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Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus: Epistolarum libri decem

Plinius Epistolarum libri X

Quelltext

Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus:

C. PLINII SECVNDI NOVOCOMENSIS | epiſtolarū libri Decem, in quibus multæ habentur | epiſtolæ non ante impreſſæ. Tum Græca corre-|cta, et ſuis locis reſtituta, atq; reiectis adulterinis, | uera repoſita. Item fragmentæ epiſtolæ, inte-|græ factæ. In medio etiam epiſtolæ libri octaui | de Clitumno fonte non ſolum uertici calx additus, | et calci uertex, ſed decem quoq; epiſtolæ interpo-|ſitæ, ac ex Nono libro Octauus factus, et ex octa|uo Nonus, Id’q; beneficio exēplaris correctiſſimi, | & miræ, ac potius uenerandæ Vetuſtatis. || Eiuſdem Panegyricus Traiano Imp dictus. | Eiuſdem de Viris illuſtribus in Re militari, et in ad|miniſtranda Rep. | Suetonii Trāquilli de claris Grāmaticis et Rhetorib. | Iulii Obſequentis Prodigiorum liber. | Epiſtolæ decimi libri ad Traianum probantur eſſe | Plinii in ſequenti epiſtola. Inibi etiam liber de Vi|ris illuſtribus, nō Tranq̱lli, ſed Plinii eſſe on̄ditur.
 
Kolophon fol. kk7r: VENETIIS IN AEDIBUS ALDI, ET | Andreæ Aſulani ſoceri. Mēſe Nouem-|bri M. D. VIII. Fol. kk8v: Signet.

Venedig: Aldus Manutius & Andreas Torresanus, 1508.

Octavo. 164 × 101 mm. [22], [2 weiße], 525, [2 weiße], [1] Seiten. – Lagenkollation: *8, **4, a-z8. aa-kk8.
Inhalt: fol. *1r: Titel — fol. *1v weiß — fol. *2r: Aldus Manutius: Epistula Aloisio Mocenico — fol. *5v weiß — fol. *6r: Indices — fol. **4 weiß — p. 1: Plinius Caecilius: Epistolae — p. 339: Idem: Panegyricus Traiano — p. 425: Idem: De viris illustribus — p. 472: Suetonius: De illustribus grammaticis — p. 489: Idem: De claris rhetoribus — p. 495: Iulius Obsequens: Prodigiorum liber — p. 525: Kolophon, Lagenregister — foll. kk7v-kk8r weiß — fol. kk8v: Aldus Signet Fletcher no. 3.

Handgefertigter brauner Ziegenledereinband der Zeit auf drei Doppelbünden und dünnen Pappdeckeln. Die Deckel mit Blindprägung aus einem Randrahmen bestehend aus einer breiten, von zwei schmalen flankierten Linie; es folgt eine Laubstabrolle; nach innen wieder von der breiten Linie abgesetzt. Mittig ein schmaler Bogenfries. Die Bünde sind auf dem flachen Rücken mit jener breiten Linie abgesetzt, die auch dessen Felder abwechselnd schräg in zwei Hälften teilt, auf denen sich je ein größerer fleuraler Stempel befindet. Reste von vier grünen Bindebändern; handgestochene blau/weiße Kapitale, Schnitt unverziert. Vorderer Vorsatz aus Spiegel und fliegendem Blatt, hinterer Vorsatz aus Spiegel, dessen Falz um die letzte Lage geschlagen wurde. Die Laubstabrolle (Kyriß: Verzierte gotische Einbände im alten deutschen Sprachgebiet, Tafel 177, Nr. 4 = Schunke: Schwenke-Sammlung, Laubstab 22) und der mehrfach auf dem Rücken verwandte Stempel (Tafel 177, Nr. 5) verweisen den Einband nach Augsburg: Kyriß Werkstatt 87 „Jagd-Rolle III“; dieser Binder, der „als der fruchtbarste in Augsburg anzusehen ist“ (Kyriß, Text, p. 75), arbeitete zwischen 1481 und 1525, seine Einbände folgen stets dem hier verwandten Gestatungsprinzip, cf. Kyriß Tafel 178.

Editio princeps zahlreicher Briefe des jüngeren Plinius sowie des Textes von Julius Obsequens. „Neue Recension nach einer alten Handschrift und einem Manuscript des Jucundus Veronensis und sechs älteren zum Theil mit Handschriften verglichenen Ausgaben“ (Schweiger). „Nouvelle critique du texte sur deux mss. et six anciennes éditions“ (Graesse). „Cette édition, devenue d’une excessive rareté, est des plus précieuses sous plusieurs rapports, et peut être considerée comme une édition princeps, puisqu’elle contient 375 lettres divisées en dix livres, tandis que la précédente édition de Rome 1490 n’en contenait que 236 divisées en neuf livres“ (Firmin-Didot, S. 304).
 Die Überlieferung der Werke des Plinius ist nicht unproblematisch, der ’Panegyricus’ ist im Korpus der Panegyriker erhalten, der Briefwechsel mit Trajan jedoch nur in einem verlorengegangenen Parisinus auf uns gekommen, dessen erste Ausgabe durch Gerolamo Avanzio unvollständig blieb. Die Manuskripte der anderen Briefe teilen sich in drei Familien, die auf einen Archetypus zurückgehen. Das macht die Aldine aufgrund ihrer Vorlagen zu einem Quelltext. Cf. Lowry: „The World of A. M.“, pp. 244-245.
 Das zehnte Buch der Briefe, jene an und von Trajan, ist in seiner Geschlossenheit einmalig und von größter Bedeutung für unsere Kenntnis der Verhältnisse in den östlichen Provinzen des römischen Reiches. Es handelt sich bei den behandelten um Problemstellungen von nicht nur momentaner Bedeutung: So galt z. B. der Entscheid Trajans zur Behandlung der Christen (X,97) noch zur Zeit Tertullians als maßgeblich.
 „Zusammenfassend laßt sich sagen, daß wir mit diesen beiden Briefsammlungen eine einzigartige Dokumentation über eine der glanzvollsten Epochen der römischen Kaiserzeit besitzen: einerseits was ihre literarischen, politischen, gesellschaftlichen und rein menschlichen Verhältnisse und Anschauungen betrifft, andererseits darüber, wie das Leben in einer römischen Provinz damals aussah, welche Probleme sich dort stellten und wie deren Lösung versucht wurde.“ (André Lambert in Ausg. Zürich, 1969; p. 24).
 „C’est le premier volume dont la souscription mentionne l’association d’Alde avec son beau-père“ (Renouard). Erstmalig wird im Kolophon dieser Plinius-Ausgabe die zu jenem Zeitpunkt seit mehr als zwölf Jahren bestehende Partnerschaft von Aldus Manutius mit seinem Schwiegervater Andreas Torresanus erwähnt, vgl. Fletcher S. 75.
 Mit Textpassagen in der zierlichen vierten griechischen Type. „... Aldus had a gift for making a compact of all the qualities, intellectual and physical, that make up a book, by giving to each its proper and appropriate degree of attention, so that the whole became an integral sum of perfected parts.“ (Nicolas Barker: A. M. and the Development, p. 102).

