C. PLINI SECVNDI EPISTVLA PRIMA
AD CORNELIVM TACITVM
DE VESVVII ERVPTIONE
Annotationibus Instructa in Usum Discipulorum
Annotated by Peter Cohee
latintutoring.biz
© 2007
Learning expectations for and sample exam on Pliny’s letter/s to Tacitus about the eruption of Vesuvius.
Learning Expectations. These letters by Pliny the Younger about the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in Ad 79, the first about his famous uncle’s death, the second about his own and his mother’s escape, are an invaluable eye-witness account of that great calamity; we therefore want you to learn it/them well. Here are the standards we’ll use to evaluate your knowledge of this material.
You will be expected to demonstrate your knowledge of:
the structure of sentences (i. e. the clauses and phrases of which they are made);
what part of speech any given word is;
the specific form of words (e. g. case and number, tense and mood, etc.);
the function of words in their clause or phrase (e. g. adjective modifying a noun, a pronoun’s case-function, etc.);
the meaning of words in their context (vocabulary);
You will also be expected to:
correctly translate or accurately paraphrase selected phrases, sentences, or passages;
comment critically on a given passage, correctly citing and translating the Latin to support your view;
demonstrate understanding of select passages or sentences.
Sample Exam. You should expect to find questions like these on your Pliny Vesuvius exam/s:
∙ Analyze this sentence (6. 16. 14) into its separate clauses and identify the type of each: Sed ārea, ex quā diaeta adibātur, ita, iam cinere mixtīsque pūmicibus opplēta, surrēxerat, ut, sī longior in cubiculō mora, exitus negārētur.
Sed area ... ita ... surrexerat main clause
ex qua diaeta adibatur relative clause
iam cinere mixtisque pumicibus oppleta participial phrase
ut ... exitus negaretur adverbial result clause/apodosis of condition
si longior in cubiculo mora (fuisset) protasis of future more vivid condition (past)
∙ Identify the part of speech, specific form, and function of the following (6. 16. 4): Erat Mīsenī classemque imperiō praesēns regēbat. Nōnum Kal. Septembrēs hōrā ferē septimā māter mea indicat eī appārēre nūbem inūsitātā et magnitūdine et speciē.
Miseni [proper noun, 2nd decl. neut. sing. locative]
regebat [verb, 3rd conj. 3rd pers. sing. imperf. indic. act.]
fere [adverb of manner; modifies septima]
ei [demonstr. pron., dat. sing. masc.; ind. obj. of indicat]
∙ Translate # 5 (6. 16. 8-10), Egrediebatur … enotaretque as precisely as possible.
∙ Accurately paraphrase or summarize how Uncle Pliny tried to encourage and comfort Pomponianus.
∙ Does Pliny the Younger express admiration for his uncle? Cite and translate the Latin which supports your view.
∙ On a map, locate Mt Vesuvius, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae, Neapolis, and Misenum.
∙ Compare current or recent news accounts of volcanic eruptions which resulted in loss of life and property. What details of Pliny’s account are similar? Cite and translate or accurately paraphrase the Latin which supports your comparisons.
∙ You might also be asked to do research and give a slide presentation on significant ruins of Pompeii or Herculaneum.
Introduction. Who were Pliny the Elder and Younger?
C. (Gaius) Plinius Secundus “the Elder” was born at Novum Comum (present-day Como) in N. Italy in AD 23 or 24. He was from a family in the “equestrian” class, which meant chiefly that, while they met the wealth and property requirements to run for and hold the electoral offices which gave a Roman man a seat in the Senate, they chose not to. Pliny served in the military in Germany and undertook a legal “practice” in the time of the emperor Nero. He was promoted and favored by the Flavian family of emperors, especially Vespasian and his son Titus, with whom Pliny served in the army. Because of the confidence those emperors had in his abilities, he was placed in charge of the imperial navy stationed in the Bay of Naples when the volcano Mt Vesuvius erupted, during the short reign of Titus. In the process of attempting a rescue of friends, he died from inhalation of the toxic gases. He was 55 or 56 years old.
When we think of ancient literature, we tend to think of such things as poetry, drama, oratory, philosophy, history and biography. But it is important for you to know that the ancient Greco-Roman world also abounded in what we would call technical writing, and on a vast array of subjects. Pliny the Elder was among the foremost of Roman writers of this kind. For example, he wrote a manual on the cavalry javelin and its use. He also wrote a history of the wars in Germany, a collection of legal sayings, and the work which survives and for which he is most famous, a 31-volume encyclopedia called Naturalis Historia, Investigations of Nature. The Roman world did not have “scientists” in our sense, that is, people especially trained to observe physical phenomena and to test our perceptions and understanding of them through controlled experimentation. But Pliny the Elder certainly qualifies by ancient standards. The range of his interest and sheer magnitude of factual detail is amazing. It was his interest in natural events that caused his death: he sailed closer to the eruption of Vesuvius partly out of his scientific curiosity.
