Another similar occurrence took place a very few days ago. That distinguished man Fabius Rufinus was my neighbour at table, and above him was one of his townsmen, who had come to Rome that day for the first time. Rufinus, pointing me out to him, said, “Do you see this gentleman?” and proceeded to talk at length of my literary pursuits. Said the other, “It must he Pliny.” To acknowledge the truth, I enjoy a great reward from my labours. Why, if Demosthenes was rightly delighted because an old woman of Athens recognised him in these terms, “This is Demosthenes!” ought not I to rejoice in the celebrity of my name? And truly I do rejoice, and own that I rejoice. Nor indeed do I fear to seem too much puffed up, since it is the opinion of others about me, and not my own, that I am putting forward; and especially since this is to you, who not only do not grudge the praises bestowed on any man, but also favour those bestowed on me.
Detailed table of contents listing each letter
24. — TO SABINIANUS.
You have done well in taking back to your home and your heart the freedman formerly so dear to you, with my letter for his passport. This will be a satisfaction to you. It is certainly a satisfaction to me: first, because I see you to be so tractable that even in your anger you are capable of being ruled; in the next place, because you make so much account of me as either to yield to my authority or to comply with my prayers. So I praise as well as thank you. At the same time, I admonish you, as to the future, to show yourself placable in regard to the errors of those about you, even though there should be no one by to intercede in their behalf.
Detailed table of contents listing each letter
25. — TO MAMILIANUS.
You complain of the mass of business in the camp, and yet, as though you were in entire enjoyment of the most complete repose, you read my sportive effusions and trifles, you delight in them, call for them, and strongly urge me to the composition of others like them. Indeed I begin to seek, not only recreation, but even glory, from this kind of pursuit, after the favourable judgment of a man so learned, so respected, and above all so truthful, as yourself. At present, business in court, though it does not entirely occupy me, still does so to some extent. When it is concluded, I shall despatch some product of these same Muses to that kindliest bosom of yours. You will suffer my little sparrows and doves to fly among your eagles, on condition, however, of their being approved by you as well as by themselves. If the latter only, you will take care and shut them up in their cages or nests.
Detailed table of contents listing each letter
26. — TO LUPERCUS.
I once said — aptly, as I think — of a certain orator of our epoch, who, though correct and sensible, was lacking in grandeur and ornamentation, “His only sin is that he does not sin.” Indeed, an orator ought to be excited and elevated, at times even to boil over and be hurried along, and so, often to approach a precipice; for what is high and lofty generally has a chasm adjoining it. The road over a plain is safer, but at the same time humbler and lower; runners meet with more falls than crawlers, but the latter get no credit for not falling, while the former get some, even though they do fall. For, as in the case of certain accomplishments, so in that of eloquence — nothing commends it so much as its hazards. You see what applause dancers on a lofty tight-rope generally elicit when they seem on the point of falling; for we most admire what is most unexpected and dangerous, and, as the Greeks more strongly express it, most “dare-devilish.” Hence the worth of a helmsman is by no means the same when sailing on a quiet as when on a stormy sea. In the former case he enters the harbour without being admired by any one — without praise, without glory. But when the cordage creaks, and the mast bends, and the rudder groans, then what a great man he is, and how near to a sea-god!
Why all this? Because you seem to me to have noted certain passages in my writings as being turgid which I thought elevated, as audacious which I thought bold, as extravagant which I thought full. Now, it makes a great difference whether what you note be reprehensible or merely conspicuous. For every one has his attention attracted by what is prominent and stands out in relief; only, diligent attention is necessary for judging between what is sublime and what exceeds the bounds, what is lofty and what is extravagant. And, to quote Homer for choice, pray who can forget, whichever way they be judged, the words —
“All around
The mighty heaven gave out a trumpet sound;”
and
“His spear upon a cloud reclined;”
and all that passage,
“Nor such the shout of Ocean’s wave.”
But you want a tongued-balance and scales to ascertain whether these expressions are impossible and unmeaning, or on the other hand glorious and divine. Not that I am now supposing myself to have ever uttered or to be capable of uttering anything like this. I am not such a madman. But I only wish this to be understood, that the reins of eloquence should be left loose, and the flights of genius should not be restrained in the narrowest of circles.
