Letters of Pliny
XXVII -- To BAEBIUS MACER
IT gives me great pleasure to find you such a reader of my uncle's works
as to wish to have a complete collection of them, and to ask me for the
names of them all. I will act as index then, and you shall know the very
order in which they were written, for the studious reader likes to know
this. The first work of his was a treatise in one volume, "On the Use of
the Dart by Cavalry"; this he wrote when in command of one of the
cavalry corps of our allied troops, and is drawn up with great care and
ingenuity. "The Life of Pomponius Secundus,"[46] in two volumes.
Pomponius had a great affection for him, and he thought he owed this
tribute to his memory. "The History of the Wars in Germany," in twenty
books, in which he gave an account of all the battles we were engaged in
against that nation. A dream he had while serving in the army in Germany
first suggested the design of this work to him. He imagined that Drusus
Nero[47] (who extended his conquest very far into that country, and
there lost his life) appeared to him in his sleep, and entreated him to
rescue his memory from oblivion. Next comes a work entitled "The
Student," in three parts, which from their length spread into six
volumes: a work in which is discussed the earliest training and
subsequent education of the orator. "Questions of Grammar and Style," in
eight books, written in the latter part of Nero's reign, when the
tyranny of the times made it dangerous to engage in literary pursuits
requiring freedom and elevation of tone. He has completed the history
which Aufidius Bassus[48] left unfinished, and has added to it thirty
books. And lastly he has left thirty-seven books on Natural History, a
work of great compass and learning, and as full of variety as nature
herself. You will wonder how a man as busy as he was could find time to
compose so many books, and some of them too involving such care and
labour. But you will be still more surprised when you hear that he
pleaded at the bar for some time, that he died in his sixty-sixth year,
that the intervening time was employed partly in the execution of the
highest official duties, partly in attendance upon those emperors who
honoured him with their friendship. But he had a quick apprehension,
marvellous power of application, and was of an exceedingly wakeful
temperament. He always began to study at midnight at the time of the
feast of Vulcan, not for the sake of good luck, but for learning's sake;
in winter generally at one in the morning, but never later than two, and
often at twelve.[49] He was a most ready sleeper, insomuch that he would
sometimes, whilst in the midst of his studies, fall off and then wake up
again. Before day-break he used to wait upon Vespasian' (who also used
his nights for transacting business in), and then proceed to execute the
orders he had received. As soon as he returned home, he gave what time
was left to study. After a short and light refreshment at noon
(agreeably to the good old custom of our ancestors) he would frequently
in the summer, if he was disengaged from business, lie down and bask in
the sun; during which time some author was read to him, while he took
notes and made extracts, for every book he read he made extracts out of,
indeed it was a maxim of his, that "no book was so bad but some good
might be got out of it." When this was over, he generally took a cold
bath, then some light refreshment and a little nap. After this, as if it
had been a new day, he studied till supper-time, when a book was again
read to him, which he would take down running notes upon. I remember
once his reader having mis-pronounced a word, one of my uncle's friends
at the table made him go back to where the word was and repeat it again;
upon which my uncle said to his friend, "Surely you understood it?" Upon
his acknowledging that he did, "Why then," said he, "did you make him go
back again? We have lost more than ten lines by this interruption." Such
an economist he was of time! In the summer he used to rise from supper
at daylight, and in winter as soon as it was dark: a rule he observed as
strictly as if it had been a law of the state. Such was his manner of
life amid the bustle and turmoil of the town: but in the country his
whole time was devoted to study, excepting only when he bathed. In this
exception I include no more than the time during which he was actually
in the bath; for all the while he was being rubbed and wiped, he was
employed either in hearing some book read to him or in dictating
himself. In going about anywhere, as though he were disengaged from all
other business, he applied his mind wholly to that single pursuit. A
shorthand writer constantly attended him, with book and tablets, who, in
the winter, wore a particular sort of warm gloves, that the sharpness of
the weather might not occasion any interruption to my uncle's studies:
and for the same reason, when in Rome, he was always carried in a chair.
I recollect his once taking me to task for walking. "You need not," he
said, "lose these hours." For he thought every hour gone that was not
given to study. Through this extraordinary application he found time to
compose the several treatises I have mentioned, besides one hundred and
sixty volumes of extracts which he left me in his will, consisting of a
kind of common-place, written on both sides, in very small hand, so that
one might fairly reckon the number considerably more. He used himself to
tell us that when he was comptroller of the revenue in Spain, he could
have sold these manuscripts to Largius Licinus for four hundred thousand
sesterces,[50] and then there were not so many of them. When you
consider the books he has read, and the volumes he has written, are you
not inclined to suspect that he never was engaged in public duties or
was ever in the confidence of his prince? On the other hand, when you
are told how indefatigable he was in his studies, are you not inclined
to wonder that he read and wrote no more than he did? For, on one side,
what obstacles would not the business of a court throw in his way? and
on the other, what is it that such intense application might not effect?
