 And would that I myself had fulfilled the hope which he then conceived of me to the same degree as he has added much to his own virtues! or I now admire them more, because I understand them more.

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.

4 Although not even now do I understand sufficiently; for just as no one but an artificer can judge about a painter, an engraver, a molder, so no one but a wise man can clearly perceive a wise man. 5 Yet so far as it is granted me to discern, many things in Euphrates stand out and shine forth in such a way as to make even the moderately learned take notice and be affected. He argues subtly, gravely, ornately; frequently too he fashions that Platonic sublimity and breadth.

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.

The speech is copious and various, sweet above all, and such as to lead and even to impel those who resist. 6 To this, stature of body, a comely face, hair let down, a huge and hoary beard; which, although they may be thought fortuitous and vain, yet win him very much veneration. 7 No grimness in dress, no gloom, much severity; you would revere the encounter, you would not be afraid.

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.

The sanctity of life is highest; comity is equal: he assails vices, not men, and he does not chastise those who err but amends them. You would follow the admonisher, attentive and hanging on, and you would desire to be persuaded even when he has persuaded you. 8 Now indeed there are three children, two sons, whom he has instructed most diligently.

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.

The father-in-law Pompeius Iulianus, as in the rest of his life, so especially in this one thing, was great and illustrious: that he himself, the principal man of the province, amid the loftiest conditions of sons-in-law, chose one preeminent not in honors but in wisdom.

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.

9 Although, why should I say more about the man whom it is not permitted me to enjoy? Or, so that I may be more anguished that it is not permitted? For I am constrained by office—very great, yet very troublesome: I sit at the tribunal, I mark petitions, I draw up records, I write very many, but most illiterate, letters.

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.

10 I am wont sometimes—indeed, when does that very thing occur!—to complain to Euphrates about these occupations. He consoles me, and even affirms that this is a part of philosophy, and indeed the most beautiful: to conduct public business, to inquire and to judge, to bring forth and to exercise justice, and to have in practice the things which they themselves teach.

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.

11 Yet this one thing does not persuade me: that it is preferable to do those matters than to consume whole days with him in listening and learning. Wherefore all the more I exhort you, who have leisure, when you next come into the city — and do come the sooner on this account — to permit yourself to be polished and filed by him. 12 For I, not as many, do not envy others the good of which I myself am deprived, but the contrary: I perceive a certain feeling and pleasure, if I see that the things denied to me abound for my friends.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS FABIO IUSTO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS FABIUS IUSTUS, GREETINGS.

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.

1 For a long time now you send me no letters. “There is nothing,” you say, “that I can write.” But write this very thing, that there is nothing you can write, or at least that sole formula with which the ancients used to begin: “If you are well, it is well; I am well.” 2 This suffices for me; for it is the greatest thing.

Ludere me putas? serio peto. Fac sciam quid agas, quod sine sollicitudine summa nescire non possum.

Do you think I’m playing? I ask in earnest. See to it that I know what you are doing, which I cannot be unaware of without the utmost solicitude.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS CALESTRIO TIRONI SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS CALESTRIUS TIRO, GREETINGS.

Corellius überlebt Domitian um einen Tag.

Corellius survives Domitian by one day.

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.

1 I have incurred the gravest loss, if the loss of so great a man is to be called a loss. Corellius Rufus has departed—and indeed of his own accord—which exulcerates my sorrow. For it is the most mournful kind of death, which seems neither from nature nor fated.

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.

2 For, in whatever way it be, in the case of those who are ended by disease, there is great solace from the necessity itself; but in those whom a summoned death carries off, here is an incurable grief, because they are believed to have been able to live long. 3 Corellius indeed was compelled to this resolve by highest reason, which for the wise stands in place of necessity, although he had very many causes for living—an excellent conscience, an excellent fame, the greatest authority, besides a daughter, a wife, a grandson, sisters, and, among so many pledges, true friends. 4 But he was afflicted with so long, so unjust an illness, that these so great prices of living were overcome by the calculations of death.

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.

