Pliny the Younger: EPISTVLARVM LIBRI DECEM

1 Iter commode explicui, excepto quod quidam ex meis adversam valetudinem ferventissimis aestibus contraxerunt. 2 Encolpius quidem lector, ille seria nostra ille deliciae, exasperatis faucibus pulvere sanguinem reiecit. Quam triste hoc ipsi, quam acerbum mihi, si is cui omnis ex studiis gratia inhabilis studiis fuerit!

1 I have carried out the journey comfortably, except that some of my people contracted adverse health in the most fervid heats. 2 Encolpius, indeed the lector—that man, our seriousness, that man our delight—with his throat exasperated by dust, brought up blood. How sad this for him, how bitter for me, if he, for whom all his favor with me is from studies, should be unfit for studies!

Quis deinde libellos meos sic leget, sic amabit? 3 Quem aures meae sic sequentur? Sed di laetiora promittunt.

Who then will read my little books thus, love them thus? 3 Whom will my ears follow thus? But the gods promise happier things.

Stetit sanguis, resedit dolor. Praeterea continens ipse, nos solliciti, medici diligentes. Ad hoc salubritas caeli, secessus quies tantum salutis quantum otii pollicentur.

The bleeding stopped, the pain subsided. Besides, he himself was continent; we were solicitous, the physicians diligent. In addition, the salubrity of the climate, seclusion, and quiet promise as much health as leisure.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS CALVISIO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS CALVISIUS, GREETINGS.

1 Alii in praedia sua proficiscuntur ut locupletiores revertantur, ego ut pauperior. Vendideram vindemias certatim negotiatoribus ementibus. Invitabat pretium, et quod tunc et quod fore videbatur.

1 Others set out to their estates to return more wealthy; I, to return poorer. I had sold the vintages to merchants buying competitively. The price invited, both what it then was and what it seemed it would be.

2 Spes fefellit. Erat expeditum omnibus remittere aequaliter, sed non satis aequum. Mihi autem egregium in primis videtur ut foris ita domi, ut in magnis ita in parvis, ut in alienis ita in suis agitare iustitiam.

2 Hope has deceived me. It was expedient to remit to all equally, but not sufficiently equitable. To me, however, it seems preeminently excellent to exercise justice as abroad so at home, as in great things so in small, as in others’ affairs so in one’s own.

Nam si paria peccata, pares etiam laudes. 3 Itaque omnibus quidem, ne quis 'mihi non donatus abiret', partem octavam pretii quo quis emerat concessi; deinde iis, qui amplissimas summas emptionibus occupaverant, separatim consului. Nam et me magis iuverant, et maius ipsi fecerant damnum.

For if the faults are equal, the praises are equal also. 3 Accordingly, to all in general, so that no one 'go away without a gift from me', I granted an eighth part of the price for which each had purchased; then I took separate thought for those who had occupied the most ample sums with their purchases. For they had aided me more, and they themselves had incurred greater damage.

4 Igitur iis qui pluris quam decem milibus emerant, ad illam communem et quasi publicam octavam addidi decimam eius summae, qua decem milia excesserant. 5 Vereor ne parum expresserim: apertius calculo ostendam. Si qui forte quindecim milibus emerant, hi et quindecim milium octavam et quinque milium decimam tulerunt.

4 Therefore to those who had purchased for more than ten thousand, to that common and as it were public eighth I added a tenth of that sum by which they had exceeded ten thousand. 5 I fear I have expressed it too little clearly: I will show it more openly by calculation. If perchance some had purchased for fifteen thousand, these obtained both the eighth of fifteen thousand and the tenth of five thousand.

6 Praeterea, cum reputarem quosdam ex debito aliquantum, quosdam aliquid, quosdam nihil reposuisse, nequaquam verum arbitrabar, quos non aequasset fides solutionis, hos benignitate remissionis aequari. 7 Rursus ergo iis qui solverant eius quod solverant decimam remisi. Per hoc enim aptissime et in praeteritum singulis pro cuiusque merito gratia referri, et in futurum omnes cum ad emendum tum etiam ad solvendum allici videbantur.

6 Besides, when I reconsidered that some had repaid out of the debt a fair amount, some something, some nothing, I judged it by no means true that those whom the good faith of payment had not made equal should be equalized by the benignity of remission. 7 Therefore, again, to those who had paid I remitted a tenth of that which they had paid. For by this, most aptly, both as regards the past, favor was rendered back to individuals according to each one’s merit, and as regards the future, all seemed to be enticed both to buy and also to pay.

8 Magno mihi seu ratio haec seu facilitas stetit, sed fuit tanti. Nam regione tota et novitas remissionis et forma laudatur. Ex ipsis etiam quos non una, ut dicitur, pertica sed distincte gradatimque tractavi, quanto quis melior et probior, tanto mihi obligatior abiit expertus non esse apud me ἐν δὲ ἰῇ τιμῇ ἠμὲν κακὸς ἠδὲ καὶ ἐσθλός. Vale.

8 Whether by its plan or by its facility, this cost me greatly, but it was worth the price. For throughout the whole region both the novelty of the remission and its form are praised. Even among those themselves whom I treated not, as they say, with a single rod, but distinctly and step by step, the better and more upright each man was, by so much the more obliged to me he departed, having found that with me it is not “in the same honor are both the bad and the good.” Farewell.

C. PLINIUS SPARSO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS SPARSUS, GREETING.

1 Librum quem novissime tibi misi, ex omnibus meis vel maxime placere significas. Est eadem opinio cuiusdam eruditissimi. 2 Quo magis adducor ut neutrum falli putem, quia non est credibile utrumque falli, et quia tamen blandior mihi.

1 The book which I most recently sent to you, you signify to please, even most of all, out of all my works. The same opinion is that of a certain most erudite man. 2 Whereby I am the more induced to think that neither is mistaken, because it is not credible that both are mistaken, and because nevertheless I am inclined to favor myself.

Volo enim proxima quaeque absolutissima videri, et ideo iam nunc contra istum librum faveo orationi, quam nuper in publicum dedi communicaturus tecum, ut primum diligentem tabellarium invenero. 3 Erexi exspectationem tuam, quam vereor ne destituat oratio in manus sumpta. Interim tamen tamquam placituram — et fortasse placebit — exspecta.

For I want each of the latest pieces to seem most completely polished, and therefore even now, in preference to that book, I favor the oration, which I lately gave in public, intending to share it with you as soon as I have found a diligent courier. 3 I have raised your expectation, which I fear the oration, once taken into your hands, may disappoint. Meanwhile, however, expect it as though it will please — and perhaps it will please.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.

G. PLINY TO HIS CANINIUS, GREETINGS.

1 Optime facis, quod bellum Dacicum scribere paras. Nam quae tam recens tam copiosa tam elata, quae denique tam poetica et quamquam in verissimis rebus tam fabulosa materia? 2 Dices immissa terris nova flumina, novos pontes fluminibus iniectos, insessa castris montium abrupta, pulsum regia pulsum etiam vita regem nihil desperantem; super haec actos bis triumphos, quorum alter ex invicta gente primus, alter novissimus fuit.

1 You do very well, that you are preparing to write the Dacian war. For what subject-matter is so recent, so copious, so exalted; what, finally, so poetical and, although in the truest matters, so fabulous? 2 You will tell of new rivers sent upon the lands, new bridges thrown over rivers, the abrupt mountain heights occupied with camps, a king driven from his palace, driven even from life, despairing of nothing; beyond these, triumphs twice celebrated, of which the one was the first over an unconquered nation, the other the last.

3 Una sed maxima difficultas, quod haec aequare dicendo arduum immensum, etiam tuo ingenio, quamquam altissime assurgat et amplissimis operibus increscat. Non nullus et in illo labor, ut barbara et fera nomina, in primis regis ipsius, Graecis versibus non resultent. 4 Sed nihil est quod non arte curaque, si non potest vinci, mitigetur.

3 One, but the greatest, difficulty is that to equal these things by speaking is arduous, immense, even for your genius, although it rises most highly and increases by the most ample works. Not inconsiderable too is the toil in this, that barbarian and savage names, especially that of the king himself, not ring back discordant in Greek verses. 4 But there is nothing which, by art and care, if it cannot be conquered, may not be mitigated.

Praeterea, si datur Homero et mollia vocabula et Graeca ad levitatem versus contrahere extendere inflectere, cur tibi similis audentia praesertim non delicata sed necessaria non detur? 5 Proinde iure vatum invocatis dis, et inter deos ipso, cuius res opera consilia dicturus es, immitte rudentes, pande vela ac, si quando alias, toto ingenio vehere. Cur enim non ego quoque poetice cum poeta?

Moreover, if to Homer it is granted both soft vocables and Greek ones to contract, extend, and inflect to the lightness of verse, why should a similar audacity not be granted to you—especially not delicate but necessary? 5 Therefore, by the right of the bards, with the gods invoked, and among the gods the very one whose affairs, works, counsels you are going to declare, pay out the ropes, spread the sails, and—if ever at any other time—sail with your whole genius. For why should not I also poetically, with the poet?

6 Illud iam nunc paciscor: prima quaeque ut absolveris mittito, immo etiam ante quam absolvas, sicut erunt recentia et rudia et adhuc similia nascentibus. 7 Respondebis non posse perinde carptim ut contexta, perinde incohata placere ut effecta. Scio.

6 This I now stipulate: send each first piece as you finish it, nay even before you finish, just as they will be recent and raw and still similar to nascent things. 7 You will respond that, piecemeal, they cannot please as much as when woven into a context; that the inchoate cannot please as much as the effected. I know.

Itaque et a me aestimabuntur ut coepta, spectabuntur ut membra, extremamque limam tuam opperientur in scrinio nostro. Patere hoc me super cetera habere amoris tui pignus, ut ea quoque norim quae nosse neminem velles. 8 In summa potero fortasse scripta tua magis probare laudare, quanto illa tardius cautiusque, sed ipsum te magis amabo magisque laudabo, quanto celerius et incautius miseris.

And so they will by me be esteemed as things begun, be looked at as members, and will await your final polish in our letter-case. Allow me to have this, beyond the rest, as a pledge of your love: that I may know even those things which you would wish no one to know. 8 In sum, I shall perhaps be able to approve and praise your writings the more, the more slowly and cautiously they are sent; but I shall love you yourself more and praise you more, the more quickly and incautiously you send them.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS GEMINUS, GREETINGS.

1 Grave vulnus Macrinus noster accepit: amisit uxorem singularis exempli, etiam si olim fuisset. Vixit cum hac triginta novem annis sine iurgio sine offensa. Quam illa reverentiam marito suo praestitit, cum ipsa summam mereretur!

1 Our Macrinus has received a grave wound: he has lost a wife of singular example, even by the standards of old. He lived with this woman for 39 years without quarrel, without offense. What reverence she showed her husband, although she herself deserved the highest!

quot quantasque virtutes, ex diversis aetatibus sumptas, collegit et miscuit! 2 Habet quidem Macrinus grande solacium, quod tantum bonum tam diu tenuit, sed hinc magis exacerbatur quod amisit; nam fruendis voluptatibus crescit carendi dolor. 3 Ero ergo suspensus pro homine amicissimo, dum admittere avocamenta et cicatricem pati possit, quam nihil aeque ac necessitas ipsa et dies longa et satietas doloris inducit.

how many and how great virtues, taken from diverse ages, she gathered and mingled! 2 Macrinus indeed has a great solace, that he held so great a good for so long, but from this he is the more exacerbated that he has lost it; for from the enjoying of delights the pain of being deprived grows. 3 I will therefore be in suspense for a most friendly man, until he can admit distractions and endure the scar, which nothing brings on so much as necessity itself and long time and a satiety of grief.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS MONTANO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS MONTANUS, GREETINGS.

