27. haec…necessaria: = haec, eo die quo ea feceris, videntur necessaria.
feceris: indef. 2nd pers., you have done = one has done.
28. secesseris: secedere, to go apart, withdraw (from the city).
29. subit: subire, to go under, undergo, approach, come to mind.
frigidis: here, dull, unproductive.
30. quod: i.e., this realization.
Laurentino: sc. fundo (fundus), country estate near Laurentium; this villa, one of a number that Pliny owned, was near the coast about 15 miles south of Rome.
31. corpori: for the body, i.e., for exercise, often neglected in busy city life.
fulturis: fultura,prop, support.
34. reprehendo: reprehendere, to seize, blame, censure.
35. commode: adv., easily.
spe: here, an unsettling expectation, anticipation.
37. vitam: ACC. OF EXCLAMATION.
honestum: not honest, but fine, respectable.
1.9
In this letter to his friend Minicius Fundanus, Pliny contrasts the demands of city life with the leisurely time spent at his villa in Laurentum; written ca. A.D. 97.
C. Plinius Minicio Fundano Suo S.
Trapping deer, detail from the “Small Game Hunt” mosaic, 4th century A.D. Villa del Casale, Piazza Armerina, Sicily, Italy
Scala/Art Resource, NY.
Mirum est quam singulis diebus in urbe ratio aut constet aut constare videatur, pluribus iunctisque non constet. Nam, si quem interroges, “Hodie quid egisti?” respondeat, “Officio 25 togae virilis interfui, sponsalia aut nuptias frequentavi, ille me ad signandum testamentum, ille in advocationem, ille in consilium rogavit.” Haec quo die feceris, necessaria; eadem si cotidie fecisse te reputes, inania videntur, multo magis cum secesseris. Tune enim subit recordatio: “Quot dies quam frigidis rebus absumpsi!” 30 Quod evenit mihi, postquam in Laurentino meo aut lego aliquid aut scribo aut etiam corpori vaco, cuius fulturis animus sustinetur. Nihil audio quod audisse, nihil dico quod dixisse paeniteat; nemo apud me quemquam sinistris sermonibus carpit, neminem ipse reprehendo, nisi tamen me, cum parum 35 commode scribo; nulla spe, nullo timore sollicitor, nullis rumoribus inquietor; mecum tantum et cum libellis loquor. O rectam sinceramque vitam, o dulce otium honestumque ac paene omni negotio pulchrius! O mare, o litus, verum secretumque mouseion, quam multa invenitis, quam multa dictatis! Proinde 40 tu quoque strepitum istum inanemque discursum et multum ineptos labores, ut primum fuerit occasio, relinque teque studiis vel otio trade. Satius est enim, ut Atilius noster eruditissime simul et facetissime dixit, otiosum esse quam nihil agere. Vale.
39. mouseion: Greek for Lat. museum, a temple or home of the Muses, the goddesses of that inspiration which Pliny finds in his coastal retreat.
invenitis:you discover, suggest; the subjs. of the vb. are litus and mare, i.e., the surroundings.
dictatis: wealthy Romans owned highly trained slaves to whom they could dictate their compositions; here Pliny fancies himself as the amanuensis.
40. strepitum: strepitus, noise, din.
multum: adv. modifying ineptos, = very.
41. ut primum: as soon as.
42. Atilius: Atilius Crescens, another of Pliny’s close friends.
43. facetissime: adv. from facetus, elegant, witty, humorous.
nihil agere: a play on words, not to do nothing but to be busy at nothing.
45. iacturam: iactura, throwing away, loss.
feci: here, I have experienced, suffered.
46. sponte: sc. sua, idiom, of his own accord, by his own wish; i.e., by starvation, in an act of Stoic fortitude.
47. exulcerat: exulcerare, to make extremely sore, aggravate, exacerbate.
luctuosissimum:most sorrowful, most lamentable.
48. fatalis: fated, in accordance with fate.
utcumque: adv., somehow, in one way or another.
50. arcessita: voluntary, self-inflicted; from arcessere, to call, summon, invite.
52. pro necessitate est: i.e., takes priority over inevitability.
53. quamquam: conj., although, and yet.
