Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Younger (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics)

by Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus Pliny the Younger

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  9. C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.

  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.

  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. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.

  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. 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. Vale.

  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. C. PLINIUS HISPULLAE SUAE S.

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

  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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  12. C. PLINIUS MINICIANO SUO S.

  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. 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? 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. Vale.

  12. — TO MINICIANUS.

  I must beg to be excused for just this one day. Titinius Capito is going to recite, and I hardly know whether it be more my duty or my desire to hear him. He is an excellent man, and one to be numbered among the special illustrations of our age; he cultivates literature, and loves, cherishes, and advances men of letters; he is the port, the harbour, the place of refuge for a number of those who do anything in the way of composition; an example to all; lastly, a restorer and reformer of letters, which are now in their decline. He lends his house to people who recite, and frequents audiences — and that not merely at his own abode — with rare good-nature; me certainly, provided he is in town, he has never failed. Besides, the nobler the incentive to gratitude, the more shabby it would be not to show one’s self grateful. Pray, if I were harassed by legal proceedings, should I consider myself bound to one who appeared to my recognisances; and now, because all my business, all my care is with literature, shall I be less obliged to one who frequents me with so much assiduity, in a matter which, if not the only one, is certainly the most important one which can lay me under an obligation? Yet, if I owed him no return, no mutual good office, so to speak, yet I should be attracted either by the genius of the man, which is so admirable, so grand, so gentle even when most serious, or else by the noble character of his theme. He is writing of the deaths of illustrious men, and among them of some who were very dear to me. I seem, then, to be discharging an office of piety when, in the case of those whose obsequies I could not attend, I am present at what may be termed their funeral eulogies, which, thoug
h late in time, are on that account all the more truthful.

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  13. C. PLINIUS GENIALI SUO S.

  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. 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.

  13. — TO GENIALIS.

  I approve of your having read my little books in company with your father. It pertains to your advancement to learn from a man of the highest eloquence what deserves praise and what censure, and, at the same time, to be so trained as to learn to speak the truth. You see whom you ought to follow, in whose footsteps you ought to tread. Happy fellow! who have had the luck in one and the same person to meet with a model so excellent and so nearly related to you; who, in short, have him to imitate, above all others, whom nature willed that you should most resemble.

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  14. C. PLINIUS ARISTONI SUO S.

  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? 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. 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. 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? 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. 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.

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

  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? 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? 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. 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? 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? 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Vale.

  14. — TO ARISTO.

  As you are so deeply versed in civil and constitutional law (of which senatorial law forms a part), I desire to learn from you particularly whether I did or did not make a mistake in the Senate on a recent occasion, that I may be instructed, not with a view to the past (for it would be too late for that), but to the future, should anything of a like kind present itself.

  You will say, “Why inquire about what you ought to know?” Because the slavery of past times has introduced a certain oblivion and ignorance, as well of all other excellent sciences, so also of senatorial law. For few have the patience to be willing to learn what they will never have to practise. Add to this, that it is difficult to retain what you have learnt unless you do practise it. Thus it happened that the restoration of liberty surprised us in an untrained and inexperienced condition, and, enflamed by her charms, we are obliged to do certain things before we are masters of them. On the other hand, it was the ancient usage that we should learn from our elders, not only through our ears, but through our eyes as well, what we ourselves should presently have to do, and, by a kind of succession, to hand down to our juniors. Hence striplings were forthwith inured to service in the camps, that they might be habituated to command by obedience, and to act the part of leaders while learning to follow. Hence such as were to be candidates for public offices stationed themselves by the doors of the Senate-house, and were spectators of the national council before becoming members of it. Each had his own father for an instructor, or to him who had no father the oldest and most illustrious citizens stood in the place of one. What are the privileges of those who introduce motions, what the rights of those who pronounce on them, what the power of the magistrates, and the liberty accorded to the remaining Senators, where to yield and where to resist, what is the time for silence and what the limit of speech, how to distinguish between the parts of a conflicting proposition, how those who would add anything to a previous proposal may execute their purpose; in short, the whole practice of the Senate was taught by example, the surest mode of instruction.