Letter 4015: If I have ever been guided by judgment, it has been in the strength of regard I have for Asinius Rufus.
Pliny the Younger→Minucius Fundanus|c. 104 AD|Pliny the Younger|Human translated
education booksfriendshipimperial politics
To Fundanus.
If I have ever been guided by judgment, it has been in the strength of regard I have for Asinius Rufus. He is one of a thousand, and a devoted admirer of all good men among whom why may I not include myself? He is on the very closest of terms of friendship with Cornelius Tacitus, and you know what an honourable man Tacitus is. So if you have any high opinion of both Tacitus and myself, you must also think as highly of Rufus as you do of us, since similarity of character is perhaps the strongest bond for cementing friendships. Rufus has a number of children. Even in this respect he has acted the part of a good citizen, in that he was willing to freely undertake the responsibilities entailed upon him by the fruitfulness of his wife, in an age when the advantages of being childless are such that many people consider even one son to be a burden. * He has scorned all those advantages, and has also become a grandfather. For a grandfather he is, thanks to Saturius Firmus, whom you will love as I do when you know him as intimately.
I mention these particulars to show you what a large and numerous household you can oblige by a single favour, and I am induced to ask it from you, in the first place, because I wish to do so, and in the second, owing to a good omen. For we hope and prophesy that next year you will be consul, and we are led to make that forecast by your own good qualities, and by the opinion that the Emperor has of you. But it also happens that Asinius Bassus, the eldest son of Rufus, will be quaestor in the same year, and he is a young man even more worthy than his father, though I don't know whether I ought to mention such a fact, which the modesty of the young fellow would deny, but which his father desires me to think and openly declare. Though you always repose confidence in what I say, it is difficult, I know, for you to credit my account of an absent man when I say that he possesses splendid industry, probity, learning, wit, application, and powers of memory, as you will discover for yourself when you have tried him. I only wish that our age was so productive of men of high character that there were others to whom you ought to give preference over Bassus; if it did, I should be the first to advise and exhort you to take a good look round, and consider long and carefully on whom your choice should fall. But as it is - yet no, I do not wish to boast about my friend, I will merely say that he is a young man well deserving of adoption by you as a son in the old-fashioned way. ** For prudent men, like yourself, ought to receive as children from the State children such as we are accustomed to hope that Nature will bestow upon us. When you are consul it will become you to have as quaestor a man whose father was praetor, and whose relatives are of consular rank, especially as he, although still young, is in his turn already in their judgment an honour to them and their family. So I hope you will grant my request and take my advice.
Above all, pardon me if you think I am acting prematurely, first, because in a State where to get a thing done depends on the earliness of the application, those who wait for the proper time find the fruit not only ripe but plucked, and, secondly, when one is anxious to get a favour it is very pleasant to enjoy in advance the certainty of obtaining it. Give Bassus the opportunity of respecting you even now as consul, and do you entertain a friendly regard for him as your quaestor, and let us who are devoted to both of you have the enjoyment of this double satisfaction. For while our regard for you and Bassus is such that we will use all our resources, energy, and influence to obtain the advancement of Bassus, no matter to what consul he is assigned as quaestor - as well as the advancement of any quaestor that may be allotted to you - it would be immensely gratifying to us if we could at one and the same time prove our friendship and advance your interests as consul by helping the cause of our young friend, and if you of all people, whose wishes the senate is so ready to gratify, and in whose recommendations they place such implicit trust, were to stand forth as the seconder of my desires. Farewell.
[Note: An allusion to the court paid to childless people, with the view of getting a legacy.
]
[Note: Alluding to the close connection between consul and quaestor.]
L To Fundanus.
If I have ever been guided by judgment, it has been in the strength of regard I have for Asinius Rufus. He is one of a thousand, and a devoted admirer of all good men among whom why may I not include myself? He is on the very closest of terms of friendship with Cornelius Tacitus, and you know what an honourable man Tacitus is. So if you have any high opinion of both Tacitus and myself, you must also think as highly of Rufus as you do of us, since similarity of character is perhaps the strongest bond for cementing friendships. Rufus has a number of children. Even in this respect he has acted the part of a good citizen, in that he was willing to freely undertake the responsibilities entailed upon him by the fruitfulness of his wife, in an age when the advantages of being childless are such that many people consider even one son to be a burden. * He has scorned all those advantages, and has also become a grandfather. For a grandfather he is, thanks to Saturius Firmus, whom you will love as I do when you know him as intimately.
