Letters of Pliny
of expression. In this way I compose more or less, according as the
subject is more or less difficult, and I find myself able to retain it.
I then call my secretary, and, opening the shutters, dictate to him what
I have put into shape, after which I dismiss him, then call him in
again, and again dismiss him. About ten or eleven o'clock (for I do not
observe one fixed hour), according to the weather, I either walk upon my
terrace or in the covered portico, and there I continue to meditate or
dictate what remains upon the subject in which I am engaged. This
completed, I get into my chariot, where I employ myself as before, when
I was walking, or in my study; and find this change of scene refreshes
and keeps up my attention. On my return home, I take a little nap, then
a walk, and after that repeat out loud and distinctly some Greek or
Latin speech, not so much for the sake of strengthening my voice as my
digestion;[162] though indeed the voice at the same time is strengthened
by this practice. I then take another walk, am anointed, do my
exercises, and go into the bath. At supper, if I have only my wife or a
few friends with me, some author is read to us; and after supper we are
entertained either with music or an interlude. When that is finished, I
take my walk with my family, among whom I am not without some scholars.
Thus we pass our evenings in varied conversation; and the day, even when
at the longest, steals imperceptibly away. Upon some occasions I change
the order in certain of the articles abovementioned. For instance, if I
have studied longer or walked more than usual, after my second sleep,
and reading a speech or two aloud, instead of using my chariot I get on
horseback; by which means I ensure as much exercise and lose less time.
The visits of my friends from the neighbouring villages claim some part
of the day; and sometimes, by an agreeable interruption, they come in
very seasonably to relieve me when I am feeling tired. I now and then
amuse myself with hunting, but always take my tablets into the field,
that, if I should meet with no game, I may at least bring home
something. Part of my time too (though not so much as they desire) is
allotted to my tenants; whose rustic complaints, along with these city
occupations, make my literary studies still more delightful to me.
Farewell. --
CIX -- To PAULINUS
As you are not of a disposition to expect from your friends the ordinary
ceremonial observances of society when they cannot observe them without
inconvenience to themselves, so I love you too steadfastly to be
apprehensive of your taking otherwise than I wish you should my not
waiting upon you on the first day of your entrance upon the consular
office, especially as I am detained here by the necessity of letting my
farms upon long leases. I am obliged to enter upon an entirely new plan
with my tenants: for under the former leases, though I made them very
considerable abatements, they have run greatly in arrear. For this
reason several of them have not only taken no sort of care to lessen a
debt which they found themselves incapable of wholly discharging, but
have even seized and consumed all the produce of the land, in the belief
that it would now be of no advantage to themselves to spare it. I must
therefore obviate this increasing evil, and endeavour to find out some
remedy against it. The only one I can think of is, not to reserve my
rent in money, but in kind, and so place some of my servants to overlook
the tillage, and guard the stock; as indeed there is no sort of revenue
more agreeable to reason than what arises from the bounty of the soil,
the seasons, and the climate. It is true, this method will require great
honesty, sharp eyes, and many hands. However, I must risk the
experiment, and, as in an inveterate complaint, try every change of
remedy. You see, it is not any pleasurable indulgence that prevents my
attending you on the first day of your consulship. I shall celebrate it
nevertheless, as much as if I were present, and pay my vows for you
here, with all the warmest tokens of joy and congratulation. Farewell.
CX -- To FUSCUS
You are much pleased, I find, with the account I gave you in my former
letter of how I spend the summer season at Tuscum, and desire to know
what alteration I make in my method when I am at Laurentum in the
winter. None at all, except abridging myself of my sleep at noon, and
borrowing a good piece of the night before daybreak and after sunset for
study: and if business is very urgent (which in winter very frequently
happens), instead of having interludes or music after supper, I
reconsider whatever I have previously dictated, and improve my memory at
the same time by this frequent mental revision. Thus I have given you a
general sketch of my mode of life in summer and winter; to which you may
add the intermediate seasons of spring and autumn, in which, while
losing nothing out of the day, I gain but little from the night.
Farewell.
]
FOOTNOTES TO THE LETTERS OF PLINY] 1 (return) [ A pupil and intimate
friend of Paetus Thrasea, the distinguished Stoic philosopher. Arulenus
was put to death by Domitian for writing a panegyric upon Thrasea.]
2 (return) [ The impropriety of this expression, in the original, seems
to be in the word stigmosum, which Regulus, probably either coined
through affectation or used through ignorance. It is a word, at least,
which does not occur in any author of authority: the translator has
endeavoured, therefore, to preserve the same sort of impropriety, by
using an expression of like unwarranted stamp in his own tongue. M.]
3 (return) [ An allusion to a wound he had received in the war between
Vitellius and Vespasian.]
4 (return) [ A brother of Piso Galba's adopted son. He was put to death
by Nero.]
5 (return) [ Sulpicius Camerinus, put to death by the same emperor, upon
some frivolous charge.]
6 (return) [ A select body of men who formed a court of judicature,
called the centurnviral court. Their jurisdiction extended chiefly, if
not entirely, to questions of wills and intestate estates. Their number,
it would seem, amounted to 100. M.]
