Pliny the Younger: EPISTVLARVM LIBRI DECEM

1 Quamdiu ego trans Padum tu in Piceno, minus te requirebam; postquam ego in urbe tu adhuc in Piceno, multo magis, seu quod ipsa loca in quibus esse una solemus acrius me tui commonent, seu quod desiderium absentium nihil perinde ac vicinitas acuit, quoque propius accesseris ad spem fruendi, hoc impatientius careas. 2 Quidquid in causa, eripe me huic tormento. Veni, aut ego illuc unde inconsulte properavi revertar, vel ob hoc solum, ut experiar an mihi, cum sine me Romae coeperis esse, similes his epistulas mittas.

1 As long as I was across the Po and you in Picenum, I missed you less; after I was in the city and you still in Picenum, much more so—whether because the very places in which we are wont to be together remind me of you more keenly, or because nothing sharpens the longing for the absent so much as proximity, and the nearer you approach to the hope of enjoying, the more impatiently you go without. 2 Whatever the cause, rescue me from this torment. Come, or I will return there whence I rashly hurried, if only for this one reason: to test whether, when you begin to be at Rome without me, you will send me letters like these.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS ARRIANUS, GREETINGS.

1 Soleo non numquam in iudiciis quaerere M. Regulum; nolo enim dicere desiderare. 2 Cur ergo quaero? Habebat studiis honorem, timebat pallebat scribebat, quamvis non posset ediscere.

1 I am accustomed now and then in the courts to look for M. Regulus; for I do not wish to say “to miss” him. 2 Why then do I look for him? He had honor for studies; he used to be afraid, grow pale, and write, although he could not learn by heart.

Illud ipsum, quod oculum modo dextrum modo sinistrum circumlinebat — dextrum si a petitore, alterum si a possessore esset acturus -, quod candidum splenium in hoc aut in illud supercilium transferebat, quod semper haruspices consulebat de actionis eventu, a nimia superstitione sed tamen et a magno studiorum honore veniebat. 3 Iam illa perquam iucunda una dicentibus, quod libera tempora petebat, quod audituros corrogabat. Quid enim iucundius quam sub alterius invidia quamdiu velis, et in alieno auditorio quasi deprehensum commode dicere?

That very practice, that he would outline now the right eye now the left — the right if he was going to act for the claimant, the other if for the possessor —, that he would transfer a white splenium onto this or that eyebrow, that he always consulted the haruspices about the outcome of the action, came from excessive superstition, yet also from a great honor for studies. 3 Now those things were quite delightful, shared by speakers: that he asked for free times, that he canvassed for those who would listen. For what is more pleasant than, under another’s envy for as long as you wish, and in another’s auditorium, to speak suitably as if caught in the act?

4 Sed utcumque se habent ista, bene fecit Regulus quod est mortuus: melius, si ante. Nunc enim sane poterat sine malo publico vivere, sub eo principe sub quo nocere non poterat. 5 Ideo fas est non numquam eum quaerere.

4 But however these things stand, Regulus did well in that he died: better, if earlier. For now indeed he could have lived without public harm, under that emperor under whom he could not do harm. 5 Therefore it is right sometimes to look for him.

Nam, postquam obiit ille, increbruit passim et invaluit consuetudo binas vel singulas clepsydras, interdum etiam dimidias et dandi et petendi. Nam et qui dicunt, egisse malunt quam agere, et qui audiunt, finire quam iudicare. Tanta neglegentia tanta desidia, tanta denique irreverentia studiorum periculorumque est.

After he died, the custom spread everywhere and prevailed of granting and requesting two or single clepsydras (water-clocks), sometimes even halves. For both those who speak prefer to have pleaded rather than to plead, and those who listen, to finish rather than to judge. So great is the negligence, so great the sloth, so, in fine, the irreverence toward studies and perils.

6 An nos sapientiores maioribus nostris, nos legibus ipsis iustiores, quae tot horas tot dies tot comperendinationes largiuntur? Hebetes illi et supra modum tardi; nos apertius dicimus, celerius intellegimus, religiosius iudicamus, quia paucioribus clepsydris praecipitamus causas quam diebus explicari solebant. 7 O Regule, qui ambitione ab omnibus obtinebas quod fidei paucissimi praestant!

6 Are we wiser than our ancestors, we more just than the laws themselves, which grant so many hours, so many days, so many comperendinations? Dull they, and beyond measure slow; we speak more openly, understand more swiftly, judge more religiously, because with fewer clepsydras we precipitate cases than used to be unfolded in days. 7 O Regulus, you who by ambition were obtaining from all what very few render to good faith!

Equidem quotiens iudico, quod vel saepius facio quam dico, quantum quis plurimum postulat aquae do. 8 Etenim temerarium existimo divinare quam spatiosa sit causa inaudita, tempusque negotio finire cuius modum ignores, praesertim cum primam religioni suae iudex patientiam debeat, quae pars magna iustitiae est. At quaedam supervacua dicuntur. Etiam: sed satius est et haec dici quam non dici necessaria.

Indeed, whenever I judge, which I do more often than I say, I give the utmost amount of water that anyone requests. 8 For I consider it rash to divine how expansive a case is when unheard, and to fix a time-limit for a business whose measure you do not know, especially since a judge ought first to owe patience to his own religion, which is a great part of justice. But certain things are said superfluously. Yes: but it is better that these also be said than that necessary things not be said.

9 Praeterea, an sint supervacua, nisi cum audieris scire non possis. Sed de his melius coram ut de pluribus vitiis civitatis. Nam tu quoque amore communium soles emendari cupere quae iam corrigere difficile est.

9 Moreover, whether they are superfluous you cannot know unless you have heard. But about these matters, better face to face, as about the many vices of the city. For you too, out of love for the commonweal, are wont to desire to have corrected things which now it is difficult to correct.

10 Nunc respiciamus domos nostras. Ecquid omnia in tua recte? in mea novi nihil.

10 Now let us look back at our homes. Is everything in yours right? in mine, nothing new.

Mihi autem et gratiora sunt bona quod perseverant, et leviora incommoda quod assuevi. Vale.

But to me the goods are more gratifying because they persevere, and the incommodities lighter because I have grown accustomed. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS VERO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS VERUS, GREETINGS.

1 Gratias ago, quod agellum quem nutrici meae donaveram colendum suscepisti. Erat, cum donarem, centum milium nummum; postea decrescente reditu etiam pretium minuit, quod nunc te curante reparabit. 2 Tu modo memineris commendari tibi a me non arbores et terram, quamquam haec quoque, sed munusculum meum, quod esse quam fructuosissimum non illius magis interest quae accepit, quam mea qui dedi.

1 I give thanks that you have undertaken to cultivate the little field which I had donated to my nurse. When I donated it, it was worth a hundred thousand sesterces; afterwards, as the revenue decreased, even the price diminished, which now, with you taking care, will be restored. 2 Only remember that what is commended to you by me is not the trees and the land—though these as well—but my little gift, which to be as fruitful as possible is no more the concern of her who received it than of me who gave it.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

C. PLINY TO HIS CALPURNIA, GREETINGS.

1 Numquam sum magis de occupationibus meis questus, quae me non sunt passae aut proficiscentem te valetudinis causa in Campaniam prosequi aut profectam e vestigio subsequi. 2 Nunc enim praecipue simul esse cupiebam, ut oculis meis crederem quid viribus quid corpusculo apparares, ecquid denique secessus voluptates regionisque abundantiam inoffensa transmitteres. 3 Equidem etiam fortem te non sine cura desiderarem; est enim suspensum et anxium de eo quem ardentissime diligas interdum nihil scire.

1 I have never complained more about my occupations, which did not allow me either to accompany you, as you were setting out to Campania for the sake of health, or to follow on your tracks at once after you had set out. 2 For just now especially I was longing to be together, so that I might trust my own eyes as to what you were doing for your strength and for your little body, whether, finally, you were passing through the pleasures of the retreat and the abundance of the region unoffended. 3 Indeed, even were you strong I would miss you not without care; for it keeps one suspended and anxious to know nothing at times about the one whom you love most ardently.

4 Nunc vero me cum absentiae tum infirmitatis tuae ratio incerta et varia sollicitudine exterret. Vereor omnia, imaginor omnia, quaeque natura metuentium est, ea maxime mihi quae maxime abominor fingo. 5 Quo impensius rogo, ut timori meo cottidie singulis vel etiam binis epistulis consulas.

4 Now indeed the uncertain condition both of your absence and of your infirmity terrifies me with shifting solicitude. I fear everything, I imagine everything; and, as is the nature of the fearful, I especially picture to myself the very things which I most abominate. 5 Wherefore I all the more earnestly beg that you daily allay my fear with epistles, single or even double.

Ero enim securior dum lego, statimque timebo cum legero. Vale.

For I shall be more secure while I read, and immediately I shall fear when I have read. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

C. PLINIUS TO HIS URSUS, GREETINGS.

1 Scripseram tenuisse Varenum, ut sibi evocare testes liceret; quod pluribus aequum, quibusdam iniquum et quidem pertinaciter visum, maxime Licinio Nepoti, qui sequenti senatu, cum de rebus aliis referretur, de proximo senatus consulto disseruit finitamque causam retractavit. 2 Addidit etiam petendum a consulibus ut referrent sub exemplo legis ambitus de lege repetundarum, an placeret in futurum ad eam legem adici, ut sicut accusatoribus inquirendi testibusque denuntiandi potestas ex ea lege esset, ita reis quoque fieret. 3 Fuerunt quibus haec eius oratio ut sera et intempestiva et praepostera displiceret, quae omisso contra dicendi tempore castigaret peractum, cui potuisset occurrere.

1 I had written that Varenus had carried it, that it be permitted for him to summon witnesses for himself; which seemed to the greater number equitable, to some inequitable—and indeed stubbornly so—especially to Licinius Nepos, who at the next meeting of the senate, when other matters were being reported, discoursed about the most recent senatorial decree and reopened a case that had been concluded. 2 He added also that a request should be made of the consuls to bring up, following the example of the law on Ambitus (electoral bribery), concerning the law on Repetundae (extortions), whether it should be pleasing in future to add to that law that, just as accusers had by that law the power of inquiring and of giving notice to witnesses, so it be made for defendants as well. 3 There were those to whom this oration of his displeased as late, untimely, and preposterous, in that, with the time for speaking in opposition having been let pass, it chastised what had been accomplished, which he could have forestalled.

4 Iuventius quidem Celsus praetor tamquam emendatorem senatus et multis et vehementer increpuit. Respondit Nepos rursusque Celsus; neuter contumeliis temperavit. 5 Nolo referre quae dici ab ipsis moleste tuli.

4 Iuventius Celsus, the praetor, rebuked him as though a corrector of the senate, on many points and vehemently. Nepos replied, and Celsus in turn; neither restrained himself from contumely. 5 I do not wish to relate what was said by them, which I took amiss.

Quo magis quosdam e numero nostro improbavi, qui modo ad Celsum modo ad Nepotem, prout hic vel ille diceret, cupiditate audiendi cursitabant, et nunc quasi stimularent et accenderent, nunc quasi reconciliarent ac recomponerent, frequentius singulis, ambobus interdum propitium Caesarem ut in ludicro aliquo precabantur. 6 Mihi quidem illud etiam peracerbum fuit, quod sunt alter alteri quid pararent indicati. Nam et Celsus Nepoti ex libello respondit et Celso Nepos ex pugillaribus.

Therefore all the more did I disapprove certain men of our number, who now to Celsus, now to Nepos, as this man or that was speaking, ran about with a craving to hear, and now as if they were stimulating and inflaming, now as if they were reconciling and recomposing, more frequently for each singly, sometimes for both, they were beseeching a propitious Caesar, as in some ludicrum. 6 To me indeed this also was very bitter, that they were betrayed, one to the other, as to what they were preparing. For Celsus replied to Nepos from a libellus, and Nepos to Celsus from his writing-tablets.

7 Tanta loquacitas amicorum, ut homines iurgaturi id ipsum invicem scierint, tamquam convenisset. Vale.

7 So great the loquacity of the friends, that the men about to quarrel knew this very thing mutually, as if it had been agreed upon. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS FUNDANO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS FUNDANUS, GREETINGS.

1 Si quando, nunc praecipue cuperem esse te Romae, et sis rogo. Opus est mihi voti laboris sollicitudinis socio. Petit honores Iulius Naso; petit cum multis, cum bonis, quos ut gloriosum sic est difficile superare.

1 If ever, now especially I would wish you to be at Rome, and I ask that you be. I have need of a partner in my vow, labor, and solicitude. Julius Naso seeks honors; he seeks them with many, with good men, whom to surpass is as glorious as it is difficult.