Auf dem vorderen Vorsatz zwei Besitzeinträge des frühen 17. Jahrhunderts. Einband stellenweise leicht berieben, Gelenke teils etwas berieben, kleine Bezugfehlstellen am unteren Kapital sowie an zwei der Ecken und an der oberen Kante. Titel leicht fleckig bzw. fingerfleckig, letztes Blatt minimal fleckig, sonst nur vereinzelte, sehr schwache schmale Wasserränder im oberen Vorderrand weniger Blätter; wenige saubere Marginalien von alte Hand. Insgesamt ein frisches, äußerst breitrandiges Exemplar in seinem ersten Einband.

Contemporary German blind-tooled brown goatskin over thin pasteboards, flat spine with three raised double-bands, remains of two pairs of green ties. Bound by Kyriss shop 87 “Jagd-Rolle III“, Augsburg, see plate 177, no. 4 & 5. Small defects to foot of spine and two corners, hinges slighty rubbed. Light marginal waterstain in some leaves. A fine, wide-margined copy.
 “The November 1508 edition is an Aldine of no little interest. Its most significant feature for the bibliographer is that it carries the first public announcement in a colophon of the partnership of Aldus and Andreas Torresani, over a dozen years after that partnership had been established, and nearly three years after Aldus moved his residence and establishment to the Torresani home on the Campo San Paternian. (...) The reason for the Pliny’s textual importance is the ancient manuscript from Paris, or at least from France, which Aldus used (...)“ Fletcher: New Aldine Studies, p. 112.
 “Based on an imperfect Italian manuscript-tradition, the early editions of the letters of Pliny the Younger contained only the first seven books and book nine. But by about 1500 rumours of an important new source in France were beginning to circulate. (…) Aldus got the original codex into his hands and printed the complete text. (… So) Aldus had taken part in a significant antiquarian discovery, and had broadcast its results on his presses. This was what he had longed to achieve, and the feeling of exhilaration in his preface ist unmistakable.” Lowry: The World of A.M., p. 244-5.
 “The FIRST COMPLETE EDITION with all the correspondence with Trajan (and the Panegyricus).“ Sandys II, p. 99.
 Pliny’s letters include descriptions of the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum. With all the correspondence with Trajan, including the famous letters of the treatment of the Christians in his province, and with the Panegyric of Trajan.
 “...Aldus had a gift for making a compact of all the qualities, intellectual and physical, that make up a book, by giving to each its proper and appropriate degree of attention, so that the whole became an integral sum of perfected parts.“ (Nicolas Barker: A. M. and the Development, p. 102).

Renouard 53,3 – Ahmanson-Murphy 82 – Marcon/Zorzi: Ambiente veneziano 117 – Firmin-Didot pp. 304-311 – Adams P1536 – Schweiger II,ii,803 & II,ii,619 (Obsequens) – Isaac 12819 – Ebert 17341 – Brunet IV,721 – Graesse V,343 – Florio/Onofri 48 – Bibliographien.

 

Renouard

Douze feuillets non chiffrés, dont le dermier blanc. Ensuite 525 pages chiffrées, avec l’ancre sur un feuillet blanc. Au verso du titre est la préface d’Alde, Aloisio Mocenico Equiti, et Senatori Veneto. Dans cette édition, et dans sa réimpression, de 1518, les chiffres des pages sont tous à la droite, c’est à-dire que les chiffres pairs qui ordinairement sont au bord extérieur de la page, sont, dans ces deux volumes, placés au fond.

Dans cette préface, Alde s’exprime ainsi, au sujet du manuscrit sur lequel il avoit fait son édition, et que lui avoit procuré Mocenigo: « Ex quo tu è Gallia ... has Plinii Epistolas in Italiani reportasti, in membrana scriptas, atque adeo diversis a nostris characteribus, ut nisi quis diu assueverit, non queat legere, cæpi sperare mirum in modum, fore ætate nostra, ut plurimi ex bonis autoribus, quos non extare credimus, inveniantur. Est enim volumen ipsum non solum correctissimum, sed etiam ita antiquum, ut putem scriptum Plinii temporibus. »

C’est le premier volume dont la souscription mentionne l’association d’Alde avec son beau-père.
— Antoine Auguste Renouard: Annales de l’imprimerie des Alde, histoire des trois Manuce et de leurs éditions. Troisième édition. Paris: Jules Renouard, 1834. p. 34.

 

Didot

En novembre de cette année, parut, dans le format petit in-8, la première édition donnée par Alde des Lettres de Pline, avec cette désignation : Venetiis , in ædibus Aldi et Andreæ soceri, qui annonçait publiquement l’association d’Alde avec son beau père.

Cette édition, devenue d’une excessive rareté, est des plus précieuses sous plusieurs rapports, et peut être considérée comme une édition princeps, puis qu’elle contient 375 lettres divisées en dix livres, tandis que la précédente édition de Rome 1490 n’en contenait que 236 divisées en neuf livres, et que les éditions sans date de Venise (vers 1471), celle de Naples de 1476 et celle de Milan 1478, n’en renfermaient que 122 en huit livres.