But it will be said that the conditions of oratory are one thing and those of poetry another. Just as if M. Tullius were less daring! However, I pass him by, for indeed I do not think the subject admits of doubt. But Demosthenes himself, that pattern and model orator, pray does he contain or restrain himself when he utters those well-known words, “Base, fawning, accursed wretches of men!” or again, “It is not with stones or bricks that I have fortified the city;” and directly afterwards, “Ought not Euboea to have been made to flank Attica on the sea-board?” and elsewhere, “For my part, Athenians, by the Gods, I think that the man is drunk with the magnitude of his own exploits.” What indeed can be more daring than that most exquisite and lengthy digression beginning with “’Tis a terrible malady”? How about this, shorter than the preceding, but equal in boldness, “Then I (yielded not) to Python in his insolence and flowing with his full tide against you”? Of the same stamp is this, “When a man is powerful through rapacity and wickedness, like this one, the first occasion, the smallest stumble, will altogether unseat and destroy him.” A similar expression is “Roped off from all civic rights,” and in the same place, “You, Aristogeiton, have surrendered all the pity that might have been felt for such deeds as these, or rather you have entirely extinguished it. Do not, therefore, come for anchorage to harbours which you have yourself blocked up and filled with piles.” He had previously said, “For I fear lest some may think that you are engaged in training such of the citizens as are desirous of turning out scoundrels.” And afterwards, “I see that none of these topics can offer a passage for this man, nothing but precipices and chasms and yawning pits.” It is not enough to say, “For I do not understand that our ancestors built these courts for you in order that you might plant in them such fellows as these;” he adds, “If he is a dealer and a retailer and a huckster in villainy,” and a thousand things of the same kind, to pass over what Æschines called “monstrosities,” not “expressions.”
I have chanced upon what seems to contradict me. You will say that even Demosthenes is found fault with in these respects; but just see how much greater is the person criticised than the critic himself, and greater actually on account of these very things. For in other points his power, in these his sublimity shines forth. And pray did Æschines himself abstain from what he reproved in Demosthenes? “For the orator and the law should speak in unison; but when the law sends out one voice and the orator another....” Elsewhere, “Since it appears that concerning everything, in the decree... Again elsewhere, “But, sitting and lying in wait for him at the hearing, drive him into lawless language,” which he so much approved as to repeat, “But as in the horse-races, drive him to the same course in the business.” Pray is this more guarded or temperate, “You are irritating the wound,... seizing him as a political pirate sailing through the state,” and the rest of it?
I expect that some things in this very letter, as, for instance, the expression, “The rudder groans,” and “Near to a sea-god,” will be spitted by you with the sa
me marks of disapproval as those about which I write. For I am aware that while apologising for previous passages of mine I have fallen into the very things which you had set your mark to. However, I give you leave to spit them, provided only you at once appoint a day when we may treat in person both of the other passages and of these. For either you shall make me cautious or else I shall make you rash.
Detailed table of contents listing each letter
27. — TO PATERNUS.
What power, what dignity, what majesty, what divinity, in short, there is in history! This I have lately, as well as on numerous other occasions, experienced. A gentleman had recited a composition strongly marked by truth, and had reserved a portion of it for another day. Lo and behold the friends of a certain personage begged and entreated him not to recite the remainder. Such is the shame of listening to what they have done, on the part of the very people who are not in the least ashamed of doing what they blush to listen to. As for the writer, he granted their request, a thing which honour permitted him to do. The composition, however, like the deed itself, remains, and will remain, and will always be read, and that all the more because not immediately. For men are stimulated to make acquaintance with what is deferred.
Detailed table of contents listing each letter
28. — TO ROMANUS.
After a long interval I have received your letters — three at the same time, however — all of them very choice and friendly compositions, and such as letters coming from you should be, particularly when they are so greatly desired. In one of these you impose on me a most agreeable service, that of forwarding your communications to that august lady Plotina. They shall be forwarded. In the same letter you commend to me Popilius Artemisius. I immediately granted his request. You also intimate to me that you have got in but a moderate vintage. This complaint is common to both of us, though in such widely different parts of the world.
In your second letter you announce that you are at times dictating, and at others writing, a good deal having for its object to bring me before your mind. I thank you, and would thank you still more if you had allowed me to read the actual compositions which you are writing or dictating. And it would be fair that I should be made acquainted with your writings, just as you have been with mine, even although they had related to some other person than myself. At the end, you promise — so soon as you shall have heard anything definite about my arrangements — that you will play the runaway to your belongings and forthwith fly off to me, who am already preparing chains for you such as you will in nowise be able to break through.
The third letter contained news that my oration for Clarius had reached you, and that it had seemed to you fuller than when you heard me speak it. It is fuller; for I subsequently made many additions to it. You add that you sent me another letter more carefully composed, and you ask whether I have received it. I have not received it, and I long to do so. Accordingly, send me a copy on the very first opportunity, with something added to it by way of interest, which I shall compute (can I put it lower?) at twelve per cent.
Detailed table of contents listing each letter
29. — TO RUSTICUS.
Just as it is better to excel in any one pursuit than to do a number of things moderately well, so it is better to do a number of things moderately well, if you are unable to excel in any one. Observing this, I try my hand at various kinds of literature, not being sufficiently confident about any of them. So when you read this or that of mine, allow for each single composition as not standing by itself. Pray, in the case of the other arts, is the number of productions an excuse for shortcomings; and is there to be a harder law in the case of literature, in which the execution is so much more difficult? Yet why do I talk of allowance, like an ingrate? For if you receive my newest productions with the same favour as the preceding ones, I have rather to hope for praise than to supplicate allowance. However, the latter will he sufficient for me.
Detailed table of contents listing each letter
30. — TO GEMINUS.
