Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Younger (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics)
Page 104
XV. — TO ARRIUS ANTONINUS.
It is when I try to equal your verses that I most fully appreciate how excellent they are. For just as painters rarely succeed in putting a perfectly beautiful face on their canvas without doing injustice to the original, so, though I slave hard with your verses as my model, I always fall short. Let me urge you then to publish as many as possible, so good that every one will burn to imitate them, and yet no one, or but very few, will succeed in the attempt. Farewell.
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16. C. PLINIUS AEFULANO MARCELLINO SUO S.
1 Tristissimus haec tibi scribo, Fundani nostri filia minore defuncta. Qua puella nihil umquam festivius amabilius, nec modo longiore vita sed prope immortalitate dignius vidi. 2 Nondum annos xiiii impleverat, et iam illi anilis prudentia, matronalis gravitas erat et tamen suavitas puellaris cum virginali verecundia. 3 Ut illa patris cervicibus inhaerebat! ut nos amicos paternos et amanter et modeste complectebatur! ut nutrices, ut paedagogos, ut praeceptores pro suo quemque officio diligebat! quam studiose, quam intellegenter lectitabat! ut parce custoditeque ludebat! Qua illa temperantia, qua patientia, qua etiam constantia novissimam valetudinem tulit! 4 Medicis obsequebatur, sororem patrem adhortabatur ipsamque se destitutam corporis viribus vigore animi sustinebat. 5 Duravit hic illi usque ad extremum, nec aut spatio valetudinis aut metu mortis infractus est, quo plures gravioresque nobis causas relinqueret et desiderii et doloris. 6 O triste plane acerbumque funus! o morte ipsa mortis tempus indignius! iam testinata erat egregio iuveni, iam electus nuptiarum dies, iam nos vocati. Quod gaudium quo maerore mutatum est! 7 Non possum exprimere verbis quantum animo vulnus acceperim, cum audivi Fundanum ipsum, ut multa luctuosa dolor invenit, praecipientem, quod in vestes margarita gemmas fuerat erogaturus, hoc in tus et unguenta et odores impenderetur. 8 Est quidem ille eruditus et sapiens, ut qui se ab ineunte aetate altioribus studiis artibusque dediderit; sed nunc omnia, quae audiit saepe quae dixit, aspernatur expulsisque virtutibus aliis pietatis est totus. 9 Ignosces, laudabis etiam, si cogitaveris quid amiserit. Amisit enim filiam, quae non minus mores eius quam os vultumque referebat, totumque patrem mira similitudine exscripserat. 10 Proinde si quas ad eum de dolore tam iusto litteras mittes, memento adhibere solacium non quasi castigatorium et nimis forte, sed molle et humanum. Quod ut facilius admittat, multum faciet medii temporis spatium. 11 Ut enim crudum adhuc vulnus medentium manus reformidat, deinde patitur atque ultro requirit, sic recens animi dolor consolationes reicit ac refugit, mox desiderat et clementer admotis acquiescit. Vale.
XVI. — TO MARCELLINUS.
I am writing to you in great distress. The younger daughter of your friend Fundanus is dead, and I never saw a girl of a brighter and more lovable disposition, nor one who better deserved length of days or even to live for ever. She had hardly completed her fourteenth year, yet she possessed the prudence of old age and the sedateness of a matron, with the sweetness of a child and the modesty of a maiden. How she used to cling round her father’s neck! How tenderly and modestly she embraced us who were her father’s friends! Her nurses, her teachers and tutors, how well she loved them, each according to his station! With what application and quickness she used to read, while her amusements were never carried to excess and never overstepped the mark. What resignation, patience and fortitude she showed during her last illness! She obeyed her doctor’s orders, she cheered her sister and father, and when her body had lost all its strength, she kept herself alive by the vigour of her mind. This never failed her right up to the end, nor was it broken down by her long illness or by the fear of death, and this has made us miss her all the more severely and made our sorrow all the heavier to bear. What a sad, heart-rending funeral it was! The moment of her death seemed even more cruel than death itself, for she had just been betrothed to a youth of splendid character; the day of the wedding had been decided upon, and we had already been summoned to attend it. Think into what terrible grief our joy was changed! I really cannot tell you in words how acutely I felt it when I heard Fundanus himself, for one sorrow always leads on to other bitter sorrows — giving the order that the money he had intended to lay out upon wedding raiment, pearls and gems, should be spent upon incense, unguents and scents.
