4. — TO CANINIUS.
You do admirably in preparing to write of the Dacian war. For where is the subject at the same time so recent, so abounding in incident, so vast, in short, so poetical, and — though dealing in events of the most real character — so like fable? You will tell of new rivers set flowing over the earth, new bridges thrown over rivers, mountain precipices occupied by camps, of a king who had despaired of nothing driven out of his palace, ay, and driven out of his life; besides this, of triumphs twice celebrated, one having been the first over a hitherto unconquered people, the other, the last.
The single drawback, yet an important one, is, that to equal all this in description must be an immense and arduous task even for your genius, rising though it does to the loftiest heights, and growing in proportion to the vastness of its undertakings. And there must be not a little labour in this too, in preventing barbarous and savage names (among the first, that of the King himself) from showing their repugnance to Greek metre. But there is nothing which skill and attention will not mitigate, even though they may fail to overcome it. Moreover, if it is permitted to Homer to contract, lengthen, and alter names, both soft and Greek, to suit the smoothness of his verse, why should not a similar licence be permitted to you, particularly when it results not from affectation but from necessity? Accordingly, poet-fashion, having invoked the gods — and among them him whose acts and works and counsels you are about to relate — loosen your ropes, spread your sails, and be carried on (if ever you have been) by the full force of your genius! Why indeed may not I too deal poetically with a poet? This much I bargain for at once: you must send me all your first fruits as soon as you have brought them to perfection; nay, rather, even before you have perfected them, just as they are, all fresh and unformed, and still resembling things at their birth. You will reply that what is taken piecemeal cannot please equally with that which is continuous, or what is rudimentary like that which is complete. I know it. And therefore they shall be judged of by me too as things merely begun; they shall be regarded as parts, and shall await your finishing touches in my desk. Suffer me to have this pledge, in addition to the others, of your friendship; that I be made acquainted even with such things as you would wish none to be acquainted with. In short, it may be that I shall admire and praise your writings more highly in proportion as you are slow and cautious about sending them; but I shall love you more highly, and praise you more highly, the greater your speed and the less your caution in doing so.
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5. — TO GEMINUS.
Our friend Macrinus has received a severe blow. He has lost his wife, a model woman, even if she had lived in old times. With her he spent thirty-nine years without a quarrel and without offence. How great the respect she paid her husband, while herself worthy of respect in the highest degree! How numerous, how lofty the virtues, which, gathered from different ages, were assembled and united in her person. Macrinus indeed has one great solace, in that he retained so great a blessing for so long a time; and yet, for this reason, he is all the more embittered by the loss of it. FŸ“ the enjoyment of pleasures increases the pain of being deprived of them. I am therefore in a state of anxiety about my dear friend, till such time as he shall be able to admit of being diverted from his sorrow and allow his wound to heal. And this will be brought about by nothing so much as by necessity itself, by lapse of time, and satiety of grief.
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6. — TO MONTANUS.
You must have learnt by this time from my letter how I lately remarked a monument to Pallas with this inscription on it: “To him the Senate, on account of his faithfulness and loyalty to his patrons, decreed the Prætorian insignia and a sum of fifteen million sesterces. He was contented with the honour merely. Subsequently it seemed to me worth while to hunt up the decree itself. I found it, and it was so verbose and extravagant, that the above extremely fulsome inscription seems modest and even humble by its side. Let — I will not say the Africani and Achaici and Numantini of old — but the men that are near to us, the Marii, Sullas, Pompeys (I will go no further), — let these compare themselves with Pallas, and they will fall short of the praises accorded to him. Am I to suppose the men who thus decreed to have been humourists, or cravens? I would call them humourists if such humour became a Senate. Cravens, then? But no one is in such a craven condition that he can be forced to such acts. “Was the cause, then, ambition and the yearning for advancement? But who so demented as to wish for advancement at the price of his own and the public disgrace, in a society where the advantage to be derived from the loftiest dignity should consist in being able to take the lead in — eulogising Pallas in the Senate? I pass by the circumstance that the Prætorian insignia are offered to Pallas, though a slave, inasmuch as they are offered by slaves. I pass by their decreeing “that he should not only be exhorted, but actually compelled to the use of golden rings;” for it was opposed to the august dignity of the Senate for a man of Prætorian rank to wear iron ones These are trifling matters, which may be passed over. But this is noteworthy, that “on account of Pallas the