C’est au sénateur vénitien Aloisio Mocenigo, ambassadeur en France, qu’Alde a dédié cette édition publiée d’après le très-précieux manuscrit que Mocenigo avait rapporté de Paris, et qu’il remit à Alde; mais, déjà deux ans auparavant, Joconde de Vérone (Fra Giocondo), dans son voyage en France, avait pris soin de transcrire ce même manuscrit et de le collationner avec ce soin, nous dit Alde, que cet homme, aussi célèbre comme savant érudit que comme architecte, apportait à toutes choses. Avec cette copie, Fra Giocondo avait donné à Alde le manuscrit de Julius Obsequens, qui fut publié par Alde à la suite des lettres de Pline; on voit que des liens d’amitié existaient dès lors entre Alde et Fra Giocondo.

L’écriture du manuscrit original sur vélin était si ancienne, qu’on aurait pu, au dire d’Alde, la faire remonter au temps même où vivait Pline. Était elle en lettres onciales ou gothiques ? Alde ne nous dit rien à ce sujet, et l’on ignore si ce manuscrit a été conservé.
— Ambroise Firmin Didot: Alde Manuce et l’Hellénisme à Venise. Orné de quatre portraits et d’un fac-simile. Hellénisme dans l’Occident. Isabelle d’Este, Marquise de Mantoue. Correspondance inédite des réfugiés grecs en Italie. Zacharias Calliergi et les calligraphes crétois. Premières impressions greques, etc. Paris: Ambroise Firmin-Didot, 1875. pp. 210-212.

 

Anmerkung

Ich erwarb dieses Buch über eine jener die Buchmassen vermüllenden Plattformen und tanzte vor Freude, als ich es ausgepackt hatte. Der Anbieter, Antiquar möchte ich ihn lieber nicht nennen, hatte sich zu meinem Glück um den Einband ebensowenig wie um dessen Inhalt gekümmert. Später wanderte es nach England aus.

 

Ausgabe 1518

Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus:
C. PLINII SECVNDI NOVOCOMENSIS | Epistolarum libri X. | Eiusdem Panegyricus Traiano Principi dictus. | Eiusdem de Viris illustrib. in re militari, & in admi|nistranda rep. | Suetonij Tranquilli de Claris Grammaticis, & Rhe-|toribus. | Iulij Obsequentis Prodigiorum liber. | Indices duo, quorum altero nomina referuntur eorum, | ad quos Plinius scribit, altero quicquid memoratu di|gnum toto opere continetur. | Latina interpretatio dictionum, & sententiarum, qui|bus Plinius utitur. || Signet 3.
Kolophon fol. kk7r:
VENETIIS IN AEDIB. ALDI, | ET ANDREAE ASVLANI | SOCERI MENSE IVNIO. | M. D. XVIII. Fol. kk8v Signet 3.

Octavo. Blattgröße: 154 × 98 mm.[26] Bll., [2] w.Bll.; 525 Ss., [1] Bl. = *-***8, ****4; a-z8, aa-kk8.

Renouard 82,1 - Adams P 1538 - BM STC ital 525 - Ebert 17343 - Brunet4 III, 773.
 

 

Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus

Pliny, the younger. Publius Caecilius Secundus, later known as Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (A.D. c. 61–c. 113), Latin author of the Letters and the Panegyric on Trajan, was the second son of Lucius Caecilius Cilo, by Plinia, the sister of the Elder Pliny. He was born at Novum Comum, the modern Como, the date of his birth being approximately determined by the fact that he was in his 18th year at the death of his uncle in August A.D. 79 (Epp. vi. 20, 5). Having lost his father at an early age, he owed much to his mother and to his guardian, Verginius Rufus, who had twice filled the office of consul and had twice refused the purple (ii. 1, 8). He owed still more to his uncle. When the Elder Pliny was summoned to Rome by Vespasian in A.D. 72, he was probably accompanied by his nephew, who there went through the usual course of education in Roman literature and in Greek, and at the age of fourteen composed a “Greek tragedy” (vii. 4, 2). He afterwards studied philosophy and rhetoric under Nicetes Sacerdos and Quintilian (vi. 6, 3, ii. 14, 9), and modelled his own oratorical style on that of Demosthenes, Cicero and Calvus (i. 2). The Elder Pliny inspired his nephew with something of his own indomitable industry; and in August 79, when the author of the Historia naturalis lost his life in the famous eruption of Vesuvius, it was the sister of the Elder and the mother of the Younger Pliny who first descried the signs of the approaching visitation, and, some twenty-seven years later, it was the Younger Pliny who wrote a graphic account of the last hours of his uncle, in a letter addressed to the historian Tacitus (vi. 16). By his will the Elder Pliny had made his nephew his adopted son, and the latter now assumed the nomen and praenomen of his adoptive father.

A year later he made his first public appearance as an advocate (v. 8, 8), and soon afterwards became a member of the board of decemviri stlitibus judicandis, which was associated with the praetor in the presidency of the centumviral court. Early in the reign of Domitian he served as a military tribune in Syria (A.D. 81 or 82), devoting part of his leisure to the study of philosophy under the Stoic Euphrates (i. 10, 2). On returning to Rome he was nominated to the honorary office of sevir equitum romanorum, and was actively engaged as a pleader before the centumviri, the chancery court of Rome (vi. 12, 2).

His official career began in A.D. 89, when he was nominated by Domitian as one of the twenty quaestors He thus became a member of the senate for the rest of his life. In December 91 he was made tribune, and, during his tenure of that office, withdrew from practice at the bar (i. 23). Early in 93 he was appointed praetor (iii. 11, 2), and, in his year of office, was one of the counsel for the impeachment of Baebius Massa, the procurator of Hispania Baetica (iii. 4, vi. 29, vii. 33). During the latest and darkest years of Domitian he deemed it prudent to withdraw from public affairs, but his financial abilities were recognized by his nomination in 94 or 95 to the praefertura aerarii militaris (ix. 13, 11).

On the death of Domitian and the accession of Nerva he delivered a speech (subsequently published) in prosecution of Publicius Certus, who had been foremost in the attack on Helvidius Priscus (ix. 13). Early in 98 he was promoted to the position of praefect of the public treasury in the temple of Saturn. After the accession of Trajan in the same year, Pliny was associated with Tacitus in the impeachment of Marius Priscus for his maladministration of the province of Africa (ii. 11). The trial was held under the presidency of the emperor, who had already nominated him consul suffectus for part of the year A.D. 100. The formal oration of thanks for this nomination, described by Pliny himself as his gratiarum actio (iii. 13, 1 and 18, 1), is called in the MSS. the Panegyricus Trajano dictus.

