Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Younger (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics)
Page 106
6. — TO FUNDANUS.
Now, if ever, I could wish you were in Rome, and I beg that you will he. I have need of one to share my aspirations, my labours, my anxiety. Julius Naso is a candidate for office; he is standing with many competitors and good ones too, whom it will be glorious to beat and correspondingly difficult. So I am in a state of suspense, and am exercised by hope as well as troubled by fear, no longer feeling like one who has himself served the office of Consul; but once more imagining myself a candidate for each of the posts successively filled by me.
He merits this anxiety by his long affection for me. My friendship for him is not, to be sure, derived from any I had for his father — for in consequence of my age that could not be — however, when I was barely a stripling, his father used to be held out to me as a man of great reputation. He was deeply attached, not to learning only, but also to learned men, and was in the habit of coming almost daily to hear those whom I frequented at that time, Quintilian and Nicetes Sacerdos. He was in other respects a distinguished and authoritative personage, whose memory ought to be of service to his son. But now there are many in the Senate to whom he was unknown, and though there are many to whom he was known, yet these honour none but the living; so that my friend, putting aside the glory of his father — which, though a great illustration, is but a feeble recommendation to him — must all the more vigorously exert himself and go to work in person. And this to be sure he has always carefully done, as if foreseeing the present occasion. He has procured friends for himself, and those whom he has procured he has cultivated; me, certainly, as soon as he permitted himself to form a judgment, he selected as the object of his affection and imitation. He stands watchful by me when speaking in public; he sits by me when I recite; he interests himself in my literary trifles from their very inception and from the moment of their birth; alone now, formerly in company with his brother, whose part (for he is lately dead) I ought to undertake, whose place I ought to fill. I grieve indeed that the one should have been so cruelly torn from us by a premature death, and the other deprived of his brother’s assistance and left to the help of his friends alone.
For these reasons I implore you to come and join your suffrages to mine. It is of great importance to me to be able to produce you and go about with you. The weight you carry is so great as to make me think I could canvass even my own friends more successfully in your company. Break short anything that detains you. My critical situation, my honour, my dignity even, demand this of you. I have taken in hand a candidate, and it is known that I have taken him in hand. The canvass is mine, the danger is mine. In short, if Naso gets what he asks, his will be the honour; if he fails, the defeat will be mine.
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7. C. PLINIUS CALPURNIAE SUAE S.
1 Scribis te absentia mea non mediocriter affici unumque habere solacium, quod pro me libellos meos teneas, saepe etiam in vestigio meo colloces. 2 Gratum est quod nos requiris, gratum quod his fomentis acquiescis; invicem ego epistulas tuas lectito atque identidem in manus quasi novas sumo. 3 Sed eo magis ad desiderium tui accendor: nam cuius litterae tantum habent suavitatis, huius sermonibus quantum dulcedinis inest! Tu tamen quam frequentissime scribe, licet hoc ita me delectet ut torqueat. Vale.
7. — TO CALPURNIA, HIS WIFE.
You write that you are not a little affected by my absence, and that you have but one solace — in possessing my books instead of me, and even in often laying them beside you in bed, in my place. I am glad that you miss me, glad that you are soothed by such lenitives as these. In return, I keep reading your letters, and ever and anon take them into my hands as if they were just received, yet all the more am I inflamed with a longing for you. For when your letters are so agreeable, what must be the charm of your conversation! However, do you write as often as you can, though your doing so delights me in such a way as to torment me at the same time.
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8. C. PLINIUS PRISCO SUO S.
1 Atilium Crescentem et nosti et amas. Quis enim illum spectatior paulo aut non novit aut non amat? Hunc ego non ut multi, sed artissime diligo. 2 Oppida nostra unius diei itinere dirimuntur; ipsi amare invicem, qui est flagrantissimus amor, adulescentuli coepimus. Mansit hic postea, nec refrixit iudicio sed invaluit. Sciunt qui alterutrum nostrum familiarius intuentur. Nam et ille amicitiam meam latissima praedicatione circumfert, et ego prae me fero, quantae sit mihi curae modestia quies securitas eius. 3 Quin etiam, cum insolentiam cuiusdam tribunatum plebis inituri vereretur, idque indicasset mihi, respondi: ‘ou tis emeu zôntos’. Quorsus haec? ut scias, non posse Atilium me incolumi iniuriam accipere. 4 Iterum dices ‘quorsus haec?’ Debuit ei pecuniam Valerius Varus. Huius est heres Maximus noster, quem et ipse amo, sed Konjunktivs tu. 5 Rogo ergo, exigo etiam pro iure amicitiae, cures ut Atilio meo salva sit non sors modo verum etiam usura plurium annorum. Homo est alieni abstinentissimus sui diligens; nullis quaestibus sustinetur, nullus illi nisi ex frugalitate reditus. 6 Nam studia, quibus plurimum praestat, ad voluptatem tantum et gloriam exercet. Gravis est ei vel minima iactura; quam
8. — TO PRISCUS.