1 Cognovisse iam ex epistula mea debes, adnotasse me nuper monumentum Pallantis sub hac inscriptione: 'Huic senatus ob fidem pietatemque erga patronos ornamenta praetoria decrevit et sestertium centies quinquagies, cuius honore contentus fuit.' 2 Postea mihi visum est pretium operae ipsum senatus consultum quaerere. Inveni tam copiosum et effusum, ut ille superbissimus titulus modicus atque etiam demissus videretur. Conferant se misceantque, non dico illi veteres, Africani Achaici Numantini, sed hi proximi Marii Sullae Pompei — nolo progredi longius -: infra Pallantis laudes iacebunt.

1 You ought already to have learned from my letter that I recently inscribed the monument of Pallas under this inscription: 'To this man the senate, on account of his faith and pietas toward his patrons, decreed the praetorian ornaments and fifteen million sesterces, being content with the honor.' 2 Afterwards it seemed to me worth the effort to seek out the senatorial decree itself. I found it so copious and effusive that that most superbus title seemed moderate and even downcast. Let them compare and commingle themselves, I do not say those men of old, the African, the Achaean, the Numantine, but those more recent, of Marius, Sulla, Pompey — I do not wish to go farther —: they will lie beneath the praises of Pallas.

3 Urbanos qui illa censuerunt putem an miseros? Dicerem urbanos, si senatum deceret urbanitas; miseros, sed nemo tam miser est ut illa cogatur. Ambitio ergo et procedendi libido?

3 Am I to think those who decreed those things urbane, or wretched? I would say “urbane,” if urbanity befitted the senate; “wretched,” but no one is so wretched as to be compelled to such things. Ambition then, and a libido for advancement?

Sed quis adeo demens, ut per suum, per publicum dedecus procedere velit in ea civitate, in qua hic esset usus florentissimae dignitatis, ut primus in senatu laudare Pallantem posset? 4 Mitto quod Pallanti servo praetoria ornamenta offeruntur — quippe offeruntur a servis -, mitto quod censent non exhortandum modo verum etiam compellendum ad usum aureorum anulorum; erat enim contra maiestatem senatus, si ferreis praetorius uteretur. 5 Levia haec et transeunda, illa memoranda quod nomine Pallantis senatus — nec expiata postea curia est -, Pallantis nomine senatus gratias agit Caesari, quod et ipse cum summo honore mentionem eius prosecutus esset et senatui facultatem fecisset testandi erga eum benevolentiam suam.

But who is so demented as to wish to proceed through his own and the public disgrace in that commonwealth, in which this man had enjoyed the most flourishing dignity, such that he could be the first in the senate to praise Pallas? 4 I pass over the fact that to Pallas, a slave, praetorian ornaments are offered — indeed, they are offered by slaves —, I pass over that they decree he is not only to be exhorted but even compelled to the use of golden rings; for it was against the majesty of the senate if a praetorian were to use iron ones. 5 These are light and to be passed over; that is to be remembered: that in the name of Pallas the senate — nor was the Curia afterwards expiated —, in the name of Pallas the senate gives thanks to Caesar, because he too had with the highest honor pursued mention of him and had given the senate the faculty of testifying its benevolence toward him.

6 Quid enim senatui pulchrius, quam ut erga Pallantem satis gratus videretur? Additur: 'Ut Pallas, cui se omnes pro virili parte obligatos fatentur, singularis fidei singularis industriae fructum meritissimo ferat'. Prolatos imperii fines, redditos exercitus rei publicae credas. 7 Astruitur his: 'Cum senatui populoque Romano liberalitatis gratior repraesentari nulla materia posset, quam si abstinentissimi fidelissimique custodis principalium opum facultates adiuvare contigisset'. Hoc tunc votum senatus, hoc praecipuum gaudium populi, haec liberalitatis materia gratissima, si Pallantis facultates adiuvare publicarum opum egestione contingeret.

6 For what is more beautiful for the senate than that it should seem sufficiently grateful toward Pallas? It is added: “That Pallas, to whom all confess themselves bound each to the extent of his manly part, may most deservedly bear the fruit of singular fidelity and singular industry.” You would think the boundaries of the empire had been extended, the armies restored to the commonwealth. 7 To these there is subjoined: “Since no material of liberality could be represented as more pleasing to the senate and Roman people than if it had fallen out to aid the resources of the most abstinent and most faithful custodian of the imperial wealth.” This then was the senate’s vow, this the chief joy of the people, this the most welcome material of liberality: if it should befall to aid Pallas’s resources out of the indigence of the public funds.

8 Iam quae sequuntur? Voluisse quidem senatum censere dandum ex aerario sestertium centies quinquagies et quanto ab eius modi cupiditatibus remotior eius animus esset, tanto impensius petere a publico parente, ut eum compelleret ad cedendum senatui. 9 Id vero deerat, ut cum Pallante auctoritate publica ageretur, Pallas rogaretur ut senatui cederet, ut illi superbissimae abstinentiae Caesar ipse patronus, ipse advocaretur, ne sestertium centies quinquagies sperneret.

8 Now what follows? That the senate indeed had wished to decree that there be given from the treasury fifteen million sesterces, and that the more his mind was removed from desires of that sort, by so much the more earnestly to ask from the public parent that he compel him to yield to the senate. 9 This indeed was what was lacking: that with Pallas it should be transacted by public authority, that Pallas be requested to yield to the senate, that for that most supercilious abstinence Caesar himself be patron, himself be called as advocate, lest he disdain fifteen million sesterces.

Sprevit, quod solum potuit tantis opibus publice oblatis arrogantius facere, quam si accepisset. 10 Senatus tamen id quoque similis querenti laudibus tulit, his quidem verbis: sed cum princeps optimus parensque publicus rogatus a Pallante eam partem sententiae, quae pertinebat ad dandum ei ex aerario sestertium centies quinquagies, remitti voluisset, testari senatum, et se libenter ac merito hanc summam inter reliquos honores ob fidem diligentiamque Pallanti decernere coepisse, voluntati tamen principis sui, cui in nulla re fas putaret repugnare, in hac quoque re obsequi. 11 Imaginare Pallantem velut intercedentem senatus consulto moderantemque honores suos et sestertium centies quinquagies ut nimium recusantem, cum praetoria ornamenta tamquam minus recepisset; 12 imaginare Caesarem liberti precibus vel potius imperio coram senatu obtemperantem — imperat enim libertus patrono, quem in senatu rogat -; imaginare senatum usquequaque testantem merito libenterque se hanc summam inter reliquos honores Pallanti coepisse decernere et perseveraturum fuisse, nisi obsequeretur principis voluntati, cui non esset fas in ulla re repugnare.

He spurned it—the only thing he could do more arrogantly, with such wealth publicly proffered, than if he had accepted. 10 The Senate, however, even this, like one complaining, bore with praises, in these very words: but since the best Prince and public Parent, when requested by Pallas, had wished that that part of the opinion which pertained to giving him from the aerarium 15,000,000 sesterces be remitted, to testify that the Senate, and that it had gladly and deservedly begun to decree this sum among the remaining honors to Pallas for his fidelity and diligence, yet to comply with the will of its Prince, to whose will it thought it not lawful to resist in any matter, in this matter also. 11 Imagine Pallas, as it were, interceding in the senatus consultum and moderating his honors, and refusing as excessive the 15,000,000 sesterces, since he had received the praetorian ornaments as the lesser; 12 imagine Caesar obeying the prayers—or rather the command—of a freedman in the presence of the Senate (for the freedman commands the patron whom he entreats in the Senate); imagine the Senate on every side testifying that it had gladly and deservedly begun to decree this sum among the remaining honors to Pallas, and that it would have persevered, had it not been complying with the will of the Prince, to whom it is not right to resist in any matter.

Ita ne sestertium centies quinquagies Pallas ex aerario ferret, verecundia ipsius obsequio senatus opus fuit in hoc praecipue non obsecuturi, si in ulla re putasset fas esse non obsequi.

Thus, so that Pallas might not take one hundred and fifty million sesterces from the treasury, the senate had to defer to his very own modesty—men who would especially not have complied in this, if they had thought it permissible in any matter not to comply.

13 Finem existimas? Mane dum et maiora accipe: 'Utique, cum sit utile principis benignitatem promptissimam ad laudem praemiaque merentium illustrari ubique et maxime iis locis, quibus incitari ad imitationem praepositi rerum eius curae possent, et Pallantis spectatissima fides atque innocentia exemplo provocare studium tam honestae aemulationis posset, ea quae X. kal. Februarias quae proximae fuissent in amplissimo ordine optimus princeps recitasset senatusque consulta de iis rebus facta in aere inciderentur, idque aes figeretur ad statuam loricatam divi Iulii'. 14 Parum visum tantorum dedecorum esse curiam testem: delectus est celeberrimus locus, in quo legenda praesentibus, legenda futuris proderentur.

13 Do you think it is the end? Wait a moment and receive even greater things: 'Assuredly, since it is useful that the princeps’s most ready benignity toward the praise and rewards of the deserving be made illustrious everywhere, and especially in those places in which those set over the affairs under his care might be incited to imitation, and since Pallas’s most conspicuous fidelity and innocence could by example provoke zeal for so honorable an emulation, that the things which on the 10th day before the Kalends of February, which had been the most recent, the best princeps had read out in the most august order, and that the decrees of the senate made about these matters be incised on bronze, and that that bronze be fastened to the cuirassed statue of the deified Julius.' 14 It seemed too little that the Curia be the witness of such great disgraces: the most celebrated place was chosen, in which things to be read by those present, to be read by those to come, might be brought forward.

Placuit aere signari omnes honores fastidiosissimi mancipii, quosque repudiasset quosque quantum ad decernentes pertinet gessit. Incisa et insculpta sunt publicis aeternisque monumentis praetoria ornamenta Pallantis, sic quasi foedera antiqua, sic quasi sacrae leges. 15 Tanta principis, tanta senatus, tanta Pallantis ipsius — quid dicam nescio, ut vellent in oculis omnium figi Pallas insolentiam suam, patientiam Caesar, humilitatem senatus.

It pleased them that all the honors of the most fastidious chattel‑slave be stamped in bronze, both those which he had repudiated and those which—so far as concerns the decreeing authorities—he “held.” The praetorian ornaments of Pallas were incised and insculped upon public and everlasting monuments, just as if they were ancient treaties, just as if sacred laws. 15 So great was that of the princeps, so great that of the senate, so great that of Pallas himself—I know not what to say—that they wished to have fixed in the eyes of all: Pallas his own insolence, Caesar his patience, the senate its humility.

Nec puduit rationem turpitudini obtendere, egregiam quidem pulchramque rationem, ut exemplo Pallantis praemiorum ad studium aemulationis ceteri provocarentur. 16 Ea honorum vilitas erat, illorum etiam quos Pallas non dedignabatur. Inveniebantur tamen honesto loco nati, qui peterent cuperentque quod dari liberto promitti servis videbant.

