Here you have a letter which, if you consider the limits of a letter, is no shorter than the hook you have read. But you must lay this to your own account, for not having been contented with the hook.
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14. C. PLINIUS TACITO SUO S.
Nec ipse tibi plaudis, et ego nihil magis ex fide quam de te scribo. Posteris an aliqua cura nostri, nescio; nos certe meremur, ut sit aliqua, non dico ingenio — id enim superbum -, sed studio et labore et reverentia posterorum. Pergamus modo itinere instituto, quod ut paucos in lucem famamque provexit, ita multos e tenebis et silentio protulit. Vale.
14. — TO TACITUS.
You are not the man for self-applause; yet there is nothing which I write with more sincerity than what I write about you. Whether posterity will have any care for us I know not, yet we certainly deserve that it should have some: I do not say on account of our genius (that would be arrogance), but on account of our zeal, our labours, our regard for posterity. Let us only pursue the road we have determined on, one which, though it may have conducted but few to sunlight and fame, has yet brought many out of obscurity and oblivion.
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15. C. PLINIUS FALCONI SUO S.
1 Refugeram in Tuscos, ut omnia ad arbitrium meum facerem. At hoc ne in Tuscis quidem: tam multis undique rusticorum libellis et tam querulis inquietor, quos aliquanto magis invitus quam meos lego; nam et meos invitus. 2 Retracto enim actiunculas quasdam, quod post intercapedinem temporis et frigidum et acerbum est. Rationes quasi absente me negleguntur. 3 Interdum tamen equum conscendo et patrem familiae hactenus ago, quod aliquam partem praediorum, sed pro gestatione percurro. Tu consuetudinem serva, nobisque sic rusticis urbana acta perscribe. Vale.
15. — TO FALCO.
I fled for refuge to my Tuscan estate, with the view of acting according to my own fancy in all things; but not even in my Tuscan estate is this possible. I am troubled with such numerous applications on all sides from the farmers, and such grumbling ones; productions which I am rather more unwilling to read than my own writings; for even my own writings I read unwillingly. I am retouching certain short speeches, a work which, after a temporary intermission, is insipid and disagreeable. The estate accounts are neglected, as though I were absent. Occasionally, however, I mount my horse, and act the landlord so far as to ride over some portion of the farms, though merely for exercise. Do you keep up your habit, and write me in full (since you see what sort of a countryman I am) of the doings in town.
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16. C. PLINIUS MAMILIANO SUO S.
1 Summam te voluptatem percepisse ex isto copiosissimo genere venandi non miror, cum historicorum more scribas numerum iniri non potuisse. Nobis venari nec vacat nec libet: non vacat quia vindemiae in manibus, non libet quia exiguae. 2 Devehimus tamen pro novo musto novos versiculos tibique iucundissime exigenti ut primum videbuntur defervisse mittemus. Vale.
16. — TO MAMILIANUS.
I do not wonder that you have derived the greatest pleasure from such an abundant species of chase, when you write to me, after the manner of historians, that “the numbers could not be counted.” For my part, I have neither leisure nor inclination for hunting; no leisure, because my vintage is on hand; no inclination, because the vintage is small. However, in the place of new wine, I am drawing off some new verses, and, as you are so polite in requiring them, will send them to you as soon as they shall seem to have laid aside their fermentation.
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17. C. PLINIUS GENITORI SUO S.
1 Recepi litteras tuas quibus quereris taedio tibi fuisse quamvis lautissimam cenam, quia scurrae cinaedi moriones mensis inerrabant. 2 Vis tu remittere aliquid ex rugis? Equidem nihil tale habeo, habentes tamen fero. Cur ergo non habeo? Quia nequaquam me ut inexspectatum festivumve delectat, si quid molle a cinaedo, petulans a scurra, stultum a morione profertur. 3 Non rationem sed stomachum tibi narro. Atque adeo quam multos putas esse, quos ea quibus ego et tu capimur et ducimur, partim ut inepta partim ut molestissima offendant! Quam multi, cum lector aut lyristes aut comoedus inductus est, calceos poscunt aut non minore cum taedio recubant, quam tu ista — sic enim appellas — prodigia perpessus es! 4 Demus igitur alienis oblectationibus veniam, ut nostris impetremus. Vale.
17. — TO GENITOR.