2 Pendeo ergo et exerceor spe, afficior metu et me consularem esse non sentio; nam rursus mihi videor omnium quae decucurri candidatus. 3 Meretur hanc curam longa mei caritate. Est mihi cum illo non sane paterna amicitia — neque enim esse potuit per meam aetatem -; solebat tamen vixdum adulescentulo mihi pater eius cum magna laude monstrari.

2 Therefore I hang in suspense and am exercised by hope, I am affected by fear, and I do not feel myself to be a consular; for again I seem to myself to be a candidate for all the magistracies which I have run through. 3 He merits this care by my long-standing affection. There is for me with him not exactly a paternal friendship — for it could not have been on account of my age -; yet, when I was scarcely more than a youth, his father used to be pointed out to me with great praise.

Erat non studiorum tantum verum etiam studiosorum amantissimus ac prope cotidie ad audiendos, quos tunc ego frequentabam, Quintilianum Niceten Sacerdotem ventitabat, vir alioqui clarus et gravis et qui prodesse filio memoria sui debeat. 4 Sed multi nunc in senatu quibus ignotus ille, multi quibus notus, sed non nisi viventes reverentur. Quo magis huic, omissa gloria patris in qua magnum ornamentum gratia infirma, ipsi enitendum ipsi elaborandum est.

He was a lover not only of studies but also of the studious, and almost every day he kept coming to hear those whom I was then frequenting—Quintilian, Nicetes, Sacerdos—a man otherwise illustrious and weighty, and one who by the memory of himself ought to benefit his son. 4 But there are many now in the senate to whom that man is unknown, many to whom he is known, yet they revere only the living. Wherefore all the more for this man, the glory of his father set aside—in which favor is a great ornament but a feeble support—he himself must strive, he himself must labor.

5 Quod quidem semper, quasi provideret hoc tempus, sedulo fecit: paravit amicos, quos paraverat coluit, me certe, ut primum sibi iudicare permisit, ad amorem imitationemque delegit. 6 Dicenti mihi sollicitus assistit, assidet recitanti; primis etiam et cum maxime nascentibus opusculis meis interest, nunc solus ante cum fratre, cuius nuper amissi ego suscipere partes, ego vicem debeo implere. 7 Doleo enim et illum immatura morte indignissime raptum, et hunc optimi fratris adiumento destitutum solisque amicis relictum.

5 Which indeed he always, as if he were foreseeing this time, did sedulously: he prepared friends, those whom he had prepared he cultivated; me, certainly, as soon as he permitted himself to judge, he chose for affection and imitation. 6 As I am speaking he, anxious, stands by; he sits by as I recite; he is present at my earliest opuscules and when they are most in their birth, now alone, formerly with his brother, whose, having been recently lost, part I ought to take up, whose place I ought to fill. 7 For I grieve both that that one was most undeservedly snatched by an untimely death, and that this one is deprived of the aid of an excellent brother and left to friends alone.

8 Quibus ex causis exigo ut venias, et suffragio meo tuum iungas. Permultum interest mea te ostentare, tecum circumire. Ea est auctoritas tua, ut putem me efficacius tecum etiam meos amicos rogaturum.

8 For which reasons I insist that you come, and that you join your suffrage to mine. It makes a very great difference to my interests to display you, to go around with you. Such is your authority, that I think I shall more effectively, with you, even solicit my friends.

9 Abrumpe si qua te retinent: hoc tempus meum, hoc fides, hoc etiam dignitas postulat. Suscepi candidatum, et suscepisse me notum est; ego ambio, ego periclitor; in summa, si datur Nasoni quod petit, illius honor, si negatur, mea repulsa est. Vale.

9 Break off, if anything retains you: this my time, this my good faith, this my dignity as well demands. I have undertaken a candidate, and it is known that I have undertaken him; I canvass, I imperil myself; in sum, if what Naso seeks is given, the honor is his; if it is denied, the repulse is mine. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.

C. PLINY TO HIS CALPURNIA, GREETING.

1 Scribis te absentia mea non mediocriter affici unumque habere solacium, quod pro me libellos meos teneas, saepe etiam in vestigio meo colloces. 2 Gratum est quod nos requiris, gratum quod his fomentis acquiescis; invicem ego epistulas tuas lectito atque identidem in manus quasi novas sumo. 3 Sed eo magis ad desiderium tui accendor: nam cuius litterae tantum habent suavitatis, huius sermonibus quantum dulcedinis inest!

1 You write that you are not moderately affected by my absence and that you have one solace, that you hold my little books in place of me, often even you set them in my very spot. 2 It is pleasing that you long for me, pleasing that you come to rest with these fomentations; in turn I keep reading your letters and again and again take them into my hands as if new. 3 But thereby I am the more inflamed with longing for you: for she whose letters have so much suavity, how much sweetness is in her conversations!

Tu tamen quam frequentissime scribe, licet hoc ita me delectet ut torqueat. Vale.

You, however, write as frequently as possible, although this delights me in such a way as to torment me. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS PRISCUS, GREETING.

1 Atilium Crescentem et nosti et amas. Quis enim illum spectatior paulo aut non novit aut non amat? Hunc ego non ut multi, sed artissime diligo.

1 You both know and love Atilius Crescens. For who, being even a little more discerning, either does not know or does not love him? I do not love him as many do, but most intimately.

2 Oppida nostra unius diei itinere dirimuntur; ipsi amare invicem, qui est flagrantissimus amor, adulescentuli coepimus. Mansit hic postea, nec refrixit iudicio sed invaluit. Sciunt qui alterutrum nostrum familiarius intuentur.

2 Our towns are separated by a journey of one day; we ourselves, as adolescents, began to love one another mutually, which is the most ardent love. This remained thereafter, nor did it cool in judgment but grew strong. Those who look more intimately upon either of us know it.

Nam et ille amicitiam meam latissima praedicatione circumfert, et ego prae me fero, quantae sit mihi curae modestia quies securitas eius. 3 Quin etiam, cum insolentiam cuiusdam tribunatum plebis inituri vereretur, idque indicasset mihi, respondi: οὔ τις ἐμεῦ ζῶντος. Quorsus haec? ut scias, non posse Atilium me incolumi iniuriam accipere.

For he too carries about my friendship with the widest proclamation, and I on my part bear forth how great a care to me are his modesty, repose, and security. 3 Moreover, when he was fearing the insolence of a certain man about to enter upon the tribunate of the plebs, and had indicated this to me, I replied: "No one while I live." To what end are these things? So that you may know that Atilius cannot receive an injury while I am safe.

4 Iterum dices 'quorsus haec?' Debuit ei pecuniam Valerius Varus. Huius est heres Maximus noster, quem et ipse amo, sed Konjunktivs tu. 5 Rogo ergo, exigo etiam pro iure amicitiae, cures ut Atilio meo salva sit non sors modo verum etiam usura plurium annorum. Homo est alieni abstinentissimus sui diligens; nullis quaestibus sustinetur, nullus illi nisi ex frugalitate reditus.

4 Again you will say 'to what end these things?' Valerius Varus owed him money. Of this man the heir is our Maximus, whom I too love, but you, in the subjunctive. 5 I therefore ask, I even exact on the right of friendship, that you take care that for my Atilius not only the principal be safe but also the interest of several years. He is a man most abstinent of another’s property, careful of his own; he is supported by no gains, no revenue to him save from frugality.

6 Nam studia, quibus plurimum praestat, ad voluptatem tantum et gloriam exercet. Gravis est ei vel minima iactura; quam<quam> reparare quod amiseris gravius. 7 Exime hunc illi, exime hunc mihi scrupulum: sine me suavitate eius, sine leporibus perfrui.

6 For the studies, in which he excels most, he practices only for pleasure and glory. Even the smallest loss is heavy to him; yet to repair what you have lost is more burdensome. 7 Remove this scruple from him, remove this from me: allow me to enjoy his sweetness, to revel in his charms.

Neque enim possum tristem videre, cuius hilaritas me tristem esse non patitur. 8 In summa nosti facetias hominis; quas velim attendas, ne in bilem et amaritudinem vertat iniuria. Quam vim habeat offensus, crede ei quam in amore habet.

Nor indeed can I bear to see him sad, whose hilarity does not allow me to be sad. 8 In sum, you know the man's witticisms; which I would like you to attend to, lest a wrong turn them into bile and bitterness. What force he has when offended, believe it equal to that which he has in love.

Non feret magnum et liberum ingenium cum contumelia damnum. 9 Verum, ut ferat ille, ego meum damnum meam contumeliam iudicabo, sed non tamquam pro mea — hoc est, gravius — irascar. Quamquam quid denuntiationibus et quasi minis ago?

A great and free mind will not bear a loss with contumely. 9 Yet, granted that he endure it, I shall judge the loss mine, the contumely mine, but I shall not be angry as if on my own account—that is, more grievously. Although, what am I about with denunciations and, as it were, menaces?

Quin potius, ut coeperam, rogo oro des operam, ne ille se — quod valdissime vereor — a me, ego me neglectum a te putem. Dabis autem, si hoc perinde curae est tibi quam illud mihi. Vale.

Nay rather, as I had begun, I ask, I beseech, that you give your effort, lest he think himself — which I most strongly fear — to be estranged from me, and I think myself neglected by you. You will grant it, moreover, if this is as much a care to you as that is to me. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS TACITUS, GREETINGS.

1 Commendas mihi Iulium Nasonem candidatum. Nasonem mihi? quid si me ipsum?

1 You commend Julius Naso to me as a candidate. Naso to me? What if myself?

Fero tamen et ignosco. Eundem enim commendassem tibi, si te Romae morante ipse afuissem. 2 Habet hoc sollicitudo, quod omnia necessaria putat.

I endure it, however, and I forgive. For I would have recommended the same man to you, if, while you were lingering at Rome, I myself had been away. 2 Solicitude has this: that it deems everything necessary.

Tu tamen censeo alios roges; ego precum tuarum minister adiutor particeps ero. Vale.

Yet I advise you to ask others; I will be a minister, a helper, and a participant in your petitions. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS ALBINO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS ALBINUS, GREETINGS.

1 Cum venissem in socrus meae villam Alsiensem, quae aliquamdiu Rufi Vergini fuit, ipse mihi locus optimi illius et maximi viri desiderium non sine dolore renovavit. Hunc enim colere secessum atque etiam senectutis suae nidulum vocare consueverat. 2 Quocumque me contulissem, illum animus illum oculi requirebant.

1 When I came to my mother-in-law’s Alsian villa, which for some time belonged to Rufus Verginius, the place itself renewed for me, not without pain, the longing for that most excellent and greatest man. For he was accustomed to cherish this retreat and even to call it the little nest of his old age. 2 Wherever I had betaken myself, him my mind, him my eyes were seeking.

Libuit etiam monimentum eius videre, et vidisse paenituit. 3 Est enim adhuc imperfectum, nec difficultas operis in causa, modici ac potius exigui, sed inertia eius cui cura mandata est. Subit indignatio cum miseratione, post decimum mortis annum reliquias neglectumque cinerem sine titulo sine nomine iacere, cuius memoria orbem terrarum gloria pervagetur.

It pleased me also to see his monument, and I repented of having seen it. 3 For it is still imperfect, nor is the difficulty of the work the cause—of modest, or rather scant, size—but the inertia of him to whom the care was entrusted. Indignation with commiseration comes upon me, that after the tenth year of his death the remains and neglected ash lie without title, without name, whose memory with glory pervades the orb of lands.

4 At ille mandaverat caveratque, ut divinum illud et immortale factum versibus inscriberetur:

4 But he had mandated and had taken care that that divine and immortal deed be inscribed in verses:

Hic situs est Rufus, pulso qui Vindice quondam
imperium asseruit non sibi sed patriae.

Here lies Rufus, who, with Vindex once driven out,
asserted the imperium not for himself but for the fatherland.

5 Tam rara in amicitiis fides, tam parata oblivio mortuorum, ut ipsi nobis debeamus etiam conditoria exstruere omniaque heredum officia praesumere. 6 Nam cui non est verendum, quod videmus accidisse Verginio? cuius iniuriam ut indigniorem, sic etiam notiorem ipsius claritas facit.

5 So rare in friendships is fidelity, so ready the oblivion of the dead, that we ourselves owe it to ourselves even to build the sepulchers and to assume beforehand all the duties of heirs. 6 For who is not to fear what we see has happened to Verginius? whose injury his own renown makes, as more unworthy, so also more notorious.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS MAXIMUS, GREETINGS.