Nor did they blush to put forth a rationale for the disgrace, an excellent and beautiful rationale indeed: that by the example of Pallas’s rewards the rest might be provoked to a zeal of emulation. 16 Such was the cheapness of honors, even of those which Pallas did not disdain. Yet there were found men born in an honorable place, who would seek and desire what they saw being given to a freedman, being promised to slaves.

17 Quam iuvat quod in tempora illa non incidi, quorum sic me tamquam illis vixerim pudet! Non dubito similiter affici te. Scio quam sit tibi vivus et ingenuus animus: ideo facilius est ut me; quamquam indignationem quibusdam in locis fortasse ultra epistulae modum extulerim, parum doluisse quam nimis credas. Vale.

17 How it delights me that I did not fall upon those times, of which I am so ashamed as if I had lived in them! I do not doubt that you are similarly affected. I know how vivacious and ingenuous a spirit is yours: therefore it is all the easier for you to be affected as I am; although I may perhaps in some places have carried my indignation beyond the measure of an epistle, you would believe rather that I have grieved too little than too much. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS TACITUS, GREETINGS.

1 Neque ut magistro magister neque ut discipulo discipulus — sic enim scribis -, sed ut discipulo magister — nam tu magister, ego contra; atque adeo tu in scholam revocas, ego adhuc Saturnalia extendo — librum misisti. 2 Num potui longius hyperbaton facere, atque hoc ipso probare eum esse me qui non modo magister tuus, sed ne discipulus quidem debeam dici? Sumam tamen personam magistri, exseramque in librum tuum ius quod dedisti, eo liberius quod nihil ex me interim missurus sum tibi in quo te ulciscaris.

1 Not as teacher to teacher nor as disciple to disciple — for so you write — but as teacher to disciple — for you are the teacher, I the opposite; and indeed you are calling me back to school, while I am still prolonging the Saturnalia — you have sent a book. 2 Could I have made a longer hyperbaton, and by this very thing prove that I am such a one as ought not only not to be called your teacher, but not even your disciple? Nevertheless I will assume the persona of teacher, and I will exercise upon your book the right which you have granted, the more freely because in the meantime I am going to send you nothing from me on which you may avenge yourself.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS ROMANUS, GREETING.

1 Vidistine aliquando Clitumnum fontem? Si nondum — et puto nondum: alioqui narrasses mihi -, vide; quem ego — paenitet tarditatis — proxime vidi. 2 Modicus collis assurgit, antiqua cupressu nemorosus et opacus.

1 Have you ever seen the Clitumnus fount? If not yet — and I think not yet: otherwise you would have told me — see it; which I — I repent of my tardiness — saw most recently. 2 A modest hill rises up, wooded and shadowy with antique cypress.

Hunc subter exit fons et exprimitur pluribus venis sed imparibus, eluctatusque quem facit gurgitem lato gremio patescit, purus et vitreus, ut numerare iactas stipes et relucentes calculos possis. 3 Inde non loci devexitate, sed ipsa sui copia et quasi pondere impellitur, fons adhuc et iam amplissimum flumen, atque etiam navium patiens; quas obvias quoque et contrario nisu in diversa tendentes transmittit et perfert, adeo validus ut illa qua properat ipse, quamquam per solum planum, remis non adiuvetur, idem aegerrime remis contisque superetur adversus. 4 Iucundum utrumque per iocum ludumque fluitantibus, ut flexerint cursum, laborem otio otium labore variare.

Beneath this, a spring comes out and is expressed by many but unequal veins, and, having struggled forth, the pool it makes opens with a broad bosom, pure and vitreous, so that you can count the coins thrown in and the pebbles shining back. 3 From there it is impelled not by the declivity of the place, but by its own abundance and, as it were, weight—still a spring and already a most ample river—and even tolerant of ships; which, even when met head‑on and straining with an opposite effort as they aim in contrary directions, it sends across and bears through, so strong that in the direction in which it itself hastens, although over level ground, the boats are not aided by oars, while the same stream is with the utmost difficulty overcome by oars and poles when worked against it. 4 Each is pleasant to those floating along, in jest and sport, that, as they have bent their course, they vary toil with leisure and leisure with toil.

Ripae fraxino multa, multa populo vestiuntur, quas perspicuus amnis velut mersas viridi imagine adnumerat. Rigor aquae certaverit nivibus, nec color cedit. 5 Adiacet templum priscum et religiosum.

The banks are clothed with much ash and much poplar, which the perspicuous river, as though submerged, counts by a green image. The rigor of the water would contend with snows, nor does its color yield. 5 There adjoins a temple old-time and religious.

Stat Clitumnus ipse amictus ornatusque praetexta; praesens numen atque etiam fatidicum indicant sortes. Sparsa sunt circa sacella complura, totidemque di. Sua cuique veneratio suum nomen, quibusdam vero etiam fontes. Nam praeter illum quasi parentem ceterorum sunt minores capite discreti; sed flumini miscentur, quod ponte transmittitur.

Clitumnus himself stands, clothed and adorned with the praetexta; the lots indicate a present numen and even a prophetic one. Scattered around are many little shrines, and just as many gods. To each his own veneration, his own name, and for some indeed even springs. For besides that one, as it were the parent of the others, there are lesser ones distinguished by their “head”; but they are mingled into the river, which is crossed by a bridge.

6 Is terminus sacri profanique: in superiore parte navigare tantum, infra etiam natare concessum. Balineum Hispellates, quibus illum locum Divus Augustus dono dedit, publice praebent, praebent et hospitium. Nec desunt villae quae secutae fluminis amoenitatem margini insistunt.

6 This is the terminus of the sacred and the profane: in the upper part to sail only is permitted, below it is granted even to swim. The Hispellates, to whom that place the Deified Augustus gave as a gift, provide a bath publicly; they also provide hospitality. Nor are there lacking villas which, following the river’s amenity, stand upon the margin.

7 In summa nihil erit, ex quo non capias voluptatem. Nam studebis quoque: leges multa multorum omnibus columnis omnibus parietibus inscripta, quibus fons ille deusque celebratur. Plura laudabis, non nulla ridebis; quamquam tu vero, quae tua humanitas, nulla ridebis.

7 In sum, there will be nothing from which you do not seize pleasure. For you will study as well: you will read many things of many persons inscribed on all the columns, on all the walls, by which that spring and god are celebrated. You will praise more, you will laugh at some; although you indeed, given your humanity, will laugh at none.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS URSUS, GREETINGS.

1 Olim non librum in manus, non stilum sumpsi, olim nescio quid sit otium quid quies, quid denique illud iners quidem, iucundum tamen nihil agere nihil esse: adeo multa me negotia Samicorum nec secedere nec studere patiuntur. 2 Nulla enim studia tanti sunt, ut amicitiae officium deseratur, quod religiosissime custodiendum studia ipsa praecipiunt. Vale.

1 Once I took neither a book into my hands nor a stylus; for a long time I have not known what leisure is, what quiet, what, finally, that thing indeed inert yet pleasant—doing nothing, being nothing: to such a degree do the Samican negotiations not allow me either to withdraw or to study. 2 For no studies are of such great worth that the duty of friendship should be deserted, which the studies themselves prescribe must be most religiously kept. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO FABATUS, HIS GRANDFATHER-IN-LAW, SENDS GREETINGS.

1 Quo magis cupis ex nobis pronepotes videre, hoc tristior audies neptem tuam abortum fecisse, dum se praegnantem esse puellariter nescit, ac per hoc quaedam custodienda praegnantibus omittit, facit omittenda. Quem errorem magnis documentis expiavit, in summum periculum adducta. 2 Igitur, ut necesse est graviter accipias senectutem tuam quasi paratis posteris destitutam, sic debes agere dis gratias, quod ita tibi in praesentia pronepotes negaverunt, ut servarent neptem, illos reddituri, quorum nobis spem certiorem haec ipsa quamquam parum prospere explorata fecunditas facit.

1 The more you desire to see great-grandchildren from us, the sadder you will hear that your granddaughter has miscarried, since, like a girl, she did not know she was pregnant, and on account of this she omits certain precautions to be kept by the pregnant, and does things that ought to be omitted. She expiated that mistake with great object-lessons, having been brought into utmost peril. 2 Therefore, just as it is necessary that you take it hard that your old age is, as it were, left destitute of the posterity prepared, so you ought to give thanks to the gods, because they have denied you great-grandchildren for the present in such a way as to preserve your granddaughter, being about to render those later, of whom a more sure hope is given to us by this very fecundity, although tested with not very prosperous outcome.

3 Isdem nunc ego te quibus ipsum me hortor moneo confirmo. Neque enim ardentius tu pronepotes quam ego liberos cupio, quibus videor a meo tuoque latere pronum ad honores iter et audita latius nomina et non subitas imagines relicturus. Nascantur modo et hunc nostrum dolorem gaudio mutent.

3 By these same considerations I now urge, advise, and hearten you, with which I hearten myself. For you do not desire great-grandchildren more ardently than I desire children, for whom I seem likely to leave, from my side and yours, an easy road to honors, names heard more widely, and not upstart ancestral images. Only let them be born, and let them change this our grief into joy.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS HISPULLAE SUAE S.

C. PLINY TO HIS HISPULLA, GREETINGS.

1 Cum affectum tuum erga fratris filiam cogito etiam materna indulgentia molliorem, intellego prius tibi quod est posterius nuntiandum, ut praesumpta laetitia sollicitudini locum non relinquat. Quamquam vereor ne post gratulationem quoque in metum redeas, atque ita gaudeas periculo liberatam, ut simul quod periclitata sit perhorrescas. 2 Iam hilaris, iam sibi iam mihi reddita incipit refici, transmissumque discrimen convalescendo metiri.

1 When I consider your affection toward your brother’s daughter, softened even by a maternal indulgence, I understand that what is later must be announced to you first, so that presumed joy may leave no place for solicitude. Although I fear lest after the congratulation you also fall back into fear, and that you may so rejoice that she has been freed from peril that at the same time you shudder at the fact that she was in peril. 2 Now cheerful, now restored to herself and now to me, she begins to be restored, and by convalescing to measure the crisis that has been passed.

Fuit alioqui in summo discrimine, — impune dixisse liceat — fuit nulla sua culpa, aetatis aliqua. Inde abortus et ignorati uteri triste experimentum. 3 Proinde etsi non contigit tibi desiderium fratris amissi aut nepote eius aut nepte solari, memento tamen dilatum magis istud quam negatum, cum salva sit ex qua sperari potest.

She was, moreover, in the highest peril — let it be permitted to have said it with impunity — she was so through no fault of her own, but somewhat on account of her age. Thence a miscarriage and the sad experience of an unrecognized womb. 3 Accordingly, although it has not fallen to you to solace the longing for your lost brother either by his grandson or by his granddaughter, remember nevertheless that this has been delayed rather than denied, since she by whom it can be hoped is safe.

Simul excusa patri tuo casum, cui paratior apud feminas venia. Vale.

At the same time excuse the mishap to your father, for pardon is readier among women. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS MINICIANO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS MINICIANUS, GREETING.

1 Hunc solum diem excuso: recitaturus est Titinius Capito, quem ego audire nescio magis debeam an cupiam. Vir est optimus et inter praecipua saeculi ornamenta numerandus. Colit studia, studiosos amat fovet provehit, multorum qui aliqua componunt portus sinus gremium, omnium exemplum, ipsarum denique litterarum iam senescentium reductor ac reformator.