He is, it is true, a man of learning and wisdom, who from early years has devoted himself to the deeper studies and the nobler arts, but, at a moment like this, all the philosophy he has ever heard from others or uttered himself is put on one side. All virtues but one are disregarded for the time being — he can only think of parental love. You will forgive and even praise him for this, if you consider the loss he has suffered. For he has lost a daughter who reflected in herself, not only his face and feature, but his character, and one who was the living image of her father in every particular. If you send him a letter in the midst of this rightful grief of his, be careful to use words of solace which will not flay the heart or deal roughly with his sorrow, but which will soothe and ease his pain. The time which has elapsed will make him the more likely to admit your words of consolation, for, just as a raw wound first shrinks from the touch of the doctor’s hand, then bears it without flinching and actually welcomes it, so with mental anguish we reject and fly from consolation when the pain is fresh, then after a time we look for it and find relief in its soothing application. Farewell.
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17. C. PLINIUS VESTRICIO SPURINNAE SUO S.
1 Scio quanto opere bonis artibus faveas, quantum gaudium capias, si nobiles iuvenes dignum aliquid maioribus suis faciant. Quo festinantius nuntio tibi fuisse me hodie in auditorio Calpurni Pisonis. 2 Recitabat ‘katasterismôn’ eruditam sane luculentamque materiam. Scripta elegis erat fluentibus et teneris et enodibus, sublimibus etiam, ut poposcit locus. Apte enim et varie nunc attollebatur, nunc residebat; excelsa depressis, exilia plenis, severis iucunda mutabat, omnia ingenio pari. 3 Commendabat haec voce suavissima, vocem verecundia: multum sanguinis, multum sollicitudinis in ore, magna ornamenta recitantis. Etenim nescio quo pacto magis in studiis homines timor quam fiducia decet. 4 Ne plura — quamquam libet plura, quo sunt pulchriora de iuvene, rariora de nobili -, recitatione finita multum ac diu exosculatus adulescentem, qui est acerrimus stimulus monendi, laudibus incitavi, pergeret qua coepisset, lumenque quod sibi maiores sui praetulissent, posteris ipse praeferret. 5 Gratulatus sum optimae matri, gratulatus et fratri, qui ex auditorio illo non minorem pietatis gloriam quam ille alter eloquentiae retulit: tam notabiliter pro fratre recitante primum metus eius, mox gaudium eminuit.
6 Di faciant ut talia tibi saepius nuntiem! Faveo enim saeculo ne sit sterile et effetum, mireque cupio ne nobiles nostri nihil in domibus suis pulchrum nisi imagines habeant; quae nunc mihi hos adulescentes tacitae laudare adhortari, et quod amborum gloriae satis magnum est, agnoscere videntur. Vale.
XVII. — TO SPURINNA.
I know what an interest you take in the liberal arts, and how delighted you are when young men of rank do anything worthy of their ancestry. That is why I am losing no time to tell you that to-day I made one of the audience of Calpurnius Piso. He was reading his poem on the Legends of the Stars, and it was a learned and very excellent composition. It was written in fluent, graceful, and smooth elegiacs, and rose even to lofty heights as occasion demanded. The style was cleverly varied, in some places it soared, in others it was subdued; passing from the grand to the commonplace, from thinness to richness, and from lively to severe, and in each case with consummate skill. The sweetness of his voice lent it an additional charm, and his modesty made even his voice the sweeter, while his blushes and his nervousness, which were very plain to see, still further set off the reading. I don’t know why, but diffidence becomes a man of letters much more than over-confidence. However, to cut the story short, — though I would gladly say more, because such performances are all the more charming when given by a young man, and all the rarer when he is of noble birth, — as soon as the reading was concluded, I embraced the youth with great cordiality
, and by showering praises upon him — which are always the best incentive when giving advice — I urged him to go on as he had begun, and hold out to his descendants the light which his own ancestors had held out to him. I congratulated his excellent mother and also his brother, who made one of the audience, and indeed achieved as much reputation for brotherly feeling as his brother Calpurnius did for his eloquence, for while the latter was reading everybody noticed first the nervous look on the brother’s face, and then the expression of joy. I pray Heaven that I may often have such news for you, for I am very partial to the age I live in, and I hope that it may not prove barren and worthless. I am really most anxious that our young men of rank should have some other beautiful objects in their houses besides the busts of their ancestors, and it seems to me that the latter tacitly approve and encourage these two young men, and even recognise them as their true descendants, which is in itself a sufficiently high compliment to both. Farewell.
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18. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIO MACRO SUO S.
