22 Jul Pliny the Younger: Avunculus Meus

Introduction.

The following two extracts are translations from two of the letters of the Younger Pliny and were written in praise of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, the famous naturalist and scholar. For details of the Younger Pliny the reader is referred to the item on this blog dated 12th July 2011, entitled ‘Tres Feminae’.

The text of both extracts is taken from the ‘Cambridge Latin Anthology’, edited by Ashley Carter and Phillip Parr, Cambridge University Press, 1996.

1. A day in the life of Pliny the Elder (adapted from ‘Letters’ of the Younger Pliny, Book III, 5).

Baebius Macer, an admirer of the writings of the Elder Pliny, has asked the Younger Pliny for a complete list of his works. Pliny obligingly supplies not only the list but a detailed biographical sketch. In this extract he describes the working habits of his uncle.

Before daybreak he used to go to the emperor Vespasian [for he too made use of the nights], (and) then assign himself to his official duties. Having returned home, he gave the time left over to his studies. Often in summer, after a meal (which during the day was, in the custom of our ancestors, light and easily digested), if there was any (time) for leisure, he would lie in the sun, he would read a book, and he would make notes and take extracts. For he read nothing from which he did not take extracts; also he used to say that no book was so bad that it was not of use in some part. After (his rest in) the sun, he usually bathed in cold water, then ate and slept a little; then, as if in another day, he would study up to dinner time. Over dinner a book would be read and notes taken (from it), and indeed rapidly.

(He) did this in the midst of his duties and the bustle of the city. In the country the only time taken away from his studies (was) for his bath (when I say ‘for his bath’, I am speaking of the inner rooms; for while he was scraped and rubbed down, he would hear something or dictate). On a journey, as if released from other cares, he would make time for this alone: at his side (was) a secretary with a book and writing tablets, whose hands were protected in winter by long sleeves, so that not even the harshness of the weather should take away any time for study; for this reason in Rome he was carried in a sedan-chair. I remember that I was rebuked by him because I used to walk: ‘You could have not wasted these hours,’ he said; for he thought all the time wasted which was not devoted to studying. Farewell.

2. The death of Pliny the Elder (adapted from the ‘Letters’ of the Younger Pliny, Book VI, 16).

The historian Tacitus has asked the Younger Pliny to write a detailed account of the events leading to the death of his uncle in the eruption of Vesuvius on 24th August, 79 A.D. Pliny’s account provides us with the first recorded description of a volcanic eruption in the western world.

You ask that I write to you (about) the death of my uncle, so that you may be able to pass it down to posterity more accurately.

He was at Misenum and was commanding the fleet with authority in person. On the ninth day before the Kalends of September at about the seventh hour my mother points out to him that a strange cloud was visible; it seemed to him, as a learned man, significant and worthy of investigation. He orders a swift ship to be made ready; he asks me if I should like to go with him; I replied that I preferred to study, and by chance he himself had given me (something) which I should write. He was leaving the house; he receives a note from Rectina, the wife of Tascius, terrified by the imminent danger (for her house lay beneath (the mountain), nor (was there) any escape except by boats; she was begging that he should rescue her from so great a danger. He changes his plan, and what he had begun with an inquisitive mind he performs with a heroic (one). He launches warships and he himself embarks, to bring help not only to Rectina but to many (for that delightful stretch of coast was densely populated). He hurries to that place from which others are fleeing, and he holds a straight course (and) a steady rudder into the danger, so freed from fear that he dictated and took notes on all the movements of that disaster, (and) all features as he had detected (them) with his eyes.

Now ash (growing) hotter and thicker as he approached nearer was falling on to the ships; now even pumice-stones and black stones, scorched and cracked by fire (were falling); now (there was) sudden shallow water and debris from the mountain blocking the way to the shore. He hesitates for a moment (wondering) whether to sail back; then he says to the helmsman (who was) advising that he should do so, ‘Fortune favours (lit. helps) the brave; make for Pomponianus! Pomponianus was at Stabii, separated (from Herculaneum) by the intervening bay [for the sea gradually runs into the sweeping and curving shore]; here the danger, although not yet arrived, was nevertheless clearly obvious; therefore Pomponianus had placed his luggage into boats, resolved on flight if the headwind should subside. Then, my uncle, having sailed in with this very favourable wind, embraces, cheers and encourages the trembling man, and, so that he might calm his fear by his own composure, he orders that he be taken into a bath. Having bathed, he reclines, he dines, either cheerful, or [what is equally important] seeming to be cheerful. Meanwhile, from several places on mount Vesuvius very broad flames and tall fires were blazing, of which the the glare and brightness were emphasising the darkness of the night. As a remedy for fear, he kept saying that the fires had been left behind through the panic of country folk and that deserted houses were burning throughout the abandoned area (lit. [the area of] solitude). Then, he gave himself to rest, and he rested in a very real sleep; for the passage of his breathing, which for him was rather heavy and noisy on account of the corpulence of his body, was heard by those who were observed near to his door. But the courtyard, from which his bedroom was approached, had now risen so much, filled with ash and pumice mixed (with it), that if there had been a longer delay in the bedroom, a way-out would have been impossible. Awakened, he came out and restored himself to Pomponianus and the others, who had stayed awake all night. They debate among themselves whether they should stay under cover or roam around in the open air. For the buildings were rocking with frequent and huge shocks, and, as if torn away from their foundations, they seemed to go away and to be brought back, now in this direction, now in that one. Under the open sky, on the other hand, the fall of pumice was to be feared, although (it was) light and porous, yet a comparison of the dangers chose this (as the better alternative); and with him indeed argument outweighed argument, (but) with others fear (outweighed) fear. With linen cloths they tie down pillows placed on their heads; that was a protection against falling objects.

Now (there was) daylight elsewhere, (but) there (there was) night blacker and thicker than every other night; however, many torches and several lamps relieved it. He decided (lit. it seemed good [to him]) to go down to the shore and to investigate from close by whether the sea might permit any (escape); (but) it still remained swollen (lit. enormous) and hostile. There, lying down upon a sail cloth (which had been) thrown down (on to the ground), time and time again he asked for, and drank, cold water. Then flames and the precursor of flames, the smell of sulphur, turn some to flight, (but) arouses him. Leaning on two slaves, he stood up and at once collapsed. For his breathing, as I believe, had been obstructed by thicker fumes, and his windpipe, which in his case was by nature weak and narrow and often inflamed, was blocked. When the day returned [this (day was) the third from that (day) which he had last seen], his body was found intact, unharmed and uncovered, just as it had been dressed: the appearance of his body (was) more like (someone) sleeping than (someone) dead.

Pliny ends his account at this point with an assurance of the accuracy of everything that he has described.