1 I excuse this one day: Titinius Capito is about to give a recitation, whom I do not know whether I ought more to hear or to desire to hear. He is a most excellent man and to be numbered among the chief ornaments of the age. He cultivates studies, loves, fosters, and promotes the studious; he is the port, the bay, the bosom of many who compose anything; the example of all; and, finally, the restorer and reformer of letters themselves, now growing old.

2 Domum suam recitantibus praebet, auditoria non apud se tantum benignitate mira frequentat; mihi certe, si modo in urbe, defuit numquam. Porro tanto turpius gratiam non referre, quanto honestior causa referendae. 3 An si litibus tererer, obstrictum esse me crederem obeunti vadimonia mea, nunc, quia mihi omne negotium omnis in studiis cura, minus obligor tanta sedulitate celebranti, in quo obligari ego, ne dicam solo, certe maxime possum?

2 He offers his house to those who recite; he frequents the auditoria with wondrous benignity not only at his own place; for me at any rate, if only I am in the city, he has never been lacking. Furthermore, the more honorable the cause for returning it, the more shameful not to repay a favor. 3 Or if I were worn down by lawsuits, I would think myself bound to the man who attended my recognizances (court appearances); now, since for me all business and every care lies in studies, am I less obligated to one who with such sedulity pays me attendance, in that matter in which I, not to say solely, certainly most of all can be bound?

4 Quod si illi nullam vicem nulla quasi mutua officia deberem, sollicitarer tamen vel ingenio hominis pulcherrimo et maxime et in summa severitate dulcissimo, vel honestate materiae. Scribit exitus illustrium virorum, in his quorundam mihi carissimorum. 5 Videor ergo fungi pio munere, quorumque exsequias celebrare non licuit, horum quasi funebribus laudationibus seris quidem sed tanto magis veris interesse.

4 But even if I owed him no return, no, as it were, mutual offices, I should nevertheless be moved either by the man’s most beautiful genius, and—amid the utmost severity—most sweet, or by the honorableness of the subject-matter. He is writing the deaths of illustrious men, among these of certain persons most dear to me. 5 I seem, therefore, to be discharging a pious duty, and, for those whose obsequies it was not permitted to celebrate, to take part in their, as it were, funereal laudations—late indeed, but so much the truer.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS GENIALI SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS GENIALIS, GREETINGS.

1 Probo quod libellos meos cum patre legisti. Pertinet ad profectum tuum a disertissimo viro discere, quid laudandum quid reprehendendum, simul ita institui, ut verum dicere assuescas. 2 Vides quem sequi, cuius debeas implere vestigia.

1 I approve that you read my little books with your father. It pertains to your progress to learn from a most eloquent man what is laudable and what reprehensible, and at the same time to be so instructed that you become accustomed to speak the truth. 2 You see whom to follow, whose footsteps you ought to fill.

O te beatum, cui contigit unum atque idem optimum et coniunctissimum exemplar, qui denique eum potissimum imitandum habes, cui natura esse te simillimum voluit! Vale.

O happy you, to whom there has fallen the one and the same, the best and most closely conjoined exemplar; who, finally, have him above all to be imitated, to whom nature has willed you to be most similar! Farewell.

C. PLINIUS ARISTONI SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS ARISTO, GREETINGS.

1 Cum sis peritissimus et privati iuris et publici, cuius pars senatorium est, cupio ex te potissimum audire, erraverim in senatu proxime necne, non ut in praeteritum — serum enim -, verum ut in futurum si quid simile inciderit erudiar. 2 Dices: 'Cur quaeris quod nosse debebas?' Priorum temporum servitus ut aliarum optimarum artium, sic etiam iuris senatorii oblivionem quandam et ignorantiam induxit. 3 Quotus enim quisque tam patiens, ut velit discere, quod in usu non sit habiturus?

1 Since you are most skilled in both private jurisprudence and public, of which the senatorial is a part, I desire to hear from you above all whether I erred in the senate most recently or not, not as to the past — for it is too late —, but that for the future, if anything similar should occur, I may be instructed. 2 You will say: 'Why do you ask what you ought to have known?' The servitude of earlier times, just as it induced a certain oblivion and ignorance of the other most excellent arts, so also of senatorial law. 3 For how rare is the person so patient as to wish to learn what he is not going to have in use?

Adde quod difficile est tenere quae acceperis nisi exerceas. Itaque reducta libertas rudes nos et imperitos deprehendit; cuius dulcedine accensi, cogimur quaedam facere ante quam nosse. 4 Erat autem antiquitus institutum, ut a maioribus natu non auribus modo verum etiam oculis disceremus, quae facienda mox ipsi ac per vices quasdam tradenda minoribus haberemus.

Add, moreover, that it is difficult to retain what you have received unless you practice. And so, with liberty restored, it has caught us raw and unskilled; inflamed by its sweetness, we are compelled to do certain things before to know them. 4 But it was instituted of old that from our elders we should learn not only with our ears but also with our eyes, those things which we ourselves would soon have to do and, in our turn, have to hand down to our juniors.

5 Inde adulescentuli statim castrensibus stipendiis imbuebantur ut imperare parendo, duces agere dum sequuntur adsuescerent; inde honores petituri adsistebant curiae foribus, et consilii publici spectatores ante quam consortes erant. 6 Suus cuique parcns pro magistro, aut cui parens non erat maximus quisque et vetustissimus pro parente. Quae potestas referentibus, quod censentibus ius, quae vis magistratibus, quae ceteris libertas, ubi cedendum ubi resistendum, quod silentii tempus, quis dicendi modus, quae distinctio pugnantium sententiarum, quae exsecutio prioribus aliquid addentium, omnem denique senatorium morem — quod fidissimum percipiendi genus — exemplis docebantur.

5 Then the very young men were at once imbued with camp service, so that they might grow accustomed to command by obeying, to play the leaders while they follow; then, when about to seek honors, they stood by the doors of the Curia, and they were spectators of the public council before they were partners in it. 6 Each one’s own parent served as a master, or, for him who had no parent, the foremost and most ancient as a parent. What power belongs to those submitting business, what right to those delivering opinions, what force to the magistrates, what liberty to the rest, where yielding is due and where resisting, what time for silence, what mode of speaking, what distinction among clashing opinions, what execution for those adding something to prior proposals—in fine, the whole senatorial custom — which is the most trustworthy kind of perceiving — was taught by examples.

7 At nos iuvenes fuimus quidem in castris; sed cum suspecta virtus, inertia in pretio, cum ducibus auctoritas nulla, nulla militibus verecundia, nusquam imperium nusquam obsequium, omnia soluta turbata atquc etiam in contrarium versa, postremo obliviscenda magis quam tenenda. 8 Iidem prospeximus curiam, sed curiam trepidam et elinguem, cum dicere quod velles periculosum, quod nolles miserum esset. Quid tunc disci potuit, quid didicisse iuvit, cum senatus aut ad otium summum aut ad summum nefas vocaretur, et modo ludibrio modo dolori retentus numquam seria, tristia saepe censeret?

7 But we, indeed, were young men in the camps; yet when valor was suspect, inertia was at a premium, when the leaders had no authority, the soldiers no reverence, nowhere command, nowhere obedience, everything unbound, disordered, and even turned to the contrary—things, in fine, to be forgotten rather than retained. 8 We likewise looked toward the curia, but a curia timorous and tongueless, when to say what you wished was dangerous, to say what you did not wish was wretched. What then could be learned, what did it profit to have learned, when the senate was summoned either to utmost idleness or to utmost impiety, and, held now for mockery, now for grief, never resolved on serious matters, often on grim ones?

9 Eadem mala iam senatores, iam participes malorum multos per annos vidimus tulimusque; quibus ingenia nostra in posterum quoque hebetata fracta contusa sunt. 10 Breve tempus — nam tanto brevius omne quanto felicius tempus — quo libet scire quid simus, libet exercere quod scimus. Quo iustius peto primum ut errori, si quis est error, tribuas veniam, deinde medearis scientia tua cui semper fuit curae, sic iura publica ut privata sic antiqua ut recentia sic rara ut adsidua tractare.

9 The same evils we senators, now participants in the evils, for many years have seen and have borne; by which our faculties for the future too have been dulled, shattered, and bruised. 10 A brief time — for every time is the briefer the more felicitous the time — in which it pleases us to know what we are, it pleases us to exercise what we know. Wherefore the more justly I ask, first, that you grant pardon for an error, if there is any error, then that you apply a remedy by your science — to whom it has always been a care to handle laws as well public as private, as well ancient as recent, as well rare as assiduous — to treat.

11 Atque ego arbitror illis etiam, quibus plurimarum rerum agitatio frequens nihil esse ignotum patiebatur, genus quaestionis quod adfero ad te aut non satis tritum aut etiam inexpertum fuisse. Hoc et ego excusatior si forte sum lapsus, et tu dignior laude, si potes id quoque docere quod in obscuro est an didiceris.

11 And I reckon that even for those whom the frequent agitation of very many matters did not allow anything to be unknown, the kind of question which I bring to you has been either not sufficiently well-worn or even inexpert. This both makes me more excusable if by chance I have slipped, and you more worthy of praise, if you can also teach that which is in the obscure—whether you have learned it.

12 Referebatur de libertis Afrani Dextri consulis incertum sua an suorum manu, scelere an obsequio perempti. Hos alius — Quis? Ego; sed nihil refert — post quaestionem supplicio liberandos, alius in insulam relegandos, alius morte puniendos arbitrabatur.

12 It was reported about the freedmen of the consul Afranius Dexter—uncertain whether he had been killed by his own hand or by that of his people, whether by crime or by obedience. As to these men, one — Who? I; but it makes no difference — judged that after the interrogation they should be released from punishment, another that they should be relegated to an island, another that they should be punished with death.

Quarum sententiarum tanta diversitas erat, ut non possent esse nisi singulae. 13 Quid enim commune habet occidere et relegare? Non hercule magis quam relegare et absolvere; quamquam propior aliquanto est sententiae relegantis, quae absolvit, quam quae occidit — utraque enim ex illis vitam relinquit, haec adimit -, cum interim et qui morte puniebant et qui relegabant, una sedebant et temporaria simulatione concordiae discordiam differebant.

Of which sentences the diversity was so great that they could not be anything except taken singly. 13 For what has to kill and to relegate in common? No more, by Hercules, than to relegate and to absolve; although it is somewhat nearer to the sentence of the one who relegates, which absolves, than to that which kills — for both of those leave life, this one takes it away -, while meanwhile both those who were punishing with death and those who were relegating were sitting together and by a temporary simulation of concord were deferring their discord.

14 Ego postulabam, ut tribus sententiis constaret suus numerus, nec se brevibus indutiis duae iungerent. Exigebam ergo ut qui capitali supplicio afficiendos putabant, discederent a relegante, nec interim contra absolventes mox dissensuri congregarentur, quia parvolum referret an idem displiceret, quibus non idem placuisset. 15 Illud etiam mihi permirum videbatur, eum quidem qui libertos relegandos, servos supplicio afficiendos censuisset, coactum esse dividere sententiam; hunc autem qui libertos morte multaret, cum relegante numerari.

