33. — TO TACITUS.
I augur, nor does my augury deceive me, that your histories will be immortal, hence all the more (I will candidly confess it) do I desire to find a place in them. For if it is usually a subject of concern to us that our countenances should be represented by the best artists, ought we not to desire that our deeds may he favoured with a writer and eulogist such as you? I will indicate to you, then, a matter which cannot, however, have escaped your diligence, since it is in the public records; I will indicate it, notwithstanding, that you may the more readily believe how agreeable it will be to me if a deed of mine, the credit of which was increased by its danger, should be set off by your genius and your testimony.
The Senate had assigned me, in company with Herennius Senecio, as counsel for the province of Bætica, against Bæbius Massa, and, on the conviction of Massa, had decreed that his property should be in the custody of the state. Senecio, having ascertained that the Consuls would be at liberty to hear applications, came to me and said, “In the same spirit of harmony in which we have carried out the prosecution enjoined on us, let us go to the Consuls, and beg them not to suffer the property to be squandered which they ought to remain in charge of.” I replied, “As we were appointed counsel by the Senate, consider whether our functions have not been discharged, now that the Senate has concluded its investigation.” Said he, “Do you impose any limit on yourself that you choose, since there is no tie between you and the province except your own good service, and that a recent one. As for me, I was both born and have served as a Quæstor in it.” Thereupon I replied, “If this be your fixed determination, I will follow you, that if by chance any odium comes of it, it may not be confined to you.” We went to the Consuls, and Senecio spoke what the matter comported, to which I subjoined a few remarks. We had scarcely finished speaking, when Massa, crying out that Senecio was satisfying, not his engagement as an advocate, but his acrimony as a personal enemy, accused him of treason. All stood aghast. I, however, said, “I am afraid, most noble Consuls, that Massa by his silence must have taunted me with collusion, in that he did not accuse me too of treason.” This saying of mine was immediately taken up and afterwards much noised abroad. The late Emperor Nerva (for even while in a private station he paid attention to exhibitions of uprightness in public affairs), in a very weighty communication which he addressed to me, congratulated not only me, but the age, on being blessed with an example (it was thus that he wrote) of the antique kind.
All this, whatever its value, you will make better known, more celebrated, of greater import, though I do not require you to exaggerate what really took place. For not only is history bound not to depart from truth, but also for worthy deeds the truth is quite sufficient.
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LIBER OCTAVVS
BOOK VIII.
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1. C. PLINIUS SEPTICIO SUO S.
1 Iter commode explicui, excepto quod quidam ex meis adversam valetudinem ferventissimis aestibus contraxerunt. 2 Encolpius quidem lector, ille seria nostra ille deliciae, exasperatis faucibus pulvere sanguinem reiecit. Quam triste hoc ipsi, quam acerbum mihi, si is cui omnis ex studiis gratia inhabilis studiis fuerit! Quis deinde libellos meos sic leget, sic amabit? 3 Quem aures meae sic sequentur? Sed di laetiora promittunt. Stetit sanguis, resedit dolor. Praeterea continens ipse, nos solliciti, medici diligentes. Ad hoc salubritas caeli, secessus quies tantum salutis quantum otii pollicentur. Vale.
1. — TO SEPTICIUS.
I HAVE got to the end of my journey comfortably, with this exception, that some of my people have been rendered ill by the scorching heats. Encolpius, indeed, my reader, the delight of my serious as well as my sportive hours, had his throat so irritated by the dust that he spat blood. How sad this will be for himself, and how annoying to me, if one whose whole charm was derived from his literary pursuits, shall become unfitted for those pursuits! Moreover, who will there be to read my small productions as he does, and to take such a pleasure in them as he takes? However, the gods promise better fortune; the spitting of blood has ceased, and the pain has subsided. Add to this that the salubrity of the climate, our country quarters, our retired life, hold out as good a prospect of health as of repose.
