Letter 2, Book I, 3

C. Plinius Caninio Rufo suo S.

Quid agit Comum, tuae meaeque deliciae? quid suburbanum amoenissimum? Quid illa porticus verna semper? quid platanon opacissimus? quid euripus viridis et gemmeus? quid subiectus et serviens lacus? quid illa mollis et tamen solida gestatio? quid balineum illud, quod plurimus sol implet et circumit? quid triclinia illa popularia, illa paucorum? quid cubicula diurna, nocturna? Possident te et per vices partiuntur? an, ut solebas, intentione rei familiaris obeundae crebris excursionibus avocaris? Si te possident, felix beatusque es; si minus, unus ex multis. Quin tu (tempus est enim) humiles et sordidas curas aliis mandas et ipse te in alto isto pinguique secessu studiis adseris? Hoc sit negotium tuum, hoc otium, hic labor, haec quies: in his vigilia, in his etiam somnus reponatur. Effinge aliquid et exclude quod sit perpetuo tuum. Nam reliqua rerum tuarum post te alium atque alium dominum sortientur, hoc numquam tuum desinet esse, si semel coeperit. Scio quem animum, quod horter ingenium. Tu modo enitere ut tibi ipse sis tanti quanti videberis aliis si tibi fueris. Vale.

Address: Caninius Rufus, a wealthy landowner in Pliny's native Como who avoided the hustle and bustle of  Rome and seems to have been preoccupied with his own affairs.

This is the first of a series of seven letters to Caninius Rufus. Of these six concern literature and three others encourage Caninius to work seriously on a materpiece of his own; by the ninth book Caninius has produced something.

Thematic Parallells:

• Horace IV.7 (Diffugere nives) and II.14  (Eheu fagaces, Postume, Postume)
• Lucretius III.894-901 (iam, iam non domus accipiet te laeta...)

Notes and Vocabulary:

• quid agit Comum?  Pliny personifies Comum (Como).
• deliciae  pet, favorite cf. passer, deliciae meae puellae [Catullus]
• platanon-onis, m. [Greek ] "grove of plane trees"
• euripus -i, m. "canal" water-course [Greek ] (green and sparkling)
• subiectus et serviens lacus  "the pleasant lake lying below"
• gestatio, -onis, f. "promenade" literally "a bearing" or "carrying" > meaning transferred to "the place where one is carried to get some fresh air"
• porticus, -us, f. = Greek stoa  "a walk covered by a roof, supported on columns"
• cubiculum, -i, n. "an appartment for reclining or for sleeping" [i.e. a bedroom] < cubo "to lie down/sleep"
• triclinium, -ii, n. [Greek ], a couch running around three sides of a table for reclining at meals > a dining room
• partio/partior "share, divide"
• vicis [genitive, no nominative] "change, alternation, turn"  per vices   by turns
• obeo "go/come to; engage in attend to, discharge, perform"
• intentio "stretching > exertion, effort"
• si minus "if not"
• secessus, -us, m. "a going away > retreat, recess"
• adsero [a legal term] "to declare a slave to be free, to appropriate something, to declare one to belong to something" [the usual order is "to declare something to belong to oneself"]

Grammar points:

Review:

• gerundive
• jussive subjunctive -- dependent subjunctive
• indirect question -- dependent subjunctive

New: relative clause of purpose

• genitive of price/value (a sub-category of the genitive of quality or description)

Project topics:

• Roman villas and their parts
• Como in Pliny's time