I mention these particulars to show you what a large and numerous household you can oblige by a single favour, and I am induced to ask it from you, in the first place, because I wish to do so, and in the second, owing to a good omen. For we hope and prophesy that next year you will be consul, and we are led to make that forecast by your own good qualities, and by the opinion that the Emperor has of you. But it also happens that Asinius Bassus, the eldest son of Rufus, will be quaestor in the same year, and he is a young man even more worthy than his father, though I don't know whether I ought to mention such a fact, which the modesty of the young fellow would deny, but which his father desires me to think and openly declare. Though you always repose confidence in what I say, it is difficult, I know, for you to credit my account of an absent man when I say that he possesses splendid industry, probity, learning, wit, application, and powers of memory, as you will discover for yourself when you have tried him. I only wish that our age was so productive of men of high character that there were others to whom you ought to give preference over Bassus; if it did, I should be the first to advise and exhort you to take a good look round, and consider long and carefully on whom your choice should fall. But as it is - yet no, I do not wish to boast about my friend, I will merely say that he is a young man well deserving of adoption by you as a son in the old-fashioned way. ** For prudent men, like yourself, ought to receive as children from the State children such as we are accustomed to hope that Nature will bestow upon us. When you are consul it will become you to have as quaestor a man whose father was praetor, and whose relatives are of consular rank, especially as he, although still young, is in his turn already in their judgment an honour to them and their family. So I hope you will grant my request and take my advice.
Above all, pardon me if you think I am acting prematurely, first, because in a State where to get a thing done depends on the earliness of the application, those who wait for the proper time find the fruit not only ripe but plucked, and, secondly, when one is anxious to get a favour it is very pleasant to enjoy in advance the certainty of obtaining it. Give Bassus the opportunity of respecting you even now as consul, and do you entertain a friendly regard for him as your quaestor, and let us who are devoted to both of you have the enjoyment of this double satisfaction. For while our regard for you and Bassus is such that we shall use all our resources, energy, and influence to obtain the advancement of Bassus, no matter to what consul he is assigned as quaestor - as well as the advancement of any quaestor that may be allotted to you - it would be immensely gratifying to us if we could at one and the same time prove our friendship and advance your interests as consul by helping the cause of our young friend, and if you of all people, whose wishes the senate is so ready to gratify, and in whose recommendations they place such implicit trust, were to stand forth as the seconder of my desires. Farewell.
(*) An allusion to the court paid to childless people, with the view of getting a legacy.
(**) Alluding to the close connection between consul and quaestor.
C. PLINIUS MINICIO FUNDANO SUO S.
Si quid omnino, hoc certe iudicio facio, quod Asinium Rufum singulariter amo. Est homo eximius et bonorum amantissimus. Cur enim non me quoque inter bonos numerem? Idem Cornelium Tacitum - scis quem virum - arta familiaritate complexus est. Proinde si utrumque nostrum probas, de Rufo quoque necesse est idem sentias, cum sit ad conectendas amicitias vel tenacissimum vinculum morum similitudo. Sunt ei liberi plures. Nam in hoc quoque functus est optimi civis officio, quod fecunditate uxoris large frui voluit, eo saeculo quo plerisque etiam singulos filios orbitatis praemia graves faciunt. Quibus ille despectis, avi quoque nomen assumpsit. Est enim avus, et quidem ex Saturio Firmo, quem diliges ut ego si ut ego propius inspexeris. Haec eo pertinent, ut scias quam copiosam, quam numerosam domum uno beneficio sis obligaturus; ad quod petendum voto primum, deinde bono quodam omine adducimur. Optamus enim tibi ominamurque in proximum annum consulatum: ita nos virtutes tuae, ita iudicia principis augurari volunt. Concurrit autem ut sit eodem anno quaestor maximus ex liberis Rufi, Asinius Bassus, iuvenis - nescio an dicam, quod me pater et sentire et dicere cupit, adulescentis verecundia vetat - ipso patre melior. Difficile est ut mihi de absente credas - quamquam credere