In the thirty-third year, as I heard from him himself, he was seized by a pain of the feet. This was paternal to him; for very often diseases too, by certain successions, are handed down as other things are transmitted. 5 This, by abstinence and sanctity, so long as his age was green, he conquered and broke; at last, as it grew heavier with old age, he bore it up by the strengths of spirit, while indeed he was suffering incredible tortures and most unworthy torments.

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.

6 For already the pain no longer sat upon his feet alone as before, but roamed through all his limbs. I came to him, in the times of Domitian, as he lay at his suburban estate. 7 The slaves withdrew from the bedchamber — he had this as a custom, whenever a more faithful friend had entered -; nay even his wife, although most capable of every secret, would withdraw.

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.

8 He cast his eyes around and said, 'Why do you think I am enduring these so great pains for so long? — namely so that I may outlive that robber by even one day.' Had you given to this spirit a body equal to it, he would have done what he desired. Yet God was present to his vow; having obtained it, so that now secure and free, about to die, he broke those many, but lesser, ties of life.

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.

9 His illness had increased, which he tried to mitigate by temperance; persisting, he escaped by constancy. Now the second, the third, the fourth day: he was abstaining from food. His wife Hispulla sent to me our common friend C. Geminius with a most sorrowful message—that Corellius had determined to die and was not being bent either by the entreaties of his own household or of his daughter; that I alone remained, by whom he might be called back to life.

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: Κέκρικα, quae vox quantum admirationis in animo meo tantum desiderii reliquit.

10 I ran. I had arrived at the nearest place, when Julius Atticus from that same Hispulla announces to me that now not even I would obtain anything: that he had, so obstinately, hardened more and more. He had indeed said to the physician bringing the food to him: ‘Κέκρικα’ (‘I have decided’), which word left in my mind as much admiration as desire.

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.

11 I ponder of what friend, of what man I am bereft. He indeed completed his sixty-seventh year, which age even for the most robust is long enough; I know. He has escaped perpetual ill-health; I know.

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.

He departed, his own surviving him, with the commonwealth flourishing, which was to him dearer than all things; and this I know. 12 I, however, mourn his death as if of both a youth and a most stalwart man; I grieve, moreover—though you may think me weak—on my own account. For I have lost, I have lost the witness, the rector, the master of my life.

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.

In sum I will say what, in my fresh grief, I said to my close companion Calvisius: 'I fear that I may live more negligently.' 13 Therefore apply consolations to me, not these: 'He was old, he was infirm' — for these I know —, but some new ones, rather great ones, which I have never heard, never read. For those which I have heard and which I have read come to mind of their own accord, but are overcome by so great a grief. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS SOSIO SENECIONI SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS SOSIUS SENECIO, GREETINGS.

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 ex magna parte evoluerit librum; tum demum ac tunc quoque Lente cunctanterque veniunt, nec tamen permanent, sed ante finem recedunt, alii dissimulanter et furtim, alii simpliciter et libere.

1 This year has brought a great harvest of poets: throughout the whole month of April there was hardly a day on which someone did not recite. It pleases me that studies are vigorous, that the talents of men bring themselves forth and display themselves, although people gather sluggishly for listening. 2 Most sit at their stations and wear down the time for listening with chit-chat, and repeatedly have it reported to them whether the reciter has now entered, whether he has spoken the preface, whether he has unrolled the book for the greater part; only then, and even then slowly and hesitatingly, do they come, nor do they remain, but withdraw before the end, some dissemblingly and stealthily, others simply and freely.

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.

3 But, by Hercules, in our parents’ memory they report that Claudius Caesar, when he was strolling in the Palatium and had heard a clamor, asked the cause; and when it was said that Nonianus was reciting, he came upon the reciter suddenly and unexpectedly. 4 Now the most idle person, though asked long before and repeatedly admonished, either does not come or, if he comes, complains that he has lost the day—because he did not lose it. 5 But all the more are they to be praised and approved, whom neither this sloth nor this pride of the audience retards from the zeal for writing and reciting.

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.