You both know and have a regard for Atilius Crescens. Indeed, what man of any mark either does not know him or has not a regard for him? He is one whom I cherish, not after the vulgar fashion, but with my whole heart. Our native towns are separated by one day’s journey only. Our love for each other began — and this is the most fervent kind of love — when we were mere striplings. It endured to after years, and far from being cooled, was strengthened by our mature judgment. Those who are most intimately acquainted with either of us know this. For, not only does he widely proclaim and circulate his friendship for me, but I too make no secret of the interest I feel in his modest life, his repose, and his security. Moreover, when he apprehended the insolence of a certain individual who was about to enter on the Tribuneship of the Plebs, and had informed me of the fact, I replied, “Not during my lifetime!”
Why do I tell you all this? That you may know that Atilius shall not suffer an injury while I am in existence. Again you will say, “Why all this?” Why, because Valerius Varus owed him a sum of money. Now the heir of this Varus is our friend Maximus, whom I myself have a great regard for, but you a still closer one. I pray you then, and indeed demand of you by right of our friendship, to see that my good Atilius has not only the principal but also several years’ interest secured to him. He is a man most scrupulous as to encroaching on other people’s property, and careful of his own; he does not live by any business, and has no income but what results from his economy. For, the literary pursuits, in which he so greatly excels, he follows only for his own pleasure and glory. The smallest loss is a hard matter for him, it being so very hard to make good what is lost. Believe him and relieve me from this difficulty: suffer me to enjoy to the full his amiable and sprightly character; for indeed I can’t bear to see one sad whose cheerfulness will not allow me to be sad. In short, you know the quaint humour of the man, and I pray you take care that injustice does not turn it to bile and bitterness. What will be the strength of his resentment you may judge by that of his affection. His lofty and independent spirit will not brook a loss accompanied by an affront. And though he should brook it, I shall esteem the loss and the affront
my own; only I shall be much more indignant than if it were my own. However, why employ denunciations and what may seem threats? Bather, as I began, so I beg and pray you to see to it that he does not think himself neglected by me (which I most strongly fear), or I think the same of you. And you will see to it, if the latter consideration weighs as much with you as the former does with me.
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9. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.
1 Commendas mihi Iulium Nasonem candidatum. Nasonem mihi? quid si me ipsum? Fero tamen et ignosco. Eundem enim commendassem tibi, si te Romae morante ipse afuissem. 2 Habet hoc sollicitudo, quod omnia necessaria putat. Tu tamen censeo alios roges; ego precum tuarum minister adiutor particeps ero. Vale.
9. — TO TACITUS.
You commend Julius Naso to my favour as a candidate. Naso to me! What if you commended my own self! However, I bear with it and forgive you. For I should have commended this very Naso to you, if you had been staying in Rome and I had been absent. There is this about anxiety that it will leave no stone unturned. However, I vote that you canvass other people; I will act as agent, assistant, and partner in your applications.
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10. C. PLINIUS ALBINO SUO S.
1 Cum venissem in socrus meae villam Alsiensem, quae aliquamdiu Rufi Vergini fuit, ipse mihi locus optimi illius et maximi viri desiderium non sine dolore renovavit. Hunc enim colere secessum atque etiam senectutis suae nidulum vocare consueverat. 2 Quocumque me contulissem, illum animus illum oculi requirebant. Libuit etiam monimentum eius videre, et vidisse paenituit. 3 Est enim adhuc imperfectum, nec difficultas operis in causa, modici ac potius exigui, sed inertia eius cui cura mandata est. Subit indignatio cum miseratione, post decimum mortis annum reliquias neglectumque cinerem sine titulo sine nomine iacere, cuius memoria orbem terrarum gloria pervagetur. 4 At ille mandaverat caveratque, ut divinum illud et immortale factum versibus inscriberetur:
Hic situs est Rufus, pulso qui Vindice quondam
imperium asseruit non sibi sed patriae.
5 Tam rara in amicitiis fides, tam parata oblivio mortuorum, ut ipsi nobis debeamus etiam conditoria exstruere omniaque heredum officia praesumere. 6 Nam cui non est verendum, quod videmus accidisse Verginio? cuius iniuriam ut indigniorem, sic etiam notiorem ipsius claritas facit. Vale.
10. — TO ALBINUS.
On my arrival at my mother-in-law’s house near Alsium, which was once the property of Rufus Verginius, the sight of the place itself painfully renewed my regrets for that admirable and illustrious man. For this was the retreat where he commonly resided, calling it indeed “the dear little nest of his old age.” Turn where I would, my soul, my eyes, looked for him. I was desirous of seeing his monument as well, and repented having seen it. For it is still unfinished; nor is this owing to any difficulty in the undertaking (which is of moderate, or rather small, dimensions), but to the apathy of the person on whom the duty was enjoined. A sense of indignation mingled with pity steals over me to think that ten years after his death there should be lying without an epitaph, without a name over them, the ashes of one the glory of whose memory pervades the world. Yet he had enjoined and provided that that divine and immortal exploit of his should be inscribed in verse.
