Letters of Pliny
this is a little private closet (which, though it seems distinct, may
form part of the same room), furnished with a couch, and notwithstanding
it has windows on every side, yet it enjoys a very agreeable gloom, by
means of a spreading vine which climbs to the top, and entirely
overshadows it. Here you may lie and fancy yourself in a wood, with this
only difference, that you are not exposed to the weather as you would be
there. Here too a fountain rises and instantly disappears--several
marble seats are set in different places, which are as pleasant as the
summer-house itself after one is tired out with walking. Near each is a
little fountain, and throughout the whole hippodrome several small rills
run murmuring along through pipes, wherever the hand of art has thought
proper to conduct them, watering here and there different plots of
green, and sometimes all parts at once. I should have ended before now,
for fear of being too chatty, had I not proposed in this letter to lead
you into every corner of my house and gardens. Nor did I apprehend your
thinking it a trouble to read the description of a place which I feel
sure would please you were you to see it; especially as you can stop
just when you please, and by throwing aside my letter, sit down as it
were, and give yourself a rest as often as you think proper. Besides, I
gave my little passion indulgence, for I have a passion for what I have
built, or finished, myself. In a word, (for why should I conceal from my
friend either my deliberate opinion or my prejudice?) I look upon it as
the first duty of every writer to frequently glance over his title-page
and consider well the subject he has proposed to himself; and he may be
sure, if he dwells on his subject, he cannot justly be thought tedious,
whereas if, on the contrary, he introduces and drags in anything
irrelevant, he will be thought exceedingly so. Homer, you know, has
employed many verses in the description of the arms of Achilles, as
Virgil has also in those of Aeneas, yet neither 'of them is prolix,
because they each keep within the limits of their original design.
Aratus, you observe, is not considered too circumstantial, though he
traces and enumerates the minutest stars, for he does not go out of his
way for that purpose, but only follows where his subject leads him. In
the same way (to compare small things with great), so long as, in
endeavouring to give you an idea of my house, I have not introduced
anything irrelevant or superfluous, it is not my letter which describes,
but my villa which is described, that is to be considered large. But to
return to where I began, lest I should justly be condemned by my own
law, if I continue longer in this digression, you see now the reasons
why I prefer my Tuscan villa to those which I possess at Tusculum,
Tiber, and Praeneste.[76] Besides the advantages already mentioned, I
enjoy here a cozier, more profound and undisturbed retirement than
anywhere else, as I am at a greater distance from the business of the
town and the interruption of troublesome clients. All is calm and
composed; which circumstances contribute no less than its clear air and
unclouded sky to that health of body and mind I particularly enjoy in
this place, both of which I keep in full swing by study and hunting. And
indeed there is no place which agrees better with my family, at least I
am sure I have not yet lost one (may the expression be allowed![77]) of
all those I brought here with me. And may the gods continue that
happiness to me, and that honour to my villa. Farewell.
LIII -- To CALVISIUS
IT is certain the law does not allow a corporate city to inherit any
estate by will, or to receive a legacy. Saturninus, however, who has
appointed me his heir, had left a fourth part of his estate to our
corporation of Comum; afterwards, instead of a fourth part, he
bequeathed four hundred thousand sesterces.[78] This bequest, in the eye
of the law, is null and void, but, considered as the clear and express
will of the deceased, ought to stand firm and valid. Myself, I consider
the will of the dead (though I am afraid what I say will not please the
lawyers) of higher authority than the law, especially when the interest
of one's native country is concerned. Ought I, who made them a present
of eleven hundred thousand sesterces[79] out of my own patrimony, to
withhold a benefaction of little more than a third part of that sum out
of an estate which has come quite by a chance into my hands? You, who
like a true patriot have the same affection for this our common country,
will agree with me in opinion, I feel sure. I wish therefore you would,
at the next meeting of the Decurii, acquaint them, just briefly and
respectfully, as to how the law stands in this case, and then add that I
offer them four hundred thousand sesterces according to the direction in
Saturninus' will. You will represent this donation as his present and
his liberality; I only claim the merit of complying with his request. I
did not trouble to write to their senate about this, fully relying as I
do upon our intimate friendship and your wise discretion, and being
quite satisfied that you are both able and willing to act for me upon
this occasion as I would for myself; besides, I was afraid I should not
seem to have so cautiously guarded my expressions in a letter as you
will be able to do in a speech. The countenance, the gesture, and even
the tone of voice govern and determine the sense of the speaker, whereas
a letter, being without these advantages, is more liable to malignant
misinterpretation. Farewell.