Senate” (and the Senate-house was not purified after this!)—” on Pallas’s account the Senate returns thanks to Caesar, in that his highness himself has bestowed the most honourable mention on him, and has also accorded to the Senate the faculty of testifying towards him its good will.” What indeed could be more glorious for the Senate than that it should appear sufficiently grateful to Pallas? This is added: “That Pallas, to whom all of them, to the best of each man’s abilities, confess their obligations, may enjoy, as he so richly deserves to do, the fruits of his matchless integrity and his matchless energy.” You would suppose that the limits of the Empire had been extended, that armies had been rescued for the State. To this is tacked on, “Inasmuch as to the Senate and the people no more agreeable occasion for their liberality could be exhibited than the good fortune of being able to add to the means of so disinterested and faithful a guardian of the prince’s revenues.” This was at that time the aspiration of the Senate, this was the chief delight of the people, this was the most agreeable occasion for liberality: to have the good fortune to add to the means of Pallas by squandering the public revenues! See what follows: “That it had been the wish of the Senate, for its part, to decree to him a gift of fifteen million sesterces out of the treasury, and the more his mind was remote from desires of this kind, the more earnestly did they pray the Father of the State to compel him to yield to the Senate.” This, to be sure, was alone wanting: that Pallas should be dealt with by public authority; that Pallas in person should be entreated to yield to the Senate; that Cæsar himself should be called in to plead against this arrogant self-denial, and to prevent his spurning the fifteen million sesterces. Spurn them he did — the only way in which, after the public offer to him of so vast a sum, he could show his arrogance still more than by accepting it. Yet the Senate, in a tone of complaint, praised even this act in the following words: “But inasmuch as the most excellent Prince and Father of the State, at the request of Pallas, has willed that that portion of the decree which related to the grant to him out of the treasury of fifteen million sesterces should he annulled; the Senate hereby witnessed, that albeit it had of its own good will, and in accordance with his merits, initiated a decree of the above sum, among the other honours, to Pallas on account of his integrity and diligence; yet, as they do not deem it lawful to set themselves against the will of their prince in any matter, so in this matter too they submit themselves to it.”
Picture to yourself Pallas interposing his veto, as it were, on the decree of the Senate, and restricting the honours paid to himself; refusing the fifteen millions as too much, after accepting the Prætorian insignia as of smaller account. Picture to yourself Cæsar complying with the prayers, or rather the commands, of his freedman in presence of the Senate, for the freedman commands his patron when he is able to petition him in the Senate. Picture to you
rself the Senate continually witnessing that it had initiated a decree of this sum, among the other honours, to Pallas, in accordance with his merits and its good will, and that it would have persevered in its intention if it had not been for its compliance with the prince’s will, which it was not lawful to set one’s self against in any matter. So then, in order that Pallas should not carry off the fifteen millions from the treasury, his own modesty and the compliance of the Senate were requisite, which latter, in this particular case, would not have complied if they had thought it lawful not to comply in any matter whatever.
Do you think this is the end? Wait a bit and hear something still stronger. “And inasmuch as it is of advantage that the gracious disposition of the prince, ever prompt to honour and reward the deserving, should be everywhere exhibited to view, and chiefly in those places where the persons charged with the administration of his affairs may be stimulated to imitation, and where the highly proved faithfulness and integrity of Pallas may by his example provoke a zeal for laudable emulation; the message read by the most excellent prince before this most honourable house on the tenth day before the Kalends of February last past, together with the decrees passed by the Senate on these matters, shall be inscribed on brass, and the brass in question shall be affixed to the statue in armour of the late Emperor Julius.” It did not seem enough that the Senate-house should witness such disgraceful proceedings; a place of great resort was selected for publishing them, where contemporaries should read them, and posterity as well. It was decided that the brass should be inscribed with all the honours of this haughty slave, both those which he repudiated and those which (as far as those who decreed them were concerned) he had borne. The Prætorian insignia of Pallas were cut and carved on public and enduring monuments, just for all the world like ancient treaties, just like sacred laws! Such was the — how to name the quality I know not — of the prince, of the Senate, of Pallas himself, that they wished to have affixed before the eyes of all, Pallas his impudence, Cæsar his submissiveness, the Senate its baseness. Nor was there any shame felt in veiling this infamy with a show of reason — an exquisite and admirable reason to be sure: — that on the strength of the rewards bestowed on Pallas the others might be provoked to the zeal of emulation! So cheap were honours held, even those which Pallas did not disdain. Yet there were found persons of respectable birth who sought for and desired what they saw given to a freedman and held out to slaves. How glad I am that I did not fall upon those times, of which I am just as much ashamed as if I had lived in them. Nor do I doubt that you will be similarly impressed, for I know you have the soul of an honest man and a freeman. Hence you will he the more ready to think that, though I may have carried my indignation in certain places to a height unsuitable to a letter, yet my complaints are rather below than above the mark.
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7. — TO TACITUS.
Not as one master to another, nor again “as one disciple to another” (for so you write it), but as master to a disciple — for you are the master, I the opposite; more than that, you are recalling me to school, while I am still prolonging my holidays — have you sent your book to me. Come, now, could I have produced a more topsy-turvy sentence than the above? — by this very means proving that I am one who ought not to be called, let alone your master, even your disciple. However, I will take on me the part of master, and exercise on your book the right you have bestowed on me, and all the more freely that I am not going to send you in the meanwhile any writing of mine for you to revenge yourself upon.