Your letter is to hand, in which you complain that a dinner of the most sumptuous description bored you, in consequence of buffoons, wantons, and fools strolling about the tables. Pray, smooth those wrinkles of yours a bit! To be sure I keep nothing of the kind, yet I bear with those who do. Why don’t I keep them? Because I derive not the slightest pleasure either in the way of surprise or gaiety from any exhibition of looseness on the part of a wanton, or sauciness on the part of a buffoon, or silliness on the part of a fool. I am stating to you not my reasons, but my taste. And in truth, how many do you suppose there are who in the same way are offended at the things by which you and I are captivated and allured, deeming them to be partly foolish and partly irksome in a high degree! How many there are who, when a reader, or a performer on the lyre, or a comedian is introduced, call for their shoes, or remain at table with no less ennui than that with which you sat out these monstrosities, as you style them! Let us then make allowance for other people’s amusements, that we may obtain allowance for our own.
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18. C. PLINIUS SABINO SUO S.
1 Qua intentione, quo studio, qua denique memoria legeris libellos meos, epistula tua ostendit. Ipse igitur exhibes negotium tibi qui elicis et invitas, ut quam plurima communicare tecum velim. 2 Faciam, per partes tamen et quasi digesta, ne istam ipsam memoriam, cui gratias ago, assiduitate et copia turbem oneratamque et quasi oppressam cogam pluribus singula posterioribus priora dimittere. Vale.
18. — TO SABINUS.
How great has been the attention, the interest, the memory, in fine, with which you have read my small productions, is shown by your letter. You are therefore spontaneously cutting out work for yourself by enticing and alluring me to communicate to you as many as possible of my writings. I will do so, yet in parts at a time, and portioned out, so to speak, lest that very memory of yours which I have to thank should be confused by the constant succession and mass of matter, and, weighted and as it were oppressed, should lose its hold on particulars in consequence of their quantity, and on what has preceded in consequence of what follows.
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19. C. PLINIUS RUSONI SUO S.
1 Significas legisse te in quadam epistula mea iussisse Verginium Rufum inscribi sepulcro suo:
Hic situs est Rufus, pulso qui Vindice quondam
imperium asseruit non sibi sed patriae.
Reprehendis quod iusserit, addis etiam melius rectiusque Frontinum, quod vetuerit omnino monumentum sibi fieri, meque ad extremum quid de utroque sentiam consulis. 2 Utrumque dilexi, miratus sum magis quem tu reprehendis, atque ita miratus ut non putarem satis umquam posse laudari, cuius nunc mihi subeunda defensio est. 3 Omnes ego qui magnum aliquid memorandumque fecerunt, non modo venia verum etiam laude dignissimos iudico, si immortalitatem quam meruere sectantur, victurique nominis famam supremis etiam titulis prorogare nituntur. 4 Nec facile quemquam nisi Verginium invenio, cuius tanta in praedicando verecundia quanta gloria ex facto. 5 Ipse sum testis, familiariter ab eo dilectus probatusque, semel omnino me audiente provectum, ut de rebus suis hoc unum referret, ita secum aliquando Cluvium locutum: ‘Scis, Vergini, quae historiae fides debeatur; proinde si quid in historiis meis legis aliter ac velis rogo ignoscas.’ Ad hoc ille: ‘Tune ignoras, Cluvi, ideo me fecisse quod feci, ut esset liberum vobis scribere quae libuisset?’ 6 Age dum, hunc ipsum Frontinum in hoc ipso, in quo tibi parcior videtur et pressior, comparemus. Vetuit exstrui monumentum, sed quibus verbis? ‘Impensa monumenti supervacua est; memoria nostri durabit, si vita meruimus.’ An restrictius arbit
raris per orbem terrarum legendum dare duraturam memoriam suam quam uno in loco duobus versiculis signare quod feceris? 7 Quamquam non habeo propositum illum reprehendendi, sed hunc tuendi; cuius quae potest apud te iustior esse defensio, quam ex collatione eius quem praetulisti? 8 Meo quidem iudicio neuter culpandus, quorum uterque ad gloriam pari cupiditate, diverso itinere contendit, alter dum expetit debitos titulos, alter dum mavult videri contempsisse. Vale.
19. — TO RUSO.
You intimate to me that you have read in a certain letter of mine how Verginius Rufus ordered this epitaph to be placed on his tomb —
“Here Rufus lies, who Vindex overcame,
Not for his own, but for his country’s fame.”