You praise your friend Nonius to me — often by word of mouth, and now by letter — for being so generous towards certain people. And so do I praise him, provided he is not so towards these alone. For I will have it that the truly generous man gives to his country, his relations, his connections, his friends; I speak of his ‘poor friends, not like those who choose as the objects of their donations such as can best make a return. I consider these people with their presents — all smeared with bird-lime, and furnished with a hook — to be not so much bringing forth out of their own as clutching at other people’s property. Those are of a like character, who take from one what they give to another, seeking through avarice a reputation for generosity. Now, the principal thing is to be content with one’s own; after that, to support, to cherish, and, as it were, to encompass in a circle of fellowship those whom one knows to be particularly in need. If your friend does all these things, he is thoroughly to be commended; if any one of them, to a smaller degree indeed, yet still to be commended, so rare is the type of even imperfect generosity. Such a passion for getting has seized on men that they seem to be taken possession of rather than to be possessors.
Detailed table of contents listing each letter
31. — TO SARDUS.
Since leaving you, I have been no less in your company than when with you. For I have read your book, reperusing ever and anon those parts chiefly (I will not deny the truth) in which you have written about me. In these indeed you have been particularly copious. How many and how varied the things you have said — things which, though about the same person, are not the same, and yet do not contradict each other. Shall I commend you, and thank you at the same time? I can do neither sufficiently, and, even if I could, should fear it might be presumptuous to commend you on account of what I had to thank you for. This only will I add, that everything in your book seemed to me the more commendable in proportion as it was agreeable to me, and the more agreeable in proportion as it was commendable.
Detailed table of contents listing each letter
32. — TO TITIANUS.
What are you about? And what are you going to be about? For my part, I am leading the pleasantest, that is, the idlest, of lives. Hence it comes to pass that I don’t like writing long letters, and like reading them — the former in my character of an exquisite, and the latter in that of an idler. For there is nothing more slothful than your exquisite, or more inquisitive than your idler.
Detailed table of contents listing each letter
33. — TO CANINIUS.
I have fallen in with a subject which, though true, bears a close resemblance to fiction, and is worthy of your lively and elevated and thoroughly poetical genius. I fell in with it, moreover, among a variety of marvels which were being related by different guests at a dinner party. The authority for it is a man of the highest veracity; though, by the by, what has a poet got to do with veracity? However, this particular authority is such as you might have trusted, even if you had designed to write history.
There is in Africa a colonial town named Hippo, close to the sea. Adjoining it is a navigable lagoon, out of which flows an estuary after the manner of a river, whose waters are alternately carried to the sea or returned to the lagoon, according as they are driven back or impelled by the tide. The inhabitants of every age are strongly addicted to fishing, boating, and likewise swimming; particularly the boys, who are attracted by idleness and sport. In their eyes, it is glory and renown to swim out a long way; the victor is he who has left the shore, as well as his fellows, the furthest distance behind him. In this kind of contest, a certain lad, bolder than the rest, was getting far out to sea. Suddenly a dolphin met him, and at one time went in front of, at another followed, and then swam round him, at last took him on his back, then put him off, then took him on again, next bore the trembling lad seaward, and presently turning back to the shore, restored him to terra firma and his companions.
The report of this crept through the town; all the in
habitants flocked up and contemplated the lad himself as a kind of prodigy, they questioned him, and listened to him, and repeated his story. Next day they took possession of the shore, and gazed upon the sea and everything that looked like sea. The boys swam, and among them the one in question, but with greater caution. Again to time came the dolphin, and again he made for the boy, who fled with his companions. The dolphin, as though inviting and recalling him, leapt out of the water, and dived and twined and untwined himself in a variety of circles. The same thing happened the next day, and a third day, and on several days, till these men, brought up to the sea, began to be ashamed of their fears. They approached and called to him jestingly; they even handled him, and he submitted to be stroked. Their boldness grew by use. But, before all others, the boy who had had the first experience of him, swam by him, jumped on his back, was carried to and fro, and, fancying he was recognised and loved by him, was himself taken with love for the dolphin. Neither of them is afraid, neither is an object of fear, the confidence of the one and the tameness of the other go on increasing. Other boys too, on the right and left, swim with their friend, cheering and exhorting him. What is also marvellous, another dolphin accompanied this one, but only in the character of a spectator and attendant, for he neither performed nor submitted to anything of the same kind; he merely led the other and escorted him back, just as the rest of the boys did with this boy. Though it seems incredible (yet it is just as true as what has preceded), this dolphin, that carried and played with boys, would often leave his element for the land, and after drying himself in the sands, would, as soon as he had grown warm, roll back into the sea. It is ascertained that Octavius Avitus the Pro-consular Legate, led by a vicious superstition, poured ointment on him after he had been attracted to the shore, and that the strangeness of the thing and the smell caused him to escape back into the deep, and that he was not seen for many days afterwards, and then languid and dull; yet soon afterwards he regained his spirits, and resumed his former friskiness and his accustomed offices. There was a confluence of all the officials of the province to see the sight, whose arrival and sojourn were exhausting the modest revenues of the town in unwonted expenses. Finally, the place itself was parting with its repose and retired character. It was decided to put to death privately the object of all this assemblage.
Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Younger (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) Page 31