The following year was marked by the death of Silius Italicus and Martial, who are gracefully commemorated in two of his Letters (iii. 7 and 21). It is probable that in 103–104 he was promoted to a place in the college of Augurs, vacated by his friend Frontinus (iv. 8), and that in 105 he was appointed curator of the river Tiber (v. 14, 2). In the same year he employed part of his leisure in producing a volume of hendecasyllabic verse (iv. 14, v. 10). He usually spent the winter at his seaside villa on the Latian coast near Laurentum, and the summer at one of his country houses, either among the Tuscan hills, near Tifernum, or on the lake of Como, or at Tusculum, Tibur or Praeneste.

It was probably in 104, and again in 106, that he was retained for the defence of a governor of Bithynia, thus becoming familiar with the affairs of a province which needed a thorough reorganization. Accordingly, about 111, he was selected by Trajan as governor of Bithynia, under the special title of “legate pro praetor with consular power.” He reached Bithynia in September, held office for fifteen months or more, and probably died in 113.

His health was far from robust. He speaks of his delicate frame (gracilitas mea); and he was apt to suffer from weakness of the eyes (vii. 21) and of the throat or chest (ii. 11, 15). Frugal and abstemious in his diet (i. 15; iii. 1 and 12), studious and methodical in his habits (i. 6, v. 18, ix. 36 and 40), he took a quiet delight in some of the gentler forms of outdoor recreation. We are startled to find him telling Tacitus of his interest in hunting the wild boar, but he is careful to add that, while the beaters were at work, he sat beside the nets and was busily taking notes, thus combining the cult of Minerva with that of Diana (i. 6). He also tells the historian that, when his uncle left Misenum to take a nearer view of the eruption of Vesuvius, he preferred to stay behind, making an abstract of a book of Livy (vi. 20, 5).

Among his friends were Tacitus and Suetonius, as well as Frontinus, Martial and Silius Italicus; and the Stoics, Musonius and Helvidius Priscus. He was thrice married; on the death of his second wife without issue, Trajan conferred on him the jus trium liberorum (A.D. 98), and, before 105, he found a third wife in the accomplished and amiable Calpurnia (iv. 19). He was generous in his private and his public benefactions (i. 19, 2, ii. 4, 2, vi. 32). At his Tuscan villa near Tifernum Tiberinum (iv. 1, 4), the modern Città di Castello, he set up a temple at his own expense and adorned it with statues of Nerva and Trajan (x. 8). In his lifetime he founded and endowed a library at his native place (i. 8, v. 7), and, besides promoting local education (iv. 13), established an institute for the maintenance and instruction of the sons and daughters of free-born parents (vii. 18). By his will he left a large sum for the building and the perpetual repair of public baths, and the interest of a still larger sum for the benefit of one hundred freedmen of the testator and, ultimately, for an annual banquet.

On a marble slab that once adorned the public baths at Comum, his distinctions were recorded in a long inscription, which was afterwards removed to Milan. It was there broken into six square pieces, four of which were built into a tomb within the great church of Sant’ Ambrogio. Of these four fragments only one survives, but with the aid of transcripts of the other three made by Cyriacus of Ancona in 1442, the whole was restored by Mommsen [C.I.L. v. 5262]. It is to the following effect:-

Gaius Plinius Caecilius [Secundus], son of Lucius, of the Ufentine tribe; [consul;] augur; legate-propraetor of the province of Pontus and Bithynia, with consular power, by decree of the senate sent into the said province by the emperor Nerva Trajan [Augustus, Germanicus, Dacicus, pater patriae]; curator of the bed and banks of the Tiber and of the [sewers of the city]; praefect of the Treasury of Saturn; praefect of the Treasury of War; [praetor], tribune of the plebs; emperor’s quaestor, sevir of the [Roman] knights; military tribune of the [third] Gallic legion; [decemvir] for the adjudication of [suits]; provided by will for the erection of baths at a cost of …, adding for the furnishing of the same 300,000 sesterces (£2400) and furthermore, for maintenance, 200,000 sesterces (£1600); likewise, for the support of one hundred of his own freedmen [he bequeathed] to the township 1,866,666 sesterces (c. £15,000), the eventual accretions [whereof] he devised to the townsfolk for a public entertainment; . . . [likewise, in his lifetime] he gave for the support of sons and daughters of the townsfolk [500,000] sesterces (£4000); [likewise a library, and], for the maintenance of the library, 100,000 sesterces (£800).

With the exception of two mediocre sets of verses, quoted by himself (vii. 4 and 9), his poems have perished. His speeches were apt to be prolix, and he defended their prolixity on principle (i. 20). He was apparently the first to make a practice of reciting his speeches before a gathering of his friends before finally publishing them (iii. 18). The only speech that has survived is the Panegyric on Trojan, first delivered by Pliny in the emperor’s presence, next recited to the orator’s friends for the space of three days, and ultimately published in an expanded form (Epp. iii. 18). Itis unduly florid and redundant in style, but it supplies us with the fullest account of the emperor’s antecedents, and of his policy during the first two years and a half of his rule.

It describes his entering Rome on foot, amid the rejoicings of the citizens, his liberality towards his soldiers and to the citizens of Rome, a liberality that was extended even to persons under eleven years of age; his charities for the maintenance of the children of the poor; his remission of succession-duties in cases where the property was small or the heirs members of the testator’s family; his establishment of free trade in corn between the various parts of the empire; his abandonment of vexatious and petty prosecutions for “high treason”; his punishment of informers; his abolition of pantomimes; his repairs of public buildings and his extension and embellishment of the Circus Maximus. The speech was discovered by Aurispa at Mainz in 1432, as part of a collection of Panegyrici; and was first printed by Fr. Puteolanus at Milan about fifty years later. Besides the Panegyric, we possess the nine books of Pliny‘s Letters, and a separate book containing his Correspondence with Trojan.

