Letters of Pliny
grandson, and the rest to her grand-daughter. The young lady I know very
slightly, but the grandson is one of my most intimate friends. He is a
remarkable young man, and his merit entitles him to the affection of a
relation, even where his blood does not. Notwithstanding his remarkable
personal beauty, he escaped every malicious imputation both whilst a boy
and when a youth: he was a husband at four-and-twenty, and would have
been a father if Providence had not disappointed his hopes. He lived in
the family with his grandmother, who was exceedingly devoted to the
pleasures of the town, yet observed great severity of conduct himself,
while always perfectly deferential and submissive to her. She retained a
set of pantomimes, and was an encourager of this class of people to a
degree inconsistent with one of her sex and rank. But Quadratus never
appeared at these entertainments, whether she exhibited them in the
theatre or in her own house; nor indeed did she require him to be
present. I once heard her say, when she was recommending to me the
supervision of her grandson's studies, that it was her custom, in order
to pass away some of those unemployed hours with which female life
abounds, to amuse herself with playing at chess, or seeing the mimicry
of her pantomimes; but that, whenever she engaged in either of those
amusements, she constantly sent away her grandson to his studies: she
appeared to me to act thus as much out of reverence for the youth as
from affection. I was a good deal surprised, as I am sure you will be
too, at what he told me the last time the Pontifical games[118] were
exhibited. As we were coming out of the theatre together, where we had
been entertained with a show of these pantomimes, "Do you know," said
he, "to-day is the first time I ever saw my grandmother's freedman
dance?" Such was the grandson's speech! while a set of men of a far
different stamp, in order to do honour to Quadratilla (am ashamed to
call it honour), were running up and down the theatre, pretending to be
struck with the utmost admiration and rapture at the performances of
those pantomimes, and then imitating in musical chant the mien and
manner of their lady patroness. But now all the reward they have got, in
return for their theatrical performances, is just a few trivial
legacies, which they have the mortification to receive from an heir who
was never so much as present at these shows.--I send you this account,
knowing you do not dislike hearing town news, and because, too, when any
occurrence has given me pleasure, I love to renew it again by relating
it. And indeed this instance of affection in Quadratilla, and the honour
done therein to that excellent youth her grandson, has afforded me a
very sensible satisfaction; as I extremely rejoice that the house which
once belonged to Cassius,[119] the founder and chief of the Cassian
school, is come into the possession of one no less considerable than its
former master. For my friend will fill it and become it as he ought, and
its ancient dignity, lustre, and glory will again revive under
Quadratus, who, I am persuaded, will prove as eminent an orator as
Cassius was a lawyer. Farewell.
LXXXII -- To MAXIMUS
THE lingering disorder of a friend of mine gave me occasion lately to
reflect that we are never so good as when oppressed with illness. Where
is the sick man who is either solicited by avarice or inflamed with
lust? At such a season he is neither a slave of love nor the fool of
ambition; wealth he utterly disregards, and is content with ever so
small a portion of it, as being upon the point of leaving even that
little. It is then he recollects there are gods, and that he himself is
but a man: no mortal is then the object of his envy, his admiration, or
his contempt; and the tales of slander neither raise his attention nor
feed his curiosity: his dreams are only of baths and fountains. These
are the supreme objects of his cares and wishes, while he resolves, if
he should recover, to pass the remainder of his days in ease and
tranquillity, that is, to live innocently and happily. I may therefore
lay down to you and myself a short rule, which the philosophers have
endeavoured to inculcate at the expense of many words, and even many
volumes; that "we should try and realise in health those resolutions we
form in sickness." Farewell.
LXXXIII -- To SURA
THE present recess from business we are now enjoying affords you leisure
to give, and me to receive, instruction. I am extremely desirous
therefore to know whether you believe in the existence of ghosts, and
that they have a real form, and are a sort of divinities, or only the
visionary impressions of a terrified imagination. What particularly
inclines me to believe in their existence is a story which I heard of
Curtius Rufus. When he was in low circumstances and unknown in the
world, he attended the governor of Africa into that province. One
evening, as he was walking in the public portico, there appeared to him
the figure of a woman, of unusual size and of beauty more than human.