1 Bene est mihi quia tibi bene est. Habes uxorem tecum, habes filium; frueris mari fontibus viridibus agro villa amoenissima. Neque enim dubito esse amoenissimam, in qua se composuerat homo felicior, ante quam felicissimus fieret. 2 Ego in Tuscis et venor et studeo, quae interdum alternis, interdum simul facio; nec tamen adhuc possum pronuntiare, utrum sit difficilius capere aliquid an scribere. Vale.
XVIII. — TO CALPURNIUS MACER.
As all is well with you, all is well with me. You have your wife with you, and your son; you enjoy your sea-view, your fountains, greenery, estate, and your charming villa. I cannot doubt that the latter is most charming, inasmuch as it was the home of the man who was even happier there than when he became the happiest man on earth. I am staying at my Tuscan house; I hunt and I study, sometimes in turns, sometimes both together, and I cannot as yet tell you whether I find it more difficult to catch anything or to compose anything. Farewell.
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19. C. PLINIUS VALERIO PAULINO SUO S.
1 Video quam molliter tuos habeas; quo simplicius tibi confitebor, qua indulgentia meos tractem. 2 Est mihi semper in animo et Homericum illud ‘patêr d’ hôs êpios êen’ et hoc nostrum ‘pater familiae’. Quod si essem natura asperior et durior, frangeret me tamen infirmitas liberti mei Zosimi, cui tanto maior humanitas exhibenda est, quanto nunc illa magis eget. 3 Homo probus officiosus litteratus; et ars quidem eius et quasi inscriptio comoedus, in qua plurimum facit. Nam pronuntiat acriter sapienter apte decenter etiam; utitur et cithara perite, ultra quam comoedo necesse est. Idem tam commode orationes et historias et carmina legit, ut hoc solum didicisse videatur. 4 Haec tibi sedulo exposui, quo magis scires, quam multa unus mihi et quam iucunda ministeria praestaret. Accedit longa iam caritas hominis, quam ipsa pericula auxerunt. 5 Est enim ita natura comparatum, ut nihil aeque amorem incitet et accendat quam carendi metus; quem ego pro hoc non semel patior. 6 Nam ante aliquot annos, dum intente instanterque pronuntiat, sanguinem reiecit atque ob hoc in Aegyptum missus a me post longam peregrinationem confirmatus rediit nuper; deinde dum per continuos dies nimis imperat voci, veteris infirmitatis tussicula admonitus rursus sanguinem reddidit. 7 Qua ex causa destinavi eum mittere in praedia tua, quae Foro Iulii possides. Audivi enim te saepe referentem esse ibi et aera salubrem et lac eiusmodi curationibus accommodatissimum. 8 Rogo ergo scribas tuis, ut illi villa, ut domus pateat, offerant etiam sumptibus eius, si quid opus erit. 9 Erit autem opus modico; est enim tam parcus et continens, ut non solum delicias verum etiam necessitates valetudinis frugalitate restringat. Ego proficiscenti tantum viatici dabo, quantum sufficiat eunti in tua. Vale.
XIX. — TO PAULINUS.
I notice how kindly you treat your servants, so I will be quite frank with you, and tell you with what indulgence I treat mine. I always bear in mind that phrase in Homer, “like a father mild,” and our own Latin phrase, “father of his family.” Even if I had naturally been of a harsher and less genial disposition, the weakness of my freedman Zosimus would melt my harshness, for one has to show him greater kindness just in proportion as he needs it more at his time of life. He is an honest fellow, devoted to his duties and well-educated, but his chief accomplishment and, so to speak, his particular recommendation is his skill in playing comedy, in which he is really admirable. For his delivery is sharp, intelligent, to the point, and even graceful, and he plays the harp much better than is usually expected from a comedian. He is also so clever in reading speeches, history and poetry, that you would fancy he had never studied anything else. I have gone into all this detail to show you how many services this one man can render me, and how pleasant they are. Moreover, I have long entertained a great regard for him, which has been increased by his serious ill-health, for Nature has so arranged it that nothing fires and stimulates our affection so much as the fear of losing the object of it, and I have on more than one occasion been afraid of losing Zosimus.
Some years since, while he was reciting with great earnestness and fire, he spat blood, and I sent him on that account to Egypt, from which country he recently returned with his health restored. Then, after severely taxing his voice for days together, he was warned of his old malady by a slight cough, and once more brought up some blood. So I have decided to send him to the farm which you own at Forum Julii, for I have often heard you say that the air there is healthy, and the milk peculiarly beneficial to complaints of this kind. I should be glad, therefore, if you will write to your people to take him in at the house and give him lodging, and accommodate him with anything he may require at his expense. His needs will be very small, for he is so sparing and abstemious that his frugality leads him to deny himself, not only dainties, but even that which is necessary for his weak health. When he sets out, I will give him sufficient travelling money for one who is going to your part of the country. Farewell.
