Letter 6005: I have already told you * that Varenus was given permission to bring witnesses on his behalf from his province.
Pliny the Younger→Cornelius Ursus|c. 104 AD|Pliny the Younger|Human translated
education booksimperial politics
To Ursus.
I have already told you * that Varenus was given permission to bring witnesses on his behalf from his province. This seemed just to a majority of the senate, but unjust to certain others, and the latter clung obstinately to their view, especially Licinius Nepos, who at the next meeting of the senate, on a debate dealing with a totally different subject, began to discuss the resolution of the previous sitting, and re-opened a matter which was already closed. He even went on to say that the consuls should be asked to bring in a motion relating to the law against extortion, under the head of the law against bribery, and say whether they thought it right that an addition should be made to the law, giving those who were accused of the offence the same powers to make inquiries and denounce the guilty parties as were granted to the accusers and to the witnesses. Many considered that this speech of Nepos was belated, untimely, and quite out of place, since he had allowed the proper time for opposing the proposal to pass by, and now declaimed against it after it had been carried, though he might have done so before. The praetor Juventius Celsus vehemently upbraided him in a long speech, in which he taunted him with seeking to reform the senate. Nepos replied; Celsus answered him back, and neither spared reproaches and insults. I do not wish to repeat the words which pained me when I heard them spoken, but I blame even more some of our number who kept running first to Celsus and then to Nepos, according as one or other was speaking, in their desire to hear every word. At one moment they seemed to be encouraging and inflaming their passions, at another to be seeking to reconcile them and smooth matters over, and then they kept on appealing to Caesar to take the side of each, or even of both, just as actors do in a farce. What annoyed me most of all was that each was told what his opponent was going to say, for Celsus replied to Nepos from his note-book, and Nepos answered Celsus from his tablets. The friends of each kept talking to such an extent that the two disputants knew exactly what each was going to say, as though it had all been arranged beforehand. Farewell.
[Note: See letter v. 20.]
L To Ursus.
I have already told you * that Varenus was given permission to bring witnesses on his behalf from his province. This seemed just to a majority of the senate, but unjust to certain others, and the latter clung obstinately to their view, especially Licinius Nepos, who at the next meeting of the senate, on a debate dealing with a totally different subject, began to discuss the resolution of the previous sitting, and re-opened a matter which was already closed. He even went on to say that the consuls should be asked to bring in a motion relating to the law against extortion, under the head of the law against bribery, and say whether they thought it right that an addition should be made to the law, giving those who were accused of the offence the same powers to make inquiries and denounce the guilty parties as were granted to the accusers and to the witnesses. Many considered that this speech of Nepos was belated, untimely, and quite out of place, inasmuch as he had allowed the proper time for opposing the proposal to pass by, and now declaimed against it after it had been carried, though he might have done so before. The praetor Juventius Celsus vehemently upbraided him in a long speech, in which he taunted him with seeking to reform the senate. Nepos replied; Celsus answered him back, and neither spared reproaches and insults. I do not wish to repeat the words which pained me when I heard them spoken, but I blame even more some of our number who kept running first to Celsus and then to Nepos, according as one or other was speaking, in their desire to hear every word. At one moment they seemed to be encouraging and inflaming their passions, at another to be seeking to reconcile them and smooth matters over, and then they kept on appealing to Caesar to take the side of each, or even of both, just as actors do in a farce. What annoyed me most of all was that each was told what his opponent was going to say, for Celsus replied to Nepos from his note-book, and Nepos answered Celsus from his tablets. The friends of each kept talking to such an extent that the two disputants knew exactly what each was going to say, as though it had all been arranged beforehand. Farewell.
(*) See letter v. 20.
C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.
