vn to enjoy the happiness of retiret; one was at the head of an army; the indulgence of the prince had exted another from the burthen of cimployments. What turns of fortune I-experienced even in my own per! It was eloquence that first raised ; it was eloquence that occafioned my race; and it was eloquence that adced me again. The friendships of the and good at my first appearance in world, were highly ferviceable to ; the fame friendships proved afterd extremely prejudicial to my interest, now again they are my ornament and port. If you compute the time in ch thefe incidents have happened, it ut a few years; if you number the ats, it feems an age. A leffon that teach us to check both our despair prefumption, when we obferve fuch ariety of revolutions roll round in fo t and narrow a circle. It is my custom communicate to my friend all my ights, and to fet before him the fame s and examples by which I regulate own conduct: and fuch was my dein this letter. Farewel.. LETTER XLIX. MENTIONED to you in a former let- and choofe as they fhall fee proper: all the fhare I pretend to claim is, that of contributing my care and my money. If therefore any one fhall be found who thinks himself qualified for the undertaking, he may repair thither; but without relying upon any thing but his merit. Farewel. LETTER XLI. REJOICE with me, my friend, not only upon my account, but your own, and that of the public; for eloquence is ftill held in honour. Being lately engaged to plead in a caufe before the Centumviri, the crowd was fo great that I could not get to my place, but in pafling by the tribunal where the judges fat. And I have this pleafing circumftance to add farther, that a young nobleman, having loft his robe in the prefs, flood in his veft to hear me for seven hours together: for fo long I was speaking; and with a succefs equal to my great fatigue. Come on then, my friend, and let us earnestly purfue our studies, nor fcreen our own dolence under pretence of that of the public. Never, we may reit affured, will there be wanting hearers and readers, fo long as we can fupply them with orators and authors worthy of their attention. Farewel. Y LETTER XLII. To Gallus. OU acquaint me that Caecilius, the conful elect, has commenced a fuit against Correllia, and earneftly beg me to undertake her caufe in her abfence. As I have reafon to thank you for your information, fo I have to complain of your intreaties without the firft, indeed, I fhould have been ignorant of this affair, but the laft was unneceffary, as I want no folicitations to comply, where it would be ungenerous in me to refufe; for can I hefitate a moment to take upon myself the protection of a daughter of Correllius? It is true, indeed, though there is no particular intimacy between her adverfary and me, we are, however, upon good terms. It is true likewife, that he is a perfon of great rank, and who has a clai icular regard from me, as he is entering upon an office which I have had the honour to fill; and it is natural for a man to be defirous thofe dignities fhould be treated with the highest respect, which he himself once poffeffed. Yet thefe confiderations have little weight, when I reflect that it is the daughter of Correllius whom I am to defend. The memory of that excellent perfon, than whom this age has not produced a man of greater dignity, reftitude, and good fenfe, is indelibly impreffed upon my mind. I admired him before I was ac quainted with him; and, contrary to what is ufually the cafe, my esteem inter: and indeed I knew him thoroughly, creafed in proportion as I knew him betfor he treated me without referve, and admitted me to share in his joys and his forrows, in his gay and his ferious hours. When I was but a youth, he esteemed, and (I will even venture to fay) revered me as if I had been his equal. When I folicited any poft of honour, he supported me with his interest, and recommended me by his testimony; when I entered attendant; when I exercised it, he was upon it, he was my introducer and my my guide and my counfeilor. In a word, wherever my intereft was concerned, he exerted himfelf with as much alacrity as if he had been in all his health and vigour. In private, in public, and at court, how often has he advanced and fupported my reputation! It happened once, that the converfation before the emperor Nerva turned upon the hopefu! young men of that time, and feveral of the company were pleafed to mention me with applaufe: he fat for a little while filent, which gave what he said the greater weight; and then with that air of dignity, to which you are no stranger, I must be referved, faid he, in my praifes of Pliny, becaufe he does nothing without my advice. By which fingle fentence he gave me a greater character than I would prefume even to wish for, as he reprefented my conduct to be always fuch as wildom muft approve, fince it was wholly under the direction of one of the wifeft of men. Even in his last moments he faid to his daughter (as fhe often mentions), I have in the courfe of a long life raifed up many friends to you; but there is none that you may more affuredly depend upon, than Pliny and Cornutus. A cirwithout cumftance I cannot reflect upon, being deeply fenfible how much it is incumbent upon me, to endeavour to act up to the opinion fo excellent a judge of mankind conceived of me. I fhall therefore most readily give my affiftance to Correllia in this affair; and willingly hazard any displeasure I may incur by appearing in her caufe. Though I fhould imagine, if in the courfe of my pleadings I should find an opportunity to explain and enforce, more at large than I can do in a letter, the reasons I have here mentioned, upon which I reft at once my apology and my glory; her adverfary (whofe fuit may perhaps, as you fay, be entirely unprecedented, as it is against a woman) will not only excufe, but approve my conduct. Farewel, AS LETTER XLIII, between us