pass our evenings in various conversation; and the day, even when it is at the longest, steals imperceptibly away. Upon some occasions I change the order in certain of the articles above mentioned. For instance: if I have studied longer or walked more than usual, after my second sleep and reading an oration or two aloud, instead of using my chariot I get on horseback, by which means I take as much exercise and lose less time. The visits of my friends from the neighbouring villages claim some part of the day; and sometimes, by an agreeable interruption, they come in very seasonably to relieve me when I am fatigued. I now and then amuse myself with sporting, but always take my tablets into the field, that if I should not meet with game, I may at least bring home something. Part of my time, too, is allotted to my tenants, though indeed not so much of it as they desire: and I return from settling their rustic controversies with a better relish to my studies and more elegant occupations. Farewell."

Ι

To the same correspondent, who in a subsequent letter had requested to know what alterations his friend made in the disposal of his time when at Laurentinum during the winter season, he replies,

"Nihil, nisi quod meridianus somnus eximitur, multumque de nocte vel ante, vel post diem sumitur : et, si agendi necessitas instat, quæ frequens hieme, non jam comodo, vel lyristæ post cœnam locus : sed illa quæ dictavi, identidem retractantur, ac simul memoriæ frequenti emendatione proficitur. Habes æstate, hieme consuetudinem: addas huc, licet, ver et autumnum, quæ inter hiemem æstatemque media, ut nihil de die perdunt, ita de nocte parvulum acquirunt. Vale."

"None, except abridging myself of my sleep at noon, and employing several hours both before daylight and after sunset in study: but if any public business requires my early attendance at Rome (which in winter very frequently happens), instead of having interludes or music after supper, I meditate upon what I have previously dictated, and by often revising it in my own mind, fix it the more strongly in my memory. Thus I have given you a general sketch of my mode of life both in summer and winter, to which you may add the intermediate seasons of spring and autumn: in these, as no part of the day is lost in sleep or dissipation, as in sum

Lib. ix. Epist. 40.

mer, so some time is gained for business or study by the nights being shorter than in winter. Farewell."

Such was the manner in which, during the vigour of his days, Pliny employed the leisure that was spared to him from the fatigues and anxieties of public life, looking forward to advanced years as to a period when, released from the cares of business, he might apply himself more methodically, and without interruption, to his favourite studies. As a model in these respects which he was ambitious to imitate, he had ever before his eyes the character and conduct of his friend Spurinna, a senator of great opulence and unblemished reputation, who had passed uncorrupted through the various offices of state, had governed many provinces with the most disinterested vigilance, and, after a manhood of indefatigable toil, was enjoying a virtuous old age in learned ease and elegant retirement. "I am so much pleased,” he tells his correspondent Calvisius, "with the uninterrupted regularity of his way of life, that if ever I should arrive at old age, there is no man whom I would sooner choose for my model. I look upon a stated arrangement of human actions, especially at that advanced period, with the same sort

of pleasure as I behold the settled course of the heavenly bodies. In youth, indeed, there is a certain deviation from precise rule by no means unbecoming: but in age, when business is unseasonable, and ambition indecent, all should be composed and uniform. This maxim Spurinna religiously pursues throughout his whole conduct." He then proceeds to describe in what manner this venerable old man employed his day: the first part of the morning, he informs us, he devoted to study; at eight he dressed and walked about three miles for the double purpose of contemplation and exercise. On his return, conversation, reading, and a subsequent slight repose, occupied his time until noon. He then ordered his chariot, and, either with his wife or a friend, took an excursion of about seven miles, adding generally to this little tour, ere he retired to his study, the additional exercise of walking another mile. About two in summer and three in winter he went into the bath; on coming out of which he played for a considerable time at tennis, and then, throwing himself upon his couch, had a favourite author read to him until about six o'clock, when with his friends, who had in the mean time been at perfect liberty either to enter into his amusement, or employ themselves

as they thought fit, he sat down to an elegant repast served up on antique silver, a meal that was frequently enlivened by the recital of some dramatic composition, and which, though often prolonged to an advanced hour of the night, never proved-such was uniformly the affability, politeness, and good humour of the host-either trifling or tedious to his guests.

The passage which immediately succeeds this detail I shall give in the author's own emphatic words.

"Inde illi post septimum et septuagesimum annum aurium oculorumque vigor integer, inde agile et vividum corpus, solaque ex senectute prudentia. Hanc ego vitam voto et cogitatione præsumo, ingressurus avidissime, ut primum ratio ætatis receptui canere permiserit *."

66

By this method of living he has preserved all his senses entire, and his body active and vigorous to his seventy-eighth year, without discovering any symptoms of old age but the wisdom. This is the sort of life which I ardently aspire after, and which I purpose to enjoy, when I shall arrive at those years which will justify a retreat from business."

*Lib. iii. Epist. 1.