Page images
PDF
EPUB

temere credas, nisi expertus) sed quia mihi pulchrum imprimis videtur, non pati occidere, quibus æternitas debeatur, aliorumque famam cum sua extendere. Me autem nihil æque, ac diuturnitatis amor et cupido sollicitat: res homine dignissimæ, præsertim qui nullius sibi conscius culpæ, posteritatis memoriam non reformidat. Itaque diebus ac noctibus cogito,

Si qua me quoque possim

Tollere humo *.”

"You are not singular in the advice you give me to undertake the writing of history: it is a work that has been frequently pressed upon me by several others of my friends, and in which I have some thoughts of engaging. Not because I have any confidence of succeeding in this way (it would be presuming upon the event of an experiment which I have never yet made); but because it is a noble employment to rescue from oblivion those who deserve to be eternally remembered, and by extending the reputation of others, to advance at the same time our own. Nothing, I confess, so strongly stimulates my breast as the desire of acquiring a lasting * Lib. v. Epist. 8.

VOL. I.

name—a passion highly worthy of the human heart, especially of his, who, not being conscious of any ill, is not afraid of being known to posterity. It is the continual subject therefore of my thoughts,

By what fair deed I too a name may raise."

Of the few epistles in the collection of Pliny which are addressed to characters whose writings have reached our own times, none are so interesting as those whose superscription bears the name of Tacitus. The intercourse which subsisted between this celebrated historian and our amiable author appears to have been of the most close and confidential kind; and the letter which I am about to quote will prove not only how mutual was their regard from a similarity of disposition and manners, but with what friendly zeal they sustained each other's reputation, and kept up a constant interchange of literary good offices. It is an example which, I regret to say, there is still reason to wish was more closely followed in the republic of letters.

"C. PLINIUS TACITO suo s.

"Librum tuum legi, et quam diligentissime potui adnotavi, quæ commutanda, quæ eximenda arbi

trarer. Nam et ego verum dicere assuevi, et tu libenter audire; neque enim ulli patientius reprehenduntur, quam qui maxime laudari merentur. Nunc a te librum meum cum annotationibus tuis expecto. O jucundas! O pulchras vices! quam me delectat, quod si qua posteris cura nostri, usquequaque narrabitur, qua concordia, simplicitate, fide vixerimus. Erit rarum et insigne, duos homines, ætate, dignitate propemodum æquales, nonnullius in literis nominis (cogor enim de te quoque parcius dicere, quia de me simul dico), alterum alterius studia fovisse. Equidem adolescentulus, cum jam tu fama, gloriaque floreres, te sequi tibi longo, sed proximus, intervallo et esse, et haberi concupiscebam. Et erant multa clarissima ingenia, sed tu mihi (ita similitudo naturæ ferebat) maxime imitabilis, maxime imitandus videbaris. Quo magis gaudeo, quod si quis de studiis sermo, una nominamur, quod de te loquentibus statim occurro. Nec desunt, qui utrique nostrum præferantur. Sed nihil interest mea, quo loco jungimur. Nam mihi primus, qui a te proximus; quin etiam in testamentis debes adnotasse (nisi quis forte alterutri nostrûm amicissimus), eadem legata, et quidem pariter accipimus. Quæ omnia huc spectant, ut invicem ardentius dili

gamus, cum tot vinculis nos studia, mores, fama, suprema denique hominum judicia constringant. Vale*"

66 TO TACITUS.

"I have perused your book with all the attention I was master of, and have marked the passages I think should be altered, and those which I am of opinion ought entirely to be thrown out. It is as habitual to me to speak truth, as it is agreeable to you to hear it; and indeed none are more patient of censure than those who have the best claim to applause. I now expect in return your observations upon that treatise of mine which I lately sent you. How agreeable, how noble is such a commerce! and how am I pleased with the thought, that posterity, if it shall at all concern itself with us, will not cease to mention with what harmony, what freedom, what fidelity we lived together! It will be an instance as remarkable as it is uncommon, that two persons nearly of the same age and rank, and of some character in the republic of letters (for since I join myself with you, I am obliged to speak of your merit with reserve), should thus mutually

* Lib. vii. Epist. 20.

assist and promote each other's studies. When I was a very young man, and you in the prime of your glory and reputation, I endeavoured to follow your steps, and was desirous to be considered as next in fame to you,

But next, with many a length between * !

And though there were, at that time, many celebrated geniuses in Rome, yet you of all others appeared to me, not only most worthy to be my model, but from a similitude of our dispositions, most easy for me to copy. It is particularly agreeable to me, therefore, to find, that in all companies where learning is the topic of conversation, we are always mentioned together, and that my name immediately follows yours. It is true, there are some who prefer you to me, as others, on the contrary, give me the advantage; but I am little solicitous in what order we are placed, so that we stand together; for, in my estimation, whoever is next to you must necessarily precede every one else. You even see in willst (unless in the case of particular friendship to

* Virgil's Æneid, Pitt's translation.

+ "It was the peculiar custom of Rome for the clients and dependents of families to bequeath at their death to their patrons some considerable part of their estates, as the most

« PreviousContinue »