VIII. — TO MATURUS ARRIANUS.
You congratulate me on accepting the office of augur. You are right in so doing, first, because it is a proper thing to obey the wishes of an emperor with a character like ours, and, secondly, because the priestly office is in itself an ancient and sacred one, and inspires respect and dignity from the very fact that it is held for life. For other offices, though almost equal in point of dignity to this, may be bestowed one day and taken away the next, while with the augurship the element of chance only enters into the bestowal of it. I think too that I have special reasons for congratulating myself in that I have succeeded Julius Frontinus, one of the leading men of his day, who for many years running used to bring forward my name, whenever the nomination day for the priesthoods came round, as though he wished to coopt me to fill his place. Now events have turned out in such a way that my election does not seem to have been the work of chance. I can only hope that as I have attained to the priesthood and the consulship at a much earlier age than he did, I may, when I am old, at least in some degree acquire his serenity of mind. But all that man can give has fallen to my lot and to many another; the other thing, which can only be bestowed by the gods, is as difficult to attain to as it is presumptuous to hope for it. Farewell.
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9. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO URSO SUO S.
1 Causam per hos dies dixit Iulius Bassus, homo laboriosus et adversis suis clarus. Accusatus est sub Vespasiano a privatis duobus; ad senatum remissus diu pependit, tandem absolutus vindicatusque. 2 Titum timuit ut Domitiani amicus, a Domitiano relegatus est; revocatus a Nerva sortitusque Bithyniam rediit reus, accusatus non minus acriter quam fideliter defensus. Varias sententias habuit, plures tamen quasi mitiores. 3 Egit contra eum Pomponius Rufus, vir paratus et vehemens; Rufo successit Theophanes, unus ex legatis, fax accusationis et origo. 4 Respondi ego. Nam mihi Bassus iniunxerat, totius defensionis fundamenta iacerem, dicerem de ornamentis suis quae illi et ex generis claritate et ex periculis ipsis magna erant, 5 dicerem de conspiratione delatorum quam in quaestu habebant, dicerem causas quibus factiosissimum quemque ut illum ipsum Theophanen offendisset. Eundem me volverat occurrere crimini quo maxime premebatur. In aliis enim quamvis auditu gravioribus non absolutionem modo verum etiam laudem merebatur; 6 hoc illum onerabat quod homo simplex et incautus quaedam a provincialibus ut amicus acceperat - nam fuerat in eadem provincia quaestor -. Haec accusatores furta ac rapinas, ipse munera vocabat. Sed lex munera quoque accipi vetat. 7 Hic ego quid agerem, quod iter defensionis ingrederer? Negarem? Verebar ne plane furtum videretur, quod confiteri timerem. Praeterea rem manifestam infitiari augentis erat crimen non diluentis, praesertim cum reus ipse nihil integrum advocatis reliquisset. Multis enim atque etiam principi dixerat, sola se munuscula dumtaxat natali suo aut Saturnalibus accepisse et plerisque misisse. 8 Veniam ergo peterem? Iugulassem reum, quem ita deliquisse concederem, ut servari nisi venia non posset. Tamquam recte factum tuerer? Non illi profuissem, sed ipse impudens exstitissem. 9 In hac difficultate placuit medium quiddam tenere: videor tenuisse.
Actionem meam, ut proelia solet, nox diremit. Egeram horis tribus et dimidia, supererat sesquihora. Nam cum e lege accusator sex horas, novem reus accepisset, ita diviserat tempora reus inter me et eum qui dicturus post erat, ut ego quinque horis ille reliquis uteretur. 10 Mihi successus actionis silentium finemque suadebat; temerarium est enim secundis non esse contentum. Ad hoc verebar ne me corporis vires iterato labore desererent, quem difficilius est repetere quam iungere. 11 Erat etiam periculum ne reliqua actio mea et frigus ut deposita et taedium ut resumpta pateretur. UT enim faces ignem assidua concussione custodiunt, dimissum aegerrime reparant, sic et dicentis calor et audientis intentio continuatione servatur, intercapedine et quasi remissione languescit. 12 Sed Bassus multis precibus, paene etiam lacrimis obsecrabat, implerem meum tempus. Parui utilitatemque eius praetuli meae. Bene cessit: inveni ita erectos animos senatus, ita recentes, ut priore actione incitati magis quam satiati viderentur. 13 Successit mihi Lucceius Albinus, tam apte ut orationes nostrae varietatem duarum, contextum unius habuisse credantur. 14 Respondit Herennius Pollio instanter et graviter, deinde Theophanes rursus. Fecit enim hoc quoque ut cetera impudentissime, quod post duos et consulares et disertos tempus sibi et quidem laxius vindicavit. Dixit in noctem atque etiam nocte illatis lucernis. 15 Postero die egerunt pro Basso Homullus et Fronto mirifice; quartum diem probationes occuparunt.