1 O diem laetum! Adhibitus in consilium a praefecto urbis audivi ex diverso agentes summae spei summae indolis iuvenes, Fuscum Salinatorem et Ummidium Quadratum, egregium par nec modo temporibus nostris sed litteris ipsis ornamento futurum. 2 Mira utrique probitas, constantia salva, decorus habitus, os Latinum, vox virilis, tenax memoria, magnum ingenium, iudicium aequale; quae singula mihi voluptati fuerunt, atque inter haec illud, quod et ipsi me ut rectorem, ut magistrum intuebantur, et iis qui audiebant me aemulari, meis instare vestigiis videbantur.

1 O happy day! Admitted into council by the prefect of the city, I heard, pleading on opposite sides, youths of the highest hope and highest inborn quality, Fuscus Salinator and Ummidius Quadratus, a distinguished pair destined to be an ornament not only to our own times but to letters themselves. 2 Marvelous in each were probity, constancy unimpaired, a comely bearing, a Latin mouth, a manly voice, a tenacious memory, great genius, balanced judgment; each particular was a delight to me, and among these this too: that they themselves looked to me as a guide, as a teacher, and that to those who were listening they seemed to emulate me, to press upon my footsteps.

3 O diem — repetam enim — laetum notandumque mihi candidissimo calculo! Quid enim aut publice laetius quam clarissimos iuvenes nomen et famam ex studiis petere, aut mihi optatius quam me ad recta tendentibus quasi exemplar esse propositum? 4 Quod gaudium ut perpetuo capiam deos oro; ab isdem teste te peto, ut omnes qui me imitari tanti putabunt meliores esse quam me velint.

3 O day— for I will repeat it— joyful and to be marked for me with the whitest pebble! For what is either more joyful publicly than that the most illustrious young men seek name and fame from studies, or more to be desired for me than that I be set forth as a kind of exemplar to those tending toward the right? 4 This joy I pray the gods that I may enjoy perpetually; and from these same, with you as witness, I ask that all who will deem it of such worth to imitate me may wish to be better than I.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO FABATUS, HIS CO-FATHER-IN-LAW, GREETING.

1 Tu vero non debes suspensa manu commendare mihi quos tuendos putas. Nam et te decet multis prodesse et me suscipere quidquid ad curam tuam pertinet. 2 Itaque Bittio Prisco quantum plurimum potuero praestabo, praesertim in harena mea, hoc est apud centumviros.

1 You truly ought not to commend to me, with a wavering hand, those whom you think are to be protected. For it befits you to profit many, and me to take up whatever pertains to your care. 2 Therefore for Bittius Priscus I will do as much as ever I can, especially in my arena, that is, before the centumvirs.

3 Epistularum, quas mihi ut ais 'aperto pectore' scripsisti, oblivisci me iubes; at ego nullarum libentius memini. Ex illis enim vel praecipue sentio, quanto opere me diligas, cum sic exegeris mecum, ut solebas cum tuo filio. 4 Nec dissimulo hoc mihi iucundiores eas fuisse, quod habebam bonam causam, cum summo studio curassem quod tu curari volebas.

3 Of the epistles, which you wrote to me, as you say, ‘with an open breast,’ you bid me to forget; but I remember none more gladly. From those, indeed, I especially perceive how greatly you cherish me, since you have thus dealt with me as you were accustomed with your own son. 4 Nor do I dissemble that they were the more pleasant to me for this, because I had a good cause, since with the utmost zeal I had taken care of what you wanted to be taken care of.

5 Proinde etiam atque etiam rogo, ut mihi semper eadem simplicitate, quotiens cessare videbor — 'videbor' dico, numquam enim cessabo -, convicium facias, quod et ego intellegam a summo amore proficisci, et tu non meruisse me gaudeas. Vale.

5 Therefore again and again I ask that you, always with the same simplicity, whenever I shall seem to be idle — 'I shall seem,' I say, for I shall never be idle -, make a reproach against me, which I also shall understand to proceed from supreme love, and you may rejoice that I have not merited it. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS URSUS, GREETINGS.

1 Umquamne vidisti quemquam tam laboriosum et exercitum quam Varenum meum? cui quod summa contentione impetraverat defendendum et quasi rursus petendum fuit. 2 Bithyni senatus consultum apud consules carpere ac labefactare sunt ausi, atque etiam absenti principi criminari; ab illo ad senatum remissi non destiterunt.

1 Have you ever seen anyone so toilsome and worn down as my Varenus? What he had obtained with the utmost contention had to be defended and, as it were, sought again. 2 The Bithynians dared to carp at and undermine a senatus-consultum before the consuls, and even to criminate the emperor in his absence; referred by him to the Senate, they did not desist.

Egit Claudius Capito irreverenter magis quam constanter, ut qui senatus consultum apud senatum accusaret. 3 Respondit Catius Fronto graviter et firme. Senatus ipse mirificus; nam illi quoque qui prius negarant Vareno quae petebat, eadem danda postquam erant data censuerunt; 4 singulos enim integra re dissentire fas esse, peracta quod pluribus placuisset cunctis tuendum.

Claudius Capito acted irreverently rather than consistently, as one who would accuse a senatorial decree before the senate. 3 Catius Fronto responded gravely and firmly. The senate itself was extraordinary; for those also who earlier had denied to Varenus the things he was seeking judged that the same things were to be given after they had been given; 4 for it is lawful that individuals, while the matter is still intact, disagree; once completed, that what had pleased the majority must be upheld by all.

5 Acilius tantum Rufus et cum eo septem an octo, septem immo, in priore sententia perseverarunt. Erant in hac paucitate non nulli, quorum temporaria gravitas vel potius gravitatis imitatio ridebatur. 6 Tu tamen aestima, quantum nos in ipsa pugna certaminis maneat, cuius quasi praelusio atque praecursio has contentiones excitavit.

5 Only Acilius Rufus, and with him seven or eight—seven rather—persevered in the earlier opinion. There were in this paucity some whose temporary gravitas, or rather an imitation of gravitas, was laughed at. 6 Yet do you estimate how much awaits us in the very battle of the contest, whose as-it-were prelude and precursor has aroused these contentions.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS MAURICO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS MAURICUS, GREETINGS.

1 Sollicitas me in Formianum. Veniam ea condicione, ne quid contra commodum tuum facias; qua pactione invicem mihi caveo. Neque enim mare et litus, sed te otium libertatem sequor: alioqui satius est in urbe remanere.

1 You solicit me to Formianum. I will come on this condition, that you do nothing against your own convenience; by which pact I in turn make provision for myself. For I follow not the sea and shore, but you—leisure, liberty: otherwise it is better to remain in the city.

2 Oportet enim omnia aut ad alienum arbitrium aut ad suum facere. Mei certe stomachi haec natura est, ut nihil nisi totum et merum velit. Vale.

2 For one ought to do everything either according to another’s arbitrament or to one’s own. My temper, to be sure, has this nature, that it wants nothing except the whole and the mere. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS ROMANUS, GREETINGS.

1 Mirificae rei non interfuisti; ne ego quidem, sed me recens fabula excepit. Passennus Paulus, splendidus eques Romanus et in primis eruditus, scribit elegos. Gentilicium hoc illi: est enim municeps Properti atque etiam inter maiores suos Propertium numerat.

1 You were not present at a wondrous affair; nor was I either, but a fresh tale has reached me. Passennus Paulus, a splendid Roman equestrian and among the foremost learned, writes elegies. This is his gentilic name: for he is a fellow-townsman of Propertius and even numbers Propertius among his ancestors.

2 Is cum recitaret, ita coepit dicere: 'Prisce, iubes...'. Ad hoc Iavolenus Priscus — aderat enim ut Paulo amicissimus -: 'Ego vero non iubeo.' Cogita qui risus hominum, qui ioci. 3 Est omnino Priscus dubiae sanitatis, interest tamen officiis, adhibetur consiliis atque etiam ius civile publice respondet: quo magis quod tunc fecit et ridiculum et notabile fuit. 4 Interim Paulo aliena deliratio aliquantum frigoris attulit.

2 When he was reciting, he thus began to say: 'Priscus, you bid...'. At this Iavolenus Priscus — for he was present as a very close friend to Paulus —: 'I, for my part, do not bid.' Imagine what laughter of the people, what jests. 3 Priscus is, altogether, of doubtful sanity, yet he attends to his duties, is called into counsels, and even publicly gives responses on the civil law: wherefore what he then did was all the more both laughable and notable. 4 Meanwhile to Paulus another’s delirium brought a certain amount of chill.

Tam sollicite recitaturis providendum est, non solum ut sint ipsi sani verum etiam ut sanos adhibeant. Vale.

So solicitously must provision be made for those about to recite, not only that they themselves be sane but also that they admit sane persons. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS TACITUS, GREETINGS.

1 Petis ut tibi avunculi mei exitum scribam, quo verius tradere posteris possis. Gratias ago; nam video morti eius si celebretur a te immortalem gloriam esse propositam. 2 Quamvis enim pulcherrimarum clade terrarum, ut populi ut urbes memorabili casu, quasi semper victurus occiderit, quamvis ipse plurima opera et mansura condiderit, multum tamen perpetuitati eius scriptorum tuorum aeternitas addet.

1 You ask that I write to you of my uncle’s end, so that you may be able to hand it down to posterity more truly. I give thanks; for I see that for his death, if it be celebrated by you, immortal glory is set forth. 2 Although indeed, in the ruin of the fairest lands—both peoples and cities in a memorable catastrophe—he fell as if he were always going to live; although he himself composed very many works destined to remain, yet the eternity of your writings will add much to his perpetuity.

3 Equidem beatos puto, quibus deorum munere datum est aut facere scribenda aut scribere legenda, beatissimos vero quibus utrumque. Horum in numero avunculus meus et suis libris et tuis erit. Quo libentius suscipio, deposco etiam quod iniungis.

3 Indeed I deem blessed those to whom, by the gift of the gods, it has been given either to do things to be written about or to write things to be read, and most blessed truly those to whom both are given. In the number of these my uncle will be, both by his own books and by yours. Wherefore I the more gladly undertake, and I even demand that which you enjoin.

4 Erat Miseni classemque imperio praesens regebat. Nonum Kal. Septembres hora fere septima mater mea indicat ei apparere nubem inusitata et magnitudine et specie.

4 He was at Misenum and was in person commanding the fleet. On August 24, at about the seventh hour, my mother points out to him that a cloud is appearing, unusual both in magnitude and in appearance.

5 Usus ille sole, mox frigida, gustaverat iacens studebatque; poscit soleas, ascendit locum ex quo maxime miraculum illud conspici poterat. Nubes — incertum procul intuentibus ex quo monte; Vesuvium fuisse postea cognitum est — oriebatur, cuius similitudinem et formam non alia magis arbor quam pinus expresserit. 6 Nam longissimo velut trunco elata in altum quibusdam ramis diffundebatur, credo quia recenti spiritu evecta, dein senescente eo destituta aut etiam pondere suo victa in latitudinem vanescebat, candida interdum, interdum sordida et maculosa prout terram cineremve sustulerat.

5 He had enjoyed the sun, then a cold bath, had tasted a snack while reclining and was studying; he asks for his sandals, he goes up to a spot from which that prodigy could be seen most clearly. A cloud—uncertain, to those looking from afar, from which mountain; afterward it was learned to have been Vesuvius—was arising, whose resemblance and form no other tree so much as a pine would have expressed. 6 For, lifted on high as by a very long trunk, it was spreading into certain branches; I think because, carried up by a recent breath, then as that aged and it was left unsupported, or even overcome by its own weight, it was thinning out in width, sometimes bright-white, sometimes dirty and mottled, according as it had lifted up earth or ash.

7 Magnum propiusque noscendum ut eruditissimo viro visum. Iubet liburnicam aptari; mihi si venire una vellem facit copiam; respondi studere me malle, et forte ipse quod scriberem dederat. 8 Egrediebatur domo; accipit codicillos Rectinae Tasci imminenti periculo exterritae — nam villa eius subiacebat, nec ulla nisi navibus fuga -: ut se tanto discrimini eriperet orabat.

7 A great matter and to be known more closely, as it seemed to a most erudite man. He orders a Liburnian to be made ready; he gives me leave, if I should wish, to come along; I replied that I preferred to study, and by chance he himself had supplied what I was to write. 8 He was going out of the house; he receives a note from Rectina, wife of Tascus, terrified by the imminent peril — for her villa lay beneath, and there was no escape except by ships -: she begged that he rescue her from so great a crisis.

9 Vertit ille consilium et quod studioso animo incohaverat obit maximo. Deducit quadriremes, ascendit ipse non Rectinae modo sed multis — erat enim frequens amoenitas orae — laturus auxilium. 10 Properat illuc unde alii fugiunt, rectumque cursum recta gubernacula in periculum tenet adeo solutus metu, ut omnes illius mali motus omnes figuras ut deprenderat oculis dictaret enotaretque.