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2. C. PLINIUS CALVISIO SUO S.
1 Alii in praedia sua proficiscuntur ut locupletiores revertantur, ego ut pauperior. Vendideram vindemias certatim negotiatoribus ementibus. Invitabat pretium, et quod tunc et quod fore videbatur. 2 Spes fefellit. Erat expeditum omnibus remittere aequaliter, sed non satis aequum. Mihi autem egregium in primis videtur ut foris ita domi, ut in magnis ita in parvis, ut in alienis ita in suis agitare iustitiam. Nam si paria peccata, pares etiam laudes. 3 Itaque omnibus quidem, ne quis ‘mihi non donatus abiret’, partem octavam pretii quo quis emerat concessi; deinde iis, qui amplissimas summas emptionibus occupaverant, separatim consului. Nam et me magis iuverant, et maius ipsi fecerant damnum. 4 Igitur iis qui pluris quam decem milibus emerant, ad illam communem et quasi publicam octavam addidi decimam eius summae, qua decem milia excesserant. 5 Vereor ne parum expresserim: apertius calculo ostendam. Si qui forte quindecim milibus emerant, hi et quindecim milium octavam et quinque milium decimam tulerunt. 6 Praeterea, cum reputarem quosdam ex debito aliquantum, quosdam aliquid, quosdam nihil reposuisse, nequaquam verum arbitrabar, quos non aequasset fides solutionis, hos benignitate remissionis aequari. 7 Rursus ergo iis qui solverant eius quod solverant decimam remisi. Per hoc enim aptissime et in praeteritum singulis pro cuiusque merito gratia referri, et in futurum omnes cum ad emendum tum etiam ad solvendum allici videbantur. 8 Magno mihi seu ratio haec seu facilitas stetit, sed fuit tanti. Nam regione tota et novitas remissionis et forma laudatur. Ex ipsis etiam quos non una, ut dicitur, pertica sed distincte gradatimque tractavi, quanto quis melior et probior, tanto mihi obligatior abiit expertus non esse apud me <ëen de iê timê êmen kakos êde kai esthlos’>. Vale.
2. — TO CALVISIUS.
Others set out for their estates that they may return thence the richer; I, that I may return the poorer. I had sold my vintages to certain dealers, who had bought them after a competition. They were attracted by the actual, as compared with the prospective price, and their expectations deceived them. The simple course was to make an equal remission all round; but this would have been hardly fair. Now to me it seems in the highest degree excellent, as abroad so at home, as in great things so in small, as in things foreign so in one’s own, to be diligent in the practice of equity. For if our sins be all of equal importance, so must our good deeds be. Accordingly, I remitted an eighth part of the purchase-money, and that to all, “that none should leave without my bounty feeling,” next, I had regard, separately, for those who had invested the largest sums in their purchases, for these had at the same time profited me more, and themselves suffered a greater loss. Hence, in the case of those who had bought for more than ten thousand sesterces, to the above eighth part, which was common to all, and, so to speak, a public gift, I added a tenth part of the amount by which they had exceeded the ten thousand. I am afraid that I have not made myself sufficiently intelligible, and will explain my way of reckoning more clearly. Suppose any persons to have bought for fifteen thousand, these would have got back not only an eighth of fifteen thousand, but a tenth of five thousand. Further, on reflecting that some had paid me a considerable portion of what they owed, others a trifle, others nothing at all, it seemed to me by no means just that those who were not on a level in the discharge of their obligations should be put on a level in regard to the favour of abatement. So, again, I remitted to those who had made payments a tenth part of that which they had paid. For this seemed the most fitting means, with reference to the past, of requiting them singly, in proportion to the deserts of each; and, with reference to the future, of enticing them not only to buy but to make payment. This calculation of mine, or this act of complaisance (whichever it may have
been), cost me a large sum, but it was worth the outlay. For, throughout the whole district, both the novelty of this remission, and also its form, are applauded. Even the people themselves, whom I treated, as the saying goes, not with one and the same measuring-rule, but with distinctions and gradations, left me all the more obliged to me, in proportion to the rectitude and probity of each, having experienced that it is not with me that —
“The good and bad an equal honour find.”