will increase with our days. and be as lafting as our lives. For it is not my youth or my perfon, which time gradually impairs; it is my reputation and my glory of which the is enamoured. But what lefs could be expected from one who was trained by your hands, and formed by your inftructions; who was early familiarifed under your roof with all that is worthy and amiable, and was firft taught to conceive an affection for me, by the advantageous colours in which you were pleased to reprefent me. And as you revered my mother with all the refpect due even to a parent, fo you kindly directed and encouraged my infancy, prefaging of me from that early period all that my wife now fondly imagines I really am. Accept therefore of our mutual thanks, that you have thus, as it were defignedly, formed us for each other, Farewel, LETTER XLIV. HAVE already acquainted you with my opinion of each particular part of your work, as I perufed it; I must now tell you my general thoughts of the whole. It is a ftrong and beautiful performance; the fentiments are fublime and mafculine, and conceived in all the variety of a pregnant imagination; the diction is challe and elegant; the figures are happily chofen, and a copious and diffufive vein of eloquence runs through the whole, and raises a very high idea of the author. You feem borne away by the full tide of a ftrong imagination and deep forrow, which mutually affift and heighten each other; for your genius gives fublimity and majefty to your paffion; and your paffion adds ftrength and poignancy to your genius. Farewel, you are an exemplary inftance of tender regard to your family in general, and to your late excellent brother in particular, whofe affection you returned with an equal warmth of refentiment ; I and have not only fhewn the kindness of an aunt, but fupplied the lofs of a tender parent to his daughter; you will hear, I am well perfuaded, with infinite pleafure, that the behaves worthy of her father, her grand-father, and yourself. She poffeffes an excellent understanding, together with a confummate prudence, and gives the ftrongeft teftimony of the purity of her heart by her fondness of me. Her affection to me has given her 2 turn to books; and my compofitions, which he takes a pleasure in reading, and even getting by heart, are continually in her hands. How full of tender folicitude is the when I am entering upon any caufe? How kindly does fhe rejoice with me when it is over? While I am pleading, the places perfons to inform her from time to time how I am heard, what applaufes I receive, and what fuc cefs attends the caufe. When at any time I recite my works, the conceals herfelf behind fome curtain, and with fecret rapture enjoys my praifes. She fings my verfes to her lyre, with no other mafter but love, the beft inftructor, for her guide. From thefe happy circumstances I draw my most affured hopes, that the harmony Calphurnia, Pliny's wife, LETTER XLV. To Velius Cerealis. HOW fevere a fate has attended the daughters of Helvidius! thefe two fifters are both dead in child-bed, after having each of them been delivered of a girl. This misfortune pierces me with the deepeft forrow; as indeed, to fee two fuch amiable young ladies fall a facrifice to to their fruitfulnefs in the prime and flower of their years, is a misfortune which I cannot too greatly lament. I lament for the unhappy condition of the poor infants, who are thus become orphans from their birth: I lament for the fake of the difconfolate husbands of thefe ladies; and I lament too for my own. The affection I bear to the memory of their late father is inviolable, as my defence of him in the fenate, and all my writings, will witnefs for me. Of three children which furvived him, there now remains but one; and his family, that had lately fo many noble fupports, refts only upon a fingle perfon! It will, however, be a great mitigation of my affliction, if fortune fhall kindly fpare that one, and render him worthy of his father and grandfather: and I am fo much the more anxious for his welfare and good conduct, as he is the only branch of the family remaining. You know the foftnefs and folicitude of my heart where I have any tender attachments; you muit not wonder then that I have many fears where I have great hopes. Farewel. I LETTER XLVI. To Rufus. LATELY attended our excellent emperor as one of his affeffors, in a caufe wherein he himself prefided. A certain perion left by his will, a fund for the eftablishment of the gymnaftic games at Vienna §. These my worthy friend Trebonius Rufinus, when he exercifed the office of Duumvir |, had ordered to be The famous Helvidius Prifcus, who fignaillfed himself in the fenate by the freedom of his fpeeches in favour of liberty, during the reigns of Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vefpafian; in whofe time he was put to death by the order of the fenate, though contrary to the inclination of the emperor, who countermanded the execution: but it was too late, the executioner having performed his office before the mesenger arrived. Tacitus reprefents him as acting in all the various duties of focial life with one confiftent tenor of uniform virtue; fuperior to all temptations of wealth, of inflexible integrity, and unbroken courage. Hiit. 1. 