9 He changes his plan, and what he had begun with a studious spirit he undertakes with the greatest. He launches quadriremes, he himself boards, intending to bring aid not only to Rectina but to many — for the amenity of the shore was much frequented. 10 He hastens to that place from which others are fleeing, and holds a straight course and straight rudders into peril, so free from fear that he dictated and also noted down all the motions of that evil, all its figures, as he had apprehended them with his eyes.

11 Iam navibus cinis incidebat, quo propius accederent, calidior et densior; iam pumices etiam nigrique et ambusti et fracti igne lapides; iam vadum subitum ruinaque montis litora obstantia. Cunctatus paulum an retro flecteret, mox gubernatori ut ita faceret monenti 'Fortes' inquit 'fortuna iuvat: Pomponianum pete.' 12 Stabiis erat diremptus sinu medio — nam sensim circumactis curvatisque litoribus mare infunditur -; ibi quamquam nondum periculo appropinquante, conspicuo tamen et cum cresceret proximo, sarcinas contulerat in naves, certus fugae si contrarius ventus resedisset. Quo tunc avunculus meus secundissimo invectus, complectitur trepidantem consolatur hortatur, utque timorem eius sua securitate leniret, deferri in balineum iubet; lotus accubat cenat, aut hilaris aut — quod aeque magnum — similis hilari.

11 Now ash was falling onto the ships, the nearer they approached, the hotter and denser; now even pumice-stones and stones black and charred and broken by fire; now a sudden shoal and the ruin of the mountain blocking the shores. Having hesitated a little whether to turn back, soon, when the helmsman advised to do so, he said, “Fortune favors the brave: make for Pomponianus.” 12 He was at Stabiae, separated by the middle of the bay — for the sea is poured in as the shores are gradually drawn round and curved —; there, although the danger was not yet approaching, yet conspicuous and, as it grew, very near, he had transferred his baggage onto the ships, resolved on flight if the contrary wind had subsided. Thither then my uncle, borne in by a most favorable wind, embraces the trembling man, consoles and encourages him, and, so that he might soothe his fear by his own security, orders that he be carried to the bath; bathed, he reclines and dines, either cheerful or — what is equally great — like one cheerful.

13 Interim e Vesuvio monte pluribus locis latissimae flammae altaque incendia relucebant, quorum fulgor et claritas tenebris noctis excitabatur. Ille agrestium trepidatione ignes relictos desertasque villas per solitudinem ardere in remedium formidinis dictitabat. Tum se quieti dedit et quievit verissimo quidem somno; nam meatus animae, qui illi propter amplitudinem corporis gravior et sonantior erat, ab iis qui limini obversabantur audiebatur.

13 Meanwhile, from Mount Vesuvius in several places the very broad flames and lofty conflagrations were shining forth, whose glow and brightness were heightened by the darkness of night. He kept asserting, as a remedy for their fear, that because of the rustics’ panic, fires left behind and deserted villas were burning through the solitude. Then he gave himself to rest and indeed rested in the truest sleep; for the passage of his breath, which for him, on account of the amplitude of his body, was heavier and more sonorous, was heard by those who were stationed at the threshold.

14 Sed area ex qua diaeta adibatur ita iam cinere mixtisque pumicibus oppleta surrexerat, ut si longior in cubiculo mora, exitus negaretur. Excitatus procedit, seque Pomponiano ceterisque qui pervigilaverant reddit. 15 In commune consultant, intra tecta subsistant an in aperto vagentur.

14 But the area from which the apartment was accessed had by now risen, choked with ash and mingled pumice-stones, to such a degree that, if the delay in the bedchamber were longer, exit would be denied. Roused, he goes forth and rejoins Pomponianus and the others who had kept vigil. 15 They consult in common whether they should remain under roofs or wander in the open.

Nam crebris vastisque tremoribus tecta nutabant, et quasi emota sedibus suis nunc huc nunc illuc abire aut referri videbantur. 16 Sub dio rursus quamquam levium exesorumque pumicum casus metuebatur, quod tamen periculorum collatio elegit; et apud illum quidem ratio rationem, apud alios timorem timor vicit. Cervicalia capitibus imposita linteis constringunt; id munimentum adversus incidentia fuit.

For the buildings were nodding with frequent and vast tremors, and, as if removed from their seats, they seemed now here now there to go away or to be borne back. 16 Under the open sky, on the other hand, although the fall of light and eaten-away pumice-stones was feared, yet the comparison of the dangers chose this; and with him indeed reason conquered reason, with others fear conquered fear. They place pillows on their heads, binding them with linens; this was a protection against things falling.

17 Iam dies alibi, illic nox omnibus noctibus nigrior densiorque; quam tamen faces multae variaque lumina solvebant. Placuit egredi in litus, et ex proximo adspicere, ecquid iam mare admitteret; quod adhuc vastum et adversum permanebat. 18 Ibi super abiectum linteum recubans semel atque iterum frigidam aquam poposcit hausitque.

17 Already it was day elsewhere; there, night blacker and denser than all nights; yet many torches and various lights were relieving it. It was decided to go out onto the shore, and from close by to look whether the sea would by now admit anything; which still remained vast and adverse. 18 There, reclining upon a cast-down linen cloth, he asked for cold water once and again and drank it.

Deinde flammae flammarumque praenuntius odor sulpuris alios in fugam vertunt, excitant illum. 19 Innitens servolis duobus assurrexit et statim concidit, ut ego colligo, crassiore caligine spiritu obstructo, clausoque stomacho qui illi natura invalidus et angustus et frequenter aestuans erat. 20 Ubi dies redditus — is ab eo quem novissime viderat tertius -, corpus inventum integrum illaesum opertumque ut fuerat indutus: habitus corporis quiescenti quam defuncto similior.

Then the flames and the harbinger of the flames, the odor of sulfur, turn others to flight and rouse him. 19 Leaning on two slave-boys he rose and immediately collapsed—as I infer, with his breathing obstructed by a denser, choking gloom, and with his throat closed, which in him by nature was weak and narrow and frequently inflamed. 20 When day was restored — it was the third from the one he had most recently seen -, his body was found intact, unharmed, and covered as he had been clothed: the posture of the body more like one resting than one deceased.

21 Interim Miseni ego et mater — sed nihil ad historiam, nec tu aliud quam de exitu eius scire voluisti. Finem ergo faciam. 22 Unum adiciam, omnia me quibus interfueram quaeque statim, cum maxime vera memorantur, audieram, persecutum.

21 Meanwhile at Misenum I and my mother — but that is nothing to the history, nor did you wish to know anything other than about his exit. Therefore I shall make an end. 22 I will add one thing: that I have pursued all the matters in which I had taken part and those which I had immediately heard, at the very time when truths are most remembered.

Tu potissima excerpes; aliud est enim epistulam aliud historiam, aliud amico aliud omnibus scribere. Vale.

You will select the most important things; for it is one thing to write an epistle, another to write a history, one thing to write to a friend, another to write to everyone. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS RESTITUTO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS RESTITUTUS, GREETINGS.

1 Indignatiunculam, quam in cuiusdam amici auditorio cepi, non possum mihi temperare quo minus apud te, quia non contigit coram, per epistulam effundam. Recitabatur liber absolutissimus. 2 Hunc duo aut tres, ut sibi et paucis videntur, diserti surdis mutisque similes audiebant.

1 A little indignation which I conceived in a certain friend’s auditorium I cannot restrain myself from pouring out to you by letter—since it did not befall in person. A most finished (absolute) book was being recited. 2 This two or three—eloquent, as they seem to themselves and to a few—were listening to, like the deaf and the mute.

Non labra diduxerunt, non moverunt manum, non denique assurrexerunt saltem lassitudine sedendi. 3 Quae tanta gravitas? quae tanta sapientia?

They did not part their lips, they did not move a hand, finally they did not even rise, at least from the weariness of sitting. 3 What such great gravitas? what such great wisdom?

quae immo pigritia arrogantia sinisteritas ac potius amentia, in hoc totum diem impendere ut offendas, ut inimicum relinquas ad quem tamquam amicissimum veneris? Disertior ipse es? 4 Tanto magis ne invideris; nam qui invidet minor est. Denique sive plus sive minus sive idem praestas, lauda vel inferiorem vel superiorem vel parem: superiorem quia nisi laudandus ille non potes ipse laudari, inferiorem aut parem quia pertinet ad tuam gloriam quam maximum videri, quem praecedis vel exaequas.

what rather sluggishness, arrogance, sinisterity, or rather outright madness, to expend this whole day so that you may give offense, so that you may leave as an enemy the man to whom you came as to a most friendly one? Are you yourself more eloquent? 4 All the more, do not envy; for he who envies is the lesser. Finally, whether you exhibit more or less or the same, praise either the inferior or the superior or the equal: the superior, because unless that man is to be praised you yourself cannot be praised; the inferior or the equal, because it pertains to your glory that he appear as great as possible, whom you surpass or equal.

5 Equidem omnes qui aliquid in studiis faciunt venerari etiam mirarique soleo; est enim res difficilis ardua fastidiosa, et quae eos a quibus contemnitur invicem contemnat. Nisi forte aliud iudicas tu. Quamquam quis uno te reverentior huius operis, quis benignior aestimator? 6 Qua ratione ductus tibi potissimum indignationem meam prodidi, quem habere socium maxime poteram.

5 Indeed, I am accustomed to venerate and even to admire all who do something in studies; for it is a difficult, arduous, wearisome matter, and one which, in turn, contemns those by whom it is contemned. Unless perchance you judge otherwise. And yet who is more reverent than you of this work, who a more benign estimator? 6 By what reasoning was I led to disclose my indignation to you above all, whom I could most have had as a partner?

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS SABINUS, GREETING.

1 Rogas ut agam Firmanorum publicam causam; quod ego quamquam plurimis occupationibus distentus adnitar. Cupio enim et ornatissimam coloniam advocationis officio, et te gratissimo tibi munere obstringere. 2 Nam cum familiaritatem nostram, ut soles praedicare, ad praesidium ornamentumque tibi sumpseris, nihil est quod negare debeam, praesertim pro patria petenti.

1 You ask that I plead the public case of the Firmans; which I, although distracted by very many occupations, will strive to do. For I desire both to oblige that most adorned colony by the office of advocacy, and to bind you with a gift most gratifying to you. 2 For since you have taken our familiarity, as you are wont to proclaim, as a protection and an ornament for yourself, there is nothing that I ought to refuse, especially to one petitioning on behalf of his fatherland.

Quid enim precibus aut honestius piis aut efficacius amantis? 3 Proinde Firmanis tuis ac iam potius nostris obliga fidem meam; quos labore et studio meo dignos cum splendor ipsorum tum hoc maxime pollicetur, quod credibile est optimos esse inter quos tu talis exstiteris. Vale.

For what, indeed, is either more honorable than pious prayers, or more efficacious than those of one who loves? 3 Accordingly, oblige my good faith to your Firmans, and now rather to ours; both their own splendor and, most of all, this promises that they are worthy of my labor and zeal: that it is credible they are the best among whom you, such a man, have stood forth. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS NEPOTI SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS FRIEND NEPOS, GREETINGS.

1 Scis tu accessisse pretium agris, praecipue suburbanis? Causa subitae caritatis res multis agitata sermonibus. Proximis comitiis honestissimas voces senatus expressit: 'Candidati ne conviventur, ne mittant munera, ne pecunias deponant.' 2 Ex quibus duo priora tam aperte quam immodice fiebant; hoc tertium, quamquam occultaretur, pro comperto habebatur.

1 Do you know that the price has increased for lands, especially suburban ones? The cause of the sudden dearness has been a matter agitated in many discourses. At the most recent elections the senate expressed the most honorable utterances: 'Let the candidates neither banquet, nor send gifts, nor deposit monies.' 2 Of which the first two were being done as openly as immoderately; this third, although it was concealed, was held as ascertained.

3 Homullus deinde noster vigilanter usus hoc consensu senatus sententiae loco postulavit, ut consules desiderium universorum notum principi facerent, peterentque sicut aliis vitiis huic quoque providentia sua occurreret. 4 Occurrit; nam sumptus candidatorum, foedos illos et infames, ambitus lege restrinxit; eosdem patrimonii tertiam partem conferre iussit in ea quae solo continerentur, deforme arbitratus — et erat — honorem petituros urbem Italiamque non pro patria sed pro hospitio aut stabulo quasi peregrinantes habere. 5 Concursant ergo candidati; certatim quidquid venale audiunt emptitant, quoque sint plura venalia efficiunt.

