Letter 9031: After I had left you I enjoyed your society just as much as when I was with you, for I read your book, and perused...
Pliny the Younger→Sardus|c. 107 AD|Pliny the Younger|Human translated
education books
To Sardus.
After I had left you I enjoyed your society just as much as when I was with you, for I read your book, and perused it again and again, especially those passages - for I won't tell you any fibs - in which you have written about me. In these you have let your pen run freely on. How fully, yet with what variety, you have handled the same theme, and have avoided repetition, though the points made are the same ! Should I praise as well as thank you for this ? I cannot do either sufficiently for your deserts, and, even if I could, I should be afraid of seeming to be a rogue, if I were to applaud you for the passages for which I thank you. I will add only one word more, and that is to say that the whole book appeared to me to deserve extra praise for the charm with which it is written, and that its charm has been increased by the fact that it merits so much praise. Farewell.
L To Sardus.
After I had left you I enjoyed your society just as much as when I was with you, for I read your book, and perused it again and again, especially those passages - for I won't tell you any fibs - in which you have written about me. In these you have let your pen run freely on. How fully, yet with what variety, you have handled the same theme, and have avoided repetition, though the points made are the same ! Should I praise as well as thank you for this ? I cannot do either sufficiently for your deserts, and, even if I could, I should be afraid of seeming to be a rogue, if I were to applaud you for the passages for which I thank you. I will add only one word more, and that is to say that the whole book appeared to me to deserve extra praise for the charm with which it is written, and that its charm has been increased by the fact that it merits so much praise. Farewell.
C. PLINIUS SARDO SUO S.
Postquam a te recessi, non minus tecum, quam cum ad te fui. Legi enim librum tuum identidem repetens ea maxime — non enim mentiar -, quae de me scripsisti, in quibus quidem percopiosus fuisti. Quam multa, quam varia, quam non eadem de eodem nec tamen diversa dixisti! Laudem pariter et gratias agam? Neutrum satis possum et, si possem, timerem ne arrogans esset ob ea laudare, ob quae gratias agerem. Unum illud addam, omnia mihi tanto laudabiliora visa quanto iucundiora, tanto iucundiora quanto laudabiliora erant. Vale.
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To Sardus.
After I had left you I enjoyed your society just as much as when I was with you, for I read your book, and perused it again and again, especially those passages - for I won't tell you any fibs - in which you have written about me. In these you have let your pen run freely on. How fully, yet with what variety, you have handled the same theme, and have avoided repetition, though the points made are the same ! Should I praise as well as thank you for this ? I cannot do either sufficiently for your deserts, and, even if I could, I should be afraid of seeming to be a rogue, if I were to applaud you for the passages for which I thank you. I will add only one word more, and that is to say that the whole book appeared to me to deserve extra praise for the charm with which it is written, and that its charm has been increased by the fact that it merits so much praise. Farewell.
Human translation — Attalus.org
Latin / Greek Original
C. PLINIUS SARDO SUO S.
Postquam a te recessi, non minus tecum, quam cum ad te fui. Legi enim librum tuum identidem repetens ea maxime — non enim mentiar -, quae de me scripsisti, in quibus quidem percopiosus fuisti. Quam multa, quam varia, quam non eadem de eodem nec tamen diversa dixisti! Laudem pariter et gratias agam? Neutrum satis possum et, si possem, timerem ne arrogans esset ob ea laudare, ob quae gratias agerem. Unum illud addam, omnia mihi tanto laudabiliora visa quanto iucundiora, tanto iucundiora quanto laudabiliora erant. Vale.