It amuses me then when I hear myself called a studious man, who in
comparison with him am the merest idler. But why do I mention myself,
who am diverted from these pursuits by numberless affairs both public
and private? Who amongst those whose whole lives are devoted to literary
pursuits would not blush and feel himself the most confirmed of
sluggards by the side of him? I see I have run out my letter farther
than I had originally intended, which was only to let you know, as you
asked me, what works he had left behind him. But I trust this will be no
less acceptable to you than the books themselves, as it may, possibly,
not only excite your curiosity to read his works, but also your
emulation to copy his example, by some attempts of a similar nature.
Farewell.
XXVIII -- To ANNIUS SEVERUS
I HAVE lately purchased with a legacy that was left me a small statue of
Corinthian brass. It is small indeed, but elegant and life-like, as far
as I can form any judgment, which most certainly in matters of this
sort, as perhaps in all others, is extremely defective. However, I do
see the beauties of this figure: for, as it is naked the faults, if
there be any, as well as the perfections, are the more observable. It
represents an old man, in an erect attitude. The bones, muscles, veins,
and the very wrinkles, give the Impression of breathing life. The hair
is thin and failing, the forehead broad, the face shrivelled, the throat
lank, the arms loose and hanging, the breast shrunken, and the belly
fallen in, as the whole turn and air of the figure behind too is equally
expressive of old age. It appears to be true antique, judging from the
colour of the brass. In short, it is such a masterpiece as would strike
the eyes of a connoisseur, and which cannot fail to charm an ordinary
observer: and this induced me, who am an absolute novice in this art, to
buy it. But I did so, not with any intention of placing it in my own
house (for I have nothing of the kind there), but with a design of
fixing it in some conspicuous place in my native province; I should like
it best in the temple of Jupiter, for it is a gift well worthy of a
temple, well worthy of a god. I desire therefore you would, with that
care with which you always perform my requests, undertake this
commission and give immediate orders for a pedestal to be made for it,
out of what marble you please, but let my name be engraved upon it, and,
if you think proper to add these as well, my titles. I will send the
statue by the first person I can find who will not mind the trouble of
it; or possibly (which I am sure you will like better) I may myself
bring it along with me: for I intend, if business can spare me that is
to say, to make an excursion over to you. I see joy in your looks when I
promise to come; but you will soon change your countenance when I add,
only for a few days: for the same business that at present keeps me here
will prevent my making a longer stay. Farewell.
XXIX -- To CANINIUS RUFUS
I HAVE just been informed that Silius Italicus[51] has starved himself
to death, at his villa near Naples. Ill-health was the cause. Being
troubled with an incurable cancerous humour, he grew weary of life and
therefore put an end to it with a determination not to be moved. He had
been extremely fortunate all through his life with the exception of the
death of the younger of his two sons; however, he has left behind him
the elder and the worthier man of the two in a position of distinction,
having even attained consular rank. His reputation had suffered a little
in Nero's time, as he was suspected of having officiously joined in some
of the informations in that reign; but he used his interest with
Vitellius, with great discretion and humanity. He acquired considerable
honour by his administration of the government of Asia, and, by his good
conduct after his retirement from business, cleared his character from
that stain which his former public exertions had thrown upon it. He
lived as a private nobleman, without power, and consequently without
envy. Though he was frequently confined to his bed, and always to his
room, yet he was highly respected, and much visited; not with an
interested view, but on his own account. He employed his time between
conversing with literary men and composing verses; which he sometimes
read out, by way of testing the public opinion: but they evidence more
industry than genius. In the decline of his years he entirely quitted
Rome, and lived altogether in Campania, from whence even the accession
of the new emperor[52] could not draw him. A circumstance which I
mention as much to the honour of Cæsar, who was not displeased with that
liberty, as of Italicus, who was not afraid to make use of it. He was
reproached with indulging his taste for the fine arts at an immoderate
expense. He had several villas in the same province, and the last
purchase was always the especial favourite, to the neglect of all the
rest, These residences overflowed with books, statues, and pictures,
which he more than enjoyed, he even adored; particularly that of Virgil,
of whom he was so passionate an admirer that he celebrated the
anniversary of that poet's birthday with more solemnity than his own, at
Naples especially where he used to approach his tomb as if it had been a
temple. In this tranquillity he passed his seventy-fifth year, with a
delicate rather than an infirm constitution.
As he was the last person upon whom Nero conferred the consular office,
so he was the last survivor of all those who had been raised by him to
that dignity. It is also remarkable that, as he was the last to die of