16 Censuit Baebius Macer consul designatus lege repetundarum Bassum teneri, Caepio Hispo salva dignitate iudices dandos; uterque recte. 17 ‘Qui fieri potest’ inquis, ‘cum tam diversa censuerint?’ Quia scilicet et Macro legem intuenti consentaneum fuit damnare eum qui contra legem munera acceperat, et Caepio cum putaret licere senatui - sicut licet - et mitigare leges et intendere, non sine ratione veniam dedit facto vetito quidem, non tamen inusitato. 18 Praevaluit sententia Caepionis, quin immo consurgenti ei ad censendum acclamatum est, quod solet residentibus. Ex quo potes aestimare, quanto consensu sit exceptum, cum diceret, quod tam favorabile fuit cum dicturus videretur. 19 Sunt tamen ut in senatu ita in civitate in duas partes hominum iudicia divisa. Nam quibus sententia Caepionis placuit, sententiam Macri ut rigidam duramque reprehendunt; quibus Macri, illam alteram dissolutam atque etiam incongruentem vocant; negant enim congruens esse retinere in senatu, cui iudices dederis. 20 Fuit et tertia sententia: Valerius Paulinus assensus Caepioni hoc amplius censuit, referendum de Theophane cum legationem renuntiasset. Arguebatur enim multa in accusatione fecisse, quae illa ipsa lege qua Bassum accusaverat tenerentur. 21 Sed hanc sententiam consules, quamquam maximae parti senatus mire probabatur, non sunt persecuti. 22 Paulinus tamen et iustitiae famam et constantiae tulit. Misso senatu Bassus magna hominum frequentia, magno clamore, magno gaudio exceptus est. Fecerat eum favorabilem renovata discriminum vetus fama, notumque periculis nomen, et in procero corpore maesta et squalida senectus. 23 Habebis hanc interim epistulam ut ‘prodromon’, exspectabis orationem plenam onustamque. Exspectabis diu; neque enim leviter et cursim, ut de re tanta retractanda est. Vale.
IX. — TO CORNELIUS URSUS.
For some days past Julius Bassus has been on his defence. He is a much harassed man whose misfortunes have made him famous. An accusation was lodged against him in Vespasian’s reign by two private individuals; the case was referred to the Senate, and for a long time he has been on the tenter-hooks, but at last he has been acquitted and his character cleared. He was afraid of Titus because he had been a friend of Domitian, yet he had been banished by the latter, was recalled by Nerva, and, after being appointed by lot to the governorship of Bithynia, returned from the province to stand his trial. The case against him was keenly pressed, but he was no less loyally defended.
Pomponius Rufus, a ready and impetuous speaker, opened against him and was followed by Theophanes, one of the deputation from the province, who was the very life and soul of the prosecution, and indeed the originator of it. I replied on Bassus’ behalf, for he had instructed me to lay the foundations of his whole defence, to give an account of his distinctions, which were very considerable — as he was a man of good family, and had been in many tight places — to dilate upon the conspiracy of the informers and the gains they counted upon, and to explain how it was that Bassus had roused the resentment of all the restless spirits of the province, and notably of Theophanes himself. He had expressed a wish that I too should controvert the charge which was damaging him most. For as to the others, though they sounded to be even more serious, he deserved not only acquittal but approbation, and the only thing that troubled him was that, in an unguarded moment and in perfect innocence, he had received certain presents from the provincials as a token of friendship, for he had served in the same province previously as quaestor. His accusers stigmatised these gifts as thefts and plunder: he called them presents, but the law forbids even presents to be accepted by a governor.
In such a case what was I to do, what line of defence was I to take up? If I denied them in toto, I was a
fraid that people would immediately regard as a theft the presents which I was afraid to confess had been received. Moreover, to deny the obvious truth would have been to aggravate and not lessen the gravity of the charge, especially as the accused himself had cut the ground away from under the feet of his counsel. For he had told many people, and even the Emperor, that he had accepted, but only on his birthday or at the feast of the Saturnalia, some few trifling presents, and had also sent similar gifts to some of his friends. Was I then to acknowledge this and plead for clemency? Had I done so, I should have put a knife to my client’s throat by confessing that he had committed offences and could only be acquitted by an act of clemency. Was I to defend his conduct and justify it? That would have done him no good, and would have stamped me as an unblushing advocate.
