Letters of Pliny
direct road, to enjoy a more flowery path: for it was energy, not
austerity, at which I aimed. I would not have you imagine by this that I
am bespeaking your indulgence: on the contrary, to make your correcting
pen more vigorous, I will confess that neither my friends nor myself are
averse from the publication of this piece, if only you should join in
the approval of what is perhaps my folly. The truth is, as I must
publish something, I wish it might be this performance rather than any
other, because it is already finished: (you hear the wish of laziness.)
At all events, however, something I must publish, and for many reasons;
chiefly because of the tracts which I have already sent in to the world,
though they have long since lost all their recommendation from novelty,
are still, I am told, in request; if, after all, the booksellers are not
tickling my ears. And let them; since, by that innocent deceit, I am
encouraged to pursue my studies. Farewell.
III -- To VOCONIUS ROMANUS
DID YOU ever meet with a more abject and mean-spirited creature than
Marcus Regulus since the death of Domitian, during whose reign his
conduct was no less infamous, though more concealed, than under Nero's?
He began to be afraid I was angry with him, and his apprehensions were
perfectly correct; I was angry. He had not only done his best to
increase the peril of the position in which Rusticus Arulenus[1] stood,
but had exulted in his death; insomuch that he actually recited and
published a libel upon his memory, in which he styles him "The Stoics'
Ape": adding, "stigmated[2] with the Vitellian scar."[3] You recognize
Regulus' eloquent strain! He fell with such fury upon the
character of Herennius Senecio that Metius Carus said to him, one day,
"What business have you with my dead? Did I ever interfere in the affair
of Crassus[4] or Camerinus?"[5] Victims, you know, to Regulus, in Nero's
time. For these reasons he imagined I was highly exasperated, and so at
the recitation of his last piece, I got no invitation. Besides, he had
not forgotten, it seems, with what deadly purpose he had once attacked
me in the Court of the Hundred.[6] Rusticus had desired me to act as
counsel for Arionilla, Titnon's wife: Regulus was engaged against me. In
one part of the case I was strongly insisting upon a particular judgment
given by Metius Modestus, an excellent man, at that time in banishment
by Domitian's order. Now then for Regulus. "Pray," says he, "what is
your opinion of Modestus?" You see what a risk I should have run had I
answered that I had a high opinion of him, how I should have disgraced
myself on the other hand if I had replied that I had a bad opinion of
him. But some guardian power, I am persuaded, must have stood by me to
assist me in this emergency. "I will tell you my opinion," I said, "if
that is a matter to be brought before the court." "I ask you," he
repeated, "what is your opinion of Modestus?" I replied that it was
customary to examine witnesses to the character of an accused man, not
to the character of one on whom sentence had already been passed. He
pressed me a third time. "I do not now enquire," said he, "your opinion
of Modestus in general, I only ask your opinion of his loyalty." "Since
you will have my opinion then," I rejoined, "I think it illegal even to
ask a question concerning a person who stands convicted." He sat down at
this, completely silenced; and I received applause and congratulation on
all sides, that without injuring my reputation by an advantageous,
perhaps, though ungenerous answer, I had not entangled myself in the
toils of so insidious a catch-question. Thoroughly frightened upon this
then, he first seizes upon Caecilius Celer, next he goes and begs of
Fabius Justus, that they would use their joint interest to bring about a
reconciliation between us. And lest this should not be sufficient, he
sets off to Spurinna as well; to whom he came in the humblest way (for
he is the most abject creature alive, where he has anything to be afraid
of) and says to him, "Do, I entreat of you, call on Pliny to-morrow
morning, certainly in the morning, no later (for I cannot endure this
anxiety of mind longer), and endeavour by any means in your power to
soften his resentment." I was already up, the next day, when a message
arrived from Spurinna, "I am coming to call on you." I sent word back,
"Nay, I will wait upon you;" however, both of us setting out to pay this
visit, we met under Livia's portico. He acquainted me with the
commission he had received from Regulus, and interceded for him as
became so worthy a man in behalf of one so totally dissimilar, without
greatly pressing the thing. "I will leave it to you," was my reply, "to
consider what answer to return Regulus; you ought not to be deceived by
me. I am waiting for Mauricus'[7] return" (for he had not yet come back
out of exile), "so that I cannot give you any definite answer either
way, as I mean to be guided entirely by his decision, for he ought to be
my leader here, and I simply to do as he says." Well, a few days after
this, Regulus met me as I was at the praetor's; he kept close to me
there and begged a word in private, when he said he was afraid I deeply
resented an expression he had once made use of in his reply to Satrius
and myself, before the Court of the Hundred, to this effect, "Satrius
Rufus, who does not endeavour to rival Cicero, and who is content with
the eloquence of our own day." I answered, now I perceived indeed, upon
his own confession, that he had meant it ill-naturedly; otherwise it
might have passed for a compliment. "For I am free to own," I said,
"that I do endeavour to rival Cicero, and am not content with the
eloquence of our own day. For I consider it the very height of folly not
to copy the best models of every kind. But, how happens it that you, who
have so good a recollection of what passed upon this occasion, should