14 I was demanding that, since there were three opinions, each should keep its own number, and that two should not join themselves under brief truces. Therefore I required that those who thought they ought to be subjected to capital punishment separate from the one proposing relegation, and that, in the meantime, they not be gathered together against the acquitting party, soon to disagree, since it would matter very little whether the same thing displeased those to whom the same thing had not been pleasing. 15 It also seemed very strange to me that the man who had judged that the freedmen should be relegated, the slaves subjected to punishment, had been forced to split his opinion; but that this man who would penalize the freedmen with death should be counted together with the relegating party.

Nam si oportuisset dividi sententiam unius, quia res duas comprehendebat, non reperiebam quemadmodum posset iungi sententia duorum tam diversa censentium.

For if it had been necessary to divide the sentence of one, because it comprehended two matters, I could not find how the sentence of two, judging so diversely, could be joined.

16 Atque adeo permitte mihi sic apud te tamquam ibi, sic peracta re tamquam adhuc integra rationem iudicii mei reddere, quaeque tunc carptim multis obstrepentibus dixi, nunc per otium iungere. 17 Fingamus tres omnino iudices in hanc causam datos esse; horum uni placuisse perire libertos, alteri relegari, tertio absolvi. Utrumne sententiae duae collatis viribus novissimam periment, an separatim una quaeque tantundem quantum altera valebit, nec magis poterit cum secunda prima conecti quam secunda cum tertia?

16 And indeed permit me thus to render to you, as if there, and thus, the matter completed as though still intact, the account of my judgment, and to join now at leisure the things which then, with many clamoring, I said piecemeal. 17 Let us suppose that three judges in all were assigned to this case; of these it pleased the one that the freedmen perish, another that they be relegated, the third that they be absolved. Will two opinions, with their forces pooled, destroy the last, or separately will each one have just as much weight as the other, and will the first be no more able to be connected with the second than the second with the third?

18 Igitur in senatu quoque numerari tamquam contrariae debent, quae tamquam diversae dicuntur. Quodsi unus atque idem et perdendos censeret et relegandos, num ex sententia unius et perire possent et relegari? Num denique omnino una sententia putaretur, quae tam diversa coniungeret?

18 Therefore in the senate too, those things which are spoken of as diverse ought to be counted as contraries. But if one and the same man should vote both that they must be destroyed and that they must be relegated, could they on the vote of one both perish and be relegated? Would, finally, a single vote be thought at all, which would conjoin things so diverse?

19 Quemadmodum igitur, cum alter puniendos, alter censeat relegandos, videri potest una sententia quae dicitur a duobus, quae non videretur una, si ab uno diceretur? Quid? lex non aperte docet dirimi debere sententias occidentis et relegantis, cum ita discessionem fieri iubet: 'Qui haec censetis, in hanc partem, qui alia omnia, in illam partem ite qua sentitis'? Examina singula verba et expende: 'qui haec censetis', hoc est qui relegandos putatis, 'in hanc partem', id est in eam in qua sedet qui censuit relegandos.

19 In what way, then, when the one judges them to be punished, the other deems them to be relegated, can what is said by two be seen as one opinion, which would not seem one if it were said by one? What? Does not the law openly teach that the opinions of one killing and one relegating ought to be separated, since it orders the division to be made thus: 'You who vote for these things, to this side; you who for all other things, to that side go according as you vote'? Examine each single word and weigh it: 'you who vote for these things,' that is, you who think they are to be relegated; 'to this side,' that is, to the one on which he sits who has voted for relegation.

20 Ex quo manifestum est non posse in eadem parte remanere eos, qui interficiendos arbitrantur. 'Qui alia omnia': animadvertis, ut non contenta lex dicere 'alia' addiderit 'omnia'. Num ergo dubium est alia omnia sentire eos qui occidunt quam qui relegant? 'In illam partem ite qua sentitis': nonne videtur ipsa lex eos qui dissentiunt in contrariam partem vocare cogere impellere?

20 From which it is manifest that those who judge that they are to be put to death cannot remain in the same part. 'Who all other things': you notice how the law, not content to say 'other', has added 'all'. Is it then doubtful that those who kill think all other things than those who relegate? 'Go into that part to which you are of opinion': does not the law itself seem to call, to compel, to impel those who disagree into the contrary part?

Non consul etiam, ubi quisque remanere, quo transgredi debeat, non tantum sollemnibus verbis, sed manu gestuque demonstrat? 21 At enim futurum est ut si dividantur sententiae interficientis et relegantis, praevaleat illa quae absolvit. Quid istud ad censentes?

Does not the consul also demonstrate, where each one ought to remain, to which side he ought to cross over, not only with solemn words, but with hand and gesture? 21 But indeed it will come about that, if the opinions of the one putting to death and of the one relegating are divided, that one which absolves will prevail. What is that to those giving their opinions?

quos certe non decet omnibus artibus, omni ratione pugnare, ne fiat quod est mitius. Oportet tamen eos qui puniunt et qui relegant, absolventibus primum, mox inter se comparari. Scilicet ut in spectaculis quibusdam sors aliquem seponit ac servat, qui cum victore contendat, sic in senatu sunt aliqua prima, sunt secunda certamina, et ex duabus sententiis eam, quae superior exstiterit, tertia exspectat.

it surely does not befit them to fight with every art and by every rationale, lest what is milder be done. Nevertheless, those who punish and those who relegate ought to be compared first with the absolvers, then soon among themselves. Namely, just as in certain spectacles the lot sets someone apart and preserves him to contend with the victor, so in the senate there are first and there are second contests, and from two opinions the one which has stood out as superior is awaited by a third.

22 Quid, quod prima sententia comprobata ceterae perimuntur? Qua ergo ratione potest esse non unus atque idem locus sententiarum, quarum nullus est postea? 23 Planius repetam.

22 What of the fact that, when the first opinion has been approved, the rest are quashed? By what reasoning, then, can the place of the opinions be not one and the same, seeing that afterwards none of them remains? 23 I shall repeat more plainly.

Nisi dicente sententiam eo qui relegat, illi qui puniunt capite initio statim in alia discedant, frustra postea dissentient ab eo cui paulo ante consenserint. 24 Sed quid ego similis docenti? cum discere velim, an sententias dividi an iri in singulas oportuerit.

Unless, when the one who proposes relegation is speaking his opinion, those who inflict capital punishment from the outset immediately withdraw to the other side, they will thereafter dissent in vain from him to whom a little before they had consented. 24 But why am I like one teaching, when I wish to learn whether it ought to have been that the opinions be divided, or that one go into them singly.

Obtinui quidem quod postulabam; nihilo minus tamen quaero, an postulare debuerim. Quemadmodum obtinui? Qui ultimum supplicium sumendum esse censebat, nescio an iure, certe aequitate postulationis meae victus, omissa sententia sua accessit releganti, veritus scilicet ne, si dividerentur sententiae, quod alioqui fore videbatur, ea quae absolvendos esse censebat numero praevaleret.

I did indeed obtain what I was demanding; nonetheless I still ask whether I ought to have demanded it. How did I obtain it? He who judged that the ultimate penalty should be exacted—whether with right, I do not know, but certainly overcome by the equity of my request—having set aside his own opinion, came over to the one proposing relegation, fearing of course that, if the opinions were divided, as otherwise seemed would be the case, that which held that they ought to be acquitted would prevail in number.

Etenim longe plures in hac una quam in duabus singulis erant. 25 Tum illi quoque qui auctoritate eius trahebantur, transeunte illo destituti reliquerunt sententiam ab ipso auctore desertam, secutique sunt quasi transfugam quem ducem sequebantur. 26 Sic ex tribus sententiis duae factae, tenuitque ex duabus altera tertia expulsa, quae, cum ambas superare non posset, elegit ab utra vinceretur.

For indeed there were far more in this one than in the two taken singly. 25 Then those also who were being drawn by his authority, with him crossing over, left the opinion abandoned by its author himself, and followed as a defector the very man whom they had been following as leader. 26 Thus out of three opinions two were made, and of the two one prevailed, the third expelled, which, since it could not superate them both, chose by which of the two it would be vanquished.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS IUNIORI SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS JUNIOR, GREETING.

1 Oneravi te tot pariter missis voluminibus, sed oneravi primum quia exegeras, deinde quia scripseras tam graciles istic vindemias esse, ut plane scirem tibi vacaturum, quod vulgo dicitur, librum legere. 2 Eadem ex meis agellis nuntiantur. Igitur mihi quoque licebit scribere quae legas, sit modo unde chartae emi possint; aut necessario quidquid scripserimus boni malive delebimus.

1 I have burdened you with so many volumes sent together, but I burdened you first because you had demanded it, then because you had written that the vintages there are so slender, that I plainly knew you would have leisure, as the common saying goes, to read a book. 2 The same is reported from my little farms. Therefore it will be permitted to me also to write things for you to read, provided only there is somewhere whence sheets can be bought; or else of necessity whatever we have written, good or bad, we shall erase.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS PATERNO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS PATERNUS, GREETINGS.

1 Confecerunt me infirmitates meorum, mortes etiam, et quidem iuvenum. Solacia duo nequaquam paria tanto dolori, solacia tamen: unum facilitas manumittendi — videor enim non omnino immaturos perdidisse, quos iam liberos perdidi -, alterum quod permitto servis quoque quasi testamenta facere, eaque ut legitima custodio. 2 Mandant rogantque quod visum; pareo ut iussus.

1 The infirmities of my people have worn me out, the deaths too, and indeed of young men. Two consolations by no means equal to so great a sorrow, consolations nevertheless: one, the facility of manumitting — for I seem not altogether to have lost them immature, whom I lost as already free -, the other, that I permit even slaves to make, as it were, testaments, and I uphold these as legitimate. 2 They mandate and they request what seems good; I obey as if ordered.

Dividunt donant relinquunt, dumtaxat intra domum; nam servis res publica quaedam et quasi civitas domus est. 3 Sed quamquam his solaciis acquiescam, debilitor et frangor eadem illa humanitate, quae me ut hoc ipsum permitterem induxit. Non ideo tamen velim durior fieri.

They divide, they donate, they bequeath, only within the household; for to slaves the house is a certain republic and as it were a city. 3 But although I acquiesce in these consolations, I am weakened and broken by that same humanity which induced me to permit this very thing. Yet I would not on that account wish to become harder.

Nec ignoro alios eius modi casus nihil amplius vocare quam damnum, eoque sibi magnos homines et sapientes videri. Qui an magni sapientesque sint, nescio; homines non sunt. 4 Hominis est enim affici dolore sentire, resistere tamen et solacia admittere, non solaciis non egere.

Nor am I unaware that others call incidents of this sort nothing more than a loss, and on that account seem to themselves great men and wise. Whether they are great and wise, I do not know; they are not human. 4 For it is the mark of a human being to be affected, to feel pain, yet to resist and to admit solaces, not to have no need of solaces.

5 Verum de his plura fortasse quam debui; sed pauciora quam volui. Est enim quaedam etiam dolendi voluptas, praesertim si in amici sinu defleas, apud quem lacrimis tuis vel laus sit parata vel venia. Vale.

5 But about these things perhaps I have said more than I ought; yet fewer than I wished. For there is a certain pleasure even in grieving, especially if you weep in a friend’s bosom, in whose presence for your tears either praise is ready or pardon. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS MACRINO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS MACRINUS, GREETINGS.

