55. pignora: pignus, pledge, proof; used in the pl. of one’s close relatives.
58. pretia: pretium, price, reward.
59. pedum dolore: probably gout.
60. patrius: inherited from his father, i.e., not caused by dissolute living.
hic: i.e., dolor; sc. est.
plerumque: adv., generally.
per successiones: i.e., by heredity from one generation to the next.
61. hunc: sc. morbum.
Boar hunt, detail from the “Small Game Hunt” mosaic, 4th century A.D. Villa del Casale, Piazza Armerina, Sicily, Italy
Scala/Art Resource, NY.
1.12
In one of several surviving letters to Calestrius Tiro, a senator and his colleague in both the quaestorship and praetorship, Pliny here discusses the suicide of Corellius Rufus, consul in A.D. 78, a noble Roman Stoic, and a man he had often turned to for advice; written ca. A.D. 98.
C. Plinius Calestrio Tironi Suo S.
It is harder to reconcile oneself to the suicide of a friend than to his death from natural causes.
45 Iacturam gravissimam feci, si iactura dicenda est tanti viri amissio. Decessit Corellius Rufus et quidem sponte, quod dolorem meum exulcerat. Est enim luctuosissimum genus mortis, quae non ex natura nec fatalis videtur. Nam utcumque in illis qui morbo finiuntur magnum ex ipsa necessitate solacium est; 50 in iis vero quos arcessita mors aufert, hic insanabilis dolor est, quod creduntur potuisse diu vivere. Corellium quidem summa ratio, quae sapientibus pro necessitate est, ad hoc consilium compulit, quamquam plurimas vivendi causas habentem—optimam conscientiam, optimam famam, maximam auctoritatem, 55 praeterea filiam, uxorem, nepotem, sorores interque tot pignora veros amicos.
Corellius’ suffering lasted long and had broken his body.
Sed tam longa, tam iniqua valetudine conflictabatur, ut haec tanta pretia vivendi mortis rationibus vincerentur. Tertio et tricensimo anno, ut ipsum audiebam, pedum dolore correptus 60 est. Patrius hic illi; nam plerumque morbi quoque per successiones quasdam ut alia traduntur. Hunc abstinentia, sanctitate, quoad viridis aetas, vicit et fregit; novissime cum senectute ingravescentem viribus animi sustinebat, cum quidem incredibilis cruciatus et indignissima tormenta pateretur. Iam enim dolor 65 non pedibus solis ut prius insidebat, sed omnia membra pervagabatur.
62. quoad: conj., how long, as long as, until.
viridis:green, youthful.
fregit: frangere,to break.
ingravescentem: sc. hunc (morbum) from the beginning of the sent.
64. cruciatus: acc. pl., tortures.
indignissima: indignus,unworthy, undeserved, hence cruel, harsh.
65. pervagabatur: pervagari, to spread throughout, pervade.
67. suburbano: sc. praedio, estate.
iacentem: i.e., sick in bed.
68. moris: PARTITIVE GEN.; i.e., he routinely dismissed his slaves whenever a close friend visited.
70. capacissima: quite worthy of sharing.
circumtulit oculos: because of his encouragement of delatores (informers), the tyranny of Domitian (emperor A.D. 81–96) was as dangerous as that of Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin.
71. scilicet: adv., obviously, of course.
72. latroni: latro, bandit, cut-throat; Domitian, of course.
vel uno die:even by one day; ABL. OF DEGREE OF DIFFERENCE, depending on the idea that “to survive” means “to live longer.”
dedisses: indef. 2nd pers.; a conditional cl. without si, had you given.
73. fecisset quod optabat: i.e., he would have assisted in Domitian’s assassination (which took place on September 18, A.D. 96).
voto: votum,prayer.
74. compos: in possession of, + gen.; with votum (here cuius), an idiom = having had one’s prayer answered.
ut: here, as (one).
moriturus:ready to die; notwithstanding Pliny’s dramatization here, Corellius survived Domitian by as much as a year.
75. minora: too slight, too weak.