7 (return) [ Junius Mauricus, the brother of Rusticus Arulenus. Both
brothers were sentenced on the same day, Arulenue to execution and
Mauricui to banishment.]
8 (return) [ There seems to have been a cast of uncommon blackness in
the character of this Regulus; otherwise the benevolent Pliny would
scarcely have singled him out, as he has in this and some following
letters, for the subject of his warmest contempt and indignation. Yet,
infamous as he was, he had his flatterers and admirers; and a
contemporary poet frequently represents him as one of the most finished
characters of the age, both in eloquence and virtue. M.]
9 (return) [ The Decurii were a sort of senators in the municipal or
corporate cities of Italy. M.]
10 (return) [ "Euphrates was a native of Tyre, or, according to others,
of Byzantium. He belonged to the Stoic school of philosophy. In his old
age he became tired of life, and asked and obtained from Hadrian
permission to put an end to himself by poison." Smith's Dict. of Greek
and Roman Biog.]
11 (return) [ A pleader and historian of some distinction, mentioned by
Tacitus, Ann. XIV. 19, and by Quintilian, X, I, 102.]
12 (return) [ Padua.]
13 (return) [ Domitian]
14 (return) [ Iliad, XII. 243. Pope.]
15 (return) [ Equal to about $4,000 of our money. After the reign of
Augustus the value of the sesterces.]
16 (return) [ "The equestrian dignity, or that order of the Roman people
which we commonly call knights, had nothing in it analogous to any order
of modern knighthood, but depended entirely upon a valuation of their
estates; and every citizen, whose entire fortune amounted to 400,000
sesterces, that is, to about $16,000 of our money, was enrolled, of
course, in the list of knights, who were considered as a middle order
between the senators and common people, yet, without any other
distinction than the privilege of wearing a gold ring, which was the
peculiar badge of their order." Life of Cicero, Vol. I. III. in note.
M.]
17 (return) [ An elegant Attic orator, remarkable for the grace and
lucidity of his style, also for his vivid and accurate delineations of
character.]
18 (return) [ A graceful and powerful orator, and friend of
Densosthenes.]
19 (return) [ A Roman orator of the Augustan age. He was a poet and
historian as well, but gained most distinction as an orator.]
20 (return) [ A man of considerable taste, talent, and eloquence, but
profligate and extravagant. He was on terms of some intimacy with
Cicero.]
21 (return) [ The praetor was assisted by ten assessors, five of whom
were senators, and the rest knights. With these he was obliged to
consult before he pronounced sentence. M.]
22 (return) [ A contemporary and rival of Aristophanes.]
23 (return) [ Aristophanes, Ach. 531]
24 (return) [ Thersites. Iliad, II. V. 212.]
25 (return) [ Ulysses. Iliad, III. V. 222.]
26 (return) [ Menelaua. Iliad, III. V. 214.]
27 (return) [ Great-grandfather of the Emperor M. Aurelius.]
28 (return) [ An eminent lawyer of Trajan's reign.]
29 (return) [ The philosophers used to hold their disputations in the
gymnasia and porticoes, being places of the most public resort for
walking, &c. M.]
30 (return) [ "Verginius Rufus was governor of Upper Germany at the time
of the revolt of Julius Vindex in Gaul. A.D. 68. The soldiers of
Verginius wished to raise him to the empire, but he refused the honour,
and marched against Vindex, who perished before Vesontio. After the
death of Nero, Verginius supported the claims of Galba, and accompanied
him to Rome. Upon Otho's death, the soldiers again attempted to proclaim
Verginius emperor, and in consequence of his refusal of the honour, he
narrowly escaped with his life." (See Smith's Dict. of Greek and Rom.
Biog., &c.)]
31 (return) [ Nerva.]
32 (return) [ The historian,]
33 (return) [ Namely, of augurs. "This college, as regulated by Sylla,
consisted of fifteen, who were all persons of the first distinction in
Rome; it was a priesthood for life, of a character indelible, which no
crime or forfeiture could efface; it was necessary that every candidate
should be nominated to the people by two augurs, who gave a solemn
testimony upon, oath of his dignity and fitness for that office."
Middleton's Life of Cicero, I. 547. M.]
34 (return) [ The ancient Greeks and Romans did not sit up at the table
as we do, but reclined round it on couches, three and sometimes even
four occupying one conch, at least this latter was the custom among the
Romans. Each guest lay flat upon his chest while eating, reaching out
his hand from time to time to the table, for what he might require. As
soon as he had made a sufficient meal, he turned over upon his left
side, leaning on the elbow.]
35 (return) [ A people of Germany.]
36 (return) [ "Any Roman priest devoted to the service of one particular
god was designated Flamen, receiving a distinguishing epithet from the
deity to whom he ministered. The office was understood to last for life;
but a flamen might be compelled to resign for a breach of duty, or even
on account of the occurrence of an ill-omened accident while discharging
his functions." Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities.]
37 (return) [ Trajan.]
38 (return) [ By a law passed A. D. 76, it was enacted that every
citizen of Rome who had three children should be excused from all
troublesome offices where he lived. This privilege the emperors
sometimes extended to those who were not legally entitled to it.]
39 (return) [ About 54 cents.]
40 (return) [ Avenue]