In the first letter of the first book Pliny states that he has collected certain of his letters without regard to chronological order (non servato temporis ordine). Pliny’s learned biographer, the Dutch scholar, Jean Masson (1709), wrongly assumed that this statement referred to the whole of the collection. He inferred that all the nine books were published simultaneously; and he also held that Pliny was governor of Bithynia in A.D. 103-105. It was afterwards maintained by Mommsen (1868) that the books were in strictly chronological order, that the letters in each book were in general arranged in order of date, that all of them were later than the death of Domitian (September 96), that the several books were probably published in the following order: 1. (97); ii (100); iii. (101-102); iv. (105); v. and vi. (106); vii. (107); viii. (108); and ix. (not later than 109); and, lastly, that Pliny was governor of Bithynia from A.D. 111-112 to 113. The letter which is probably the earliest (ii. 20) has since been assigned to the last part of the reign of Domitian, and it has been suggested by Professor Merrill that the nine books were published in three groups: i.-ii. (97 or 98); iii.-vi. (106); vii.-ix. (108 or 109).

In his Letters Pliny presents us with a picture of the varied interests of a cultivated Roman gentleman. The etiquette of the imperial circle, scenes from the law-courts and the recitation room, the reunions of dilettanti and philosophers, the busy life of the capital or of the municipal town, the recreations of the seaside and of the country—all these he brings vividly before our eyes. He elaborately describes his Laurentine and his Tuscan villa, and frankly tells us how he spends the day at each (ii. 17, v. 6, ix. 36 and 40); expatiates on his verses and his speeches, his holiday-tasks in Umbria (vii. 9, ix. 10), and his happy memories of the Lake of Como (i. 6). He gives an enthusiastic account of a statuette of Corinthian bronze he has recently purchased (iii. 6). He is interested in providing a teacher of rhetoric for the place of his birth (iv. 13); he exults in the devotion of his wife, Calpurnia (vi. 19); towards his servants he is an indulgent master (viii. 16); he intercedes on behalf of the freedman of a friend (ix. 21), and, when a freedman of his own is in delicate health, sends him first to Egypt and afterwards to the Riviera (v. 19). He consults Suetonius on the interpretation of dreams (i. 18); he presents another of his correspondents with a batch of ghost-stories (vii. 27) or a marvellous tale about a tame dolphin on the north coast of Africa (ix. 33). He discourses on the beauties of the Clitumnus (viii. 8) and the floating islands of the Vadimonian lake (viii. zo). He describes an eruption of Vesuvius in connexion with the last days of the Elder Pliny (vi. 16 and 20), giving elsewhere an account of his manner of life and a list of his writings (iii. 5). He laments the death of Silius Italicus (iii. 7), of Martial (iii. 21), and of Verginius Rufus (ii. 1), and of others less known to fame. He takes as his models Cicero and Tacitus (vii. 20), whose name is so often (to his delight) associated with his own (ix. 23). He rejoices to learn that his writings are read at Lyons (ix. 11). He complains of the inanity of circus-races (ix. 6), of the decay of interest in public recitations (i. 13), of bad taste in matters of hospitality (ii. 6), and of the way in which time is frittered away in the social duties of Rome (i. 9). He lays down the principles that should guide a Roman governor in Greece (viii. 24); he maintains the cause of the oppressed provinces of Spain and Africa; and he exposes the iniquities of the informer Regulus, the only living man whom he attacks in his Letters, going so far as to denounce him as omnium bipedum nequissimus (i. 5, 14).

The Letters are models of graceful thought and refined expression, each of them dealing with a single topic and generally ending with an epigrammatic point. They were imitated by Symmachus (Macrobius v. 1, 7) and by Apollinaris Sidonius (Epp. ix. 1, 1). In the middle ages they were known to Ratherius of Verona (10th century), who quotes a passage from i. 5, 16 (Migne, cxxxvi. p. 391). Selections were included in a volume of Flores compiled at Verona in 1329; and a MS. of bks. i.-vii. and ix. was discovered by Guarino at Venice in 1419. These books were printed in the editio princeps (Venice, 1471). Part of bk. viii. appeared for the first time at the end of the next edition (Rome, c. 1474). The whole of bk. viii. was first published in its proper place by Aldus Manutius (Venice, 1508).

Pliny’s Correspondence with Trojan supplies us with many interesting details as to the government of Bithynia, and as to the relations between the governor and the central authority. It reflects the greatest credit on the strict and almost punctilious conscientiousness of the governor, and on the assiduity and the high principle which animated the emperor.

On reaching the province, Pliny celebrates the emperor’s birthday, and proceeds to examine the finances of Prusa. His request for a surveyor to check the outlay on the public works is refused on the ground that the emperor has hardly enough surveyors for the works he is carrying on in Rome. He asks the emperor to sanction the repair o the ancient baths at Prusa, the building of an aqueduct at Nicomedia and a theatre at Nicaea, and the covering in of a stream that has become a public nuisance at Amastris. When he consults the emperor as to the baths at Claudiopolis, the emperor sensibly replies: “You, who are on the spot, will be best able to decide” (40). When Pliny hesitates about a small affair relating to Dio Chrysostom (the Bithynian friend of Nerva and Trajan), the emperor betrays a not unnatural impatience in his response: potuisti non haerere, mi Secunde carissime (82). Pliny also asks for a decision on the status and maintenance of deserted children (65), and on the custom of distributing public doles on the occasion of interesting events in the life of a private citizen. The emperor agrees that the custom might lead to “political factions,” and should therefore be strictly controlled (117). Owing to a destructive fire at Nicomedia, Pliny suggests the formation of a volunteer fire-brigade, limited to 150 members. The emperor is afraid that the fire-brigade might become a “political club” and cautiously contents himself with approving the provision of a tire-engine (34).