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3. C. PLINIUS SPARSO SUO S.
1 Librum quem novissime tibi misi, ex omnibus meis vel maxime placere significas. Est eadem opinio cuiusdam eruditissimi. 2 Quo magis adducor ut neutrum falli putem, quia non est credibile utrumque falli, et quia tamen blandior mihi. Volo enim proxima quaeque absolutissima videri, et ideo iam nunc contra istum librum faveo orationi, quam nuper in publicum dedi communicaturus tecum, ut primum diligentem tabellarium invenero. 3 Erexi exspectationem tuam, quam vereor ne destituat oratio in manus sumpta. Interim tamen tamquam placituram — et fortasse placebit — exspecta. Vale.
3. — TO SPARSUS.
You intimate that the book I last sent you is of all my works the one which pleases you most. Such is also the opinion of a friend of mine, a man of profound learning. And this is an additional inducement to me to believe that neither of you are mistaken, because it is not credible that both are mistaken, and because, in any case, I am ready to flatter myself. For I desire that my latest performances should always appear the most perfect, and hence, even at this moment, favour — as against the above book — an oration which I have lately published, and which shall be communicated to you so soon as I shall find a careful messenger. I have aroused your expectations, which I fear that the oration, when you have it in hand, will disappoint. Meanwhile, however, expect it as though it would be sure to please you — and perhaps it may please.
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4. C. PLINIUS CANINIO SUO S.
1 Optime facis, quod bellum Dacicum scribere paras. Nam quae tam recens tam copiosa tam elata, quae denique tam poetica et quamquam in verissimis rebus tam fabulosa materia? 2 Dices immissa terris nova flumina, novos pontes fluminibus iniectos, insessa castris montium abrupta, pulsum regia pulsum etiam vita regem nihil desperantem; super haec actos bis triumphos, quorum alter ex invicta gente primus, alter novissimus fuit. 3 Una sed maxima difficultas, quod haec aequare dicendo arduum immensum, etiam tuo ingenio, quamquam altissime assurgat et amplissimis operibus increscat. Non nullus et in illo labor, ut barbara et fera nomina, in primis regis ipsius, Graecis versibus non resultent. 4 Sed nihil est quod non arte curaque, si non potest vinci, mitigetur. Praeterea, si datur Homero et mollia vocabula et Graeca ad levitatem versus contrahere extendere inflectere, cur tibi similis audentia praesertim non delicata sed necessaria non detur? 5 Proinde iure vatum invocatis dis, et inter deos ipso, cuius res opera consilia dicturus es, immitte rudentes, pande vela ac, si quando alias, toto ingenio vehere. Cur enim non ego quoque poetice cum poeta? 6 Illud iam nunc paciscor: prima quaeque ut absolveris mittito, immo etiam ante quam absolvas, sicut erunt recentia et rudia et adhuc similia nascentibus. 7 Respondebis non posse perinde carptim ut contexta, perinde incohata placere ut effecta. Scio. Itaque et a me aestimabuntur ut coepta, spectabuntur ut membra, extremamque limam tuam opperientur in scrinio nostro. Patere hoc me super cetera habere amoris tui pignus, ut ea quoque norim quae nosse neminem velles. 8 In summa potero fortasse scripta tua magis probare laudare, quanto illa tardius cautiusque, sed ipsum te magis amabo magisque laudabo, quanto celerius et incautius miseris. Vale.
4. — TO CANINIUS.
You do admirably in preparing to write of the Dacian war. For where is the subject at the same time so recent, so abounding in incident, so vast, in short, so poetical, and — though dealing in events of the most real character — so like fable? You will tell of new rivers set flowing over the earth, new bridges thrown over rivers, mountain precipices occupied by camps, of a king who had despaired of nothing driven out of his palace, ay, and driven out of his life; besides this, of triumphs twice celebrated, one having been the first over a hitherto unconquered people, the other, the last.