C. Plinius Caecilius Secundus “the Younger” was born at Comum in AD 61 and lived until around AD 112. He was adopted and raised by his uncle Pliny “the Elder.” Also born of equestrian family, Pliny the Younger served in the military in Syria, then was enrolled in the Senate while still in his 20s and eventually belonged to the most prestigious public priesthood, that of the augurs. He was well-received and promoted politically, eventually achieving the office of consul (which of course, under the emperors, did not have the same power as earlier). He had a distinguished legal career as well.
Pliny the Younger inherited his uncle’s talent for writing, which he displays in his very large collection of personal letters. These are not ordinary letters. Though they are genuine correspondence to known persons, such as Tacitus or the emperor Trajan, or any number of Pliny’s friends and family, they are also written and arranged in a highly artful style. In effect, Pliny perfected what we might call ‘epistolary’ style, the art of fine letter-writing. Apart from that, the letters themselves give us an abundance of fascinating information about Roman society and politics in the age of the high Empire. Not only do we have two letters giving us an eye-witness account of the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, we also have one of the very first Roman encounters with members of the still-early Christian community in Asia Minor.
MAP OF THE BAY OF NAPLES
1. Pliny writes to Tacitus about his uncle’s death in the eruption of Mt Vesuvius. Plin. epist. 6. 16. 1-2
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3
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5 / c·plinivs·tacito·svo·s. Petis, ut tibi avunculī meī exitum scrībam, quō vērius trādere posterīs possīs. Grātiās agō; nam videō mortī eius, sī celebrētur ā tē, immortālem glōriam esse prōpositam. Quamvīs enim pulcherrimārum clāde terrārum, ut populī, ut urbēs, memorābilī cāsū quasi semper vīctūrus occiderit, quamvīs ipse plūrima opera et mānsūra condiderit, multum tamen perpetuitātī eius scrīptōrum tuōrum aeternitās addet.
1 C. Plinius Tacito suo s.: a standard greeting in a letter. The sender’s name, with praenomen abbreviated, then the recipient’s name in the dative case, then s(alutem); the understood verb is dat. Thus: “Gaius Plinius (sends) greeting to his (dear friend) Tacitus.”
Tacito: Cornelius Tacitus (ca. AD 56-ca. AD 119), Rome’s greatest historian. The information received by Tacitus from his friend Pliny would have been included in Tacitus’ now-lost books of his Histories, which covered the years AD 69-96; only about a third of this work survives.
peto, -ere, peti(v)i, petitum: ask, request.
ut ... scribam: noun purpose (“indirect command”) clause, the object of petis; the original subjunctive is optative.
tibi: 2nd personal pronoun, dat. ind. obj. of scribam.
avunculus, -i, m.: uncle; subjective genitive. See intro.
meus-a-um: (possessive adj.) my.
exitus, -ūs, m.: death (lit. “out-going,” i.e. from life). This is called a “cognate accusative,” in which exitum stands for an understood epistulam de exitu, “a letter about the death,” etc. The first line of Vergil’s Aeneid has a famous example: Arma virumque cano, “I sing (a song about) war and the man,” etc.
scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum: write.
quo ... possis: adv. purpose clause; in Latin, whenever a purpose clause contains an adjective or adverb in the comparative degree (such as verius), quo is commonly used instead of ut, as if it were ut eo, “so that by that means” etc.
vere: (adv.) truthfully, accurately.
trado, -ere, -didi, -ditum: hand down, report, tell; comple-mentary infinitive after possis.
posteri-ae-a: the future, future generations of people; dat.
ind. obj. of tradere.
2 possum, posse, potui: can, be able (+ inf.).
gratias ago: I thank you.
nam: (coord. conj.) For you see, ...
video, -ere, visi, visum: see, understand, recognize.
morti eius ... esse propositam: acc. + inf. construction, both the object of video and the apodosis (leading or “main” clause) of a potential condition, introduced by the protasis si celebretur a te. Study this sentence’s construction:
nam video
morti eius,
si celebretur a te,
immortalem gloriam esse propositam.
mors, mortis, f.: death; dat. ind. obj. of esse propositam.
is ea id: he she it; eius is possessive genitive, “his” (i. e. the elder Pliny’s).
si: (subord. conj.) if.
celebro, -are: make famous, honor.
a: (prep. + abl.) by.
te: 2nd personal pronoun, “you,” abl. of agent, obj. of a.
immortalis, -e: deathless, immortal, everlasting (i. e. via literature, because of Tacitus’ own fame as historian).
gloria, -ae, f.: glory, fame; acc. subj. of esse propositum.