Trajan’s fear of factions and clubs in these two last cases has sometimes been connected with the question of his attitude towards the Christians in Bithynia. Pliny (Epp. 96) states that he had never taken part in forma trials of Christians, and was therefore unfamiliar with precedents as to the extent of the investigation, and as to the degree of punishment. He felt that a distinction might be drawn between adults and those of tender years; and that ​allowance might be made for any one who recanted. There was also the question whether any one should be punished simply for bearing the name of Christian or only if he was found guilty of “crimes associated with that name.” Hitherto, in the case of those who were brought before him, he had asked them three distinct times whether they were Christians, and, if they persisted in the admission, had ordered them to be taken to execution. Whatever might be the real character of their profession, he held that such obstinate persistence ought to be punished. There were others no less “demented,” who, being Roman citizens, would be sent to Rome for trial. Soon, as the natural consequence of these proceedings, a variety of cases had come under his notice. He had received an anonymous statement giving a list of accused persons. Some of them, who denied that they had ever been Chr1stians, had consented to pray to the gods, to adore the image of the emperor, and to blaspheme Christ; these he had dismissed. Others admitted that they were Christians, but presently denied it, adding that they had ceased to be Christians for some years. All of these worshipped images of the gods and of the emperor, and blasphemed Christ. They averred that the sum and substance of their “fault” was that they had been accustomed to meet on a fixed day before daylight to sing in turns a hymn to Christ as God, and to bind themselves by a solemn oath (sacramento) to abstain from theft or robbery, and from adultery, perjury and dishonesty; after which they were wont to separate and to meet again for a common meal. This, however, they had ceased to do as soon as Pliny had published a decree against collegia, in accordance with the emperor’s edict. To ascertain the truth, he had also put to the torture two maid-servants described as deaconesses, but had discovered nothing beyond a perverse and extravagant superstition. He had accordingly put off the formal trial with a view to consulting the emperor. The question appeared to be worthy of such a consultation, especially in view of the number of persons of all ages and ranks, and of both sexes, who were imperilled. The contagion had spread through towns and villages and the open country, but it might still be stayed. Temples that had been wellnigh deserted were already beginning to be frequented, rites long intermitted were being renewed, and the trade in fodder for sacrificial victims was reviving. It might be inferred from th1s how large a number might be reclaimed, if only room were granted for repentance.

Trajan in his reply (Epp. 97) expresses approval of Pliny’s course of action in the case of the Christians brought before him. It was impossible (he adds) to lay down any uniform or definite rule. The persons in question were not to be hunted out, but if they were reported and were found guilty, they were to be punished. If, however, any one denied that he was a Christian, and ratified his denial by worshipping the gods of Rome, he was to receive pardon. But no attention was to be paid to anonymous charges. It would be a bad precedent and unworthy of the spirit of the age.

The view that the Christians were punished for being members of a collegium or sodalitas (once held by E. G. Hardy, and still maintained by Professor Merrill) is hard to reconcile with Pliny’s own statement that the Christians had promptly obeyed the emperor’s decree against collegia (§ 7). Further reasons against this view have been urged by Ramsay, who sums up his main results as follows: (1) There was no express law or formal edict against the Christians. (2) They were not prosecuted or punished for contravening any formal law of a wider character. (3) They were judged and condemned by Pliny (with Trajan’s full approval) by virtue of the imperium delegated to him, and in accordance with the instructions issued to governors of provinces to search out and punish sacrilegious persons. (4) They had already been classed as outlaws, and the name of Christian in itself entailed condemnation. (5) This treatment was a settled principle of imperial policy, not established by the capricious action of a single emperor. (6) While Trajan felt bound to carry out the established principle his personal view was to some extent opposed to it. (7) A definite form of procedure had been established. (8) This procedure was followed by Pliny (W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, p. 223).

It has been well observed by E. G. Hardy that the “double aspect of Trajan’s rescript, which, while it theoretically condemned the Christians, practically gave them a certain security,” explains “the different views which have since been taken of it, but by most of the church writers, and perhaps on the whole with justice, it has been regarded as favourable and as rather discouraging persecution than legalizing it” (Pliny’s Correspondence with Trajan, 63, 210-217).
Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, Cambridge: University Press, 1911. Vol. XXI, pp. 844-846, written by John Edwin Sandys.

 

C. Plinius Traiano imperatori

Sollemne est mihi, domine, omnia de quibus dubito ad te referre. Quis enim potest melius vel cunctationem meam regere vel ignorantiam instruere? Cognitionibus de Christianis interfui numquam: ideo nescio quid et quatenus aut puniri soleat aut quæri. Nec mediocriter hæsitavi, sitne aliquod discrimen ætatum, an quamlibet teneri nihil a robustioribus differant; detur pænitentiæ venia, an ei, qui omnino Christianus fuit, desisse non prosit; nomen ipsum, si flagitiis careat, an flagitia cohærentia nomini puniantur. Interim, in iis qui ad me tamquam Christiani deferebantur, hunc sum secutus modum. Interrogavi ipsos an essent Christiani. Confitentes iterum ac tertio interrogavi supplicium minatus; perseverantes duci iussi. Neque enim dubitabam, qualecumque esset quod faterentur, pertinaciam certe et inflexibilem obstinationem debere puniri. Fuerunt alii similis amentiæ, quos, quia cives Romani erant, adnotavi in urbem remittendos. Mox ipso tractatu, ut fieri solet, diffundente se crimine plures species inciderunt. Propositus est libellus sine auctore multorum nomina continens. Qui negabant esse se Christianos aut fuisse, cum præeunte me deos appellarent et imagini tuæ, quam propter hoc iusseram cum simulacris numinum afferri, ture ac vino supplicarent, præterea male dicerent Christo, quorum nihil cogi posse dicuntur qui sunt re vera Christiani, dimittendos putavi. Alii ab indice nominati esse se Christianos dixerunt et mox negaverunt; fuisse quidem sed desisse, quidam ante triennium, quidam ante plures annos, non nemo etiam ante viginti. Hi quoque omnes et imaginem tuam deorumque simulacra venerati sunt et Christo male dixerunt. Affirmabant autem hanc fuisse summam vel culpæ suæ vel erroris, quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire, carmenque Christo quasi deo dicere secum invicem seque sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere, sed ne furta ne latrocinia ne adulteria committerent, ne fidem fallerent, ne depositum appellati abnegarent. Quibus peractis morem sibi discedendi fuisse rursusque coeundi ad capiendum cibum, promiscuum tamen et innoxium; quod ipsum facere desisse post edictum meum, quo secundum mandata tua hetærias esse vetueram. Quo magis necessarium credidi ex duabus ancillis, quæ ministræ dicebantur, quid esset veri, et per tormenta quærere. Nihil aliud inveni quam superstitionem pravam et immodicam.Ideo dilata cognitione ad consulendum te decucurri. Visa est enim mihi res digna consultatione, maxime propter periclitantium numerum. Multi enim omnis ætatis, omnis ordinis, utriusque sexus etiam vocantur in periculum et vocabuntur. Neque civitates tantum, sed vicos etiam atque agros superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est; quæ videtur sisti et corrigi posse. Certe satis constat prope iam desolata templa coepisse celebrari, et sacra sollemnia diu intermissa repeti passimque venire carnem victimarum, cuius adhuc rarissimus emptor inveniebatur. Ex quo facile est opinari, quæ turba hominum emendari possit, si sit pænitentiæ locus.
— X,xcvi.