4, 5. + Trajan. So called, because the perfons who performed in thefe games were naked. They confifted principally of running, wretting, and boxing. Vienne in Dauphine, a province in France. The Duumviri, fo called from their number, being only two, were magiftrates in the corporate cities, who exercited in their respective corpora totally abolished; and it was now alleged against him, that he had no authority for fo doing. He spoke in his own caufe with a fuccefs equal to his great eloquence; and what particularly recommended his fpeech was, that he delivered it with a certain feafonable boldness becoming a true Roman and a good citizen, who stood up in his own defence. When the fentiments of the affeffors were taken, Junius Mauricus (who in refolution and integrity has no fuperior) declared it was his opinion, that the liberty of folemnizing thefe games fhould not be restored to the people of Vienna; and would to God, added he, they could be abolished at Rome too! This, you will fay, was an inftance of great firninefs : but it is nothing uncommon in Mauricus. He gave as firong à proof of his honeft freedom before the late emperor Nerva. Being at fupper one evening with that prince and a few felect friends, Vejento was placed next to the emperor: after I have named the man, I need fay no more to raife your indignation. The difcourfe happened to turn upon Catullus Meffalinus, who had a foul as dark as his body; for he was not only curfed with want of fight, but want of humanity. As he was uninfluenced either by fear, fhame, or compaffion, he proved a very proper inftrument in the hand of Domitian to execute his black purposes against every man their fenof worth. The company gave timents of the fanguinary counfels and infamous practices of this creature. "And what (laid the emperor) would have "been his fate had he lived now?" Ta have fupped with us, replied Mauricus. But to return from this long digreffion, into which, however, I did not fall undefignedly.-It was determined thefe games fhould be fuppreffed, which had greatly infected the manners of the people of Vienna; as they have univerfally had the fame effect among us. But the vices of the Viennenfes are confined within their own walls; ours have a more extenfive influence; for it is in the body poli tions, the fame functions as the Confuls at Rome; they were chofen out of the body of Decuriones, who were a kind of fenators. Sigonius de Jure Ital. 1. 3, 4. Trajan was fond of thefe kind of entertainments, and had himself exhibited some very fplendid ones, upon his triumph over the Dacians. ** An infamous fycophant frequently mentioned by Juvenal. tic, as in the natural, those disorders are moft dangerous that flow from the head. Farewel. LETTER XLVII. HAD the pleasure to hear from our common friends, that you support the dignity of eafe in your agreeable retirement, as becomes a man of your diftinguished wisdom; that you mix exercise with contemplation, and learned conferences with much reading; in a word, that you are daily increafing that glorious fund of knowledge you already poffefs. This is to grow old in a way worthy of one who has discharged the highest offices both civil and military, and who gave himself wholly up to the fervice of the commonwealth, whilft it became him to de fo. Our youth and manhood we owe to our country, but our declining age is due to ourselves; as the laws themfelves feem to fuggeft, which refign us up to retirement, when we are arrived beyond our fixtieth year. How do I long for the time when I fhall enjoy that happy privilege! when my years will justify my following the example of your honourable retreat! when my retirement fhall not be deemed indolence, but repofe! Farewel. LETTER XLVIII. To Valens. drawn to enjoy the happiness of retirement; one was at the head of an army; and the indulgence of the prince had exempted another from the burthen of civil employments. What turns of fortune have I experienced even in my own perfon! It was eloquence that first raised me; it was eloquence that occafioned my difgrace; and it was eloquence that advanced me again. The friendships of the wife and good at my first appearance in the world, were highly ferviceable to me; the fame friendships proved afterward extremely prejudicial to my intereft, and now again they are my ornament and fupport. If you compute the time in which thefe incidents have happened, it is but a few years; if you number the events, it feems an age. A leffon that will teach us to check both our despair and prefumption, when we obferve fuch a variety of revolutions roll round in so fwift and narrow a circle. It is my custom to communicate to my friend all my thoughts, and to fet before him the fame rules and examples by which I regulate my own conduct: and fuch was my defign in this letter. Farewel.. I LETTER XLIX. MENTIONED to you in a former letter, that I apprehended the method of voting by ballots would be attended with inconveniencies; and fo it has proved. At the last election of magiftrates, upon fome of the tablets were written feveral BEING engaged lately in a caufe be- pieces of pleafantry, and even indecen fore the Centumviri, it occured to me that when I was a youth I was also concerned in one which passed through the fame courts. I could not forbear, as ufual, to pursue the reflection my mind had started, and to confider if there were any of thofe advocates then prefent, who were joined with me in the former caufe; but I found I was the only person remaining who had been counfel in both: fuch changes does the inftability of human nature, or the viciffitudes of fortune, produce! Death had removed fome; ba nifhment others; age and infirmities had filenced thofe, while these were with *A fenator was not obliged to attend the bufinefs of the house, after that age. Seneca de Civ. Vit. c. 20. cies; in one particularly, inftead of the name of the candidate, were inferted the names of those who efpoused his interest. this infolence; and with one voice threatThe fenate was extremely exafperated at the author. But he lay concealed, and ened the vengeance of the emperor upon poffibly might be in the number of thofe who expreffed the greatest indignation. What must one think of fuch a man's private conduct, who in public, upon fo important an affair, and at fo folemn a rilous liberties, and dare to act the droll time, could indulge himself in such scurin the face of the fenate? Who will know it? is the argument that prompts little and bafe minds to commit thefe indecencies. Secure from being discovered by others, |