And as he stood there, terrified and astonished, she told him she was
the tutelary power that presided over Africa, and was come to inform him
of the future events of his life: that he should go back to Rome, to
enjoy high honours there, and return to that province invested with the
pro-consular dignity, and there should die. Every circumstance of this
prediction actually came to pass. It is said farther that upon his
arrival at Carthage, as he was coming out of the ship, the same figure
met him upon the shore. It is certain, at least, that being seized with
a fit of illness, though there were no symptoms in his case that led
those about him to despair, he instantly gave up all hope of recovery;
judging, apparently, of the truth of the future part of the prediction
by what had already been fulfilled, and of the approaching misfortune
from his former prosperity. Now the following story, which I am going to
tell you just as I heard it, is it not more terrible than the former,
while quite as wonderful? There was at Athens a large and roomy house,
which had a bad name, so that no one could live there. In the dead of
the night a noise, resembling the clashing of iron, was frequently
heard, which, if you listened more attentively, sounded like the
rattling of chains, distant at first, but approaching nearer by degrees:
immediately afterwards a spectre appeared in the form of an old man, of
extremely emaciated and squalid appearance, with a long beard and
dishevelled hair, rattling the chains on his feet and hands. The
distressed occupants meanwhile passed their wakeful nights under the
most dreadful terrors imaginable. This, as it broke their rest, ruined
their health, and brought on distempers, their terror grew upon them,
and death ensued. Even in the day time, though the spirit did not
appear, yet the impression remained so strong upon their imaginations
that it still seemed before their eyes, and kept them in perpetual
alarm, Consequently the house was at length deserted, as being deemed
absolutely uninhabitable; so that it was now entirely abandoned to the
ghost. However, in hopes that some tenant might be found who was
ignorant of this very alarming circumstance, a bill was put up, giving
notice that it was either to be let or sold. It happened that
Athenodorus[120] the philosopher came to Athens at this time, and,
reading the bill, enquired the price. The extraordinary cheapness raised
his suspicion; nevertheless, when he heard the whole story, he was so
far from being discouraged that he was more strongly inclined to hire
it, and, in short, actually did so. When it grew towards evening, he
ordered a couch to be prepared for him in the front part of the house,
and, after calling for a light, together with his pencil and tablets,
directed all his people to retire. But that his mind might not, for want
of employment, be open to the vain terrors of imaginary noises and
spirits, he applied himself to writing with the utmost attention. The
first part of the night passed in entire silence, as usual; at length a
clanking of iron and rattling of chains was heard: however, he neither
lifted up his eyes nor laid down his pen, but in order to keep calm and
collected tried to pass the sounds off to himself as something else. The
noise increased and advanced nearer, till it seemed at the door, and at
last in the chamber. He looked up, saw, and recognized the ghost exactly
as it had been described to him: it stood before him, beckoning with the
finger, like a person who calls another. Athenodorus in reply made a
sign with his hand that it should wait a little, and threw his eyes
again upon his papers; the ghost then rattled its chains over the head
of the philosopher, who looked up upon this, and seeing it beckoning as
before, immediately arose, and, light in hand, followed it. The ghost
slowly stalked along, as if encumbered with its chains, and, turning
into the area of the house, suddenly vanished. Athenodorus, being thus
deserted, made a mark with some grass and leaves on the spot where the
spirit left him. The next day he gave information to the magistrates,
and advised them to order that spot to be dug up. This was accordingly
done, and the skeleton of a man in chains was found there; for the body,
having lain a considerable time in the ground, was putrefied and
mouldered away from the fetters. The bones being collected together were
publicly buried, and thus after the ghost was appeased by the proper
ceremonies, the house was haunted no more. This story I believe upon the
credit of others; what I am going to mention, I give you upon my own. I
have a freedman named Marcus, who is by no means illiterate. One night,
as he and his younger brother were lying together, he fancied he saw
somebody upon his bed, who took out a pair of scissors, and cut off the
hair from the top part of his own head, and in the morning, it appeared
his hair was actually cut, and the clippings lay scattered about the
floor. A short time after this, an event of a similar nature contributed
to give credit to the former story. A young lad of my family was
sleeping in his apartment with the rest of his companions, when two
persons clad in white came in, as he says, through the windows, cut off
his hair as he lay, and then returned the same way they entered. The
next morning it was found that this boy had been served just as the
other, and there was the hair again, spread about the room. Nothing
remarkable indeed followed these events, unless perhaps that I escaped a
prosecution, in which, if Domitian (during whose reign this happened)
had lived some time longer, I should certainly have been involved. For
after the death of that emperor, articles of impeachment against me were
found in his scrutore, which had been exhibited by Carus. It may
therefore be conjectured, since it is customary for persons under any
public accusation to let their hair grow, this cutting off the hair of
my servants was a sign I should escape the imminent danger that
threatened me. Let me desire you then to give this question your mature
consideration. The subject deserves your examination; as, I trust, I am
not myself altogether unworthy a participation in the abundance of your
superior knowledge. And though you should, as usual, balance between two
opinions, yet I hope you will lean more on one side than on the other,
lest, whilst I consult you in order to have my doubt settled, you should
dismiss me in the same suspense and indecision that occasioned you the
present application. Farewell.
LXXXIV -- To SEPTITIUS
You tell me certain persons have blamed me in your company, as being
upon all occasions too lavish in the praise I give my friends. I not