You find fault with him for having ordered this; you go so far as to add that Frontinus acted better and more appropriately in forbidding any monument whatever to be erected to himself; and you end by consulting me as to my opinion in either case. I loved both of them. I had the greater admiration for the one whom you find fault with; such admiration, indeed, as to think that he never could he sufficiently praised, though I have now to undertake his defence. I judge all those who have done anything great and memorable to be in the highest deserving, not only of excuse, but actually of praise, if they pursue with eagerness the immortality which they have merited, and strive to prolong the renown of a name destined to live, even through the medium of sepulchral inscriptions. Nor can I easily find any one besides Verginius whose modesty in setting forth his deeds has equalled his glory in performing them. I, who enjoyed his intimate affection and approval, can personally testify that only on a single occasion in my hearing did he go so far as to relate just this one anecdote on the subject of his own actions, namely, that Cluvius had once addressed him in these terms: “You know, Verginius, the truthfulness which is due to history; accordingly, if you should read anything in my histories different from what you would wish, pray forgive me.” To which he replied, “Are you ignorant, Cluvius, that I did what I did precisely that it might be free to you authors to write what you chose?”
Come, now, let us compare this very Frontinus in the very respect in which he seems to you more modest and restrained. He forbad a monument to be constructed; but in what words? “The expense of a monument is superfluous. My memory will endure if my life deserved it.” Do you think it more modest to give out, to be read over the whole world, that one’s memory will endure, than in one single spot to inscribe what you have done, in a couple of verses? Though, to be sure, it is not my object to find fault with Frontinus, but to defend Verginius; and what can be a juster defence of him, as far as you are concerned, than that which arises from a comparison with him of the person you have preferred? In my judgment, indeed, neither of them is to be blamed, since both strove after glory with equal longing, though by a different road — one by desiring the inscription which was his due, the other by choosing rather the appearance of despising it.
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20. C. PLINIUS VENATORI SUO S.
1 Tua vero epistula tanto mihi iucundior fuit quanto longior erat, praesertim cum de libellis meis tota loqueretur; quos tibi voluptati esse non miror, cum omnia nostra perinde ac nos ames. 2 Ipse cum maxime vindemias graciles quidem, uberiores tamen quam exspectaveram colligo, si colligere est non numquam decerpere uvam, torculum invisere, gustare de lacu mustum, obrepere urbanis, qui nunc rusticis praesunt meque notariis et lectoribus reliquerunt. Vale.
20. — TO VENATOR.
Your letter, assuredly, was all the more agreeable to me in proportion to its length, particularly as the whole of it was on the subject of my small productions; and I do not wonder at these being a pleasure to you, since you love everything connected with me just as you love me in person. I am, at the present moment, gathering in my vintage, a slender one, to be sure, yet a more plentiful one than I had anticipated — if “gathering in” it can be called to pluck a grape now and then, to visit the press, to taste the new wine out of the vat, to drop in on my servants from town, who are now overlooking the country ones, and who have left me to the company of my secretaries and readers.
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21. C. PLINIUS SABINIANO SUO S.
1 Libertus tuus, cui suscensere te dixeras, venit ad me advolutusque pedibus meis tamquam tuis haesit. Flevit multum, multum rogavit, multum etiam tacuit, in summa fecit mihi fidem paenitentiae verae: credo emendatum quia deliquisse se sentit. 2 Irasceris, scio, et irasceris merito, id quoque scio; sed tunc praecipua mansuetudinis laus, cum irae causa iustissima est. 3 Amasti hominem et, spero, amabis: interim sufficit ut exorari te sinas. Licebit rursus irasci, si meruerit, quod exoratus excusatius facies. Remitte aliquid adulescentiae ipsius, remitte lacrimis, remitte indulgentiae tuae. Ne torseris illum, ne torseris etiam te; torqueris enim cum tam lenis irasceris. 4 Vereor ne videar non rogare sed cogere, si precibus eius meas iunxero; iungam tamen tanto plenius et effusius, quanto ipsum acrius severiusque corripui, destricte minatus numquam me postea rogaturum. Hoc illi, quem terreri oportebat, tibi non idem; nam fortasse iterum rogabo, impetrabo iterum: sit modo tale, ut rogare me, ut praestare te deceat. Vale.
21. — TO SABINIANUS.