It is my invariable rule, Sir, to refer to you in all matters where I feel doubtful; for who is more capable of removing my scruples, or informing my ignorance? Having never been present at any trials concerning those who profess Christianity, I am unacquainted not only with the nature of their crimes, or the measure of their punishment, but how far it is proper to enter into an examination concerning them. Whether, therefore, any difference is usually made with respect to ages, or no distinction is to be observed between the young and the adult; whether repentance entitles them to a pardon; or if a man has been once a Christian, it avails nothing to desist from his error; whether the very profession of Christianity, unattended with any criminal act, or only the crimes themselves inherent in the profession are punishable; on all these points I am in great doubt. In the meanwhile, the method I have observed towards those who have been brought before me as Christians is this: I asked them whether they were Christians; if they admitted it, I repeated the question twice, and threatened them with punishment; if they persisted, I ordered them to be at once punished: for I was persuaded, whatever the nature of their opinions might be, a contumacious and inflexible obstinacy certainly deserved correction. There were others also brought before me possessed with the same infatuation, but being Roman citizens, I directed them to be sent to Rome. But this crime spreading (as is usually the case) while it was actually under prosecution, several instances of the same nature occurred. An anonymous information was laid before me containing a charge against several persons, who upon examination denied they were Christians, or had ever been so. They repeated after me an invocation to the gods, and offered religious rites with wine and incense before your statue (which for that purpose I had ordered to be brought, together with those of the gods), and even reviled the name of Christ: whereas there is no forcing, it is said, those who are really Christians into any of these compliances: I thought it proper, therefore, to discharge them. Some among those who were accused by a witness in person at first confessed themselves Christians, but immediately after denied it; the rest owned indeed that they had been of that number formerly, but had now (some above three, others more, and a few above twenty years ago) renounced that error. They all worshipped your statue and the images of the gods, uttering imprecations at the same time against the name of Christ. They affirmed the whole of their guilt, or their error, was, that they met on a stated day before it was light, and addressed a form of prayer to Christ, as to a divinity, binding themselves by a solemn oath, not for the purposes of any wicked design, but never to commit any fraud, theft, or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble, to eat in common a harmless meal. From this custom, however, they desisted after the publication of my edict, by which, according to your commands, I forbade the meeting of any assemblies. After receiving this account, I judged it so much the more necessary to endeavor to extort the real truth, by putting two female slaves to the torture, who were said to officiate’ in their religious rites: but all I could discover was evidence of an absurd and extravagant superstition. I deemed it expedient, therefore, to adjourn all further proceedings, in order to consult you. For it appears to be a matter highly deserving your consideration, more especially as great numbers must be involved in the danger of these prosecutions, which have already extended, and are still likely to extend, to persons of all ranks and ages, and even of both sexes. In fact, this contagious superstition is not confined to the cities only, but has spread its infection among the neighbouring villages and country. Nevertheless, it still seems possible to restrain its progress. The temples, at least, which were once almost deserted, begin now to be frequented; and the sacred rites, after a long intermission, are again revived; while there is a general demand for the victims, which till lately found very few purchasers. From all this it is easy to conjecture what numbers might be reclaimed if a general pardon were granted to those who shall repent of their error.
— Translated by William Melmoth the younger.