The single drawback, yet an important one, is, that to equal all this in description must be an immense and arduous task even for your genius, rising though it does to the loftiest heights, and growing in proportion to the vastness of its undertakings. And there must be not a little labour in this too, in preventing barbarous and savage names (among the first, that of the King himself) from showing their repugnance to Greek metre. But there is nothing which skill and attention will not mitigate, even though they may fail to overcome it. Moreover, if it is permitted to Homer to contract, lengthen, and alter names, both soft and Greek, to suit the smoothness of his verse, why should not a similar licence be permitted to you, particularly when it results not from affectation but from necessity? Accordingly, poet-fashion, having invoked the gods — and among them him whose acts and works and counsels you are about to relate — loosen your ropes, spread your sails, and be carried on (if ever you have been) by the full force of your genius! Why indeed may not I too deal poetically with a poet? This much I bargain for at once: you must send me all your first fruits as soon as you have brought them to perfection; nay, rather, even before you have perfected them, just as they are, all fresh and unformed, and still resembling things at their birth. You will reply that what is taken piecemeal cannot please equally with that which is continuous, or what is rudimentary like that which is complete. I know it. And therefore they shall be judged of by me too as things merely begun; they shall be regarded as parts, and shall await your finishing touches in my desk. Suffer me to have this pledge, in addition to the others, of your friendship; that I be made acquainted even with such things as you would wish none to be acquainted with. In short, it may be that I shall admire and praise your writings more highly in proportion as you are slow and cautious about sending them; but I shall love you more highly, and praise you more highly, the greater your speed and the less your caution in doing so.
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5. C. PLINIUS GEMINO SUO S.
1 Grave vulnus Macrinus noster accepit: amisit uxorem singularis exempli, etiam si olim fuisset. Vixit cum hac triginta novem annis sine iurgio sine offensa. Quam illa reverentiam marito suo praestitit, cum ipsa summam mereretur! quot quantasque virtutes, ex diversis aetatibus sumptas, collegit et miscuit! 2 Habet quidem Macrinus grande solacium, quod tantum bonum tam diu tenuit, sed hinc magis exacerbatur quod amisit; nam fruendis voluptatibus crescit carendi dolor. 3 Ero ergo suspensus pro homine amicissimo, dum admittere avocamenta et cicatricem pati possit, quam nihil aeque ac necessitas ipsa et dies longa et satietas doloris inducit. Vale.
5. — TO GEMINUS.
Our friend Macrinus has received a severe blow. He has lost his wife, a model woman, even if she had lived in old times. With her he spent thirty-nine years without a quarrel and without offence. How great the respect she paid her husband, while herself worthy of respect in the highest degree! How numerous, how lofty the virtues, which, gathered from different ages, were assembled and united in her person. Macrinus indeed has one great solace, in that he retained so great a blessing for so long a time; and yet, for this reason, he is all the more embittered by the loss of it. FŸ“ the enjoyment of pleasures increases the pain of being deprived of them. I am therefore in a state of anxiety about my dear friend, till such time as he shall be able to admit of being diverted from his sorrow and allow his wound to heal. And this will be brought about by nothing so much as by necessity itself, by lapse of time, and satiety of grief.
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6. C. PLINIUS MONTANO SUO S.