For my part I was almost lacking to no one. There were indeed very many friends; 6 for there is scarcely anyone who loves studies who does not at the same time love us as well. For these causes I consumed more time in the city than I had destined.

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.

I can now resume my retreat and write something which I shall not recite, lest I seem, at the recitations of those whose I have attended, to have been not an auditor but a creditor. For as in other matters, so in the office of listening, favor perishes if it is exacted back. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS IUNIO MAURICO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS JUNIUS MAURICUS, GREETINGS.

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.

1 You ask that I look out a husband for your brother’s daughter; which you most rightly enjoin upon me above all. For you know how greatly I have revered and loved that supreme man, with what exhortations he fostered my youth, with what praises he even effected that I might seem laudable. 2 There is nothing that could be entrusted to me by you either greater or more gratifying, nothing that could be more honorable for me to undertake, than that I select a young man, from whom it would befit that grandchildren be born to Arulenus Rusticus.

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.

3 He indeed would long have had to be sought, had not Minicius Acilianus been ready and, as it were, foreprovided, who loves me most intimately as a young man a young man — for he is younger by a few years — and reveres me as an old man. 4 For he so desires to be formed and instituted by me as I used to be by you. His fatherland is Brixia, from that Italy of ours which still retains and preserves much verecundity, frugality, and even ancient rusticity.

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.

5 His father is Minicius Macrinus, a leader of the equestrian order, because he wished nothing higher; for, having been co-opted by the Deified Vespasian among the praetorians, he most steadfastly preferred honorable quiet to this our — shall I say ambition or dignity? —. 6 He has a maternal grandmother, Serrana Procula, from the municipium of Patavium.

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.

You know the mores of the place: Serrana, however, is even among the Patavians an exemplar of severity. He also has as an uncle P. Acilius, a man of gravity, prudence, and fidelity almost singular. In sum, there will be nothing in the whole household that will not please you as if in your own.

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.

7 To Acilianus himself there is very great vigor and industry, although in the greatest modesty. He has run most honorably through the quaestorship, the tribunate, and the praetorship, and now on his own behalf he has released you from the necessity of canvassing. 8 He has a liberal countenance, suffused with much blood and much blush; there is an ingenuous beauty of the whole body and a certain senatorial decorum.

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.

Which I by no means think should be neglected; for this ought to be given to the chastity of maidens as a kind of premium. 9 I do not know whether I should add that her father has ample faculties. For when I imagine you, for whom we are seeking a son-in-law, I think there should be silence about faculties; when I look to public morals and even the laws of the state, which judge that, even first and foremost, the census of men is to be inspected, it does not seem that even that is to be passed over.

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.

And indeed, for one thinking about posterity and these more numerous considerations, this pebble too is to be cast in choosing the conditions. 10 You perhaps suppose that I have indulged my love, and have lifted these points higher than the matter permits. But on my good faith I guarantee that you will find everything far more ample than is proclaimed by me.

Diligo quidem adulescentem ardentissime sicut meretur; sed hoc ipsum amantis est, non onerare eum laudibus. Vale.

I do indeed love the young man most ardently, just as he deserves; but this very thing is the mark of one who loves: not to burden him with praises. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO CLARO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS SEPTICIUS CLARUS, GREETINGS.

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.

1 Hey you! You promise for dinner, and you do not come? The law is declared: you will repay the expense to the as, and not that a modicum. 2 There were prepared lettuces one apiece, snails three each, eggs two each, halica with mulsum and snow — for you will reckon this too, nay this first of all, which perishes on the platter -, olives, beetroots, gourds, bulbs, a thousand other things no less sumptuous.

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.

You would have heard comedians or a reader or a lyrist—or, such is my liberality—all of them. 3 But you preferred, at I-know-not-whose place, oysters, sow’s wombs, Gaditanian sea-urchins. You will pay the penalties, I do not say what.

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.

You acted harshly: you envied—I do not know whether yourself, certainly me, yet you too. How much we would have played, laughed, studied! 4 You can dine more elaborately with many, nowhere more hilariously, more simply, more incautiously.