3 Then our Homullus, vigilantly using this consensus of the senate in place of a resolution, demanded that the consuls make known to the emperor the desire of all, and request that, just as he met other vices, so by his providence he should meet this one as well. 4 He did meet it; for by law he restricted the expenses of the candidates—those foul and infamous—of canvassing (ambitus); he ordered these same men to contribute a third part of their patrimony into things that are held by the soil, judging it disgraceful—and it was—that men seeking honor should regard the city and Italy not as their fatherland but as a lodging or a stable, as if wandering like foreigners. 5 Therefore the candidates run together; in rivalry they buy up whatever they hear is for sale, and they also bring it about that more things are for sale.

6 Proinde si paenitet te Italicorum praediorum, hoc vendendi tempus tam hercule quam in provinciis comparandi, dum idem candidati illic vendunt ut hic emant. Vale.

6 Therefore, if Italian estates are a regret to you, this is, by Hercules, as much a time for selling as for buying in the provinces, while those same candidates sell there so that they may buy here. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS TACITUS, GREETING.

1 Ais te adductum litteris quas exigenti tibi de morte avunculi mei scripsi, cupere cognoscere, quos ego Miseni relictus — id enim ingressus abruperam — non solum metus verum etiam casus pertulerim.

1 You say that, induced by the letters which I wrote to you at your request about the death of my uncle, you desire to learn what not only fears but also mishaps I, left at Misenum — for at that point I had broken off my beginning — underwent.

'Quamquam animus meminisse horret, ...
incipiam.'

'Although my mind shudders to remember, ...
I will begin.'

2 Profecto avunculo ipse reliquum tempus studiis — ideo enim remanseram — impendi; mox balineum cena somnus inquietus et brevis. 3 Praecesserat per multos dies tremor terrae, minus formidolosus quia Campaniae solitus; illa vero nocte ita invaluit, ut non moveri omnia sed verti crederentur. 4 Irrupit cubiculum meum mater; surgebam invicem, si quiesceret excitaturus.

2 With my uncle having set out, I myself spent the remaining time on studies — for for that reason I had remained —; soon, the bath, dinner, sleep, uneasy and brief. 3 A tremor of the earth had preceded for many days, less formidable because habitual in Campania; but on that night it grew so strong that all things were believed not to be moved but to be turned. 4 My mother burst into my bedroom; I in turn was getting up, intending to rouse her if she were resting.

Resedimus in area domus, quae mare a tectis modico spatio dividebat. 5 Dubito, constantiam vocare an imprudentiam debeam — agebam enim duodevicensimum annum -: posco librum Titi Livi, et quasi per otium lego atque etiam ut coeperam excerpo. Ecce amicus avunculi qui nuper ad eum ex Hispania venerat, ut me et matrem sedentes, me vero etiam legentem videt, illius patientiam securitatem meam corripit.

We sat down again in the courtyard of the house, which separated the sea from the buildings by a modest space. 5 I hesitate whether I should call it constancy or imprudence — for I was in my eighteenth year -: I call for a book of Titus Livius, and as if at leisure I read and even, as I had begun, I make excerpts. Look, a friend of my uncle, who had lately come to him from Spain, when he sees me and my mother sitting — me indeed even reading — reproves his patience and my security.

Nihilo segnius ego intentus in librum.

None the less, I was intent on the book.

6 Iam hora diei prima, et adhuc dubius et quasi languidus dies. Iam quassatis circumiacentibus tectis, quamquam in aperto loco, angusto tamen, magnus et certus ruinae metus. 7 Tum demum excedere oppido visum; sequitur vulgus attonitum, quodque in pavore simile prudentiae, alienum consilium suo praefert, ingentique agmine abeuntes premit et impellit.

6 Already the first hour of the day, and the day still doubtful and as it were languid. Already, with the surrounding roofs shaken, although in an open place, yet a narrow one, there was a great and definite fear of ruin. 7 Then at last it seemed best to depart from the town; the stunned crowd follows, and, what in fear is akin to prudence, it prefers another’s counsel to its own, and with a huge throng it presses and impels us as we go away.

8 Egressi tecta consistimus. Multa ibi miranda, multas formidines patimur. Nam vehicula quae produci iusseramus, quamquam in planissimo campo, in contrarias partes agebantur, ac ne lapidibus quidem fulta in eodem vestigio quiescebant.

8 Having gone out from the buildings, we took our stand. Many marvels there to be wondered at; we suffer many terrors. For the vehicles which we had ordered to be brought out, although on a very level plain, were being driven into contrary directions, and not even when propped with stones did they rest in the same spot.

9 Praeterea mare in se resorberi et tremore terrae quasi repelli videbamus. Certe processerat litus, multaque animalia maris siccis harenis detinebat. Ab altero latere nubes atra et horrenda, ignei spiritus tortis vibratisque discursibus rupta, in longas flammarum figuras dehiscebat; fulguribus illae et similes et maiores erant.

9 Moreover, we were seeing the sea being resorbed into itself and, by the tremor of the earth, as if repelled. Surely the shore had advanced, and it was detaining many animals of the sea on the dry sands. From the other side a black and horrendous cloud, broken by the tortuous and vibratory dartings of a fiery spirit, was dehiscing into long figures of flames; those were both like lightning-flashes and even greater.

10 Tum vero idem ille ex Hispania amicus acrius et instantius 'Si frater' inquit 'tuus, tuus avunculus vivit, vult esse vos salvos; si periit, superstites voluit. Proinde quid cessatis evadere?' Respondimus non commissuros nos ut de salute illius incerti nostrae consuleremus. 11 Non moratus ultra proripit se effusoque cursu periculo aufertur.

10 Then indeed that same friend from Spain, more sharply and more insistently, said: 'If your brother, your uncle, is alive, he wants you to be safe; if he has perished, he wanted you to survive. Accordingly, why do you delay to escape?' We replied that we would not so commit ourselves as to take thought for our own safety while uncertain about his. 11 Without further delay he flings himself forward and, at a headlong run, is carried off out of the danger.

Nec multo post illa nubes descendere in terras, operire maria; cinxerat Capreas et absconderat, Miseni quod procurrit abstulerat. 12 Tum mater orare hortari iubere, quoquo modo fugerem; posse enim iuvenem, se et annis et corpore gravem bene morituram, si mihi causa mortis non fuisset. Ego contra salvum me nisi una non futurum; dein manum eius amplexus addere gradum cogo.

And not long after, that cloud began to descend onto the lands, to cover the seas; it had encircled Capri and concealed it, and had taken away what of Misenum projects forward. 12 Then my mother began to beg, to exhort, to command that I flee in whatever way; for a young man can do so, but she, heavy with both years and body, would die well, if she had not been the cause of my death. I, on the contrary, said that I would not be safe except together with her; then, clasping her hand, I force her to add her pace.

Paret aegre incusatque se, quod me moretur.

She obeys with difficulty and accuses herself, because she is delaying me.

13 Iam cinis, adhuc tamen rarus. Respicio: densa caligo tergis imminebat, quae nos torrentis modo infusa terrae sequebatur. 'Deflectamus' inquam 'dum videmus, ne in via strati comitantium turba in tenebris obteramur.' 14 Vix consideramus, et nox — non qualis illunis aut nubila, sed qualis in locis clausis lumine exstincto.

13 Already ash, yet however sparse. I look back: a dense murk was looming over our backs, which, poured upon the earth in the manner of a torrent, was following us. “Let us deflect,” I say, “while we can see, lest, laid down in the road, we be trampled by the crowd of our companions in the darkness.” 14 We scarcely sat down, and night — not such as moonless or cloudy, but such as in enclosed places with the light extinguished.

Audires ululatus feminarum, infantum quiritatus, clamores virorum; alii parentes alii liberos alii coniuges vocibus requirebant, vocibus noscitabant; hi suum casum, illi suorum miserabantur; erant qui metu mortis mortem precarentur; 15 multi ad deos manus tollere, plures nusquam iam deos ullos aeternamque illam et novissimam noctem mundo interpretabantur. Nec defuerunt qui fictis mentitisque terroribus vera pericula augerent. Aderant qui Miseni illud ruisse illud ardere falso sed credentibus nuntiabant.

You could hear the ululations of women, the wailings of infants, the shouts of men; some were seeking their parents with their voices, others their children, others their spouses, with their voices they recognized them; these pitied their own fate, those the fate of their dear ones; there were those who, from fear of death, were praying for death; 15 many to the gods were lifting their hands, more were interpreting that now there were nowhere any gods, and that this was the eternal and very last night for the world. Nor were there lacking those who with feigned and mendacious terrors were augmenting the true dangers. There were present those who were announcing — falsely, yet to believers — that at Misenum this had collapsed, that that was burning.

16 Paulum reluxit, quod non dies nobis, sed adventantis ignis indicium videbatur. Et ignis quidem longius substitit; tenebrae rursus cinis rursus, multus et gravis. Hunc identidem assurgentes excutiebamus; operti alioqui atque etiam oblisi pondere essemus.

16 It shone again a little, which seemed to us not day, but an indication of the approaching fire. And the fire indeed halted farther off; darkness again, ash again, much and heavy. This we kept shaking off as we repeatedly stood up; otherwise we would have been covered and even crushed by the weight.

17 Possem gloriari non gemitum mihi, non vocem parum fortem in tantis periculis excidisse, nisi me cum omnibus, omnia mecum perire misero, magno tamen mortalitatis solacio credidissem.

17 I could boast that neither a groan nor a voice less than brave escaped me in such great dangers, had I not believed that I, along with everyone, was perishing, and that everything with me was perishing—wretched as I was—yet with a great consolation of mortality.

18 Tandem illa caligo tenuata quasi in fumum nebulamve discessit; mox dies verus; sol etiam effulsit, luridus tamen qualis esse cum deficit solet. Occursabant trepidantibus adhuc oculis mutata omnia altoque cinere tamquam nive obducta. 19 Regressi Misenum curatis utcumque corporibus suspensam dubiamque noctem spe ac metu exegimus.

18 At last that gloom, thinned, departed as if into smoke or mist; soon true day; the sun even shone forth, lurid, however, as it is wont to be when it is in eclipse. Things altered kept confronting our still-trembling eyes, and everything was overlaid with deep ash as if with snow. 19 Having returned to Misenum, with our bodies tended as best we could, we spent a night in suspense and uncertainty, in hope and fear.

Metus praevalebat; nam et tremor terrae perseverabat, et plerique lymphati terrificis vaticinationibus et sua et aliena mala ludificabantur.

Fear was prevailing; for the tremor of the earth too was persisting, and the majority, maddened, were being deluded by terrifying vaticinations about both their own and others’ misfortunes.

20 Nobis tamen ne tunc quidem, quamquam et expertis periculum et exspectantibus, abeundi consilium, donec de avunculo nuntius.

20 For us, however, not even then, although both having experienced peril and expecting it, was there counsel of departing, until there was news about my uncle.

Haec nequaquam historia digna non scripturus leges et tibi scilicet qui requisisti imputabis, si digna ne epistula quidem videbuntur. Vale.

You will read these things, by no means worthy of history, from one who is not going to write it; and you, of course, who requested them, will impute it to yourself if they seem not even worthy of an epistle. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS CANINIUS, GREETING.

1 Sum ex iis qui mirer antiquos, non tamen — ut quidam — temporum nostrorum ingenia despicio. Neque enim quasi lassa et effeta natura nihil iam laudabile parit. 2 Atque adeo nuper audivi Vergilium Romanum paucis legentem comoediam ad exemplar veteris comoediae scriptam, tam bene ut esse quandoque possit exemplar.

1 I am among those who admire the ancients, yet I do not — like certain people — despise the ingenia of our times. For nature, as if weary and effete, does not now produce nothing laudable. 2 And indeed, recently I heard Vergilius Romanus reading to a few a comedy written on the exemplar of Old Comedy, so well that it could someday be an exemplar.

3 Nescio an noris hominem, quamquam nosse debes; est enim probitate morum, ingenii elegantia, operum varietate monstrabilis. 4 Scripsit mimiambos tenuiter argute venuste, atque in hoc genere eloquentissime; nullum est enim genus quod absolutum non possit eloquentissimum dici. Scripsit comoedias Menandrum aliosque aetatis eiusdem aemulatus; licet has inter Plautinas Terentianasque numeres.

3 I do not know whether you know the man, although you ought to know; for he is remarkable for the probity of his morals, the elegance of his genius, the variety of his works. 4 He wrote mimiambs with delicacy, acuteness, and charm, and in this genre most eloquently; for there is no genre which, when perfected, cannot be called most eloquent. He wrote comedies, emulating Menander and others of the same age; you may number these among the Plautine and Terentian.

5 Nunc primum se in vetere comoedia, sed non tamquam inciperet ostendit. Non illi vis, non granditas, non subtilitas, non amaritudo, non dulcedo, non lepos defuit: ornavit virtutes, insectatus est vitia; fictis nominibus decenter, veris usus est apte. 6 Circa me tantum benignitate nimia modum excessit, nisi quod tamen poetis mentiri licet.