Your freedman, whom you told me you were so angry with, came to me and prostrated himself, and clung to my feet as though they had been your own. There were many tears, many prayers, and even much silence on his part; in short, he convinced me of his penitence. I believe him to be truly amended, because he feels that he has sinned. You are angry, I know, and you are rightly angry, that I know too; but it is precisely when there is the most just ground for anger that clemency is entitled to the highest praise. You have loved the man, and I hope you will love him again; meanwhile it will suffice that you permit yourself to be entreated. It will be lawful for you to be angry with him anew if he shall have deserved it; and if you are entreated now, you will do this with a better excuse. Make some allowance in view of the man’s youth, in view of his tears, in view of your own goodness of heart. Do not torment him, and do not torment yourself into the bargain. For you are tormented, you, who are so gentle, when you are angry. I fear that I shall seem not so much to entreat as to compel, should my prayers be joined to his. I will, however, join them, and they are all the stronger and the more profuse in proportion to the sharpness and severity with which I reprimanded him, having strictly threatened him that I would never again make an application to you. So much to him, for it was proper that he should be frightened; I do not say the same to you. For possibly I may again apply to you, and again obtain my object. May it only be such as it will become me to ask for and you to vouchsafe!
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22. C. PLINIUS SEVERO SUO S.
1 Magna me sollicitudine affecit Passenni Pauli valetudo, et quidem plurimis iustissimisque de causis. Vir est optimus honestissimus, nostri amantissimus; praeterea in litteris veteres aemulatur exprimit reddit, Propertium in primis, a quo genus ducit, vera suboles eoque simillima illi in quo ille praecipuus. 2 Si elegos eius in manus sumpseris, leges opus tersum molle iucundum, et plane in Properti domo scriptum. Nuper ad lyrica deflexit, in quibus ita Horatium ut in illis illum alterum effingit: putes si quid in studiis cognatio valet, et huius propinquum. Magna varietas magna mobilitas: amat ut qui verissime, dolet ut qui impatientissime, laudat ut qui benignissime, ludit ut qui facetissime, omnia denique tamquam singula absolvit. 3 Pro hoc ego amico, pro hoc ingenio non minus aeger animo quam corpore ille, tandem illum tandem me recepi. Gratulare mihi, gratulare etiam litteris ipsis, quae ex periculo eius tantum discrimen adierunt, quantum ex salute gloriae consequentur. Vale.
22. — TO SEVERUS.
The illness of Passienus Paullus has caused me great anxiety, and this for many excellent reasons. He is a man of the highest worth and honour, and one who is greatly attached to me; moreover, in literature he rivals, recalls, and reproduces the ancients, particularly Propertius, from whom he is descended, whose genuine offspri
ng he is, and whom he most resembles in the points’ in which the former excelled. If you take his elegiacs in hand, you will read a polished, dainty, charming book, an evident production of the household of Propertius. Recently he has turned to lyrics, in which he presents us with Horace, just as in the former kind of poetry with Propertius. You would suppose, if relationship has any power in letters, that he must be Horace’s kinsman as well. He is full of variety and flexibility. His love passages are those of a genuine lover; he mourns like one who will not be consoled; his praise is of the most benign, and his playfulness of the most humorous character; in short, he bestows the same pains on the tout ensemble as on the several parts. Sick in mind (no less than he was sick in body) on account of such a friend and such a genius, I have at length recovered him and have myself recovered. Congratulate me, congratulate literature itself too, which has encountered as great a risk from his peril as it will obtain glory in consequence of his safety.
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23. C. PLINIUS MAXIMO SUO S.
1 Frequenter agenti mihi evenit, ut centumviri cum diu se intra iudicum auctoritatem gravitatemque tenuissent, omnes repente quasi victi coactique consurgerent laudarentque; 2 frequenter e senatu famam qualem maxime optaveram rettuli: numquam tamen maiorem cepi voluptatem, quam nuper ex sermone Corneli Taciti. Narrabat sedisse secum circensibus proximis equitem Romanum. Hunc post varios eruditosque sermones requisisse: ‘Italicus es an provincialis?’ Se respondisse: ‘Nosti me, et quidem ex studiis.’ 3 Ad hoc illum: ‘Tacitus es an Plinius?’ Exprimere non possum, quam sit iucundum mihi quod nomina nostra quasi litterarum propria, non hominum, litteris redduntur, quod uterque nostrum his etiam e studiis notus, quibus aliter ignotus est.
Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Younger (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) Page 125