In summa experire, et nisi postea te aliis potius excusaveris, mihi semper excusa. Vale.

In sum, make trial; and unless thereafter you should excuse yourself rather to others, be always excused with me. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS ERUCIO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS ERUCIUS, GREETINGS.

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.

1 I loved Pompeius Saturninus — I mean our own — and I praised his genius, even before I knew how varied, how flexible, how multiplex it was; now indeed he holds me wholly, has me, possesses me. 2 I have heard him pleading causes keenly and ardently, and no less polished and ornate, whether he brought forth things premeditated or sudden. Apt and frequent sentences are at hand, a weighty and decorous construction, words sonorous and ancient.

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.

All these things delight wondrously when they are carried along with a certain impetus and river-like flow; they delight if they are reconsidered. 3 You will feel what I do, when you take his orations into your hands, which you will easily compare to any of the ancients, whose emulator he is. 4 The same man, however, will satisfy more in history, whether by the brevity or the lucidity or the suavity, or even by the splendor and the sublimity of narrating.

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!

For in the public assemblies there is the same force as in the orations, only more compressed and more circumscribed and more tightened. 5 Moreover, he makes verses such as my Catullus or Calvus—indeed, such as Catullus or Calvus. How much charm, sweetness, bitterness, love there is in them!

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.

He does indeed insert, but deliberately, certain rather harsher pieces into the soft and light ones; and this as if he were Catullus or Calvus. 6 He recently read epistles to me; he said they were his wife’s. I believed I was reading Plautus or Terence loosed from meter.

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.

Whether they are the wife’s, as he affirms, or his own, as he denies, he is worthy of equal glory, who either composes those pieces, or has made his wife, whom he received as a virgin, so learned and polished. 7 He is therefore with me through the whole day; the same before I write, the same when I have written, the same even when I am unbent; I read him not as the same. 8 Which I both exhort and admonish you also to do; for the fact that he lives ought not to be a hindrance to his works.

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.

Or if he had flourished among those whom we have never seen, would we seek out not only his books but even his images? Does the honor of the same man, now present, and his grace languish as though from satiety? 9 But this is perverse and malignant: not to admire a man most worthy of admiration, because it befalls us to see, address, hear, embrace him, and not only to praise but even to love him. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TITIANO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS CORNELIUS TITIANUS GREETINGS.

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.

1 Faith and duty are still a concern to men; there are those who act as friends even of the deceased. Titinius Capito obtained from our emperor that it be permitted to him to set up a statue of L. Silanus in the forum. 2 A fine thing and worthy of great praise to use the amity of the princeps in this, and to test how much your favor may avail by the honors of others.

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.

3 It is altogether Capito’s habit to honor renowned men; it is remarkable with what religion, with what zeal he keeps at home, wherever he can, the images of the Brutuses, the Cassiuses, the Catos. The same man adorns the life of each most illustrious person with excellent poems. 4 Know that he himself abounds in very many virtues, who so loves those of others.

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.

The owed honor has been rendered to Silanus, for whose immortality Capito has provided, equally as for his own. For it is not more decorous and more signal to have a statue in the forum of the Roman People than to set one up. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS SUETONIO TRANQUILLO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS, GREETINGS.

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, καὶ γάρ τ᾽ ὄναρ ἐκ . . . διός ἐστιν. 2 Refert tamen, eventura soleas an contraria somniare. Mihi reputanti somnium meum istud, quod times tu, egregiam actionem portendere videtur.

1 You write that, terrified by a dream, you fear lest you suffer something adverse in the pleading, you ask that I seek a postponement, and excuse a few days, at least the next. It is difficult, but I will try, for even a dream is from . . . Zeus. 2 However, it matters whether you are wont to dream things that are going to happen or the contrary. To me, on reconsidering, that dream of mine, which you fear, seems to portend an excellent pleading.