LIV -- To MARCELLINUS
I WRITE this to you in the deepest sorrow: the youngest daughter of my
friend Fundanus is dead! I have never seen a more cheerful and more
lovable girl, or one who better deserved to have enjoyed a long, I had
almost said an immortal, life! She was scarcely fourteen, and yet there
was in her a wisdom far beyond her years, a matronly gravity united with
girlish sweetness and virgin bashfulness. With what an endearing
fondness did she hang on her father's neck! How affectionately and
modestly she used to greet us his friends! With what a tender and
deferential regard she used to treat her nurses, tutors, teachers, each
in their respective offices! What an eager, industrious, intelligent,
reader she was! She took few amusements, and those with caution. How
self-controlled, how patient, how brave, she was, under her last
illness! She complied with all the directions of her physicians; she
spoke cheerful, comforting words to her sister and her father; and when
all her bodily strength was exhausted, the vigour of her mind sustained
her. That indeed continued even to her last moments, unbroken by the
pain of a long illness, or the terrors of approaching death; and it is a
reflection which makes us miss her, and grieve that she has gone from
us, the more. 0 melancholy, untimely, loss, too truly! She was engaged
to an excellent young man; the wedding-day was fixed, and we were all
invited. How our joy has been turned into sorrow! I cannot express in
words the inward pain I felt when I heard Fundanus himself (as grief is
ever finding out fresh circumstances to aggravate its affliction)
ordering the money he had intended laying out upon clothes, pearls, and
jewels for her marriage, to be employed in frankincense, ointments, and
perfumes for her funeral. He is a man of great learning and good sense,
who has applied himself from his earliest youth to the deeper studies
and the fine arts, but all the maxims of fortitude which he has received
from books, or advanced himself, he now absolutely rejects, and every
other virtue of his heart gives place to all a parent's tenderness. You
will excuse, you will even approve, his grief, when you consider what he
has lost. He has lost a daughter who resembled him in his manners, as
well as his person, and exactly copied out all her father. So, if you
should think proper to write to him upon the subject of so reasonable a
grief, let me remind you not to use the rougher arguments of
consolation, and such as seem to carry a sort of reproof with them, but
those of kind and sympathizing humanity. Time will render him more open
to the dictates of reason: for as a fresh wound shrinks back from the
hand of the surgeon, but by degrees submits to, and even seeks of its
own accord the means of its cure, so a mind under the first impression
of a misfortune shuns and rejects all consolations, but at length
desires and is lulled by their gentle application. Farewell.
LV -- To SPURINNA
KNOWING, as I do, how much you admire the polite arts, and what
satisfaction you take in seeing young men of quality pursue the steps of
their ancestors, I seize this earliest opportunity of informing you that
I went to-day to hear Calpurnius Piso read a beautiful and scholarly
production of his, entitled the Sports of Love. His numbers, which were
elegiac, were tender, sweet, and flowing, at the same time that they
occasionally rose to all the sublimity of diction which the nature of
his subject required. He varied his style from the lofty to the simple,
from the close to the copious, from the grave to the florid, with equal
genius and judgment. These beauties were further recommended by a most
harmonious voice; which a very becoming modesty rendered still more
pleasing. A confusion and concern in the countenance of a speaker
imparts a grace to all he utters; for diffidence, I know not how, is
infinitely more engaging than assurance and self-sufficiency. I might
mention several other circumstances to his advantage, which I am the
more inclined to point out, as they are exceedingly striking in one of
his age, and are most uncommon in a youth of his quality: but not to
enter into a farther detail of his merit, I will only add that, when he
had finished his poem, I embraced him very heartily, and being persuaded
that nothing is a greater encouragement than applause, I exhorted him to
go on as he had begun, and to shine out to posterity with the same
glorious lustre, which was reflected upon him from his ancestors. I
congratulated his excellent mother, and particularly his brother, who
gained as much honour by the generous affection he manifested upon this
occasion as Calpurnius did by his eloquence; so remarkable a solicitude
he showed for him when he began to recite his poem, and so much pleasure
in his success. May the gods grant me frequent occasions of giving you
accounts of this nature! for I have a partiality to the age in which I
live, and should rejoice to find it not barren of merit. I ardently
wish, therefore, our young men of quality would have something else to
show of honourable memorial in their houses than the images[80] of their
ancestors. As for those which are placed in the mansion of these
excellent youths, I now figure them to myself as silently applauding and
encouraging their pursuits, and (what is a sufficient degree of honour
to both brothers) as recognizing their kindred. Farewell.
LVI -- To PAULINUS
As I know the humanity with which you treat your own servants, I have
less reserve in confessing to you the indulgence I shew to mine. I have
ever in my mind that line of Homer's --
"Who swayed his people with a father's love":
and this expression of ours, "father of a family." But were I harsher
and harder than I really am by nature, the ill state of health of my
freedman Zosimus (who has the stronger claim upon my tenderness, in that
he now stands in more especial need of it) would be sufficient to soften
me. He is a good, honest fellow, attentive in his services, and well-
read; but his chief talent, and indeed his distinguishing qualification,
is that of a comedian, in which he highly excels. His pronunciation is