In this difficult position I resolved to take a middle course, and I think I succeeded in so doing. Night interrupted my pleading, as it so often interrupts battles. I had been speaking for three hours and a half, and I had another hour and a half still left me. The law allowed the accuser six hours and the defendant nine, and Bassus had arranged the time at his disposal by giving me five hours, and the remainder to the advocate who was to speak after me. The success of my pleading persuaded me to say no more and make an end, for it is rash not to rest content when things are going well. Besides, I was afraid I might break down physically if I went over the ground again, as it is more difficult to pick up the threads of a speech than to go straight on. There was also the risk of the remainer of my speech meeting with a chilly reception, owing to the threads being dropped, or of it boring the judges if I gathered them up anew. For, just as the flame of a torch is kept alight if you wave it continually up and down, but is difficult to resuscitate when it has been allowed to go out, so the warmth of a speaker and the attention of his audience are kept alive if he goes on speaking, but cool off at any interruption which causes interest to flag. But Bassus begged and prayed of me, almost with tears in his eyes, to take my full time. I gave way, and preferred his interests to my own. It turned out well, for I found that the senators were so attentive and so fresh that, instead of having had quite enough of my speech of the day before, it seemed to have only whetted their appetites for more.
Lucceius Albinus followed me and spoke so much to the point that our speeches were considered to have all the diversity of two addresses but the cohesion of one. Herennius Pollio replied with force and dignity, and then Theophanes again rose. He showed his usual effrontery in demanding a more liberal allowance of time than is usually granted — even after two advocates of ability and consular rank had concluded — and he went on speaking until nightfall, an actually continued after that, when lights had been brought into court.
On the following day Titius Homullus and Fronto made a splendid effort on behalf of Bassus, and the hearing of the evidence took up the fourth day. Baebius Macer, the consul-designate, proposed that Bassus should be dealt with under the law relating to extortion, while Caepio Hispo was in favour of appointing judges to hear the case, but urged that Bassus should retain his place in the Senate. Both were in the right. How can that be? you may ask. For this reason, because Macer, looking at the letter of the law, was justified in condemning a man who had broken the law by receiving presents; while Caepio, acting on the assumption that the Senate has the right — which it certainly has — both to mitigate the severity of the laws and to rigorously put them in force, was not unreasonably desirous of excusing an offence which, though illegal, is very often committed. Caepio’s proposal carried the day; indeed, when he rose to speak he was greeted with the applause which is usually reserved for speakers upon resuming their seats. This will enable you to judge how unanimously the motion was received while he was speaking, when it met with such a reception on his rising to put it.
However, just as there was difference of opinion in the Senate, so there is the same with the general public. Those who approved the proposal of Caepio find fault with that of Macer as being vindictive and severe; those who agree with Macer condemn Caepio’s motion as lax and even inconsistent, for they say it is incongruous to allow a man to keep his place in the Senate when judges have been allotted to try him. There was also a third proposal. Valerius Paulinus, who agreed in the main with Caepio, proposed that an inquiry should be instituted into the case of Theophanes, as soon as he had concluded his work on the deputation. It was urged that during his conduct of the prosecution he had committed a number of offences which came within the scope of the law under which he had accused Bassus. However, the consuls did not approve this proposal, though it found great favour with a large proportion of the Senate. None the less, Paulinus gained a reputation thereby for justice and consistency. When the Senate rose, Bassus came in for an ovation; crowds gathered round him and greeted him with a remarkable demonstration of their joy. Public sympathy had been aroused in his favour by the old story of the hazards he had gone through being told over again, by the association of his name with grave perils, by his tall physique and the sadness and poverty of his old age. You must consider this letter as the forerunner of another: you will be looking out for my speech in full and with every detail, and you will have to look out for it for some time to come, because, owing to the importance of the subject, it will require more than a mere brief and cursory revision. Farewell.
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10. C. PLINIUS STATIO SABINO SUO S.
1 Scribis mihi Sabinam, quae nos reliquit heredes, Modestum servum suum nusquam liberum esse iussisse, eidem tamen sic ascripsisse legatum: ‘Modesto quem liberum esse iussi’. 2 Quaeris quid sentiam. Contuli cum peritis iuris. Convenit inter omnes nec libertatem deberi quia non sit data, nec legatum quia servo suo dederit. Sed mihi manifestus error videtur, ideoque puto nobis quasi scripserit Sabina faciendum, quod ipsa scripsisse se credidit. 3 Confido accessurum te sententiae meae, cum religiosissime soleas custodire defunctorum voluntatem, quam bonis heredibus intellexisse pro iure est. Neque enim minus apud nos honestas quam apud alios necessitas valet. 4 Moretur ergo in libertate sinentibus nobis, fruatur legato quasi omnia diligentissime caverit. Cavit enim, quae heredes bene elegit. Vale.