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 λογισάμενος illud εἷς οἰωνὸς ἄριστος ἀμύνεσθαι περὶ πάτρης. Nam mihi patria, et si quid carius patria, fides videbatur. Prospere cessit, atque adeo illa actio mihi aures hominum, illa ianuam famae patefecit.

3 I had undertaken the cause of Junius Pastor, when, as I was resting, my mother-in-law seemed to fly to my knees and beseech me not to plead; and I, still a quite young man, was about to plead, I was in a fourfold suit, I was against the most powerful men of the state and even friends of Caesar—each of which, after so gloomy a dream, could have shaken my mind. 4 Nevertheless I pled, λογισάμενος that saying εἷς οἰωνὸς ἄριστος ἀμύνεσθαι περὶ πάτρης. For to me my country—and, if anything be dearer than country, good faith—seemed at stake. It turned out prosperously, and indeed that action opened to me men’s ears, that action the door of fame.

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 cum voles possis. Est enim sane alia ratio tua, alia mea fuit.

5 Therefore consider whether you too, under this example, may turn that dream to good; or, if you think safer that precept of the most cautious, 'What you doubt, do not do,' write back just that. 6 I shall find some turn and will plead your case, so that you may be able to plead that one when you wish. For indeed your position is one thing; mine was another.

Nam iudicium centumvirale differri nullo modo, istuc aegre quidem sed tamen potest. Vale.

For the centumviral trial can in no way be deferred; that matter, though with difficulty, yet can. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS ROMATIO FIRMO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS ROMATIUS FIRMUS, GREETINGS.

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.

1 You are my fellow townsman and co-disciple and, from earliest age, a companion under the same roof; your father was familiar to my mother and to my maternal uncle, and to me also, as far as the difference of age allowed: great and weighty causes, why I ought to undertake to augment your dignity. 2 That you have a census of 100,000 is sufficiently indicated by the fact that you are a decurion among us. Therefore, that we may enjoy you not only as a decurion but also as a Roman knight, I offer you three hundred thousand in coin to make up the equestrian means. 3 The long continuance of our friendship guarantees that you will be mindful of this gift: I do not even remind you of that which I ought to remind you of, unless I knew you would do it of your own accord, namely, that you use, as modestly as possible, the dignity given by me, as given by me.

4 Nam sollicitius custodiendus est honor, in quo etiam beneficium amici tuendum est. Vale.

4 For honor must be guarded more solicitously, in which the benefaction of a friend also is to be protected. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS CORNELIO TACITO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS CORNELIUS TACITUS, GREETINGS.

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.

1 I often have a disputation with a certain learned and experienced man, for whom nothing in conducting cases pleases so much as brevity. 2 Which I confess ought to be kept, if the case permits: otherwise it is prevarication to pass over things that must be said; it is prevarication also to touch cursorily and briefly those things which ought to be inculcated, implanted, repeated. 3 For to most matters there accrues, by a longer handling, a certain force and weight; and as iron upon the body, so speech upon the mind is imprinted not so much by the stroke as by lingering.

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.

4 Here he argues with me from authorities and parades to me from the Greeks the orations of Lysias, from our own those of the Gracchi and of Cato, many of which indeed are cut down and brief: I set against Lysias Demosthenes, Aeschines, Hyperides, and many others besides; against the Gracchi and Cato, Pollio, Caesar, Caelius; and above all M. Tullius, whose oration is said to be best which is greatest. And by Hercules, as with other good things, so a good book is the better the greater. 5 You see how statues, images, paintings, the forms of men and, finally, of many animals, and even of trees—if only they be comely—are commended by nothing so much as by amplitude.

Idem orationibus evenit; quin etiam voluminibus ipsis auctoritatem quandam et pulchritudinem adicit magnitudo.

The same befalls orations; indeed, magnitude adds to the volumes themselves a certain authority and pulchritude.

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.

6 He, to these points and many others—which are wont to be said by me to the same effect—as he is in disputation incomprehensible and slippery, so he evades by asserting that these very men, on whose orations I rely, said fewer things than they published. 7 I, on the contrary, think otherwise. Witness are the many orations of many, and Cicero’s For Murena and For Varenus, in which a brief and bare, as-it-were subscription of certain charges is indicated by the titles alone.