5 Now for the first time he showed himself in Old Comedy, but not as if he were beginning. He lacked neither force, nor grandeur, nor subtlety, nor bitterness, nor sweetness, nor charm: he adorned virtues and assailed vices; with feigned names he was decorous, with true ones he was apt. 6 Only toward me did he exceed the measure by excessive benignity—except that, after all, poets are allowed to lie.

7 In summa extorquebo ei librum legendumque, immo ediscendum mittam tibi; neque enim dubito futurum, ut non deponas si semel sumpseris. Vale.

7 In sum, I will wrest the book from him and will send it to you to be read—nay, to be learned by heart; for I do not doubt it will come to pass that you will not put it down if once you have taken it up. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS TIRONI SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS TIRO, GREETING.

1 Magna res acta est omnium qui sunt provinciis praefuturi, magna omnium qui se simpliciter credunt amicis. 2 Lustricius Bruttianus cum Montanium Atticinum comitem suum in multis flagitiis deprehendisset, Caesari scripsit. Atticinus flagitiis addidit, ut quem deceperat accusaret.

1 A great precedent has been set for all who are to preside over provinces, a great one for all who simply entrust themselves to friends. 2 Lustricius Bruttianus, when he had detected Montanius Atticinus, his companion, in many flagitious acts, wrote to Caesar. Atticinus added to his flagitious acts, by accusing the very man whom he had deceived.

Recepta cognitio est; fui in consilio. Egit uterque pro se, egit autem carptim et κατὰ κεφάλαιον, quo genere veritas statim ostenditur. 3 Protulit Bruttianus testamentum suum, quod Atticini manu scriptum esse dicebat; hoc enim et arcana familiaritas et querendi de eo, quem sic amasset, necessitas indicabatur.

The inquiry was taken up; I was on the council. Each pled his own case, and he pled piecemeal and κατὰ κεφάλαιον, a mode by which truth is shown forth at once. 3 Bruttianus produced his testament, which he said had been written in Atticinus’s hand; for by this both a secret intimacy and the necessity of complaining about one whom he had so loved were indicated.

4 Enumeravit crimina foeda manifesta; quae ille cum diluere non posset, ita regessit, ut dum defenditur turpis, dum accusat sceleratus probaretur. Corrupto enim scribae servo interceperat commentarios intercideratque, ac per summum nefas utebatur adversus amicum crimine suo. 5 Fecit pulcherrime Caesar: non enim de Bruttiano, sed statim de Atticino perrogavit.

4 He enumerated foul, manifest crimes; which, since that man could not wash away, he rejoined in such a manner that, while he was being defended, he appeared base, and while he was accusing, he was proven a criminal. For, after corrupting the clerk’s slave, he had intercepted the records and had mutilated them, and by a most extreme nefas he was employing against a friend his own crime. 5 Caesar acted most excellently: for he did not inquire about Bruttianus, but immediately about Atticinus.

Damnatus et in insulam relegatus; Bruttiano iustissimum integritatis testimonium redditum, quem quidem etiam constantiae gloria secuta est. 6 Nam defensus expeditissime accusavit vehementer, nec minus acer quam bonus et sincerus apparuit. 7 Quod tibi scripsi, ut te sortitum provinciam praemonerem, plurimum tibi credas, nec cuiquam satis fidas, deinde scias si quis forte te — quod abominor — fallat, paratam ultionem.

He was condemned and relegated to an island; for Bruttianus a most just testimony of integrity was rendered, whom indeed the glory of constancy also followed. 6 For, having been most expeditiously defended, he accused vehemently, and appeared no less keen than good and sincere. 7 What I have written to you, to forewarn you as one assigned a province by lot, is that you place very great trust in yourself, and do not trust anyone enough; then know that, if by chance anyone should deceive you — which I abominate — vengeance is prepared.

Qua tamen ne sit opus, etiam atque etiam attende; 8 neque enim tam iucundum est vindicari quam decipi miserum. Vale.

Yet, so that there be no need of it, attend again and again; 8 for it is not so pleasant to be avenged as it is wretched to be deceived. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS TRIARIO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS TRIARIUS, GREETINGS.

1 Impense petis ut agam causam pertinentem ad curam tuam, pulchram alioqui et famosam. Faciam, sed non gratis. 'Qui fieri potest' inquis 'ut non gratis tu?' Potest: exigam enim mercedem honestiorem gratuito patrocinio.

1 You press earnestly that I should plead a cause pertaining to your charge, fair otherwise and famous. I will do so, but not gratis. 'How can it be,' you say, 'that you not gratis?' It can: for I shall exact a fee more honorable than gratuitous patronage.

2 Peto atque etiam paciscor ut simul agat Cremutius Ruso. Solitum hoc mihi et iam in pluribus claris adulescentibus factitatum; nam mire concupisco bonos iuvenes ostendere foro, assignare famae. 3 Quod si cui, praestare Rusoni meo debeo, vel propter natales ipsius vel propter eximiam mei caritatem; quem magni aestimo in isdem iudiciis, ex isdem etiam partibus conspici audiri.

2 I request and even stipulate that Cremutius Ruso plead along with me. This has been my custom and has already been frequently practiced with several illustrious young men; for I keenly long to display good youths to the forum, to assign them to fame. 3 And if to anyone I ought to grant this, I owe it to my Ruso, either on account of his birth or on account of his exceptional affection for me; whom I hold in high esteem—to be seen and heard in the same courts, and even on the same side.

4 Obliga me, obliga ante quam dicat; nam cum dixerit gratias ages. Spondeo sollicitudini tuae, spei meae, magnitudini causae suffecturum. Est indolis optimae brevi producturus alios, si interim provectus fuerit a nobis.

4 Oblige me, oblige me before he speaks; for when he has spoken you will give thanks. I pledge that he will suffice to your solicitude, to my hope, to the magnitude of the cause. He is of the best natural endowment, soon to bring forward others, if in the meantime he shall have been advanced by us.

5 Neque enim cuiquam tam clarum statim ingenium ut possit emergere, nisi illi materia occasio, fautor etiam commendatorque contingat. Vale.

5 For indeed no one has a genius so bright at once as to be able to emerge, unless there befall to him material, occasion, and even a favorer and recommender. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS MACRO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS MACER, GREETINGS.

1 Quam multum interest quid a quoque fiat! Eadem enim facta claritate vel obscuritate facientium aut tolluntur altissime aut humillime deprimuntur. 2 Navigabam per Larium nostrum, cum senior amicus ostendit mihi villam, atque etiam cubiculum quod in lacum prominet: 'Ex hoc' inquit 'aliquando municeps nostra cum marito se praecipitavit.' 3 Causam requisivi.

1 How much it matters what is done by each! For the same deeds, by the clarity or obscurity of those doing them, are either lifted up most highly or pressed down most lowly. 2 I was sailing along our Lake Larius, when an elder friend pointed out to me a villa, and even a bedchamber which juts out into the lake: ‘From this,’ he said, ‘once a fellow townswoman of ours, together with her husband, precipitated herself.’ 3 I inquired the cause.

Maritus ex diutino morbo circa velanda corporis ulceribus putrescebat; uxor ut inspiceret exegit; neque enim quemquam fidelius indicaturum, possetne sanari. 4 Vidit desperavit hortata est ut moreretur, comesque ipsa mortis, dux immo et exemplum et necessitas fuit; nam se cum marito ligavit abiecitque in lacum. 5 Quod factum ne mihi quidem, qui municeps, nisi proxime auditum est, non quia minus illo clarissimo Arriae facto, sed quia minor ipsa.

The husband, from a long-continued sickness, was putrefying with ulcers about the parts of the body to be veiled; the wife insisted on inspecting; for she said that no one would indicate more faithfully whether he could be healed. 4 She saw, despaired, urged him to die, and she herself was a companion of death—nay rather a leader and an example and a necessity; for she bound herself to her husband and threw herself down into the lake. 5 This deed was not even heard by me, though I am a townsman, until quite recently, not because it is less than that most illustrious deed of Arria, but because she herself is lesser.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS HISPANO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS HISPANUS, GREETINGS.

1 Scribis Robustum, splendidum equitem Romanum, cum Atilio Scauro amico meo Ocriculum usque commune iter peregisse, deinde nusquam comparuisse; petis ut Scaurus veniat nosque, si potest, in aliqua inquisitionis vestigia inducat. 2 Veniet; vereor ne frustra. Suspicor enim tale nescio quid Robusto accidisse quale aliquando Metilio Crispo municipi meo.

1 You write that Robustus, a splendid Roman eques, together with Atilius Scaurus, my friend, completed their common journey as far as Ocriculum, then appeared nowhere; you ask that Scaurus come and, if he can, lead us into some traces of an inquiry. 2 He will come; I fear it may be in vain. For I suspect that some such thing has happened to Robustus as once to Metilius Crispus, my fellow-townsman.

3 Huic ego ordinem impetraveram atque etiam proficiscenti quadraginta milia nummum ad instruendum se ornandumque donaveram, nec postea aut epistulas eius aut aliquem de exitu nuntium accepi. 4 Interceptusne sit a suis an cum suis dubium: certe non ipse, non quisquam ex servis eius apparuit, ut ne Robusti quidem. 5 Experiamur tamen, accersamus Scaurum; demus hoc tuis, demus optimi adulescentis honestissimis precibus, qui pietate mira mira etiam sagacitate patrem quaerit.

3 For this man I had obtained rank, and even, as he was setting out, I had donated forty thousand sesterces to equip and to adorn himself, and afterwards I received neither his letters nor any message about the outcome. 4 Whether he was intercepted by his own people or along with his own is doubtful: certainly neither he himself nor anyone of his slaves has appeared, just as not even Robustus has. 5 Let us try nonetheless; let us summon Scaurus; let us grant this to your people, let us grant it to the most honorable prayers of that excellent young man, who seeks his father with marvelous piety, with marvelous sagacity as well.

Di faveant ut sic inveniat ipsum, quemadmodum iam cum quo fuisset invenit! Vale.

May the gods favor it, that he thus find the man himself, just as he has already found the one with whom he had been! Farewell.

C. PLINIUS SERVIANO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS SERVIANUS, GREETINGS.

1 Gaudeo et gratulor, quod Fusco Salinatori filiam tuam destinasti. Domus patricia, pater honestissimus, mater pari laude; ipse studiosus litteratus etiam disertus, puer simplicitate comitate iuvenis senex gravitate. Neque enim amore decipior.

1 I rejoice and I congratulate you, that you have destined your daughter for Fuscus Salinator. A patrician house, a most honorable father, a mother with equal praise; he himself studious, literate, even eloquent— a boy in simplicity, a young man in comity, an old man in gravity. For I am not deceived by affection.

2 Amo quidem effuse — ita officiis ita reverentia meruit -, iudico tamen, et quidem tanto acrius quanto magis amo; tibique ut qui exploraverim spondeo, habiturum te generum quo melior fingi ne voto quidem potuit. 3 Superest ut avum te quam maturissime similium sui faciat. Quam felix tempus illud, quo mihi liberos illius nepotes tuos, ut meos vel liberos vel nepotes, ex vestro sinu sumere et quasi pari iure tenere continget!

2 I do indeed love him profusely — thus by services and thus by reverence he has merited -, I judge nevertheless, and indeed so much the more keenly the more I love; and to you, as one who has tested, I pledge, that you will have a son-in-law than whom a better could not be fashioned even by a vow. 3 It remains that he make you a grandfather as very soon as possible of those similar to himself. How happy that time, when it shall befall me to take from your bosom his children, your grandchildren, as my own either children or grandchildren, and to hold them as if with equal right!

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS SEVERO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS SEVERUS, GREETING.

1 Rogas ut cogitem, quid designatus consul in honorem principis censeas. Facilis inventio, non facilis electio; est enim ex virtutibus eius larga materia. Scribam tamen vel — quod malo — coram indicabo, si prius haesitationem meam ostendero.

1 You ask that I consider what you judge the consul-designate should propose in honor of the princeps. The invention is easy, the selection not easy; for from his virtues there is abundant material. I will write, however, or — what I prefer — I will indicate it in person, if I first have shown my hesitation.

2 Dubito num idem tibi suadere quod mihi debeam. Designatus ego consul omni hac, etsi non adulatione, specie tamen adulationis abstinui, non tamquam liber et constans, sed tamquam intellegens principis nostri, cuius videbam hanc esse praecipuam laudem, si nihil quasi ex necessitate decernerem. 3 Recordabar etiam plurimos honores pessimo cuique delatos, quibus hic optimus separari non alio magis poterat, quam diversitate censendi; quod ipsum non dissimulatione et silentio praeterii, ne forte non iudicium illud meum sed oblivio videretur.