“Here Rufus lies, who Vindex overcame,
Not for his own, but for his country’s fame.”
So rare is fidelity in friendship, so easy is it to forget the dead, that we ought to raise for ourselves even our own sepulchres and to anticipate all the duties of our heirs. For who has not cause to fear what we see to have happened in the case of Verginius? Only in his case his celebrity makes the wrong done him, as it is the more undeserved, so also the more widely known.
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11. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.
1 O diem laetum! Adhibitus in consilium a praefecto urbis audivi ex diverso agentes summae spei summae indolis iuvenes, Fuscum Salinatorem et Ummidium Quadratum, egregium par nec modo temporibus nostris sed litteris ipsis ornamento futurum. 2 Mira utrique probitas, constantia salva, decorus habitus, os Latinum, vox virilis, tenax memoria, magnum ingenium, iudicium aequale; quae singula mihi voluptati fuerunt, atque inter haec illud, quod et ipsi me ut rectorem, ut magistrum intuebantur, et iis qui audiebant me aemulari, meis instare vestigiis videbantur. 3 O diem — repetam enim — laetum notandumque mihi candidissimo calculo! Quid enim aut publice laetius quam clarissimos iuvenes nomen et famam ex studiis petere, aut mihi optatius quam me ad recta tendentibus quasi exemplar esse propositum? 4 Quod gaudium ut perpetuo capiam deos oro; ab isdem teste te peto, ut omnes qui me imitari tanti putabunt meliores esse quam me velint. Vale.
11. — TO MAXIMUS.
O joyful day! Summoned to assist the Præfect of the city, I have heard two young men of the greatest promise and the highest qualities pleading against each other, Fuscus Salinator and Ummidius Quadratus, an admirable pair, destined to be ornaments not only of our age, but of learning itself. Both of them exhibited remarkable modesty, yet with resolution unimpaired. Their deportment was noble, their language pure Latin, their voices manly, their memories tenacious, and their great natural faculties were equalled by their judgment. Each of these things singly was a pleasure, and, together with them this, that the young men directed their glances at me as their guide and teacher, and seemed to those who heard them to be imitating me and treading in my footsteps. O day (for I must repeat it) most joyful, and to be marked by me with the whitest of stones! What, indeed, can be more joyful, in a public point of view, than that young men of the highest rank should be seeking a name and fame from intellectual pursuits; or more desirable for me personally than that I should be set up as a kind of model to such as have noble aims? I pray the gods to make me the constant recipient of such delight as this; and I beg of these same gods (taking you to witness) that all those who shall think it worth their while to imitate me may desire to be better than me.
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12. C. PLINIUS FABATO PROSOCERO SUO S.
1 Tu vero non debes suspensa manu commendare mihi quos tuendos putas. Nam et te decet multis prodesse et me suscipere quidquid ad curam tuam pertinet. 2 Itaque Bittio Prisco quantum plurimum potuero praestabo, praesertim in harena mea, hoc est apud centumviros. 3 Epistularum, quas mihi ut ais ‘aperto pectore’ scripsisti, oblivisci me iubes; at ego nullarum libentius memini. Ex illis enim vel praecipue sentio, quanto opere me diligas, cum sic exegeris mecum, ut solebas cum tuo filio. 4 Nec dissimulo hoc mihi iucundiores eas fuisse, quod habebam bonam causam, cum summo studio curassem quod tu curari volebas. 5 Proinde etiam atque etiam rogo, ut mihi semper eadem simplicitate, quotiens cessare videbor— ‘videbor’ dico, numquam enim cessabo -, convicium facias, quod et ego intellegam a summo amore proficisci, et tu non meruisse me gaudeas. Vale.
12. — TO FABATUS, HIS WIFE’S GRANDFATHER.
You, assuredly, ought not to hold your hand in recommending to me those persons whom you think worthy of support. For, not only is it becoming in you to render services to many, but it becomes me also to undertake whatever pertains to your wishes. Consequently I will do all in my power for Vettius Priscus, particularly in my own arena — that is, in the Centumviral Court. You bid me forget those letters which you wrote me, as you term it, with your heart laid open. But there are no letters which I more desire to bear in mind. For by these I am particularly made sensible of the strength of your affection for me, since you dealt with me as you were used to deal with your own son. Nor can I conceal from you that they were rendered all the more agreeable to me by the fact that I had a good case, since I had attended with the greatest diligence to what you wished attended to. Accordingly I entreat you, again and again, always to convey your reproaches to me in the same straightforward way as often as I shall seem to fall short (I say “seem,” for I never shall really fall short), since I shall understand that they proceed from the strength of your affection, and you will rejoic
e to find that I do not deserve them.