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.

From these things it appears that he said very many matters, but when he published he omitted them. 8 The same man in the speech For Cluentius says that he alone, by the old institute (practice), pleaded through the whole case, and in the case For C. Cornelius he pleaded for four days, so that we cannot doubt that those things which over several days — as was necessary — he said more broadly, he afterwards, cut back and purged, compressed into one book — large indeed, yet one. 9 But a good delivery is one thing, a speech another.

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 ἀρχέτυπον. 10 Ideo in optima quaque mille figuras extemporales invenimus, in iis etiam quas tantum editas scimus, ut in Verrem: 'artificem quem? quemnam?

I know it seems so to some, but I — perhaps I am mistaken — am convinced that it can come about that there is a good delivery which is not a good oration, but that it cannot be that the delivery is not good where the oration is good. For the oration is the exemplar of delivery and, as it were, the archetype. 10 Therefore in each of the best we find a thousand extemporaneous figures, even in those which we know only as published, as in Against Verres: 'an artificer—whom? who, pray?'

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.

you remind rightly; ‘they used to say it was Polyclitus.’ Therefore it follows that the action is most absolute, which has most expressed the likeness of the oration, provided only it receives a just and due time; if that be denied, it is no fault of the orator, but the greatest fault of the judge. 11 Laws are present to this my opinion, which lavish the longest times and advise not brevity to speakers but copiousness — that is, diligence — which brevity cannot furnish except in the narrowest cases. 12 I will add what experience, an outstanding teacher, has taught me.

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.

I have frequently pleaded, I have frequently judged, I have frequently been in council: different things move different men, and very often small matters draw along the greatest. The judgments of men are various, their wills various. Hence those who have heard the same cause at the same time often think differently, sometimes the same, but from different motions of the mind.

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.

13 Moreover, each person favors his own invention, and embraces it as the very strongest, when what he himself foresaw has been said by another. Therefore something must be given to everyone which they may hold, which they may recognize. 14 Regulus once said to me, when we were present together: 'You think all the things that are in the case must be gone through; I at once see the throat, this I press.' He certainly presses what he has chosen, but in choosing he frequently errs.

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, πάντα denique λίθον κινῶ; 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.

15 I replied that it could come about that it was a knee or an ankle where he supposed it was the throat. But I, I say, since I cannot clearly discern the throat, try everything through and through, I test everything, in fine I move every stone; 16 and as in the culture of a field I care for and work not only vineyards but also tree-plantations, and not only tree-plantations but also fields, and as in the fields themselves I sow not spelt or rye alone, but barley, bean, and the other legumes, so in a pleading I scatter more things, as it were seeds, more broadly, that I may gather whatever has sprouted. 17 For the dispositions of judges are no less unperspicuous, uncertain, and deceitful than those of tempests and of the lands.

Nec me praeterit summum oratorem Periclen sic a comico Eupolide laudari:

Nor does it escape me that the supreme orator Pericles is thus lauded by the comic poet Eupolis:

"πρὸς δέ γ᾽ αὐτοῦ τῷ τάχει
πειθώ τις ἐπεκάθητο τοῖσι χείλεσιν.
οὕτως ἐκήλει, καὶ μόνος τῶν ῥητόρων
τὸ κέντρον ἐγκατέλειπε τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις."

"and, indeed, by his very swiftness
Persuasion sat upon his lips.
thus he enchanted, and alone of the rhetors
he left the sting in the listeners."

18 Verum huic ipsi Pericli nec illa πειθὼ nec illud ἐκήλει 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:

18 But to Pericles himself neither that “Persuasion” nor that “he enchanted” would have fallen to him by brevity or by velocity or by both — for they differ — without supreme capacity. For to delight and to persuade require a copiousness of speaking and room (time), while to leave a sting in the minds of the hearers only he at last is able who does not prick but implants. 19 Add, too, what another comic poet says about the same Pericles:

"ἤστραπτ᾽, ἐβρόντα, συνεκύκα τὴν . . . ῾ελλάδα"

"he flashed lightning, he thundered, he shook . . . Greece"

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.