1 Num istic quoque immite et turbidum caelum? Hic assiduae tempestates et crebra diluvia. Tiberis alveum excessit et demissioribus ripis alte superfunditur; 2 quamquam fossa quam providentissimus imperator fecit exhaustus, premit valles, innatat campis, quaque planum solum, pro solo cernitur.

1 Is the sky there too harsh and turbid? Here there are continual storms and frequent deluges. The Tiber has exceeded its channel and is poured high over the lower banks; 2 although, drained by the ditch which the most provident emperor made, it presses upon the valleys, floats over the fields, and wherever the ground is level, it is seen in place of the ground.

Inde quae solet flumina accipere et permixta devehere, velut obvius retro cogit, atque ita alienis aquis operit agros, quos ipse non tangit. 3 Anio, delicatissimus amnium ideoque adiacentibus villis velut invitatus retentusque, magna ex parte nemora quibus inumbratur fregit et rapuit; subruit montes, et decidentium mole pluribus locis clausus, dum amissum iter quaerit, impulit tecta ac se super ruinas eiecit atque extulit. 4 Viderunt quos excelsioribus terris illa tempestas deprehendit, alibi divitum apparatus et gravem supellectilem, alibi instrumenta ruris, ibi boves aratra rectores, hic soluta et libera armenta, atque inter haec arborum truncos aut villarum trabes atque culmina varie lateque fluitantia.

Thence what it is accustomed to receive from the rivers and to carry down commingled, it, as if meeting them head-on, drives back, and thus with others’ waters it covers fields which it itself does not touch. 3 Anio, the most delicate of rivers and for that reason by the villas lying adjacent as if invited and detained, in great part broke and snatched away the groves by which it is shaded; it undermined mountains, and, shut in in several places by the mass of things collapsing, while it sought its lost path, it drove against roofs and cast itself upon the ruins and heaved itself up. 4 Those whom that tempest caught on higher grounds saw, in one place the apparatus of the rich and heavy household furniture, elsewhere the instruments of the countryside, there oxen, ploughs, drivers, here herds unyoked and free, and amid these trunks of trees or the beams and rooftops of villas floating variously and far and wide.

5 Ac ne illa quidem malo vacaverunt, ad quae non ascendit amnis. Nam pro amne imber assiduus et deiecti nubibus turbines, proruta opera quibus pretiosa rura cinguntur, quassata atque etiam decussa monumenta. Multi eius modi casibus debilitati obruti obtriti, et aucta luctibus damna.

5 And not even those things were free from misfortune, to which the river did not rise. For in place of the river, there was incessant rain and whirlwinds cast down from the clouds; the works by which precious fields are girded were overthrown, the monuments shaken and even struck down. Many, weakened by mishaps of this sort, were overwhelmed, buried, crushed, and the losses were augmented by bereavements.

6 Ne quid simile istic, pro mensura periculi vereor, teque rogo, si nihil tale, quam maturissime sollicitudini meae consulas, sed et si tale, id quoque nunties. Nam parvolum differt, patiaris adversa an exspectes; nisi quod tamen est dolendi modus, non est timendi. Doleas enim quantum scias accidisse, timeas quantum possit accidere.

6 I fear something similar there, in proportion to the measure of the danger, and I ask you, if nothing of the sort, to consult for my solicitude as speedily as possible; but also, if such there is, to announce that as well. For it differs very little whether you suffer adversities or expect them; except that, however, there is a measure of grieving, there is not of fearing. For you grieve as much as you know to have happened, you fear as much as can happen.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS RUFINO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS RUFINUS, GREETINGS.

1 Falsum est nimirum quod creditur vulgo, testamenta hominum speculum esse morum, cum Domitius Tullus longe melior apparuerit morte quam vita. 2 Nam cum se captandum praebuisset, reliquit filiam heredem, quae illi cum fratre communis, quia genitam fratre adoptaverat. Prosecutus est nepotes plurimis iucundissimisque legatis, prosecutus etiam proneptem.

1 It is, to be sure, false what is commonly believed, that men’s testaments are a mirror of morals, since Domitius Tullus appeared far better in death than in life. 2 For, although he had made himself to be courted, he left his daughter as heir, who was common to him with his brother, because he had adopted the one begotten by his brother. He honored his grandchildren with very many and most pleasant legacies, and honored his great‑granddaughter as well.

In summa omnia pietate plenissima ac tanto magis inexspectata sunt. 3 Ergo varii tota civitate sermones: alii fictum ingratum immemorem loquuntur, seque ipsos dum insectantur illum turpissimis confessionibus produnt, ut qui de patre avo proavo quasi de orbo querantur; alii contra hoc ipsum laudibus ferunt, quod sit frustratus improbas spes hominum, quos sic decipi pro moribus temporum est. Addunt etiam non fuisse ei liberum alio testamento mori: neque enim reliquisse opes filiae sed reddidisse, quibus auctus per filiam fuerat.

In sum, everything was most replete with pietas and for that very reason all the more unexpected. 3 Therefore there were varied discourses throughout the whole city: some call him a pretender, ungrateful, unmindful, and they themselves, while they assail him, betray themselves by most shameful confessions, like people who complain of a father, a grandfather, and a great-grandfather as though of a man bereft of heirs; others, on the contrary, carry this very point into praises, that he has frustrated the depraved hopes of men—for such men, to be deceived in this way is in keeping with the mores of the times. They add also that it was not open to him to die under another testament: for he did not bequeath riches to his daughter but returned them, by which he had been enriched through his daughter.

4 Nam Curtilius Mancia perosus generum suum Domitium Lucanum — frater is Tulli — sub ea condicione filiam eius neptem suam instituerat heredem, si esset manu patris emissa. Emiserat pater, adoptaverat patruus, atque ita circumscripto testamento consors frater in fratris potestatem emancipatam filiam adoptionis fraude revocaverat et quidem cum opibus amplissimis. 5 Fuit alioqui fratribus illis quasi fato datum ut divites fierent, invitissimis a quibus facti sunt.

4 For Curtilius Mancia, detesting his son-in-law Domitius Lucanus — he is Tullus’s brother — had instituted his daughter, his own granddaughter, as heir under this condition: if she were emancipated from her father’s hand. The father had emancipated her, the paternal uncle had adopted her; and thus, with the will outmaneuvered, the brother, as a co-heir, had called the emancipated daughter back into the brother’s power by the fraud of adoption, and indeed together with most ample resources. 5 Moreover, it was as if by fate granted to those brothers that they should become wealthy, the very people by whom they were made so being most unwilling.

Quin etiam Domitius Afer, qui illos in nomen assumpsit, reliquit testamentum ante decem et octo annos nuncupatum, adeoque postea improbatum sibi, ut patris eorum bona proscribenda curaverit. 6 Mira illius asperitas, mira felicitas horum: illius asperitas, qui numero civium excidit, quem socium etiam in liberis habuit; felicitas horum, quibus successit in locum patris, qui patrem abstulerat. 7 Sed haec quoque hereditas Afri, ut reliqua cum fratre quaesita, transmittenda erant filiae fratris, a quo Tullus ex asse heres institutus praelatusque filiae fuerat, ut conciliaretur.

Nay even Domitius Afer, who took them into his name, left a testament nuncupated eighteen years before, and so afterwards disapproved by himself, that he took care to have their father’s goods proscribed. 6 Wondrous the harshness of that man, wondrous the felicity of these: the harshness of him who struck from the roll of citizens the very one whom he had had as an associate even among his children; the felicity of these, for whom there succeeded, in the place of a father, the man who had taken away their father. 7 But this inheritance too of Afer, as the rest acquired with the brother, had to be transmitted to the brother’s daughter, by whom Tullus had been appointed heir ex asse and preferred to the daughter, in order to be conciliated.

Quo laudabilius testamentum est, quod pietas fides pudor scripsit, in quo denique omnibus affinitatibus pro cuiusque officio gratia relata est, relata et uxori. 8 Accepit amoenissimas villas, accepit magnam pecuniam uxor optima et patientissima ac tanto melius de viro merita, quanto magis est reprehensa quod nupsit. Nam mulier natalibus clara, moribus proba, aetate declivis, diu vidua mater olim, parum decore secuta matrimonium videbatur divitis senis ita perditi morbo, ut esse taedio posset uxori, quam iuvenis sanusque duxisset.

Wherefore the more laudable is the testament, which piety, faith, and modesty wrote, in which, finally, to all affinities according to each one’s office favor was returned, returned also to the wife. 8 The most excellent and most patient wife, who had deserved so much the better of her husband by how much the more she was blamed for having married, received most pleasant villas, received a great sum of money. For a woman illustrious in birth, upright in morals, declining in age, long a widow, once a mother, seemed to have pursued marriage with too little decorum, to a wealthy old man so undone by disease that he could be a weariness to a wife—whom even as a young and sound man he would have married.

9 Quippe omnibus membris extortus et fractus, tantas opes solis oculis obibat, ac ne in lectulo quidem nisi ab aliis movebatur; quin etiam — foedum miserandumque dictu — dentes lavandos fricandosque praebebat. Auditum frequenter ex ipso, cum quereretur de contumeliis debilitatis suae, digitos se servorum suorum cotidie lingere. 10 Vivebat tamen et vivere volebat, sustentante maxime uxore, quae culpam incohati matrimonii in gloriam perseverantia verterat.

9 Indeed, wrenched and fractured in all his limbs, he managed such wealth with his eyes alone, and not even on his little couch was he moved except by others; nay even — foul and pitiable to say — he proffered his teeth to be washed and rubbed. It was often heard from himself, when he complained about the indignities of his debility, that he licked the fingers of his slaves daily. 10 He lived nevertheless and wished to live, his wife chiefly sustaining him, who had turned the blame of the inchoate marriage into glory by perseverance.

11 Habes omnes fabulas urbis; nam sunt omnes fabulae Tullus. Exspectatur auctio: fuit enim tam copiosus, ut amplissimos hortos eodem quo emerat die instruxerit plurimis et antiquissimis statuis; tantum illi pulcherrimorum operum in horreis quae neglegebat. Invicem tu, si quid istic epistula dignum, ne gravare.

11 You have all the stories of the city; for all the stories are Tullus. An auction is awaited: for he was so copious in means that he furnished very ample gardens, on the same day on which he had bought them, with very many and most ancient statues; so much of the most beautiful works he had in storehouses which he neglected. In turn, you—if there is anything there worthy of a letter—do not hesitate.

12 Nam cum aures hominum novitate laetantur, tum ad rationem vitae exemplis erudimur. Vale.

12 For since the ears of men are gladdened by novelty, so too by examples we are instructed for the regimen of life. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS MAXIMUS, GREETING.

1 Et gaudium mihi et solacium in litteris, nihilque tam laetum quod his laetius, tam triste quod non per has minus triste. Itaque et infirmitate uxoris et meorum periculo, quorundam vero etiam morte turbatus, ad unicum doloris levamentum studia confugi, quae praestant ut adversa magis intellegam sed patientius feram. 2 Est autem mihi moris, quod sum daturus in manus hominum, ante amicorum iudicio examinare, in primis tuo.

1 Both joy to me and solace are in letters, and nothing so joyful as to be more joyful through these, nothing so sad as not through these to be less sad. And so, disturbed both by my wife’s infirmity and the peril of my own, indeed even by the death of certain persons, I fled for refuge to studies as the single alleviation of grief, which provide that I understand adversities more, but bear them more patiently. 2 It is moreover my custom to examine, by the judgment of friends—especially yours—what I am about to give into the hands of men.