X. — TO STATIUS SABINUS.
You tell me that Sabina, who left us her heirs, never gave any instructions that her slave Modestus was to be granted his freedom, though she left him a legacy in these words: “I give…to Modestus, whom I have ordered to receive his liberty.” You ask me what I think of the matter. I have consulted some eminent lawyers and they all agree that Modestus need not be given his freedom, because it was not expressly granted by Sabina, nor his legacy, because she left it to him as a slave. But the mistake is obvious to me, and so I think that we ought to act as though Sabina had ordered him to be freed in express terms, since she certainly was under the impression that she had ordered it. I am sure that you will be of my way of thinking, for you are most punctilious in carrying out the intentions of a dead person, which are, with honourable heirs, tantamount to legal obligations. For with us honour has as much weight as necessity has with others. So I propose that we should allow Modestus to have his liberty and enjoy his legacy, as if Sabina had taken all proper precautions to ensure that he should. For a lady who has made a good choice of her heirs has surely taken all the precautions necessary. Farewell.
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11. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO MINICIANO SUO S.
1 Audistine Valerium Licinianum in Sicilia profiteri? nondum te puto audisse: est enim recens nuntius. Praetorius hic modo inter eloquentissimos causarum actores habebatur; nunc eo decidit, ut exsul de senatore, rhetor de oratore fieret. 2 Itaque ipse in praefatione dixit dolenter et graviter: ‘Quos tibi, Fortuna, ludos facis? facis enim ex senatoribus professores, ex professoribus senatores.’ Cui sententiae tantum bilis, tantum amaritudinis inest, ut mihi videatur ideo professus ut hoc diceret. 3 Idem cum Graeco pallio amictus intrasset - carent enim togae iure, quibus aqua et igni interdictum est -, postquam s
e composuit circumspexitque habitum suum, ‘Latine’ inquit ‘declamaturus sum.’ 4 Dices tristia et miseranda, dignum tamen illum qui haec ipsa studia incesti scelere macularit. 5 Confessus est quidem incestum, sed incertum utrum quia verum erat, an quia graviora metuebat si negasset. Fremebat enim Domitianus aestuabatque in ingenti invidia destitutus. 6 Nam cum Corneliam Vestalium maximam defodere vivam concupisset, ut qui illustrari saeculum suum eiusmodi exemplis arbitraretur, pontificis maximi iure, seu potius immanitate tyranni licentia domini, reliquos pontifices non in Regiam sed in Albanam villam convocavit. Nec minore scelere quam quod ulcisci videbatur, absentem inauditamque damnavit incesti, cum ipse fratris filiam incesto non polluisset solum verum etiam occidisset; nam vidua abortu periit. 7 Missi statim pontifices qui defodiendam necandamque curarent. Illa nunc ad Vestam, nunc ad ceteros deos manus tendens, multa sed hoc frequentissime clamitabat: ‘Me Caesar incestam putat, qua sacra faciente vicit triumphavit!’ 8 Blandiens haec an irridens, ex fiducia sui an ex contemptu principis dixerit, dubium est. Dixit donec ad supplicium, nescio an innocens, certe tamquam innocens ducta est. 9 Quin etiam cum in illud subterraneum demitteretur, haesissetque descendenti stola, vertit se ac recollegit, cumque ei manum carnifex daret, aversata est et resiluit foedumque contactum quasi plane a casto puroque corpore novissima sanctitate reiecit omnibusque numeris pudoris ‘pollên pronoian eschen euschêmôn pesein?. 10 Praeterea Celer eques Romanus, cui Cornelia obiciebatur, cum in comitio virgis caederetur, in hac voce perstiterat: ‘Quid feci? nihil feci.’ 11 Ardebat ergo Domitianus et crudelitatis et iniquitatis infamia. Arripit Licinianum, quod in agris suis occultasset Corneliae libertam. Ille ab iis quibus erat curae praemonetur, si comitium et virgas pati nollet, ad confessionem confugeret quasi ad veniam. Fecit. 12 Locutus est pro absente Herennius Senecio tale quiddam, quale est illud: ‘keitai Patroklos’. Ait enim: ‘Ex advocato nuntius factus sum; Licinianus recessit.’ 13 Gratum hoc Domitiano adeo quidem ut gaudio proderetur, diceretque: ‘Absolvit nos Licinianus.’ Adiecit etiam non esse verecundiae eius instandum; ipsi vero permisit, si qua posset, ex rebus suis raperet, antequam bona publicarentur, exsiliumque molle velut praemium dedit. 14 Ex quo tamen postea clementia divi Nervae translatus est in Siciliam, ubi nunc profitetur seque de fortuna praefationibus vindicat.
Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Younger (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) Page 95