For it is not a lopped and cut-off oration, but broad and magnificent and exalted; it thunders, it lightens, and in the end it perturbs and commingles all things. 20 'Yet measure is best': who denies it? But he no less fails to keep the measure who is below the matter than he who is above it, who speaks more constrictedly than he who more effusively.

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 ἀμετροεπῆ probo, sed hunc:

21 Therefore you hear as frequently as that: 'immoderately and redundantly,' so this: 'meagerly and weakly.' One man is said to have exceeded the subject-matter, another not to have filled it. Each equally [errs], but that one sins by weakness, this one by strength; which certainly, even if not of a more polished, is nevertheless the fault of a greater talent. 22 Nor indeed, when I say these things, do I approve that Homeric ἀμετροεπῆ, but this one:

"καὶ ἔπεα νιφάδεσσιν ἐοικότα χειμερίῃσιν,"
non quia non et ille mihi valdissime placeat:
"παῦρα μέν, ἀλλὰ μάλα λιγέως"

"and words resembling wintry snowflakes,"
not because that one too does not please me most strongly:
"few indeed, but very clearly"

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.

if, however, a choice be granted, I want that oration similar to winter snows, that is, frequent and assiduous, but also copious, finally divine and celestial. 23 'But a brief delivery is more pleasing to many.' It is, but to the inert, whose pamperings and sloth it is laughable to regard as if a judgment. For if you should have these men in counsel, it is preferable not only to speak briefly, but not to speak at all.

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.

24 This is my opinion thus far, which I will change if you shall disagree; but I ask that you plainly explain why you disagree. For although I ought to yield to your authority, yet I judge it more correct in so great a matter to be overcome by reason rather than by authority. 25 Therefore, if I do not seem to err, write that very thing in as brief a letter as you please, yet do write — for you will confirm my judgment -; if I shall have erred, prepare a very long one.

Num corrupi te, qui tibi si mihi accederes brevis epistulae necessitatem, si dissentires longissimae imposui? Vale.

Have I perhaps corrupted you, since I imposed upon you the necessity of a brief epistle if you should accede to me, but of a very long one if you should dissent? Farewell.

C. PLINIUS PLINIO PATERNO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS PLINIUS PATERNUS, GREETINGS.

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.

1 As to the judgment of your mind, so also to your eyes I ascribe very much, not because very much — lest you be pleased with yourself — but because you are just as wise as I; although this too is much. 2 Jokes set aside, I believe the slaves are suitable, who have been bought for me on your counsel. It remains that they be frugal/of good character, which, in those for sale, is judged better by the ears than by the eyes.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS CATILIO SEVERO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS CATILIUS SEVERUS, GREETINGS.

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.

1 I have been lingering in the city for a long time now, and indeed thunderstruck. The long and pertinacious ill-health of Titus Aristo disturbs me, whom I singularly both admire and love. For nothing is graver, more sacred, more learned than he, so that it seems to me that not one man, but Letters themselves and all the good arts, in one man are entering into supreme peril.

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.

2 How skilled he is in both private law and public! how much of matters, how many examples, how much of antiquity he holds! There is nothing that you might wish to learn that he cannot teach; to me certainly, whenever I seek something recondite, he is a thesaurus.

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.

3 Now what fidelity in his discourses, what authority, how compressed and decorous a hesitation! what is there that he does not know straightway? And yet very often he hesitates, he doubts, because of the diversity of reasons, which with a keen and great judgment he retraces from the origin and first causes, distinguishes, and weighs.

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.

4 In addition, how sparing in victuals, how moderate in attire! I am accustomed to look upon his very bedchamber and his very bed as a kind of image of ancient frugality. 5 These things are adorned by that greatness of spirit, which refers nothing to ostentation, everything to conscience, and seeks the recompense of a right deed not from the people’s talk, but from the deed itself.

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.