3 propono, -ere, -posui, -positum: offer (as a reward).
Quamvis ... occideret, quamvis ... condiderit, ... tamen ... addet: concessive-adversative sentence.
Quamvis: (subord. conj.) although, however much.
enim: (postpositive coord. conj.) For (you see) ...
pulcher-chra-chrum: beautiful; note superlative degree.
clades, -is, f.: fall, destruction; abl. of circumstance, “in, during.”
terra, -ae, f.: land; obj. genitive after clade.
ut ... ut: (subord. conj.) comparative phrases, “just as;” supply occiderint.
populus, -i, m.: people; nom. subj. of understood occiderint.
urbs, -is, f.: city; nom. subj. of understood occiderint.
memorabilis, -e: unforgettable.
casus, -ūs, m.: disaster; abl. of circumstance, “in.” Note the word-play casū ... oc-cid-erit, the noun and verb being related with
the sense of ‘fall’, a device called figura etymologica.
4 quasi sempter victurus: comparative participial phrase, expressing a kind of result of the disaster.
quasi: (adv. and subord. conj.) such that.
semper: (adv.) always, forever
vivo, -ere, vixi, victum: live; the fut. act. participle refers to Pliny’s memorable death, which Tacitus will record.
occido, -ere, -cidi: (< ob-cadere) fall, perish, die.
ipse: he himself, he personally; nom. subj. of condiderit.
plurimi-ae-a: very many, a great number of.
opus, -eris, n.: work (of literature = book; see intro); acc. dir. obj. of condiderit..
et: (coord. conj.) and; links plurima and mansura.
maneo, -ere, mansi, mansurum: last, remain valid; note use of fut. act. participle to express a quality, “which will remain = continue to be read” etc.
condo, -ere, -didi, -ditum: lit. put together, found, build, establish; here = scribere. Note metaphor: books as constructed works, like buildings or monuments.
multum, -i, n.: much, a great deal; acc. dir. obj. of addet.
tamen: (demonstr. adv.) nevertheless, even so.
5 perpetuitas, -tatis, f.: remembrance, honored memory; dat. ind. obj. of addet.
eius = avunculi mei; possess. gen. modifying perpetuitati.
scriptum, -i, n.: writing, written work (here, of history); the genitive is subjective, modifying and explaining aeternitas, as if scripta tua aeterna: your works (are so excellent they will) last forever.
tuus-a-um: your, of yours.
aeternitas, -tatis, f.: eternity, everlastingness; nom. subj. of addet.
addo, -ere, -didi, -ditum: add, contribute (< ad + do).
notae
2. Deeds worthy of literature, literature worthy to be read. Plin. epist. 6. 16. 3
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3 / Equidem beātōs putō, quibus deōrum mūnere datum est aut facere scrībenda aut scrībere legenda, beātissimōs vērō quibus utrumque. Hōrum in numerō avunculus meus et suīs librīs et tuīs erit. Quō libentius suscipiō, dēposcō etiam, quod iniungis.
1 Equidem: (demonstr. adv.) For indeed, For truly ...
beatos puto: an abbreviated acc. + inf. construction; understand eos homines beatos esse puto, etc.
beatus-a-um: blessed, most fortunate.
puto, -are: think, reckon.
quibus: pl. relative pronoun, “to whom,” referring to an understood demonstrative antecedent eos (homines); dative ind. obj. of datum est.
deus, -i, m.: god; subj. genitive.
munus, -eris, n.: gift, grant; abl. of means, “by.”
do, dare, dedi, datum: give; the subject is compound, facere ... scribere. Use English impersonal “it” to translate, but remember that the infinitives are the real grammatical subjects.
aut ... aut: (coord. disjunct. conj.) either ... or.
facio, -ere, feci, factum: do, accomplish.
scribo, -ere, scripsi, scriptum: write; scribenda is a gerundive used as a noun, “things-worthy-to-be-written (about),” the acc. pl. obj. of facere.
lego, -ere, legi, lectum: read; the gerundive = “things-
worthy-to-be-read.” Cf. English ‘legend.’
2 beatissimos: again an abbreviated acc. + inf. construction; understand eos homines beatissimos esse puto.
vero: (adv.) but, but indeed; note how it emphasizes the progression from positive beatos to superlative beatissimos.
uterque utraque utrumque: both (of two) (i. e. both to do thngs that deserve to be recorded and to write things that deserve to be read). Supply datum est to complete.
hic haec hoc: (demonstr. pron.) this; pl. = these people, the kind of people just mentioned, a kind of subj. gen., since “these people” make up the very “number” to which they belong.
in: (prep. + abl. of location/circumstance) in, among.
numerus, -i, m.: number.