Proinde si quando, nunc intende libro quem cum hac epistula accipies, quia vereor ne ipse ut tristis parum intenderim. Imperare enim dolori ut scriberem potui; ut vacuo animo laetoque, non potui. Porro ut ex studiis gaudium sic studia hilaritate proveniunt.

Accordingly, if ever, now direct your attention to the book which you will receive with this letter, because I fear that I myself, being sad, have applied too little attention to it. For I was able to command my grief so that I might write; to write with a mind vacant and cheerful, I could not. Moreover, just as joy comes from studies, so studies proceed from hilarity.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS GALLO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS GALLUS, GREETINGS.

1 Ad quae noscenda iter ingredi, transmittere mare solemus, ea sub oculis posita neglegimus, seu quia ita natura comparatum, ut proximorum incuriosi longinqua sectemur, seu quod omnium rerum cupido languescit, cum facilis occasio, seu quod differimus tamquam saepe visuri, quod datur videre quotiens velis cernere. 2 Quacumque de causa, permulta in urbe nostra iuxtaque urbem non oculis modo sed ne auribus quidem novimus, quae si tulisset Achaia Aegyptos Asia aliave quaelibet miraculorum ferax commendatrixque terra, audita perlecta lustrata haberemus. 3 Ipse certe nuper, quod nec audieram ante nec videram, audivi pariter et vidi.

1 For things to be learned, we are wont to set out on a journey, to cross the sea; those things placed under our eyes we neglect—either because it is so arranged by nature that, incurious of what is nearest, we pursue far-off things; or because desire for all things languishes when the occasion is easy; or because we defer, as though we were going to see often, what is given to be seen whenever you wish to discern. 2 Whatever the cause, very many things in our city and next to the city we know neither with the eyes nor even with the ears; which, if Achaia, Egypt, Asia, or any other land fertile in miracles and a commendatrix had borne, we would have had as heard, perused, and surveyed. 3 I myself certainly, recently, both heard and saw at the same time that which I had neither heard before nor seen.

Exegerat prosocer meus, ut Amerina praedia sua inspicerem. Haec perambulanti mihi ostenditur subiacens lacus nomine Vadimonis; simul quaedam incredibilia narrantur. 4 Perveni ad ipsum.

My wife's grandfather had pressed me to inspect his Amerine estates. As I was walking around these, a lake lying below, by the name of Vadimo, is pointed out to me; at the same time certain incredible things are recounted. 4 I came to it itself.

Lacus est in similitudinem iacentis rotae circumscriptus et undique aequalis: nullus sinus, obliquitas nulla, omnia dimensa paria, et quasi artificis manu cavata et excisa. Color caerulo albidior, viridior et pressior; sulpuris odor saporque medicatus; vis qua fracta solidantur. Spatium modicum, quod tamen sentiat ventos, et fluctibus intumescat.

The lake is circumscribed in the likeness of a wheel lying flat and equal on every side: no bay, no obliquity, all measured equal, and as if hollowed and hewn by a craftsman’s hand. A color paler than cerulean, greener and more deep; an odor of sulfur and a medicated sapor; a virtue by which fractures are consolidated. A modest extent, which nevertheless feels the winds and swells with billows.

5 Nulla in hoc navis — sacer enim -, sed innatant insulae, herbidae omnes harundine et iunco, quaeque alia fecundior palus ipsaque illa extremitas lacus effert. Sua cuique figura ut modus; cunctis margo derasus, quia frequenter vel litori vel sibi illisae terunt terunturque. Par omnibus altitudo, par levitas; quippe in speciem carinae humili radice descendunt.

5 No ship is on this — for it is sacred -, but islands float upon it, all grassy with reed and rush, and whatever else a more fecund marsh and that very extremity of the lake brings forth. Each has its own figure as its measure; the margin of all is planed down, because, often dashed either against the shore or against one another, they wear down and are worn. Equal for all is the depth, equal the lightness; indeed they descend, in the likeness of a keel, with a shallow root.

6 Haec ab omni latere perspicitur, eadem aqua pariter suspensa et mersa. Interdum iunctae copulataeque et continenti similes sunt, interdum discordantibus ventis digeruntur, non numquam destitutae tranquillitate singulae fluitant. 7 Saepe minores maioribus velut cumbulae onerariis adhaerescunt, saepe inter se maiores minoresque quasi cursum certamenque desumunt; rursus omnes in eundem locum appulsae, qua steterunt promovent terram, et modo hac modo illa lacum reddunt auferuntque, ac tum demum cum medium tenuere non contrahunt.

6 These are seen from every side, the same water equally suspending and submerging them. Sometimes they are joined and coupled and are like the continent; sometimes they are separated by discordant winds; at times, the calm having deserted them, they float each one singly. 7 Often the smaller cling to the larger as little skiffs to cargo-ships; often both larger and smaller among themselves, as if they were, take up a course and a contest; again, all driven to the same place, where they have stood they push the earth forward, and now this, now that part they render lake and take away; and then at last, when they have held the middle, they do not draw together.

8 Constat pecora herbas secuta sic in insulas illas ut in extremam ripam procedere solere, nec prius intellegere mobile solum quam litori abrepta quasi illata et imposita circumfusum undique lacum paveant; mox quo tulerit ventus egressa, non magis se descendisse sentire, quam senserint ascendisse. 9 Idem lacus in flumen egeritur, quod ubi se paulisper oculis dedit specu mergitur alteque conditum meat ac, si quid antequam subduceretur accepit, servat et profert. 10 Haec tibi scripsi, quia nec minus ignota quam mihi nec minus grata credebam.

8 It is well established that herds, following the herbs, are accustomed thus to advance onto those islands as onto the farthest bank, and that they do not realize the ground is mobile until, torn from the shore, as if brought in and set down, they grow afraid of the lake surrounding them on every side; soon, once they have gone out wherever the wind has carried them, they feel no more that they have descended than they had felt that they had ascended. 9 The same lake is discharged into a river, which, when it has shown itself for a little to the eyes, is plunged into a cavern and, going on deeply hidden, if it received anything before it was drawn under, preserves it and brings it forth. 10 I have written these things to you, because I believed them no less unknown to you than to me, and no less welcome.

Nam te quoque ut me nihil aeque ac naturae opera delectant. Vale.

For you too, as for me, nothing delights so much as the works of nature. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS ARRIANO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS ARRIANUS, GREETINGS.

1 Ut in vita sic in studiis pulcherrimum et humanissimum existimo severitatem comitatemque miscere, ne illa in tristitiam, haec in petulantiam excedat. 2 Qua ratione ductus graviora opera lusibus iocisque distinguo. Ad hos proferendos et tempus et locum opportunissimum elegi, utque iam nunc assuescerent et ab otiosis et in triclinio audiri, Iulio mense, quo maxime lites interquiescunt, positis ante lectos cathedris amicos collocavi.

1 As in life, so in studies, I judge it most beautiful and most humane to mix severity and comity, lest the former exceed into sadness, the latter into petulance. 2 Led by this reasoning, I distinguish the graver works with play and jests. For bringing these forward I chose the most opportune time and place, and so that even now they might become accustomed to being heard both by the leisured and in the dining-room, in the month of July, when litigations are most intermitted, with chairs set before the couches I arranged my friends.

3 Forte accidit ut eodem die mane in advocationem subitam rogarer, quod mihi causam praeloquendi dedit. Sum enim deprecatus, ne quis ut irreverentem operis argueret, quod recitaturus, quamquam et amicis et paucis, id est iterum amicis, foro et negotiis non abstinuissem. Addidi hunc ordinem me et in scribendo sequi, ut necessitates voluptatibus, seria iucundis anteferrem, ac primum amicis tum mihi scriberem.

3 It happened by chance that on that same day in the morning I was asked for a sudden advocacy, which gave me a cause for a preface. For I pleaded that no one should accuse me as irreverent toward the work, because, though about to recite it—although to friends and to a few, that is, again to friends—I had not abstained from the forum and from business. I added that I also follow this order in writing: that I prefer necessities to pleasures, serious things to pleasant things, and that I write first for my friends, then for myself.

4 Liber fuit et opusculis varius et metris. Ita solemus, qui ingenio parum fidimus, satietatis periculum fugere. Recitavi biduo.

4 The book was varied both in opuscules and in meters. Thus we, who trust too little in our genius, are accustomed to flee the peril of satiety. I recited over two days.

Hoc assensus audientium exegit; et tamen ut alii transeunt quaedam imputantque quod transeant, sic ego nihil praetereo atque etiam non praeterire me dico. Lego enim omnia ut omnia emendem, quod contingere non potest electa recitantibus. 5 At illud modestius et fortasse reverentius; sed hoc simplicius et amantius.

This the assent of the audience exacted; and yet, just as some pass over certain things and impute it to themselves that they pass them over, so I pass over nothing and even declare that I do not pass anything over. For I read everything in order to emend everything, which cannot befall those who recite selected pieces. 5 But that is more modest and perhaps more reverent; whereas this is simpler and more loving.

Amat enim qui se sic amari putat, ut taedium non pertimescat; et alioqui quid praestant sodales, si conveniunt voluptatis suae causa? Delicatus ac similis ignoto est, qui amici librum bonum mavult audire quam facere. 6 Non dubito cupere te pro cetera mei caritate quam maturissime legere hunc adhuc musteum librum.

For he truly loves who thinks himself loved in such a way that he does not dread tedium; and besides, what do companions really contribute, if they come together for the sake of their own pleasure? He is delicate and like a person unknown who prefers to hear a friend’s good book rather than to make it. 6 I do not doubt that, in keeping with the rest of your affection for me, you are eager to read as soon as possible this book still in the must-stage.

Leges, sed retractatum, quae causa recitandi fuit; et tamen non nulla iam ex eo nosti. Haec emendata postea vel, quod interdum longiore mora solet, deteriora facta quasi nova rursus et rescripta cognosces. Nam plerisque mutatis ea quoque mutata videntur, quae manent.

You will read it, but revised; that was the cause of the recitation; and yet you already know some things from it. These, later emended or—what with a longer delay is sometimes wont to happen—rendered worse (deteriorated), you will recognize as if new again and re-scribed. For with many things changed, even those things which remain seem changed.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.

GAIUS PLINY TO HIS GEMINUS, GREETING.

1 Nostine hos qui omnium libidinum servi, sic aliorum vitiis irascuntur quasi invideant, et gravissime puniunt, quos maxime imitantur? cum eos etiam, qui non indigent clementia ullius, nihil magis quam lenitas deceat. 2 Atque ego optimum et emendatissimum existimo, qui ceteris ita ignoscit, tamquam ipse cotidie peccet, ita peccatis abstinet tamquam nemini ignoscat.

1 Do you know these men who, slaves of all lusts, grow angry at the vices of others as if they were envious, and most gravely punish those whom they most imitate? while for those also who have no need of anyone’s clemency, nothing befits them more than lenity. 2 And I deem best and most emended the one who forgives others in such a way as though he himself sinned daily, and who in such a way abstains from sins as though he forgave no one.