soles omnia -, tantum in illo industriae probitatis eruditionis ingenii studii memoriae denique esse, quantum expertus invenies. Vellem tam ferax saeculum bonis artibus haberemus, ut aliquos Basso praeferre deberes: tum ego te primus hortarer moneremque, circumferres oculos ac diu pensitares, quem potissimum eligeres. Nunc vero - sed nihil volo de amico meo arrogantius dicere; hoc solum dico, dignum esse iuvenem quem more maiorum in filii locum assumas. Debent autem sapientes viri, ut tu, tales quasi liberos a re publica accipere, quales a natura solemus optare. Decorus erit tibi consuli quaestor patre praetorio, propinquis consularibus, quibus iudicio ipsorum, quamquam asulescentulus adhuc, iam tamen invicem ornamento est. Proinde indulge precibus meis, obsequere consilio, et ante omnia si festinare videor ignosce, primum quia votis suis amor plerumque praecurrit; deinde quod in ea civitate, in qua omnia quasi ab occupantibus aguntur, quae legitimum tempus exspectant, non matura sed sera sunt; in summa quod rerum, quas assequi cupias, praesumptio ipsa iucunda est. Revereatur iam te Bassus ut consulem, tu dilige illum ut quaestorem, nos denique utriusque vestrum amantissimi laetitia duplici perfruamur. Etenim cum sic te, sic Bassum diligamus, ut et illum cuiuscumque et tuum quemcumque quaestorem in petendis honoribus omni ope labore gratia simus iuvaturi, perquam iucundum nobis erit, si in eundem iuvenem studium nostrum et amicitiae meae et consulatus tui ratio contulerit, si denique precibus meis tu potissimum adiutor accesseris, cuius et suffragio senatus libentissime indulgeat et testimonio plurimum credat. Vale.
◆
To Fundanus.
If I have ever been guided by judgment, it has been in the strength of regard I have for Asinius Rufus. He is one of a thousand, and a devoted admirer of all good men among whom why may I not include myself? He is on the very closest of terms of friendship with Cornelius Tacitus, and you know what an honourable man Tacitus is. So if you have any high opinion of both Tacitus and myself, you must also think as highly of Rufus as you do of us, since similarity of character is perhaps the strongest bond for cementing friendships. Rufus has a number of children. Even in this respect he has acted the part of a good citizen, in that he was willing to freely undertake the responsibilities entailed upon him by the fruitfulness of his wife, in an age when the advantages of being childless are such that many people consider even one son to be a burden. * He has scorned all those advantages, and has also become a grandfather. For a grandfather he is, thanks to Saturius Firmus, whom you will love as I do when you know him as intimately.
I mention these particulars to show you what a large and numerous household you can oblige by a single favour, and I am induced to ask it from you, in the first place, because I wish to do so, and in the second, owing to a good omen. For we hope and prophesy that next year you will be consul, and we are led to make that forecast by your own good qualities, and by the opinion that the Emperor has of you. But it also happens that Asinius Bassus, the eldest son of Rufus, will be quaestor in the same year, and he is a young man even more worthy than his father, though I don't know whether I ought to mention such a fact, which the modesty of the young fellow would deny, but which his father desires me to think and openly declare. Though you always repose confidence in what I say, it is difficult, I know, for you to credit my account of an absent man when I say that he possesses splendid industry, probity, learning, wit, application, and powers of memory, as you will discover for yourself when you have tried him. I only wish that our age was so productive of men of high character that there were others to whom you ought to give preference over Bassus; if it did, I should be the first to advise and exhort you to take a good look round, and consider long and carefully on whom your choice should fall. But as it is - yet no, I do not wish to boast about my friend, I will merely say that he is a young man well deserving of adoption by you as a son in the old-fashioned way. ** For prudent men, like yourself, ought to receive as children from the State children such as we are accustomed to hope that Nature will bestow upon us. When you are consul it will become you to have as quaestor a man whose father was praetor, and whose relatives are of consular rank, especially as he, although still young, is in his turn already in their judgment an honour to them and their family. So I hope you will grant my request and take my advice.