2 I hesitate whether I ought to advise you the same as I should for myself. I, a designated consul, abstained from all this—though it was not adulation, yet because of the appearance of adulation—not as one free and steadfast, but as one understanding our princeps, whose chief praise I saw to be this: that nothing should be decreed as if out of necessity. 3 I also recalled that very many honors had been delivered to the worst of men, from which this best man could be set apart by nothing more than by a diversity of censure (opinion); and this very point I did not pass over with dissimulation and silence, lest perchance that seem not my judgment but forgetfulness.

4 Hoc tunc ego; sed non omnibus eadem placent, ne conveniunt quidem. Praeterea faciendi aliquid non faciendive ratio cum hominum ipsorum tum rerum etiam ac temporum condicione mutatur. 5 Nam recentia opera maximi principis praebent facultatem, nova magna vera censendi.

4 This then was my course; but the same things do not please everyone, nor indeed do they even agree. Moreover, the rationale for doing something or for not doing it is changed both with the condition of the persons themselves and also with the condition of affairs and of times. 5 For the recent works of the greatest emperor afford the faculty of forming judgments that are new, great, and true.

Quibus ex causis, ut supra scripsi, dubito an idem nunc tibi quod tunc mihi suadeam. Illud non dubito, debuisse me in parte consilii tui ponere, quid ipse fecissem. Vale.

For which causes, as I wrote above, I hesitate whether I should now advise you the same thing as I then advised myself. This I do not doubt: that I ought to have set, as a part of your counsel, what I myself would have done. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS PONTIO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS PONTIUS, GREETINGS.

1 Scio quae tibi causa fuerit impedimento, quominus praecurrere adventum meum in Campaniam posses. Sed quamquam absens totus huc migrasti: tantum mihi copiarum qua urbanarum qua rusticarum nomine tuo oblatum est, quas omnes improbe, accepi tamen. 2 Nam me tui ut ita facerem rogabant, et verebar ne et mihi et illis irascereris, si non fecissem.

1 I know what cause was an impediment to you, whereby you were not able to anticipate my arrival into Campania. Yet although absent, you have altogether migrated here: so much in the way of resources, both urban and rustic, was offered to me in your name, all of which, shamelessly, I nevertheless accepted. 2 For your people were requesting me to do so, and I was afraid lest you be angry both with me and with them, if I had not done it.

In posterum nisi adhibueritis modum ego adhibebo; et iam tuis denuntiavi, si rursus tam multa attulissent, omnia relaturos. 3 Dices oportere me tuis rebus ut meis uti. Etiam: sed perinde illis ac meis parco.

For the future, unless you apply a measure, I will apply one; and already I have given notice to your people that, if they should again have brought so many things, they will carry everything back. 3 You will say that I ought to use your goods as my own. Yes indeed: but I spare them just as I spare my own.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS QUADRATO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS QUADRATUS, GREETING.

1 Avidius Quietus, qui me unice dilexit et — quo non minus gaudeo — probavit, ut multa alia Thraseae — fuit enim familiaris — ita hoc saepe referebat, praecipere solitum suscipiendas esse causas aut amicorum aut destitutas aut ad exemplum pertinentes. 2 Cur amicorum, non eget interpretatione. Cur destitutas?

1 Avidius Quietus, who loved me uniquely and — which I rejoice in no less — approved me, as many other things about Thrasea — for he was an intimate — so this he often reported: that he used to prescribe that causes ought to be undertaken either of friends, or deserted, or pertaining to example (precedent). 2 Why of friends, does not need interpretation. Why the deserted?

quod in illis maxime et constantia agentis et humanitas cerneretur. Cur pertinentes ad exemplum? quia plurimum referret, bonum an malum induceretur.

because in these most of all both the constancy of the agent/advocate and his humanity would be discerned. Why those pertaining to example? because it would matter very much whether a good or a bad example was being introduced.

3 Ad haec ego genera causarum ambitiose fortasse, addam tamen claras et illustres. Aequum est enim agere non numquam gloriae et famae, id est suam causam. Hos terminos, quia me consuluisti, dignitati ac verecundiae tuae statuo.

3 To these kinds of cases I, perhaps ambitiously, will nevertheless add the famous and illustrious. For it is equitable to plead sometimes for glory and fame — that is, one’s own cause. These boundaries, since you have consulted me, I set for your dignity and modesty.

4 Nec me praeterit usum et esse et haberi optimum dicendi magistrum; video etiam multos parvo ingenio litteris nullis, ut bene agerent agendo consecutos. 5 Sed et illud, quod vel Pollionis vel tamquam Pollionis accepi, verissimum experior: 'Commode agendo factum est ut saepe agerem, saepe agendo ut minus commode', quia scilicet assiduitate nimia facilitas magis quam facultas, nec fiducia sed temeritas paratur. 6 Nec vero Isocrati quo minus haberetur summus orator offecit, quod infirmitate vocis mollitia frontis ne in publico diceret impediebatur.

4 Nor does it escape me that practice is both to be and to be held the best master of speaking; I also see many with small native talent and no letters, who have attained to plead well by pleading. 5 But I also find most true that saying which I have received either as Pollio’s or as if Pollio’s: “By pleading suitably it came about that I pleaded often; by pleading often, that I pleaded less suitably,” because, to wit, by excessive assiduity ease rather than ability is procured, and not confidence but temerity is produced. 6 Nor indeed did it hinder Isocrates, so that he were held the less a supreme orator, that he was prevented by weakness of voice and softness of brow (bashfulness) from speaking in public.

Proinde multum lege scribe meditare, ut possis cum voles dicere: dices cum velle debebis. 7 Hoc fere temperamentum ipse servavi; non numquam necessitati quae pars rationis est parui. Egi enim quasdam a senatu iussus, quo tamen in numero fuerunt ex illa Thraseae divisione, hoc est ad exemplum pertinentes.

Accordingly read much, write, meditate, so that you may be able to speak when you wish: you will speak when you ought to wish. 7 This tempering I myself have for the most part observed; now and then I have obeyed necessity, which is a part of reason. For I pleaded certain cases by order of the senate, and in that number, however, there were some from that division of Thrasea, that is, pertaining to precedent.

8 Adfui Baeticis contra Baebium Massam: quaesitum est, an danda esset inquisitio; data est. Adfui rursus isdem querentibus de Caecilio Classico: quaesitum est, an provinciales ut socios ministrosque proconsulis plecti oporteret; poenas luerunt. 9 Accusavi Marium Priscum, qui lege repetundarum damnatus utebatur clementia legis, cuius severitatem immanitate criminum excesserat; relegatus est.

8 I was present with the Baeticans against Baebius Massa: it was inquired whether an inquisition should be granted; it was granted. I was present again with the same complainants concerning Caecilius Classicus: it was asked whether the provincials ought to be chastised as associates and ministers of the proconsul; they paid the penalties. 9 I accused Marius Priscus, who, though condemned under the law of recoveries (repetundae), was availing himself of the clemency of the law, whose severity he had exceeded by the monstrosity of his crimes; he was relegated.

10 Tuitus sum Iulium Bassum, ut incustoditum nimis et incautum, ita minime malum; iudicibus acceptis in senatu remansit. 11 Dixi proxime pro Vareno postulante, ut sibi invicem evocare testes liceret; impetratum est. In posterum opto ut ea potissimum iubear, quae me deceat vel sponte fecisse.

10 I defended Julius Bassus, as too unguarded and incautious, yet by no means evil; having been accepted by the judges, he remained in the senate. 11 Most recently I spoke on behalf of Varenius, as petitioner, that it be permitted to summon witnesses reciprocally; it was obtained. For the future I wish that I be ordered especially those things which it would befit me even to have done of my own accord.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO FABATUS, HIS GRANDFATHER-IN-LAW, GREETING.

1 Debemus mehercule natales tuos perinde ac nostros celebrare, cum laetitia nostrorum ex tuis pendeat, cuius diligentia et cura hic hilares istic securi sumus. 2 Villa Camilliana, quam in Campania possides, est quidem vetustate vexata; et tamen, quae sunt pretiosiora, aut integra manent aut levissime laesa sunt. 3 Attendimus ergo, ut quam saluberrime reficiantur.

1 We ought, by Hercules, to celebrate your birthdays just as our own, since the joy of ours depends upon yours, by whose diligence and care we are cheerful here and secure there. 2 The Camillian villa, which you possess in Campania, is indeed vexed by age; and yet the things that are more precious either remain intact or are very lightly damaged. 3 We therefore attend, that they may be repaired as soundly as possible.

Ego videor habere multos amicos, sed huius generis, cuius et tu quaeris et res exigit, prope neminem. 4 Sunt enim omnes togati et urbani; rusticorum autem praediorum administratio poscit durum aliquem et agrestem, cui nec labor ille gravis nec cura sordida nec tristis solitudo videatur. 5 Tu de Rufo honestissime cogitas; fuit enim filio tuo familiaris.

I seem to have many friends, but of this kind, which both you inquire after and the matter requires, scarcely anyone. 4 For they are all toga-clad and urban; but the administration of rustic estates demands someone tough and country-bred, to whom neither that labor seems heavy nor the care sordid nor the gloomy solitude sad. 5 You think most honorably about Rufus; for he was familiar with your son.

Quid tamen nobis ibi praestare possit ignoro, velle plurimum credo. Vale.

What, however, he can render for us there I do not know; I believe he is most willing. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS CORNELIANO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS CORNELIANUS, GREETINGS.

1 Evocatus in consilium a Caesare nostro ad Centum Cellas — hoc loco nomen -, magnam cepi voluptatem. 2 Quid enim iucundius quam principis iustitiam gravitatem comitatem in secessu quoque ubi maxime recluduntur inspicere? Fuerunt variae cognitiones et quae virtutes iudicis per plures species experirentur.

1 Summoned into a council by our Caesar at Centum Cellae — this is the name of the place —, I took great pleasure. 2 For what is more pleasant than to inspect the prince’s justice, gravity, and comity even in seclusion, where they are most laid bare? There were various hearings, which would test the virtues of a judge through several kinds.

3 Dixit causam Claudius Ariston princeps Ephesiorum, homo munificus et innoxie popularis; inde invidia et a dissimillimis delator immissus, itaque absolutus vindicatusque est.

3 Claudius Ariston, the principal man of the Ephesians, pleaded his case—a man munificent and innocently popular; then, out of envy, and by men most unlike him, an informer was let loose, and so he was acquitted and vindicated.

4 Sequenti die audita est Gallitta adulterii rea. Nupta haec tribuno militum honores petituro, et suam et mariti dignitatem centurionis amore maculaverat. Maritus legato consulari, ille Caesari scripserat.

4 On the following day Gallitta, defendant on the charge of adultery, was heard. Married to a military tribune who was seeking honors, she had stained both her own and her husband’s dignity by love for a centurion. The husband had written to the consular legate; the latter had written to Caesar.

5 Caesar excussis probationibus centurionem exauctoravit atque etiam relegavit. Supererat crimini, quod nisi duorum esse non poterat, reliqua pars ultionis; sed maritum non sine aliqua reprehensione patientiae amor uxoris retardabat, quam quidem etiam post delatum adulterium domi habuerat quasi contentus aemulum removisse. 6 Admonitus ut perageret accusationem, peregit invitus.

5 The Caesar, the proofs having been sifted, cashiered the centurion and even relegated him. There still remained, for a crime which could not be unless of two, the remaining share of retribution; but the husband, not without some censure of forbearance, was delayed by love for his wife, whom indeed even after the adultery had been reported he had kept at home, as if content with having removed his rival. 6 Admonished to carry the accusation through, he carried it through unwillingly.

Sed illam damnari etiam invito accusatore necesse erat: damnata et Iuliae legis poenis relicta est. Caesar et nomen centurionis et commemorationem disciplinae militaris sententiae adiecit, ne omnes eius modi causas revocare ad se videretur.

But it was necessary that she be condemned even with the accuser unwilling: condemned, she was left to the penalties of the Julian law. Caesar added both the name of the centurion and a commemoration of military discipline to the sentence, lest he seem to recall all cases of that sort to himself.

7 Tertio die inducta cognitio est multis sermonibus et vario rumore iactata, Iuli Tironis codicilli, quos ex parte veros esse constabat, ex parte falsi dicebantur. 8 Substituebantur crimini Sempronius Senecio eques Romanus et Eurythmus Caesaris libertus et procurator. Heredes, cum Caesar esset in Dacia, communiter epistula scripta, petierant ut susciperet cognitionem.

7 On the third day the inquiry was introduced, the codicils of Julius Tiro—bandied about by many conversations and by varied rumor—of which it was agreed that they were in part true, in part were said to be false. 8 To the charge were being put forward Sempronius Senecio, a Roman eques, and Eurythmus, Caesar’s freedman and procurator. The heirs, while Caesar was in Dacia, with a joint letter written, had requested that he take up the inquiry.