Scripseram tenuisse Varenum, ut sibi evocare testes liceret; quod pluribus aequum, quibusdam iniquum et quidem pertinaciter visum, maxime Licinio Nepoti, qui sequenti senatu, cum de rebus aliis referretur, de proximo senatus consulto disseruit finitamque causam retractavit. Addidit etiam petendum a consulibus ut referrent sub exemplo legis ambitus de lege repetundarum, an placeret in futurum ad eam legem adici, ut sicut accusatoribus inquirendi testibusque denuntiandi potestas ex ea lege esset, ita reis quoque fieret. Fuerunt quibus haec eius oratio ut sera et intempestiva et praepostera displiceret, quae omisso contra dicendi tempore castigaret peractum, cui potuisset occurrere. Iuventius quidem Celsus praetor tamquam emendatorem senatus et multis et vehementer increpuit. Respondit Nepos rursusque Celsus; neuter contumeliis temperavit. Nolo referre quae dici ab ipsis moleste tuli. Quo magis quosdam e numero nostro improbavi, qui modo ad Celsum modo ad Nepotem, prout hic vel ille diceret, cupiditate audiendi cursitabant, et nunc quasi stimularent et accenderent, nunc quasi reconciliarent ac recomponerent, frequentius singulis, ambobus interdum propitium Caesarem ut in ludicro aliquo precabantur. Mihi quidem illud etiam peracerbum fuit, quod sunt alter alteri quid pararent indicati. Nam et Celsus Nepoti ex libello respondit et Celso Nepos ex pugillaribus. Tanta loquacitas amicorum, ut homines iurgaturi id ipsum invicem scierint, tamquam convenisset. Vale.
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To Ursus.
I have already told you * that Varenus was given permission to bring witnesses on his behalf from his province. This seemed just to a majority of the senate, but unjust to certain others, and the latter clung obstinately to their view, especially Licinius Nepos, who at the next meeting of the senate, on a debate dealing with a totally different subject, began to discuss the resolution of the previous sitting, and re-opened a matter which was already closed. He even went on to say that the consuls should be asked to bring in a motion relating to the law against extortion, under the head of the law against bribery, and say whether they thought it right that an addition should be made to the law, giving those who were accused of the offence the same powers to make inquiries and denounce the guilty parties as were granted to the accusers and to the witnesses. Many considered that this speech of Nepos was belated, untimely, and quite out of place, since he had allowed the proper time for opposing the proposal to pass by, and now declaimed against it after it had been carried, though he might have done so before. The praetor Juventius Celsus vehemently upbraided him in a long speech, in which he taunted him with seeking to reform the senate. Nepos replied; Celsus answered him back, and neither spared reproaches and insults. I do not wish to repeat the words which pained me when I heard them spoken, but I blame even more some of our number who kept running first to Celsus and then to Nepos, according as one or other was speaking, in their desire to hear every word. At one moment they seemed to be encouraging and inflaming their passions, at another to be seeking to reconcile them and smooth matters over, and then they kept on appealing to Caesar to take the side of each, or even of both, just as actors do in a farce. What annoyed me most of all was that each was told what his opponent was going to say, for Celsus replied to Nepos from his note-book, and Nepos answered Celsus from his tablets. The friends of each kept talking to such an extent that the two disputants knew exactly what each was going to say, as though it had all been arranged beforehand. Farewell.
[Note: See letter v. 20.]
Human translation — Attalus.org
Latin / Greek Original
C. PLINIUS URSO SUO S.
Scripseram tenuisse Varenum, ut sibi evocare testes liceret; quod pluribus aequum, quibusdam iniquum et quidem pertinaciter visum, maxime Licinio Nepoti, qui sequenti senatu, cum de rebus aliis referretur, de proximo senatus consulto disseruit finitamque causam retractavit. Addidit etiam petendum a consulibus ut referrent sub exemplo legis ambitus de lege repetundarum, an placeret in futurum ad eam legem adici, ut sicut accusatoribus inquirendi testibusque denuntiandi potestas ex ea lege esset, ita reis quoque fieret. Fuerunt quibus haec eius oratio ut sera et intempestiva et praepostera displiceret, quae omisso contra dicendi tempore castigaret peractum, cui potuisset occurrere. Iuventius quidem Celsus praetor tamquam emendatorem senatus et multis et vehementer increpuit. Respondit Nepos rursusque Celsus; neuter contumeliis temperavit. Nolo referre quae dici ab ipsis moleste tuli. Quo magis quosdam e numero nostro improbavi, qui modo ad Celsum modo ad Nepotem, prout hic vel ille diceret, cupiditate audiendi cursitabant, et nunc quasi stimularent et accenderent, nunc quasi reconciliarent ac recomponerent, frequentius singulis, ambobus interdum propitium Caesarem ut in ludicro aliquo precabantur. Mihi quidem illud etiam peracerbum fuit, quod sunt alter alteri quid pararent indicati. Nam et Celsus Nepoti ex libello respondit et Celso Nepos ex pugillaribus. Tanta loquacitas amicorum, ut homines iurgaturi id ipsum invicem scierint, tamquam convenisset. Vale.