Letter 6010: When I visited the country house of my mother-in-law at Alsium, which at one time belonged to Rufus Verginius, the...
Pliny the Younger→Albinus, Abbot of Canterbury|c. 104 AD|Pliny the Younger|Human translated
friendshipgrief deathillness
To Albinus.
When I visited the country house of my mother-in-law at Alsium, which at one time belonged to Rufus Verginius, the place revived painful memories of the loss I suffered in the death of that excellent and noble man. * For it was here that he sought retirement, and he even used to speak of it as the nest of his old age. Whichever way I turned, my spirit sought his presence, my eyes looked to find him. It even gave me pleasure to see his monument, though I was sorry I had seen it, for it is still unfinished, not because of any difficulty in executing the work, which is on a very modest, and I might say meagre scale, but because of the negligence of the person to whom it was entrusted. I felt grieved and indignant that ten years should have elapsed since his death, and that his remains and neglected ashes should still be lying without an inscription and a name, though his memory and fame have traversed the whole world. Moreover, he had particularly left instructions that his glorious and immortal behaviour should be inscribed in the verses : "Here lies Rufus, who once overthrew Vindex, and bestowed the imperial power not upon himself but upon his country." Loyalty in friendship is so rare, and the dead are so speedily forgotten, that we ought even to raise our own monuments, and execute, before we die, the duties that should properly be carried out by our heirs. For who is there who need not fear that what we see has happened to Verginius may also happen to himself? The very fact that Verginius was so famous makes the indignity he has suffered the more shocking and the more conspicuous. Farewell.
[Note: See letter ii. 1.]
L To Albinus.
When I visited the country house of my mother-in-law at Alsium, which at one time belonged to Rufus Verginius, the place revived painful memories of the loss I suffered in the death of that excellent and noble man. * For it was here that he sought retirement, and he even used to speak of it as the nest of his old age. Whichever way I turned, my spirit sought his presence, my eyes looked to find him. It even gave me pleasure to see his monument, though I was sorry I had seen it, for it is still unfinished, not because of any difficulty in executing the work, which is on a very modest, and I might say meagre scale, but because of the negligence of the person to whom it was entrusted. I felt grieved and indignant that ten years should have elapsed since his death, and that his remains and neglected ashes should still be lying without an inscription and a name, though his memory and fame have traversed the whole world. Moreover, he had particularly left instructions that his glorious and immortal behaviour should be inscribed in the verses : "Here lies Rufus, who once overthrew Vindex, and bestowed the imperial power not upon himself but upon his country." Loyalty in friendship is so rare, and the dead are so speedily forgotten, that we ought even to raise our own monuments, and execute, before we die, the duties that should properly be carried out by our heirs. For who is there who need not fear that what we see has happened to Verginius may also happen to himself? The very fact that Verginius was so famous makes the indignity he has suffered the more shocking and the more conspicuous. Farewell.
(*) See letter ii. 1.
C. PLINIUS ALBINO SUO S.
Cum venissem in socrus meae villam Alsiensem, quae aliquamdiu Rufi Vergini fuit, ipse mihi locus optimi illius et maximi viri desiderium non sine dolore renovavit. Hunc enim colere secessum atque etiam senectutis suae nidulum vocare consueverat. Quocumque me contulissem, illum animus illum oculi requirebant. Libuit etiam monimentum eius videre, et vidisse paenituit. Est enim adhuc imperfectum, nec difficultas operis in causa, modici ac potius exigui, sed inertia eius cui cura mandata est. Subit indignatio cum miseratione, post decimum mortis annum reliquias neglectumque cinerem sine titulo sine nomine iacere, cuius memoria orbem terrarum gloria pervagetur. At ille mandaverat caveratque, ut divinum illud et immortale factum versibus inscriberetur:
Hic situs est Rufus, pulso qui Vindice quondam
imperium asseruit non sibi sed patriae.
Tam rara in amicitiis fides, tam parata oblivio mortuorum, ut ipsi nobis debeamus etiam conditoria exstruere omniaque heredum officia praesumere. Nam cui non est verendum, quod videmus accidisse Verginio? cuius iniuriam ut indigniorem, sic etiam notiorem ipsius claritas facit. Vale.
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To Albinus.
When I visited the country house of my mother-in-law at Alsium, which at one time belonged to Rufus Verginius, the place revived painful memories of the loss I suffered in the death of that excellent and noble man. * For it was here that he sought retirement, and he even used to speak of it as the nest of his old age. Whichever way I turned, my spirit sought his presence, my eyes looked to find him. It even gave me pleasure to see his monument, though I was sorry I had seen it, for it is still unfinished, not because of any difficulty in executing the work, which is on a very modest, and I might say meagre scale, but because of the negligence of the person to whom it was entrusted. I felt grieved and indignant that ten years should have elapsed since his death, and that his remains and neglected ashes should still be lying without an inscription and a name, though his memory and fame have traversed the whole world. Moreover, he had particularly left instructions that his glorious and immortal behaviour should be inscribed in the verses : "Here lies Rufus, who once overthrew Vindex, and bestowed the imperial power not upon himself but upon his country." Loyalty in friendship is so rare, and the dead are so speedily forgotten, that we ought even to raise our own monuments, and execute, before we die, the duties that should properly be carried out by our heirs. For who is there who need not fear that what we see has happened to Verginius may also happen to himself? The very fact that Verginius was so famous makes the indignity he has suffered the more shocking and the more conspicuous. Farewell.
[Note: See letter ii. 1.]
Human translation — Attalus.org
Latin / Greek Original
C. PLINIUS ALBINO SUO S.
Cum venissem in socrus meae villam Alsiensem, quae aliquamdiu Rufi Vergini fuit, ipse mihi locus optimi illius et maximi viri desiderium non sine dolore renovavit. Hunc enim colere secessum atque etiam senectutis suae nidulum vocare consueverat. Quocumque me contulissem, illum animus illum oculi requirebant. Libuit etiam monimentum eius videre, et vidisse paenituit. Est enim adhuc imperfectum, nec difficultas operis in causa, modici ac potius exigui, sed inertia eius cui cura mandata est. Subit indignatio cum miseratione, post decimum mortis annum reliquias neglectumque cinerem sine titulo sine nomine iacere, cuius memoria orbem terrarum gloria pervagetur. At ille mandaverat caveratque, ut divinum illud et immortale factum versibus inscriberetur:
Hic situs est Rufus, pulso qui Vindice quondam imperium asseruit non sibi sed patriae.
Tam rara in amicitiis fides, tam parata oblivio mortuorum, ut ipsi nobis debeamus etiam conditoria exstruere omniaque heredum officia praesumere. Nam cui non est verendum, quod videmus accidisse Verginio? cuius iniuriam ut indigniorem, sic etiam notiorem ipsius claritas facit. Vale.