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8. — TO ROMANUS.
Have you seen, at any time, the source of the Clitumnus? If you have not as yet — and I fancy you have not, for otherwise you would have told me of it — go and see what I (and I am ashamed of having been so slow about it) lately saw. There rises a hill of moderate size, wooded and shaded by ancient cypresses, at the base of which the spring emerges, forced out through many but unequal channels, and after struggling through a troubled pool of its own formation, opens out to the view with broad expanse, clear and transparent, so that you are able to count the small coins thrown into it and the glistening pebbles. Thence it is impelled, not by the slope of the ground, but by its own very abundance, and, as it were, weight; now but a source, now already a noble river, and one actually capable of bearing ships, which, even when they come in opposite directions, and with contrary effort are holding a different course, it suffers to pass each other, and carries on their way. Such is the strength and rapidity of its current, though over a plane surface, that it is not assisted by oars, and, when it is faced, it is only with extreme difficulty that it can be overcome by oars or punt-poles. It is an agreeable change for those who are afloat for sport and pastime to vary toil by repose or repose by toil, according as they shift their course. The banks are clothed with a quantity of ashes and poplars, which the transparent river reflects in succession by so many green images, just as though they were submerged in it. The coldness of the water might vie with that of snow, and its colour does not yield to that of snow.
Hard by is a temple ancient and venerable. Clitumnus stands there in person, clothed and adorned with the prætexta. Oracular responses indicate the prophetic power in addition to the presence of the divinity.’ Scattered around are a number of chapels and as many gods. Each of these has his own worship and his own name, some of them even their own springs. For besides that spring, which is, as it were, the parent of the rest, there are smaller ones, separated from the fountain-head, but nevertheless flowing into the river, which is spanned by a bridge. This marks the boundary between what is sacred and what is open to ordinary use. Above bridge navigation only is permitted; below, one may bathe as well. The people of Hispellum, to whom the late Emperor Augustus assigned this locality, furnish baths at the public expense, and they also furnish lodgings. Nor is there a lack of villas, which, owing to the attractions of the river, stand on its borders. In short, there will be nothing there from which you may not derive pleasure; you will even be able to study, and will read a variety of productions by a variety of people, inscribed on every column and every wall in honour of the spring and the god. Many of these you will approve of, some you will laugh at — and yet, no; you, with your usual good-nature, will laugh at none of them.
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9. — TO URSUS.
For a long time I have taken neither book nor pen in hand. For a long time I have not known what rest is or repose, or, in short, that state, so idle yet so agreeable, of doing nothing and being nothing. To such a degree do the multitude of my friends’ affairs debar me from seclusion and study. For no studies are of such importance that the office of friendship should be abandoned on their account — indeed, that this office should be most religiously guarded is a matter which is taught us by these very studies.
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10. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.
The stronger your desire to see great-grandchildren of yours born of us, the more you will grieve to hear that your granddaughter has had a miscarriage, while, girl like, she did not know that she was with child, and, in consequence, omitted certain things which should be observed by women in that state, and did other things which should have been omitted. She has expiated her mistake at the expense of a great lesson, having been brought into extreme peril. Hence, while you must necessarily be grieved at your old age being deprived of descendants, who had been, so to speak, prepared for you, yet you ought, at the same time, to thank the gods who refuse you great-grandchildren for the present, in such a way as to preserve the life of your granddaughter, and who will yet bestow on you those great-grandchildren, the expectation of whom is made surer by this very fruitfulness of my wife, though, to be sure, it has been ascertained under rather unfavourable circumstances. I am now exhorting, admonishing, and confirming you by the same methods as I employ towards
myself. Nor, indeed, can great-grandchildren be desired by you more ardently than are children by me, children to whom I think myself destined to bequeath, on your side and on my own, an easy road to honours, names widely known, and family images which will endure. May they only be born, and turn this sorrow of ours into joy!
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11. — TO HISPULLA.
When I think of your affection for your brother’s daughter, surpassing in tenderness even the indulgence of a mother, I feel that I ought to begin by announcing what ought to come later, in order that joy may take first possession of you and so leave no room for anxiety. And yet I am apprehensive that, even after rejoicing, you will return to your fears; that, while delighted at Calpurnia’s being freed from peril, you will shudder at the same time at her having been imperilled. She is cheerful now, and restored to herself and to me; she begins to regain strength, and by her progress towards recovery to measure the crisis she has passed through. She was, in fact, in the most critical condition (this be said without evil omen!), through no personal fault, rather through some fault due to her age. Hence her miscarriage, and the sad proofs of an unsuspected pregnancy. Accordingly, though it has not been your good fortune to assuage your regret for your lost brother by means of a grandson or granddaughter of his, yet remember that is a blessing which is delayed rather than denied, since she is safe from whom we may hope for it. At the same time excuse to your father a mishap which women are always more prepared to look on with indulgence.
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Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Younger (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) Page 26