9 Susceperat; reversus diem dederat, et cum ex heredibus quidam quasi reverentia Eurythmi omitterent accusationem, pulcherrime dixerat: 'Nec ille Polyclitus est nec ego Nero.' Indulserat tamen petentibus dilationem, cuius tempore exacto consederat auditurus. 10 A parte heredum intraverunt duo omnino; postulaverunt, omnes heredes agere cogerentur, cum detulissent omnes, aut sibi quoque desistere permitteretur. 11 Locutus est Caesar summa gravitate summa moderatione, cumque advocatus Senecionis et Eurythmi dixisset suspicionibus relinqui reos, nisi audirentur, 'Non curo' inquit 'an isti suspicionibus relinquantur, ego relinquor.' 12 Dein conversus ad nos: ÎÎEpistêsate' quid facere debeamus; isti enim queri volunt quod sibi licuerit non accusari.' Tum ex consilii sententia iussit denuntiari heredibus omnibus, aut agerent aut singuli approbarent causas non agendi; alioqui se vel de calumnia pronuntiaturum.

9 He had undertaken it; on returning he had given a day, and when some of the heirs, as if out of reverence for Eurythmus, were omitting the accusation, he had said most beautifully: 'He is not Polyclitus, nor am I Nero.' Yet he had indulged those asking for a postponement, and when that time was elapsed he had taken his seat to hear. 10 On the part of the heirs only two entered; they demanded that either all the heirs be compelled to proceed, since all had lodged the charge, or that they too be permitted to desist. 11 Caesar spoke with the utmost gravity and the utmost moderation, and when the advocate of Senecio and Eurythmus had said that the defendants would be left to suspicions unless they were heard, he said: 'I do not care whether these men are left to suspicions; I am left.' 12 Then, turning to us: 'Advise what we ought to do; for these men wish to complain that it was permitted to them not to prosecute.' Then, in accordance with the opinion of the council, he ordered notice to be given to all the heirs, either to proceed or for each individually to approve the causes of not proceeding; otherwise he would even pronounce on calumny.

13 Vides quam honesti, quam severi dies; quos iucundissimae remissiones sequebantur. Adhibebamur cotidie cenae; erat modica, si principem cogitares. Interdum acroamata audiebamus, interdum iucundissimis sermonibus nox ducebatur.

13 You see how honorable, how severe the days; which were followed by the most pleasant relaxations. We were invited every day to dinner; it was moderate, if you considered the princeps. Sometimes we listened to acroamata; sometimes the night was drawn out by most delightful conversations.

14 Summo die abeuntibus nobis — tam diligens in Caesare humanitas — xenia sunt missa. Sed mihi ut gravitas cognitionum, consilii honor, suavitas simplicitasque convictus, ita locus ipse periucundus fuit. 15 Villa pulcherrima cingitur viridissimis agris, imminet litori, cuius in sinu fit cum maxime portus.

14 On the very day, as we were departing — so attentive a courtesy in Caesar — guest-gifts were sent. But for me, just as the gravity of the hearings, the honor of counsel, the sweetness and simplicity of social intercourse, so too the place itself was most delightful. 15 A most beautiful villa is girded by the most verdant fields, overhangs the shore, in whose bay a harbor is at this very moment being built.

Huius sinistrum brachium firmissimo opere munitum est, dextrum elaboratur. 16 In ore portus insula assurgit, quae illatum vento mare obiacens frangat, tutumque ab utroque latere decursum navibus praestet. Assurgit autem arte visenda: ingentia saxa latissima navis provehit contra; haec alia super alia deiecta ipso pondere manent ac sensim quodam velut aggere construuntur.

Of this, the left arm has been fortified with very firm workmanship, the right is under construction. 16 At the mouth of the port an island rises up, which, lying opposite, may break the sea driven in by the wind, and may provide a safe run for ships from either side. It rises, moreover, by an art to be seen: a very broad ship carries forward enormous rocks against it; these, cast one upon another, remain by their own weight and are little by little constructed into a kind of embankment.

17 Eminet iam et apparet saxeum dorsum impactosque fluctus in immensum elidit et tollit; vastus illic fragor canumque circa mare. Saxis deinde pilae adicientur quae procedente tempore enatam insulam imitentur. Habebit hic portus, et iam habet nomen auctoris, eritque vel maxime salutaris; nam per longissimum spatium litus importuosum hoc receptaculo utetur.

17 Already the stony dorsal ridge stands out and appears, and it dashes the impacted waves to pieces and lifts them to an immense extent; there is a vast crash there, and the sea all around is hoary. Then piles will be added to the rocks, which, as time proceeds, will imitate the island that has emerged. This port will have, and already has, the name of its author, and will be most especially salutary; for over a very long stretch the harborless shore will use this receptacle.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS QUINTILIANO SUO S.

G. PLINY TO HIS QUINTILIAN, GREETINGS.

1 Quamvis et ipse sis continentissimus, et filiam tuam ita institueris ut decebat tuam filiam, Tutili neptem, cum tamen sit nuptura honestissimo viro Nonio Celeri, cui ratio civilium officiorum necessitatem quandam nitoris imponit, debet secundum condicionem mariti <uti> veste comitatu, quibus non quidem augetur dignitas, ornatur tamen et instruitur. 2 Te porro animo beatissimum, modicum facultatibus scio. Itaque partem oneris tui mihi vindico, et tamquam parens alter puellae nostrae confero quinquaginta milia nummum plus collaturus, nisi a verecundia tua sola mediocritate munusculi impetrari posse confiderem, ne recusares.

1 Although you yourself are most self-restrained, and you have trained your daughter as it befitted your daughter, Tutilius’s granddaughter, nevertheless, since she is about to marry a most honorable man, Nonius Celer, upon whom the logic of civil offices imposes a certain necessity of polish, she ought, according to the condition of her husband, to use apparel and retinue, by which indeed dignity is not increased, yet it is adorned and equipped. 2 I know you to be most blessed in spirit, moderate in means. Therefore I claim a part of your burden for myself, and, as a second parent to our girl, I contribute fifty thousand sesterces—more I would contribute, did I not trust that from your modesty alone the modesty of the little gift could be obtained, so that you would not refuse.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS ROMANUS, GREETINGS.

1 'Tollite cuncta' inquit 'coeptosque auferte labores!' Seu scribis aliquid seu legis, tolli auferri iube et accipe orationem meam ut illa arma divinam — num superbius potui? -, re vera ut inter meas pulchram; nam mihi satis est certare mecum. 2 Est haec pro Attia Viriola, et dignitate personae et exempli raritate et iudicii magnitudine insignis.

1 'Take away everything,' he says, 'and remove the labors you have begun!' Whether you are writing something or reading, bid it to be lifted and carried off, and receive my oration as divine like those arms — could I have been more overbearing? -, in truth as, among my own, a beautiful one; for it is enough for me to contend with myself. 2 This is on behalf of Attia Viriola, remarkable both for the dignity of the person and the rarity of the example and the magnitude of the judgment.

Nam femina splendide nata, nupta praetorio viro, exheredata ab octogenario patre intra undecim dies quam illi novercam amore captus induxerat, quadruplici iudicio bona paterna repetebat. 3 Sedebant centum et octoginta iudices — tot enim quattuor consiliis colliguntur -, ingens utrimque advocatio et numerosa subsellia, praeterea densa circumstantium corona latissimum iudicium multiplici circulo ambibat. 4 Ad hoc stipatum tribunal, atque etiam ex superiore basilicae parte qua feminae qua viri et audiendi — quod difficile — et — quod facile — visendi studio imminebant.

For a woman nobly born, married to a praetorian man, disinherited by her eighty-year-old father within 11 days after he, captured by love, had brought in a stepmother for himself, was seeking to recover her paternal goods by a fourfold judgment. 3 There sat 180 judges — for so many are assembled in four councils —, a huge advocacy on both sides and crowded benches; moreover, a dense crown of bystanders encircled the very broad court in multiple rings. 4 In addition, the tribunal was packed, and even from the upper part of the basilica both women and men were bending in, with zeal for hearing — which was difficult — and — which was easy — for seeing.

Magna exspectatio patrum, magna filiarum, magna etiam novercarum. 5 Secutus est varius eventus; nam duobus consiliis vicimus, totidem victi sumus. Notabilis prorsus et mira eadem in causa, isdem iudicibus, isdem advocatis, eodem tempore tanta diversitas.

Great was the expectation of the fathers, great that of the daughters, great also that of the stepmothers. 5 A varied outcome followed; for in two panels we won, in just as many we were defeated. Quite notable and wondrous that in the same case, with the same judges, the same advocates, at the same time, there was so great a diversity.

6 Accidit casu, quod non casus videretur: victa est noverca, ipsa heres ex parte sexta, victus Suburanus, qui exheredatus a patre singulari impudentia alieni patris bona vindicabat, non ausus sui petere.

6 It happened by chance, what would not seem chance: the stepmother was defeated, she herself heir of a sixth part; Suburanus was defeated, who, disinherited by his father, with singular impudence was claiming the goods of another’s father, not daring to seek his own.

7 Haec tibi exposui, primum ut ex epistula scires, quae ex oratione non poteras, deinde — nam detegam artes — ut orationem libentius legeres, si non legere tibi sed interesse iudicio videreris; quam, sit licet magna, non despero gratiam brevissimae impetraturam. 8 Nam et copia rerum et arguta divisione et narratiunculis pluribus et eloquendi varietate renovatur. Sunt multa — non auderem nisi tibi dicere — elata, multa pugnacia, multa subtilia.

7 I have set these things out for you, first so that from the letter you might know what from the oration you could not, next — for I will uncover my arts — so that you might more willingly read the oration, if you seemed to yourself not to read but to be present at the trial; which, although it is great, I do not despair will obtain the favor owed to the very brief. 8 For it is renewed both by a copiousness of matters and by a keen division and by several little narratives and by a variety of eloquence. There are many — I would not dare to say it except to you — elevated things, many pugnacious, many subtle.

9 Intervenit enim acribus illis et erectis frequens necessitas computandi ac paene calculos tabulamque poscendi, ut repente in privati iudicii formam centumvirale vertatur. 10 Dedimus vela indignationi, dedimus irae, dedimus dolori, et in amplissima causa quasi magno mari pluribus ventis sumus vecti. 11 In summa solent quidam ex contubernalibus nostris existimare hanc orationem — iterum dicam — ut inter meas 'hyper Ktêsiphôntos' esse: an vere, tu facillime iudicabis, qui tam memoriter tenes omnes, ut conferre cum hac dum hanc solam legis possis.

9 For amid those sharp and lofty points there intervenes a frequent necessity of computing and almost of calling for the calculi and the counting-board, so that the centumviral case is suddenly turned into the form of a private trial. 10 We gave sails to indignation, we gave to anger, we gave to grief, and in a most ample cause, as on a great sea, we were borne by several winds. 11 In sum, certain of our comrades are wont to reckon this speech — I will say it again — to be, among my own, my “hyper Ktêsiphôntos”; whether truly, you will most easily judge, you who hold them all so by heart that you can compare them with this even while you read this one alone.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS MAXIMUS, GREETINGS.

1 Recte fecisti quod gladiatorium munus Veronensibus nostris promisisti, a quibus olim amaris suspiceris ornaris. Inde etiam uxorem carissimam tibi et probatissimam habuisti, cuius memoriae aut opus aliquod aut spectaculum atque hoc potissimum, quod maxime funeri, debebatur. 2 Praeterea tanto consensu rogabaris, ut negare non constans, sed durum videretur.

1 You did rightly in that you promised a gladiatorial spectacle to our Veronese, by whom you have long been loved, esteemed, and adorned. From there, too, you took a wife most dear to you and most approved, to whose memory either some work or a spectacle—and this most especially, as being most suited to a funeral—was owed. 2 Moreover, you were entreated with such consensus that to refuse would seem not steadfast, but harsh.

Illud quoque egregie, quod tam facilis tam liberalis in edendo fuisti; nam per haec etiam magnus animus ostenditur. 3 Vellem Africanae, quas coemeras plurimas, ad praefinitum diem occurrissent: sed licet cessaverint illae tempestate detentae, tu tamen meruisti ut acceptum tibi fieret, quod quo minus exhiberes, non per te stetit. Vale.

That too was egregious, that you were so facile and so liberal in giving the show; for by these things as well magnanimity is displayed. 3 I would that the African animals, which you had bought up in very great numbers, had arrived by the preappointed day; but although they delayed, detained by the tempest, you nevertheless deserved that it be credited to you, since, as to the fact that you exhibited less, it did not rest with you. Farewell.