1 Cognovisse iam ex epistula mea debes, adnotasse me nuper monumentum Pallantis sub hac inscriptione: ‘Huic senatus ob fidem pietatemque erga patronos ornamenta praetoria decrevit et sestertium centies quinquagies,
cuius honore contentus fuit.’ 2 Postea mihi visum est pretium operae ipsum senatus consultum quaerere. Inveni tam copiosum et effusum, ut ille superbissimus titulus modicus atque etiam demissus videretur. Conferant se misceantque, non dico illi veteres, Africani Achaici Numantini, sed hi proximi Marii Sullae Pompei — nolo progredi longius -: infra Pallantis laudes iacebunt. 3 Urbanos qui illa censuerunt putem an miseros? Dicerem urbanos, si senatum deceret urbanitas; miseros, sed nemo tam miser est ut illa cogatur. Ambitio ergo et procedendi libido? Sed quis adeo demens, ut per suum, per publicum dedecus procedere velit in ea civitate, in qua hic esset usus florentissimae dignitatis, ut primus in senatu laudare Pallantem posset? 4 Mitto quod Pallanti servo praetoria ornamenta offeruntur — quippe offeruntur a servis -, mitto quod censent non exhortandum modo verum etiam compellendum ad usum aureorum anulorum; erat enim contra maiestatem senatus, si ferreis praetorius uteretur. 5 Levia haec et transeunda, illa memoranda quod nomine Pallantis senatus — nec expiata postea curia est -, Pallantis nomine senatus gratias agit Caesari, quod et ipse cum summo honore mentionem eius prosecutus esset et senatui facultatem fecisset testandi erga eum benevolentiam suam. 6 Quid enim senatui pulchrius, quam ut erga Pallantem satis gratus videretur? Additur: ‘Ut Pallas, cui se omnes pro virili parte obligatos fatentur, singularis fidei singularis industriae fructum meritissimo ferat’. Prolatos imperii fines, redditos exercitus rei publicae credas. 7 Astruitur his: ‘Cum senatui populoque Romano liberalitatis gratior repraesentari nulla materia posset, quam si abstinentissimi fidelissimique custodis principalium opum facultates adiuvare contigisset’. Hoc tunc votum senatus, hoc praecipuum gaudium populi, haec liberalitatis materia gratissima, si Pallantis facultates adiuvare publicarum opum egestione contingeret. 8 Iam quae sequuntur? Voluisse quidem senatum censere dandum ex aerario sestertium centies quinquagies et quanto ab eius modi cupiditatibus remotior eius animus esset, tanto impensius petere a publico parente, ut eum compelleret ad cedendum senatui. 9 Id vero deerat, ut cum Pallante auctoritate publica ageretur, Pallas rogaretur ut senatui cederet, ut illi superbissimae abstinentiae Caesar ipse patronus, ipse advocaretur, ne sestertium centies quinquagies sperneret. Sprevit, quod solum potuit tantis opibus publice oblatis arrogantius facere, quam si accepisset. 10 Senatus tamen id quoque similis querenti laudibus tulit, his quidem verbis: sed cum princeps optimus parensque publicus rogatus a Pallante eam partem sententiae, quae pertinebat ad dandum ei ex aerario sestertium centies quinquagies, remitti voluisset, testari senatum, et se libenter ac merito hanc summam inter reliquos honores ob fidem diligentiamque Pallanti decernere coepisse, voluntati tamen principis sui, cui in nulla re fas putaret repugnare, in hac quoque re obsequi. 11 Imaginare Pallantem velut intercedentem senatus consulto moderantemque honores suos et sestertium centies quinquagies ut nimium recusantem, cum praetoria ornamenta tamquam minus recepisset; 12 imaginare Caesarem liberti precibus vel potius imperio coram senatu obtemperantem — imperat enim libertus patrono, quem in senatu rogat -; imaginare senatum usquequaque testantem merito libenterque se hanc summam inter reliquos honores Pallanti coepisse decernere et perseveraturum fuisse, nisi obsequeretur principis voluntati, cui non esset fas in ulla re repugnare. Ita ne sestertium centies quinquagies Pallas ex aerario ferret, verecundia ipsius obsequio senatus opus fuit in hoc praecipue non obsecuturi, si in ulla re putasset fas esse non obsequi.
Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Younger (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) Page 117