have forgotten that other, when you asked me my opinion of the loyalty
of Modestus?" Pale as he always is, he turned simply pallid at this, and
stammered out, "I did not intend to hurt you when I asked this question,
but Modestus." Observe the vindictive cruelty of the fellow, who made no
concealment of his willingness to injure a banished man. But the reason
he alleged in justification of his conduct is pleasant. Modestus, he
explained, in a letter of his, which was read to Domitian, had used the
following expression, "Regulus, the biggest rascal that walks upon two
feet:" and what Modestus had written was the simple truth, beyond all
manner of controversy. Here, about, our conversation came to an end, for
I did not wish to proceed further, being desirous to keep matters open
until Mauricus returns. It is no easy matter, I am well aware of that,
to destroy Regulus; he is rich, and at the head of a party; courted[8]
by many, feared by more: a passion that will sometimes prevail even
beyond friendship itself. But, after all, ties of this sort are not so
strong but they may be loosened; for a bad man's credit is as shifty as
himself. However (to repeat), I am waiting until Mauricus comes back. He
is a man of sound judgment and great sagacity formed upon long
experience, and who, from his observations of the past, well knows how
to judge of the future. I shall talk the matter over with him, and
consider myself justified either in pursuing or dropping this affair, as
he shall advise. Meanwhile I thought I owed this account to our mutual
friendship, which gives you an undoubted right to know about not only
all my actions but all my plans as well. Farewell.
IV -- To CORNELIUS TACITUS
You will laugh (and you are quite welcome) when I tell you that your old
acquaintance is turned sportsman, and has taken three noble boars.
"What!" you exclaim, "Pliny!"--Even he. However, I indulged at the same
time my beloved inactivity; and, whilst I sat at my nets, you would have
found me, not with boar spear or javelin, but pencil and tablet, by my
side. I mused and wrote, being determined to return, if with all my
hands empty, at least with my memorandums full. Believe me, this way of
studying is not to be despised: it is wonderful how the mind is stirred
and quickened into activity by brisk bodily exercise. There is
something, too, in the solemnity of the venerable woods with which one
is surrounded, together with that profound silence which is observed on
these occasions, that forcibly disposes the mind to meditation. So for
the future, let me advise you, whenever you hunt, to take your tablets
along with you, as well as your basket and bottle, for be assured you
will find Minerva no less fond of traversing the hills than Diana.
Farewell.
V -- To POMPEIUS SATURNINUS
NOTHING could be more seasonable than the letter which I received from
you, in which you so earnestly beg me to send you some of my literary
efforts: the very thing I was intending to do. So you have only put
spurs into a willing horse and at once saved yourself the excuse of
refusing the trouble, and me the awkwardness of asking the favour.
Without hesitation then I avail myself of your offer; as you must now
take the consequence of it without reluctance. But you are not to expect
anything new from a lazy fellow, for I am going to ask you to revise
again the speech I made to my fellow-townsmen when I dedicated the
public library to their use. You have already, I remember, obliged me
with some annotations upon this piece, but only in a general way; and so
I now beg of you not only to take a general view of the whole speech,
but, as you usually do, to go over it in detail. When you have corrected
it, I shall still be at liberty to publish or suppress it: and the delay
in the meantime will be attended with one of these alternatives; for,
while we are deliberating whether it is fit for publishing, a frequent
revision will either make it so, or convince me that it is not. Though
indeed my principal difficulty respecting the publication of this
harangue arises not so much from the composition as out of the subject
itself, which has something in it, I am afraid, that will look too like
ostentation and self-conceit. For, be the style ever so plain and
unassuming, yet, as the occasion necessarily led me to speak not only of
the munificence of my ancestors, but of my own as well, my modesty will
be seriously embarrassed. A dangerous and slippery situation this, even
when one is led into it by plea of necessity! For, if mankind are not
very favourable to panegyric, even when bestowed upon others, how much
more difficult is it to reconcile them to it when it is a tribute which
we pay to ourselves or to our ancestors? Virtue, by herself, is
generally the object of envy, but particularly so when glory and
distinction attend her; and the world is never so little disposed to
detract from the rectitude of your conduct as when it passes unobserved
and unapplauded. For these reasons, I frequently ask myself whether I
composed this harangue, such as it is, merely from a personal
consideration, or with a view to the public as well; and I am sensible
that what may be exceedingly useful and proper in the prosecution of any
affair may lose all its grace and fitness the moment the business is
completed: for instance, in the case before us, what could be more to my
purpose than to explain at large the motives of my intended bounty? For,
first, it engaged my mind in good and ennobling thoughts; next, it
enabled me, by frequent dwelling upon them, to receive a perfect
impression of their loveliness, while it guarded at the same time
against that repentance which is sure to follow on an impulsive act of
generosity. There arose also a further advantage from this method, as it
fixed in me a certain habitual contempt of money. For, while mankind