Letter 9001: I have often advised you to publish at the earliest possible opportunity the speeches which you composed either in...
Pliny the Younger→Maximus of Madaura|c. 107 AD|Pliny the Younger
grief death
To Maximus.
I have often advised you to publish at the earliest possible opportunity the speeches which you composed either in your defence or against Planta, * or, I should rather say, in your defence and against Planta, for so the subject-matter required. Now that I hear of his death, I do most earnestly beg and advise you to publish them. For though you have read them to a number of people and lent them to others, I should not like any one to think that you had not begun to write them until after his death, when they were already finished during his lifetime. Take care to preserve your reputation for firmness of character, as you will if you make it known both to your friends and enemies that you did not wait until your antagonist was dead before plucking up confidence enough to write, but that the edition was already prepared, and that he died before it could be published, by so doing, you will also escape the odium of glorying over the dead, which, as Homer says, ** is not seemly. For what has been written about a man in his lifetime may, if it be issued without delay, be published against him after he is dead, just as though he were still alive. If, therefore, you have any other work on your hands, postpone it for the time being, and carry through the publication of the speeches in question, which seemed to us who read them to be quite finished long ago. I hope you will now take the same view of it, for the matter is one which calls for no delay; indeed, the circumstances are such as to demand promptness. Farewell.
[Note: Pompeius Planta, who was prefect of Egypt in 97-99 A.D. He was succeeded by Vibius Maximus, to whom this letter is addressed.
]
[Note: Odyssey, xxii. 412.]
L To Maximus.
I have often advised you to publish at the earliest possible opportunity the speeches which you composed either in your defence or against Planta, * or, I should rather say, in your defence and against Planta, for so the subject-matter required. Now that I hear of his death, I do most earnestly beg and advise you to publish them. For though you have read them to a number of people and lent them to others, I should not like any one to think that you had not begun to write them until after his death, when they were already finished during his lifetime. Take care to preserve your reputation for firmness of character, as you will if you make it known both to your friends and enemies that you did not wait until your antagonist was dead before plucking up confidence enough to write, but that the edition was already prepared, and that he died before it could be published, by so doing, you will also escape the odium of glorying over the dead, which, as Homer says, ** is not seemly. For what has been written about a man in his lifetime may, if it be issued without delay, be published against him after he is dead, just as though he were still alive. If, therefore, you have any other work on your hands, postpone it for the time being, and carry through the publication of the speeches in question, which seemed to us who read them to be quite finished long ago. I hope you will now take the same view of it, for the matter is one which calls for no delay; indeed, the circumstances are such as to demand promptness. Farewell.
(*) Pompeius Planta, who was prefect of Egypt in 97-99 A.D. He was succeeded by Vibius Maximus, to whom this letter is addressed.
(**) Odyssey, xxii. 412.
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To Maximus.
I have often advised you to publish at the earliest possible opportunity the speeches which you composed either in your defence or against Planta, * or, I should rather say, in your defence and against Planta, for so the subject-matter required. Now that I hear of his death, I do most earnestly beg and advise you to publish them. For though you have read them to a number of people and lent them to others, I should not like any one to think that you had not begun to write them until after his death, when they were already finished during his lifetime. Take care to preserve your reputation for firmness of character, as you will if you make it known both to your friends and enemies that you did not wait until your antagonist was dead before plucking up confidence enough to write, but that the edition was already prepared, and that he died before it could be published, by so doing, you will also escape the odium of glorying over the dead, which, as Homer says, ** is not seemly. For what has been written about a man in his lifetime may, if it be issued without delay, be published against him after he is dead, just as though he were still alive. If, therefore, you have any other work on your hands, postpone it for the time being, and carry through the publication of the speeches in question, which seemed to us who read them to be quite finished long ago. I hope you will now take the same view of it, for the matter is one which calls for no delay; indeed, the circumstances are such as to demand promptness. Farewell.
[Note: Pompeius Planta, who was prefect of Egypt in 97-99 A.D. He was succeeded by Vibius Maximus, to whom this letter is addressed.
]
[Note: Odyssey, xxii. 412.]
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.