3 Proinde hoc domi hoc foris hoc in omni vitae genere teneamus, ut nobis implacabiles simus, exorabiles istis etiam qui dare veniam nisi sibi nesciunt, mandemusque memoriae quod vir mitissimus et ob hoc quoque maximus Thrasea crebro dicere solebat: 'Qui vitia odit, homines odit.' Quaeris fortasse quo commotus haec scribam. 4 Nuper quidam — sed melius coram; quamquam ne tunc quidem. Vereor enim ne id quod improbo consectari carpere referre huic quod cum maxime praecipimus repugnet.

3 Accordingly, let us hold to this at home, this abroad, this in every kind of life: that we be implacable toward ourselves, exorable toward those men too who know how to grant pardon to none except themselves; and let us commit to memory what Thrasea, a most mild man and for this also a greatest, used frequently to say: 'He who hates vices, hates men.' Perhaps you ask by what I am moved to write these things. 4 Recently a certain person — but better in person; although not even then. For I fear lest that which I disapprove—to pursue it, to carp at it, to report it—should be at odds with what we are just now most urgently enjoining.

Quisquis ille qualiscumque sileatur, quem insignire exempli nihil, non insignire humanitatis plurimum refert. Vale.

Whoever he is, of whatever sort, let him be kept silent; to single him out as an example matters nothing, not to single him out matters very much for humanity. Farewell.

C. PLINIUS MARCELLINO SUO S.

G. PLINY TO HIS MARCELLINUS, GREETING.

1 Omnia mihi studia, omnes curas, omnia avocamenta exemit excussit eripuit dolor, quem ex morte Iuni Aviti gravissimum cepi. 2 Latum clavum in domo mea induerat, suffragio meo adiutus in petendis honoribus fuerat; ad hoc ita me diligebat, ita verebatur, ut me formatore morum, me quasi magistro uteretur. 3 Rarum hoc in adulescentibus nostris.

1 All my studies, all my cares, all my avocations pain has taken away, shaken off, and snatched from me, a most grievous sorrow which I have received from the death of Junius Avitus. 2 He had put on the broad stripe in my house, had been aided by my suffrage in seeking honors; in addition, he loved me so, he revered me so, that he used me as the framer of his morals, as it were his teacher. 3 This is rare in our young men.

Nam quotus quisque vel aetati alterius vel auctoritati ut minor cedit? Statim sapiunt, statim sciunt omnia, neminem verentur, neminem imitantur, atque ipsi sibi exempla sunt. Sed non Avitus, cuius haec praecipua prudentia, quod alios prudentiores arbitrabatur, haec praecipua eruditio quod discere volebat.

For how few are there who, as the lesser, yield either to another’s age or to authority? At once they are wise, at once they know everything; they revere no one, they imitate no one, and they are examples to themselves. But not Avitus, whose chief prudence was this, that he reckoned others more prudent; whose chief erudition was this, that he wished to learn.

4 Semper ille aut de studiis aliquid aut de officiis vitae consulebat, semper ita recedebat ut melior factus; et erat factus vel eo quod audierat, vel quod omnino quaesierat. 5 Quod ille obsequium Serviano exactissimo viro praestitit! quem legatum tribunus ita et intellexit et cepit, ut ex Germania in Pannoniam transeuntem non ut commilito sed ut comes assectatorque sequeretur.

4 He was always consulting either about something of studies or about the duties of life, he always withdrew thus as having been made better; and he had been made so either by what he had heard, or by the fact that he had altogether inquired. 5 What deference he rendered to Servianus, a most exact man! whom, being legate, he, as tribune, so both understood and received, that, as he was passing from Germany into Pannonia, he followed him not as a fellow-soldier but as a companion and attendant.

Qua industria qua modestia quaestor, consulibus suis — et plures habuit — non minus iucundus et gratus quam utilis fuit! Quo discursu, qua vigilantia hanc ipsam aedilitatem cui praereptus est petiit! Quod vel maxime dolorem meum exulcerat.

With what industry, with what modesty, as quaestor he was to his consuls — and he had more than one — no less pleasant and agreeable than useful! With what running to and fro, with what vigilance he sought this very aedileship, in which he was forestalled! Which most of all ulcerates my pain.

6 Obversantur oculis cassi labores, et infructuosae preces, et honor quem meruit tantum; redit animo ille latus clavus in penatibus meis sumptus, redeunt illa prima illa postrema suffragia mea, illi sermones illae consultationes. 7 Afficior adulescentia ipsius, afficior necessitudinum casu. Erat illi grandis natu parens, erat uxor quam ante annum virginem acceperat, erat filia quam paulo ante sustulerat.

6 Vain labors hover before my eyes, and fruitless prayers, and the honor only which he merited; that broad stripe, taken up in my home, returns to mind, those first, those last suffrages of mine return, those discourses, those consultations. 7 I am affected by his youth, I am affected by the mischance of his relations. He had a parent advanced in years, he had a wife whom a year before he had taken as a maiden, he had a daughter whom a little before he had taken up.

Tot spes tot gaudia dies unus in diversa convertit. 8 Modo designatus aedilis, recens maritus recens pater intactum honorem, orbam matrem, viduam uxorem, filiam pupillam ignaram patris reliquit: Accedit lacrimis meis quod absens et impendentis mali nescius, pariter aegrum pariter decessisse cognovi, ne gravissimo dolori timore consuescerem. In tantis tormentis eram cum scriberem haec <ut haec> scriberem sola; neque enim nunc aliud aut cogitare aut loqui possum.

So many hopes, so many joys, a single day turned into diverse directions. 8 Only just designated aedile, a recent husband, a recent father, he left an untouched honor, a mother bereaved, a wife widowed, a daughter a pupil (ward) ignorant of her father: There is added to my tears that, being absent and unaware of the impending evil, I learned that he was alike sick and alike had died, so that I might not grow accustomed to fear before the most grievous sorrow. I was in such torments when I was writing these things <that I might write these things> only; for now I can think or speak of nothing else.

Vale.

Farewell.

C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.

C. PLINY TO HIS MAXIMUS, GREETINGS.

1 Amor in te meus cogit, non ut praecipiam — neque enim praeceptore eges -, admoneam tamen, ut quae scis teneas et observes, aut nescire melius. 2 Cogita te missum in provinciam Achaiam, illam veram et meram Graeciam, in qua primum humanitas litterae, etiam fruges inventae esse creduntur; missum ad ordinandum statum liberarum civitatum, id est ad homines maxime homines, ad liberos maxime liberos, qui ius a natura datum virtute meritis amicitia, foedere denique et religione tenuerunt. 3 Reverere conditores deos et nomina deorum, reverere gloriam veterem et hanc ipsam senectutem, quae in homine venerabilis, in urbibus sacra.

1 My love for you compels me, not that I should prescribe—for you have no need of a preceptor -, yet to admonish, that you hold and observe the things you know, or else it were better not to know. 2 Consider that you have been sent into the province of Achaia, that true and pure Greece, in which first humanity, letters, even fruits are believed to have been discovered; sent to set in order the status of free cities, that is, to men most truly human, to the free most truly free, who have maintained the right given by nature by virtue, merits, friendship, and finally by treaty and by religion. 3 Revere the founder gods and the names of the gods, revere ancient glory and this very old age, which in a man is venerable, in cities sacred.

Sit apud te honor antiquitati, sit ingentibus factis, sit fabulis quoque. Nihil ex cuiusquam dignitate, nihil ex libertate, nihil etiam ex iactatione decerpseris. 4 Habe ante oculos hanc esse terram, quae nobis miserit iura, quae leges non victis sed petentibus dederit, Athenas esse quas adeas Lacedaemonem esse quam regas; quibus reliquam umbram et residuum libertatis nomen eripere durum ferum barbarum est.

Let there be with you honor for antiquity, for great deeds, and for fables as well. Take away nothing from anyone’s dignity, nothing from liberty, not even from ostentation. 4 Keep before your eyes that this is the land which sent rights to us, which gave laws not to the conquered but to those petitioning, that it is Athens you approach, that it is Lacedaemon you rule; from whom to snatch the remaining shadow and the residual name of liberty is hard, savage, barbarous.

5 Vides a medicis, quamquam in adversa valetudine nihil servi ac liberi differant, mollius tamen liberos clementiusque tractari. Recordare quid quaeque civitas fuerit, non ut despicias quod esse desierit; absit superbia asperitas. 6 Nec timueris contemptum.

5 You see from physicians that, although in adverse health slaves and the free do not differ at all, yet the free are treated more softly and more clemently. Recall what each city has been, not so that you may despise what it has ceased to be; let pride and asperity be absent. 6 Nor fear contempt.

An contemnitur qui imperium qui fasces habet, nisi humilis et sordidus, et qui se primus ipse contemnit? Male vim suam potestas aliorum contumeliis experitur, male terrore veneratio acquiritur, longeque valentior amor ad obtinendum quod velis quam timor. Nam timor abit si recedas, manet amor, ac sicut ille in odium hic in reverentiam vertitur.

Is he despised who holds command, who holds the fasces, unless he is abject and sordid, and one who is himself the first to despise himself? Power tests its own force ill by the contumelies of others; veneration is ill acquired by terror, and love is far more potent for obtaining what you wish than fear. For fear goes away if you withdraw; love remains, and just as the former turns into hatred, the latter turns into reverence.

7 Te vero etiam atque etiam — repetam enim — meminisse oportet officii tui titulum ac tibi ipsum interpretari, quale quantumque sit ordinare statum liberarum civitatum. Nam quid ordinatione civilius, quid libertate pretiosius? 8 Porro quam turpe, si ordinatio eversione, libertas servitute mutetur!

7 You indeed, again and again — for I will repeat — ought to remember the title of your office and to interpret for yourself what sort and how great a thing it is to ordain the state of free cities. For what is more civil than ordination, what more precious than liberty? 8 Moreover, how shameful, if ordination be changed into overthrow, liberty into servitude!

Accedit quod tibi certamen est tecum: onerat te quaesturae tuae fama, quam ex Bithynia optimam revexisti; onerat testimonium principis; onerat tribunatus, praetura atque haec ipsa legatio quasi praemium data. 9 Quo magis nitendum est ne in longinqua provincia quam suburbana, ne inter servientes quam liberos, ne sorte quam iudicio missus, ne rudis et incognitus quam exploratus probatusque humanior melior peritior fuisse videaris, cum sit alioqui, ut saepe audisti saepe legisti, multo deformius amittere quam non assequi laudem.

Moreover, this is added: you have a contest with yourself; the fame of your quaestorship burdens you, which from Bithynia you brought back as the best; the testimony of the emperor burdens you; the tribunate, the praetorship, and this very legation, given as if a prize, burden you. 9 Therefore all the more you must strive, lest you seem to have been more humane, better, more skillful in a far-flung province than a suburban one, among the servient rather than the free, sent by lot rather than by judgment, raw and unknown rather than examined and approved; since otherwise, as you have often heard and often read, it is much more unseemly to lose praise than not to attain it.

10 Haec velim credas, quod initio dixi, scripsisse me admonentem, non praecipientem; quamquam praecipientem quoque. Quippe non vereor, in amore ne modum excesserim. Neque enim periculum est ne sit nimium quod esse maximum debet.

10 These things I would have you believe—what I said at the beginning—that I wrote as one admonishing, not prescribing; although also prescribing. Indeed, I do not fear that in affection I have exceeded the measure. For there is no danger lest what ought to be greatest be too much.

Vale.

Farewell.