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20. C. PLINIUS CORNELIO URSO SUO S.
1 Iterum Bithyni: breve tempus a Iulio Basso, et Rufum Varenum proconsulem detulerunt, Varenum quem nuper adversus Bassum advocatum et postularant et acceperant. Inducti in senatum inquisitionem postulaverunt. 2 Varenus petit ut sibi quoque defensionis causa evocare testes liceret; recusantibus Bithynis cognitio suscepta est. Egi pro Vareno non sine eventu; nam bene an male liber indicabit. 3 In actionibus enim utramque in partem fortuna dominatur: multum commendationis et detrahit et affert memoria vox gestus tempus ipsum, postremo vel amor vel odium rei; liber offensis, liber gratia, liber et secundis casibus et adversis caret. 4 Respondit mihi Fonteius Magnus, unus ex Bithynis, plurimis verbis paucissimis rebus. Est plerisque Graecorum, ut illi, pro copia volubilitas: tam longas tamque frigidas perihodos uno spiritu quasi torrente contorquent. 5 Itaque Iulius Candidus non invenuste solet dicere, aliud esse eloquentiam aliud loquentiam. Nam eloquentia vix uni aut alteri, immo — si M. Antonio credimus — nemini, haec vero, quam Candidus loquentiam appellat, multis atque etiam impudentissimo cuique maxime contigit. 6 Postero die dixit pro Vareno Homullus callide acriter culte, contra Nigrinus presse graviter ornate. Censuit Acilius Rufus consul designatus inquisitionem Bithynis dandam, postulationem Vareni silentio praeteriit. 7 Haec forma negandi fuit. Cornelius Priscus consularis et accusatoribus quae petebant et reo tribuit, vicitque numero. Impetravimus rem nec lege comprehensam nec satis usitatam, iustam tamen. 8 Quare iustam, non sum epistula exsecuturus, ut desideres actionem. Nam si verum est Homericum illud:
‘tên gar aoidên mallon epikleious’ anthrôpoi,
providendum est mihi, ne gratiam novitatis et florem, quae oratiunculam illam vel maxime commendat, epistulae loquacitate praecerpam. Vale.
XX. — TO URSUS.
Within a short time of their impeaching Julius Bassus the Bithynians brought a second action, this time against Rufus Varenus, their proconsul, the very man whom, in their action against Bassus, they had received pe
rmission, at their own request, to retain as their advocate. On being brought into the Senate they applied for a commission to be appointed to investigate their charges, and Varenus sought leave to be allowed to bring witnesses from the province in his defence. To this the Bithynians objected, and the matter came to a debate. I acted on behalf of Varenus, and my pleading was not without good results. I am justified in saying this, as my written speech will show whether I spoke well or badly. For in delivering a speech chance has a controlling influence on success or failure. A speech either gains or loses a good deal according to the memory, voice, and gesture of the speaker, and even the time taken in delivery, to say nothing of the popularity or unpopularity of the accused; whereas a written speech profits nothing from these advantages, loses nothing by these disadvantages, and is subject neither to lucky nor unlucky accidents.
Fonteius Magnus, one of the Bithynians, replied to me at great length, but he made very few points. Like most of the Greeks, he mistakes volubility for fulness of treatment, and they pour forth in a single breath a perfect torrent of long-winded and frigid periods. Julius Candidus rather wittily says apropos of this that eloquence is one thing and loquacity another. For there have been only one or two people who can be described as eloquent — not one indeed if Marcus Antonius is to be believed, — but scores of persons possess what Candidus calls loquacity, and loquacity and impudence usually go together. On the following day, Homullus spoke on behalf of Varenus, and delivered a skilful, powerful, and polished speech, while Nigrinus replied with terseness, dignity, and elegance. Acilius Rufus, the consul-designate, proposed that the Commission of Enquiry asked for by the Bithynians should be allowed, and said not a word about the request of Varenus, which was tantamount to proposing that it should be negatived. Cornelius Priscus, the consular, moved that the requests of both the accusers and the accused should be granted, and he carried a majority with him. The point we asked for was not within the four corners of the law and was not quite covered by precedent, but none the less it was entirely reasonable, though why it was reasonable I shall not tell you in this letter, in order to make you ask for a copy of my pleading. For if it be true, as Homer says, that “men always prize the song the most which rings newest in their ears,” I must beware lest by allowing myself to go chattering on in this letter I destroy all the charm of novelty in that little speech of mine, which is the main thing it has to commend itself to you. Farewell.