Pliny the Younger→Romanus, Patrician, and Exarch of Italy|c. 107 AD|Pliny the Younger|Human translated
arianismillness
To Romanus.
You tell me that you are building. That is well, and gives me the support I wanted, for I will be able to justify my building, now that we are both in the same boat. Moreover, there is this further similarity, that while you are building by the sea-side, I am building by the Larian Lake. I have several villas on its shores, but there are two in particular which are special favourites of mine, and at the same time exercise my mind a good deal. One is situated on a rocky spur and overlooks the lake, like the villas at Baiae, and the other is on the margin of the lake, equally after the Baiae fashion. I like to call the one "Tragedy" and the other "Comedy," because the former is supported, as it were, by the buskin, and the latter by the sock. * Each has special charms of its own, and each seems the pleasanter when one lives in it by reason of its dissimilarity from the other. The one has a closer, the other a more extensive view of the lake; the one commands a single gently-curving bay, the other, perched on its lofty ridge, lies between two bays ; in the one there is a long, level exercise ground stretching along the shore, in the other there is a spacious terrace with an easy slope; the one does not feel the contact of the waves, the other breaks their progress ; from the one you can look upon the people fishing, from the other you can fish yourself, and may throw your line from your bedroom, and almost from your bed, as though you were in a small boat. Such are the reasons which lead me to build on to these villas the additions they require, just because they are so charming as they are. But why should I give you a reason, when the fact that I am following your example is reason sufficient for you ? Farewell.
[Note: Cothurnus: the high boot worn in tragedy. Socculus: the slipper worn in comedy.]
L To Romanus.
You tell me that you are building. That is well, and gives me the support I wanted, for I shall be able to justify my building, now that we are both in the same boat. Moreover, there is this further similarity, that while you are building by the sea-side, I am building by the Larian Lake. I have several villas on its shores, but there are two in particular which are special favourites of mine, and at the same time exercise my mind a good deal. One is situated on a rocky spur and overlooks the lake, like the villas at Baiae, and the other is on the margin of the lake, equally after the Baiae fashion. I like to call the one "Tragedy" and the other "Comedy," because the former is supported, as it were, by the buskin, and the latter by the sock. * Each has special charms of its own, and each seems the pleasanter when one lives in it by reason of its dissimilarity from the other. The one has a closer, the other a more extensive view of the lake; the one commands a single gently-curving bay, the other, perched on its lofty ridge, lies between two bays ; in the one there is a long, level exercise ground stretching along the shore, in the other there is a spacious terrace with an easy slope; the one does not feel the contact of the waves, the other breaks their progress ; from the one you can look upon the people fishing, from the other you can fish yourself, and may throw your line from your bedroom, and almost from your bed, as though you were in a small boat. Such are the reasons which lead me to build on to these villas the additions they require, just because they are so charming as they are. But why should I give you a reason, when the fact that I am following your example is reason sufficient for you ? Farewell.
(*) Cothurnus: the high boot worn in tragedy. Socculus: the slipper worn in comedy.
C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.
Aedificare te scribis. Bene est, inveni patrocinium; aedifico enim iam ratione quia tecum. Nam hoc quoque non dissimile quod ad mare tu, ego ad Larium lacum. Huius in litore plures meae villae, sed duae maxime ut delectant ita exercent. Altera imposita saxis more Baiano lacum prospicit, altera aeque more Baiano lacum tangit. Itaque illam tragoediam, hanc appellare comoediam soleo, illam quod quasi cothurnis, hanc quod quasi socculis sustinetur. Sua utrique amoenitas, et utraque possidenti ipsa diversitate iucundior. Haec lacu propius, illa latius utitur; haec unum sinum molli curvamine amplectitur, illa editissimo dorso duos dirimit; illic recta gestatio longo limite super litus extenditur, hic spatiosissimo xysto leviter inflectitur; illa fluctus non sentit haec frangit; ex illa possis despicere piscantes, ex hac ipse piscari, hamumque de cubiculo ac paene etiam de lectulo ut e naucula iacere. Hae mihi causae utrique quae desunt astruendi ob ea quae supersunt. Etsi quid ego rationem tibi? apud quem pro ratione erit idem facere. Vale.
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To Romanus.
You tell me that you are building. That is well, and gives me the support I wanted, for I will be able to justify my building, now that we are both in the same boat. Moreover, there is this further similarity, that while you are building by the sea-side, I am building by the Larian Lake. I have several villas on its shores, but there are two in particular which are special favourites of mine, and at the same time exercise my mind a good deal. One is situated on a rocky spur and overlooks the lake, like the villas at Baiae, and the other is on the margin of the lake, equally after the Baiae fashion. I like to call the one "Tragedy" and the other "Comedy," because the former is supported, as it were, by the buskin, and the latter by the sock. * Each has special charms of its own, and each seems the pleasanter when one lives in it by reason of its dissimilarity from the other. The one has a closer, the other a more extensive view of the lake; the one commands a single gently-curving bay, the other, perched on its lofty ridge, lies between two bays ; in the one there is a long, level exercise ground stretching along the shore, in the other there is a spacious terrace with an easy slope; the one does not feel the contact of the waves, the other breaks their progress ; from the one you can look upon the people fishing, from the other you can fish yourself, and may throw your line from your bedroom, and almost from your bed, as though you were in a small boat. Such are the reasons which lead me to build on to these villas the additions they require, just because they are so charming as they are. But why should I give you a reason, when the fact that I am following your example is reason sufficient for you ? Farewell.
[Note: Cothurnus: the high boot worn in tragedy. Socculus: the slipper worn in comedy.]
Human translation - Attalus.org
Latin / Greek Original
C. PLINIUS ROMANO SUO S.
Aedificare te scribis. Bene est, inveni patrocinium; aedifico enim iam ratione quia tecum. Nam hoc quoque non dissimile quod ad mare tu, ego ad Larium lacum. Huius in litore plures meae villae, sed duae maxime ut delectant ita exercent. Altera imposita saxis more Baiano lacum prospicit, altera aeque more Baiano lacum tangit. Itaque illam tragoediam, hanc appellare comoediam soleo, illam quod quasi cothurnis, hanc quod quasi socculis sustinetur. Sua utrique amoenitas, et utraque possidenti ipsa diversitate iucundior. Haec lacu propius, illa latius utitur; haec unum sinum molli curvamine amplectitur, illa editissimo dorso duos dirimit; illic recta gestatio longo limite super litus extenditur, hic spatiosissimo xysto leviter inflectitur; illa fluctus non sentit haec frangit; ex illa possis despicere piscantes, ex hac ipse piscari, hamumque de cubiculo ac paene etiam de lectulo ut e naucula iacere. Hae mihi causae utrique quae desunt astruendi ob ea quae supersunt. Etsi quid ego rationem tibi? apud quem pro ratione erit idem facere. Vale.