Above all, pardon me if you think I am acting prematurely, first, because in a State where to get a thing done depends on the earliness of the application, those who wait for the proper time find the fruit not only ripe but plucked, and, secondly, when one is anxious to get a favour it is very pleasant to enjoy in advance the certainty of obtaining it. Give Bassus the opportunity of respecting you even now as consul, and do you entertain a friendly regard for him as your quaestor, and let us who are devoted to both of you have the enjoyment of this double satisfaction. For while our regard for you and Bassus is such that we will use all our resources, energy, and influence to obtain the advancement of Bassus, no matter to what consul he is assigned as quaestor - as well as the advancement of any quaestor that may be allotted to you - it would be immensely gratifying to us if we could at one and the same time prove our friendship and advance your interests as consul by helping the cause of our young friend, and if you of all people, whose wishes the senate is so ready to gratify, and in whose recommendations they place such implicit trust, were to stand forth as the seconder of my desires. Farewell.
[Note: An allusion to the court paid to childless people, with the view of getting a legacy.
]
[Note: Alluding to the close connection between consul and quaestor.]
Human translation — Attalus.org
Latin / Greek Original
C. PLINIUS MINICIO FUNDANO SUO S.
Si quid omnino, hoc certe iudicio facio, quod Asinium Rufum singulariter amo. Est homo eximius et bonorum amantissimus. Cur enim non me quoque inter bonos numerem? Idem Cornelium Tacitum - scis quem virum - arta familiaritate complexus est. Proinde si utrumque nostrum probas, de Rufo quoque necesse est idem sentias, cum sit ad conectendas amicitias vel tenacissimum vinculum morum similitudo. Sunt ei liberi plures. Nam in hoc quoque functus est optimi civis officio, quod fecunditate uxoris large frui voluit, eo saeculo quo plerisque etiam singulos filios orbitatis praemia graves faciunt. Quibus ille despectis, avi quoque nomen assumpsit. Est enim avus, et quidem ex Saturio Firmo, quem diliges ut ego si ut ego propius inspexeris. Haec eo pertinent, ut scias quam copiosam, quam numerosam domum uno beneficio sis obligaturus; ad quod petendum voto primum, deinde bono quodam omine adducimur. Optamus enim tibi ominamurque in proximum annum consulatum: ita nos virtutes tuae, ita iudicia principis augurari volunt. Concurrit autem ut sit eodem anno quaestor maximus ex liberis Rufi, Asinius Bassus, iuvenis - nescio an dicam, quod me pater et sentire et dicere cupit, adulescentis verecundia vetat - ipso patre melior. Difficile est ut mihi de absente credas - quamquam credere soles omnia -, tantum in illo industriae probitatis eruditionis ingenii studii memoriae denique esse, quantum expertus invenies. Vellem tam ferax saeculum bonis artibus haberemus, ut aliquos Basso praeferre deberes: tum ego te primus hortarer moneremque, circumferres oculos ac diu pensitares, quem potissimum eligeres. Nunc vero - sed nihil volo de amico meo arrogantius dicere; hoc solum dico, dignum esse iuvenem quem more maiorum in filii locum assumas. Debent autem sapientes viri, ut tu, tales quasi liberos a re publica accipere, quales a natura solemus optare. Decorus erit tibi consuli quaestor patre praetorio, propinquis consularibus, quibus iudicio ipsorum, quamquam asulescentulus adhuc, iam tamen invicem ornamento est. Proinde indulge precibus meis, obsequere consilio, et ante omnia si festinare videor ignosce, primum quia votis suis amor plerumque praecurrit; deinde quod in ea civitate, in qua omnia quasi ab occupantibus aguntur, quae legitimum tempus exspectant, non matura sed sera sunt; in summa quod rerum, quas assequi cupias, praesumptio ipsa iucunda est. Revereatur iam te Bassus ut consulem, tu dilige illum ut quaestorem, nos denique utriusque vestrum amantissimi laetitia duplici perfruamur. Etenim cum sic te, sic Bassum diligamus, ut et illum cuiuscumque et tuum quemcumque quaestorem in petendis honoribus omni ope labore gratia simus iuvaturi, perquam iucundum nobis erit, si in eundem iuvenem studium nostrum et amicitiae meae et consulatus tui ratio contulerit, si denique precibus meis tu potissimum adiutor accesseris, cuius et suffragio senatus libentissime indulgeat et testimonio plurimum credat. Vale.