Ich habe es mir zur Regel gemacht, Herr, alles, worüber ich im Zweifel bin, Dir vorzutragen. Wer könnte denn besser mein Zaudern lenken oder meine Unwissenheit belehren? Gerichtsverhandlungen gegen Christen habe ich noch nie beigewohnt; deshalb weiß ich nicht, was und wieweit man zu strafen oder zu untersuchen pflegt. Ich war auch ziemlich unsicher, ob das Lebensalter einen Unterschied bedingt, oder ob ganz junge Menschen genau so behandelt werden wie Erwachsene, ob der Reuige Verzeihung erfährt oder ob es dem, der überhaupt einmal Christ gewesen ist, nichts hilft, wenn er es nicht mehr ist, ob schon der Name ”Christ“, auch wenn keine Verbrechen vorliegen, oder nur mit dem Namen verbundene Verbrechen bestraft werden. Vorerst habe ich bei denen, die bei mir als Christen angezeigt wurden, folgendes Verfahren angewandt. Ich habe sie gefragt, ob sie Christen seien. Wer gestand, den habe ich unter Androhung der Todesstrafe ein zweites und drittes Mal gefragt; blieb er dabei, ließ ich ihn abführen. Denn mochten sie vorbringen, was sie wollten – Eigensinn und unbeugsame Halsstarrigkeit glaubte ich auf jeden Fall bestrafen zu müssen. Andre in dem gleichen Wahn Befangene habe ich, weil sie römische Bürger waren, zur Überführung nach Rom vorgemerkt. Als dann im Laufe der Verhandlungen, wie es zu gehen pflegt, die Anschuldigung weitere Kreise zog, ergaben sich verschieden gelagerte Fälle. Mir wurde eine anonyme Klageschrift mit zahlreichen Namen eingereicht. Diejenigen, die leugneten, Christen zu sein oder gewesen zu sein, glaubte ich freilassen zu müssen, da sie nach einer von mir vorgesprochenen Formel unsre Götter anriefen und vor Deinem Bilde, das ich zu diesem Zweck zusammen mit den Statuen der Götter hatte bringen lassen, mit Weihrauch und Wein opferten, außerdem Christus fluchten, lauter Dinge, zu denen wirkliche Christen sich angeblich nicht zwingen lassen. Andre, die der Denunziant genannt hatte, gaben zunächst zu, Christen zu sein, widerriefen es dann aber; sie seien es zwar gewesen, hätten es dann aber aufgegeben, manche vor drei Jahren, manche vor noch längerer Zeit, hin und wieder sogar vor zwanzig Jahren. Auch diese alle bezeugten Deinem Bilde und den Götterstatuen ihre Verehrung und fluchten Christus. Sie versicherten jedoch, ihre ganze Schuld oder ihr ganzer Irrtum habe darin bestanden, daß sie sich an einem bestimmten Tage vor Sonnenaufgang zu versammeln pflegten, Christus als ihrem Gott einen Wechselgesang zu singen und sich durch Eid nicht etwa zu irgendwelchen Verbrechen zu verpflichten, sondern keinen Diebstahl, Raubüberfall oder Ehebruch zu begehen, ein gegebenes Wort nicht zu brechen, eine angemahnte Schuld nicht abzuleugnen. Hernach seien sie auseinandergegangen und dann wieder zusammengekommen, um Speise zu sich zu nehmen, jedoch gewöhnliche, harmlose Speise, aber das hätten sie nach meinem Edikt, durch das ich gemäß Deinen Instruktionen Hetärien verboten hatte, unterlassen. Für um so notwendiger hielt ich es, von zwei Mägden, sogenannten Diakonissen, unter der Folter ein Geständnis der Wahrheit zu erzwingen. Ich fand nichts andres als einen wüsten, maßlosen Aberglauben. Somit habe ich die weitere Untersuchung vertagt, um mir bei Dir Rat zu holen. Die Sache scheint mir nämlich der Beratung zu bedürfen, vor allem wegen der großen Zahl der Angeklagten. Denn viele jeden Alters, jeden Standes, auch beiderlei Geschlechts sind jetzt und in Zukunft gefährdet. Nicht nur über die Städte, auch über Dörfer und Felder hat sich die Seuche dieses Aberglaubens verbreitet, aber ich glaube, man kann ihr Einhalt gebieten und Abhilfe schaffen. Jedenfalls ist es ziemlich sicher, daß die beinahe schon verödeten Tempel allmählich wieder besucht, die lange ausgesetzten feierlichen Opfer wieder aufgenommen werden und das Opferfleisch, für das sich bisher nur ganz selten ein Käufer fand, überall wieder Absatz findet. Daraus gewinnt man leicht einen Begriff, welch eine Masse von Menschen gebessert werden kann, wenn man der Reue Raum gibt.
— Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus: Briefe. Zürich: Artemis/Winkler, Sammlung Tusculum, 1984. Übersetzt von Helmut Kasten, pp. 640–645.

 

Inschriften

Es gibt einige fragmentarische Inschriften, die sich auf Plinius beziehen, deren längste (C.I.L. V. 5262) nur durch eine Kopie des 15. Jahrhunderts und ein in Mailand verbliebenes Fragment bekannt ist. Das Ganze befand sich über den Bädern in Novum Comum, wurde später jedoch zum Bau eines Grabes verwandt und im Mittelalter nach Mailand transportiert, wo es in der Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio aufgefunden wurde.

CIL V 5262, Quelle: Theodor Mommsen: Inscriptiones galliae cisalpinae latinae. Pars posterior. Inscriptiones regionum Italiae undecimae et nonae comprehendens. Berlin: Georg Reimer, 1877. p. 568.

C.I.L.V. 5262

„Caius PLINIVS Luci filius OVFentina CAECILIVS [secundus consul]
AVGVR LEGATus PRO PRaetore PROVINCIAE PON[ti et Bithyniae pro]
CONSVLARI POTESTA[te] IN EAM PROVINCIAM E[x senatus consulto missus ab]
IMPeratore CAESARe NERVA TRAIANO AVGusto GERMAN[ico Dacico patre patriae]
CVRATOR ALVEI TIBERIS ET RIPARVM E[t cloacarum urbis]
PRAEFectus AERARI SATVRNI PRAEFectus AERARI MIL[itaris praetor tribunus plebis]
QVAESTOR IMPeratoris SEVIR EQVITVM [Romanorum turmae ...]
TRIBunus MILITum LEGionis [III] GALLICA[e in provincia Syria Xvir stli]
TIBus IVDICANDis THERM[as ex iis ...] ADIECTIS IN
ORNATVM HS CCCtrecentis milibus nummum [... et eo amp]LIVS IN TVTELA[m]
HS CCducentis milibus nummum Testamento Fieri Iussit [item in alimenta] LIBERTORum SVORVM HOMINum C
HS XVIIIcentena LXVImilia DCLXVI REI [publicae legavit quorum inc]REMENTa POSTEA AD EPVLVM
[pl]EBis VRBANae VOLVIT PERTIN[ere ... item vivu?]S DEDIT IN ALIMENTa PVERORum
ET PVELLARum PLEBis VRBANae HS [Dquinquaginta milia ... et] IN TVTELAM BYBLIOTHE
CAE HS Ccentena milia
Das erhaltene Fragment.

“Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, son of Lucius, of the Oufentine tribe; consul; augur; legatus Augusti pro praetore consulari potestate for the province of Pontus and Bithynia, sent to that province in accordance with the Senate’s decree by the emperor Nerva Trajan Augustus Germanicus Dacicus, the father of his country; curator of the bed and banks of the Tiber and sewers of Rome; prefect of the treasury of Saturn; prefect of the military treasury; praetor; tribune of the people; quaestor of the emperor; commissioner of the Roman knights; tribune of the Third Gallic legion; magistrate on the Board of Ten; left by will public baths at a cost of [lacuna] and an additional 300,000 sesterces for furnishing them, with interest on 200,000 for the upkeep. He also left to his city capital of 1,866,666 sesterces to support a hundred of his freedmen, and subsequently to provide an annual dinner for the people of the city. Likewise in his lifetime he gave 500,000 sesterces for the maintenance of boys and girls of the city, and also 100,000 for the upkeep of the library.”
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 5.5262; translated by B. Radice.