Pliny the Younger→Messius Maximus|c. 104 AD|pliny younger
To Messius Maximus.
I wrote and told you that there was a danger of the ballot leading to abuses. * Events have confirmed my view. At the last comitia a number of flippant jests were written on some of the voting cards and even obscenities, while on one of them were found, not the names of the candidates, but those of the voters. The senate was furious, and loudly called upon the offended Emperor to punish the writer. But the guilty person kept quiet and was not discovered - he possibly was one of those who professed the greatest indignation. Yet what conduct may we not consider him capable of at home when he plays such disgraceful jokes in a matter of such importance and at such a serious moment, and yet in the senate is an incisive, courteous, and witty speaker? However, people of no principle are encouraged to act in this shameful way when they feel they can safely say, "Who will find me out?" Such a man asks for a voting card, takes a pen in his hand, bends his head, has no fear of anyone, and holds himself cheap. That is the origin of scurrilities only worthy of the stage and the platform. But where can one turn, and where is one to look for a cure? On every hand the evils are more powerful than the remedies. Yet "all these things will be seen to by one above us," ** whose daily working hours are lengthened and whose labours are considerably increased by this lumpish, yet unbridled, perversity. Farewell.
[Note: See letter iii. 20.
]
[Note: By the Emperor. A quotation probably from some lost Greek play.]
L To Messius Maximus.
I wrote and told you that there was a danger of the ballot leading to abuses. * Events have confirmed my view. At the last comitia a number of flippant jests were written on some of the voting cards and even obscenities, while on one of them were found, not the names of the candidates, but those of the voters. The senate was furious, and loudly called upon the offended Emperor to punish the writer. But the guilty person kept quiet and was not discovered - he possibly was one of those who professed the greatest indignation. Yet what conduct may we not consider him capable of at home when he plays such disgraceful jokes in a matter of such importance and at such a serious moment, and yet in the senate is an incisive, courteous, and witty speaker? However, people of no principle are encouraged to act in this shameful way when they feel they can safely say, "Who will find me out?" Such a man asks for a voting card, takes a pen in his hand, bends his head, has no fear of anyone, and holds himself cheap. That is the origin of scurrilities only worthy of the stage and the platform. But where can one turn, and where is one to look for a cure? On every hand the evils are more powerful than the remedies. Yet "all these things will be seen to by one above us," ** whose daily working hours are lengthened and whose labours are considerably increased by this lumpish, yet unbridled, perversity. Farewell.
(*) See letter iii. 20.
(**) By the Emperor. A quotation probably from some lost Greek play.
◆
To Messius Maximus.
I wrote and told you that there was a danger of the ballot leading to abuses. * Events have confirmed my view. At the last comitia a number of flippant jests were written on some of the voting cards and even obscenities, while on one of them were found, not the names of the candidates, but those of the voters. The senate was furious, and loudly called upon the offended Emperor to punish the writer. But the guilty person kept quiet and was not discovered - he possibly was one of those who professed the greatest indignation. Yet what conduct may we not consider him capable of at home when he plays such disgraceful jokes in a matter of such importance and at such a serious moment, and yet in the senate is an incisive, courteous, and witty speaker? However, people of no principle are encouraged to act in this shameful way when they feel they can safely say, "Who will find me out?" Such a man asks for a voting card, takes a pen in his hand, bends his head, has no fear of anyone, and holds himself cheap. That is the origin of scurrilities only worthy of the stage and the platform. But where can one turn, and where is one to look for a cure? On every hand the evils are more powerful than the remedies. Yet "all these things will be seen to by one above us," ** whose daily working hours are lengthened and whose labours are considerably increased by this lumpish, yet unbridled, perversity. Farewell.
[Note: See letter iii. 20.
]
[Note: By the Emperor. A quotation probably from some lost Greek play.]
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.