Letter 6015: You have missed being present at a wonderfully funny scene.
Pliny the Younger→Romanus, Patrician, and Exarch of Italy|c. 104 AD|Pliny the Younger
education bookshumor
To Romanus.
You have missed being present at a wonderfully funny scene. I was not there myself, but I heard all about it just after it had taken place. Passennus Paullus, a distinguished Roman knight, and a man of real learning, is given to writing elegiacs. The habit runs in the family, for he belongs to the same township as Propertius did, * and he even reckons that poet among his ancestors. He was about to give a reading, and began thus: - "Priscus, you bid me." Thereupon Javolenus Priscus, who happened to be present as one of Paullus's most intimate friends, exclaimed, "Indeed I do nothing of the sort." ** You can imagine how people are laughing and joking about this. Priscus certainly is not thought to be quite right in his head, but he enjoys public offices, he is summoned to the bench as magistrate, and he even acts as a public legal expert. All this made his remark the more ludicrous and extraordinary. Meantime his friend's mad exclamation has considerably chilled Paullus's enthusiasm. It shows how careful those who give readings should be that they are quite sane themselves, and only invite sane folks to hear them. Farewell.
[Note: Asisium in Umbria (the modern Assisi).
]
[Note: Javolenus Priscus was in fact a distinguished jurist, head of a school of jurisprudence, legate in Britain, Upper Germany, and Syria, and governor of Africa; and this outburst may have been merely an indication of boredom and impatience.]
L To Romanus.
You have missed being present at a wonderfully funny scene. I was not there myself, but I heard all about it just after it had taken place. Passennus Paullus, a distinguished Roman knight, and a man of real learning, is given to writing elegiacs. The habit runs in the family, for he belongs to the same township as Propertius did, * and he even reckons that poet among his ancestors. He was about to give a reading, and began thus: - "Priscus, you bid me." Thereupon Javolenus Priscus, who happened to be present as one of Paullus's most intimate friends, exclaimed, "Indeed I do nothing of the sort." ** You can imagine how people are laughing and joking about this. Priscus certainly is not thought to be quite right in his head, but he enjoys public offices, he is summoned to the bench as magistrate, and he even acts as a public legal expert. All this made his remark the more ludicrous and extraordinary. Meantime his friend's mad exclamation has considerably chilled Paullus's enthusiasm. It shows how careful those who give readings should be that they are quite sane themselves, and only invite sane folks to hear them. Farewell.
(*) Asisium in Umbria (the modern Assisi).
(*) Javolenus Priscus was in fact a distinguished jurist, head of a school of jurisprudence, legate in Britain, Upper Germany, and Syria, and governor of Africa; and this outburst may have been merely an indication of boredom and impatience.
◆
To Romanus.
You have missed being present at a wonderfully funny scene. I was not there myself, but I heard all about it just after it had taken place. Passennus Paullus, a distinguished Roman knight, and a man of real learning, is given to writing elegiacs. The habit runs in the family, for he belongs to the same township as Propertius did, * and he even reckons that poet among his ancestors. He was about to give a reading, and began thus: - "Priscus, you bid me." Thereupon Javolenus Priscus, who happened to be present as one of Paullus's most intimate friends, exclaimed, "Indeed I do nothing of the sort." ** You can imagine how people are laughing and joking about this. Priscus certainly is not thought to be quite right in his head, but he enjoys public offices, he is summoned to the bench as magistrate, and he even acts as a public legal expert. All this made his remark the more ludicrous and extraordinary. Meantime his friend's mad exclamation has considerably chilled Paullus's enthusiasm. It shows how careful those who give readings should be that they are quite sane themselves, and only invite sane folks to hear them. Farewell.
[Note: Asisium in Umbria (the modern Assisi).
]
[Note: Javolenus Priscus was in fact a distinguished jurist, head of a school of jurisprudence, legate in Britain, Upper Germany, and Syria, and governor of Africa; and this outburst may have been merely an indication of boredom and impatience.]
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.