6 In sum, you will not easily compare any of those who put the pursuit of wisdom on display by the habit of the body to this man. He does not indeed follow the gymnasia or the porticoes, nor does he delight others’ leisure and his own with long disputations, but he is engaged in the toga and in affairs, he helps many by advocacy, more by counsel. 7 Yet to none of these would he have yielded the first place in chastity, piety, justice, or even in fortitude.

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.

You would marvel, if you were present, with what patience he tolerates this very ill-health: how he resists pain, how he defers thirst, how, unmoving and covered, he lets the incredible ardor of the fevers pass. 8 Recently he called me and a few with me, whom he loves most, and asked that we consult the physicians about the sum of his health, so that, if it were insuperable, he would of his own accord go out of life; if only difficult and long, he would resist and remain: 9 for, he said, something must be granted to the prayers of his wife, something to his daughter’s tears, something even to us friends, lest he abandon our hopes, if only they were not empty, by a voluntary death. 10 This I for my part deem arduous above all and worthy of especial praise.

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.

For to run forward to death by a certain impulse and instinct is common with many; but to deliberate and to weigh its causes, and, as reason has counseled, either to take up or to lay aside the plan of life and death, is of a mighty spirit. 11 And the physicians indeed promise favorable things to us: it remains that God assent to the promises and at last release me from this solicitude; freed from which I shall return to my Laurentinum—that is, to my little books and writing-tablets—and to studious leisure. For now it is possible to read nothing, to write nothing: either attendance affords no leisure, or, being anxious, I have no inclination.

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.

12 You have what I fear, what I desire, what also I intend for the future: you, write to me in turn what you have done, what you are doing, what you wish to do, but in more cheerful epistles. It will be no mediocre solace to my confusion, if you complain of nothing. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS POMPEIO FALCONI SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS POMPEIUS FALCO, GREETINGS.

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.

1 You consult whether I judge that you ought to plead cases while in the tribunate. It makes a very great difference what you think the tribunate to be: an empty shadow and a name without honor, or a sacrosanct power, one which it does not befit to be compelled into order by anyone—no, not even by itself. 2 I myself, when I was tribune, perhaps erred in that I thought myself to be something; but, as if I were, I abstained from pleading cases: first, because I thought it unseemly that he to whom all ought to rise and yield place should stand while all were seated; and that he who could order anyone whatsoever to be silent should have silence imposed upon him by the water-clock; and that he whom it was impious to interrupt should even hear insults—and, if he endured them unavenged, seem inert; if he avenged them, seem insolent.

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.

3 This heat was also before my eyes: if by chance either he to whom I was attending, or he whom I was opposing, should address me, should I intercede and bring aid, or keep quiet and be silent, and, as if the magistracy were renounced, make myself a private person. 4 Moved by these reasons I preferred to exhibit myself as tribune to all rather than as advocate to a few. 5 But you — I will say it again — it makes a very great difference what you take the tribunate to be, what persona you put upon yourself; which to a wise man must be so fitted as to be borne.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS BAEBIO HISPANO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS BAEBIUS HISPANUS, GREETING.

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.

1 Tranquillus, my housemate, wants to buy a small farm, which your friend is said to be trying to sell. 2 I ask you to see to it that he buys it at a fair price; for thus it will be pleasing to have bought. For a bad purchase is always disagreeable, especially because it seems to upbraid the owner’s foolishness.

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.

3 In this little plot, if only the price shall smile, many things solicit the taste of my Tranquillus: the vicinity of the city, the opportuneness of the road, the mediocrity (modest scale) of the villa, the measured extent of the countryside, which would call him away rather than distract him. 4 For scholarly owners, as he is, abundantly sufficient is just so much soil that they may relieve the head, refresh the eyes, creep along the boundary and wear a single footpath, and be able to know all their little vines and count their little trees. I have set these things out to you, that you might more clearly know how much he would be indebted to me and I to you, if he should buy that little estate, which is commended by these dowries, so salubriously as to leave no place for repentance.

Vale.

Farewell.