176 



DISCOVERY 



whose property lie inherited, had left written codicils 

 whicli for formal reasons were not legally valid. " I 

 have made a law of my own for such cases," writes 

 Pliny, " which leads me to treat as valid the wishes 

 of the dead man, even though they are not legally 

 binding upon me." In business matters, too, he acts 

 with generosity. Dealers upon one occasion had bought 

 up his vintage in prospect. The crop and market 

 failed them and thej' were faced with considerable 

 loss. Pliny thereupon very generously remitted an 

 eighth of the purchase price to all, making additional 

 remissions to those who had been the largest buyers. 



His relations with his servants are marked by 

 kindness and humanity. There were, of course, brutal 

 masters. Pliny tells of the fate of one who was 

 murdered by his exasperated slaves in the bath, and 

 refers to another acquaintance who set out upon a 

 journey and mj^steriously disappeared, while the 

 servants who accompanied him were never seen again. 

 But Pliny can have had little to fear from his " family." 

 His slaves are not chattels, but human beings and 

 humble friends. " I have been greatly upset," he 

 writes, "by illness in my household, some of my servants 

 having died and at an early age. I have two con- 

 solations which, though they are by no means equivalent 

 to my grief, do certainly afford me comfort. One is that 

 I have bten generous in giving them their freedom — for 

 I do not consider that I have lost them altogether 

 immaturely when they died free men — and the other 

 is that I allow my slaves to make as it were valid wills, 

 and I preserve them as I should strictly legal documents. 

 But though I have these consolations to make my mind 

 easier, I feel shattered and broken by just that same 

 sense of common humanitj' which led me to grant them 

 these indulgences. ' ' 



There are constant references in his letters to his 

 solicitude for his f reed-men, his affectionate apprecia- 

 tion of their good qualities and his anxious care for 

 their welfare. Zosimus, a favourite reader and 

 comedian, is sent to Egypt for a cure, and upon a 

 recurrence of his malady, Pliny sends him to a friend's 

 farm, where he can hope to benefit from the country 

 air and good milk. His old nurse he pensioned off with 

 a small property, and begs a friend to look into the 

 business side of it for her. 



Pliny's relations with his young wife are wholly 

 delightful. Their happiness was only clouded by the 

 lack of children which they ardently desired. Although 

 much younger than her husband, whose third wife she 

 was, Calpurnia threw herself completely into his 

 interests. " I feel perfectly assured, " he wxites to her 

 aunt, " that our mutual happiness will be lasting and 

 will continue to grow day by day." When she is 

 absent, Pliny is miserable. " It is incredible how I 

 miss you," he tells her, " such is the tenderness of my 



affection for you and so unaccustomed are we to a 

 separation ! I lie awake the greater part of the night 

 in conjuring up your image, and by day (to use a very 

 common but very true expression) my feet carry me of 

 their own accord to your apartment at those hours 

 I used to visit you ; but not finding you there, I return 

 with as muchsorrow and disappointment as an excluded 

 lover. The only intermission my torment knows is 

 when I am engaged at the Bar and in the causes of my 

 friends. " This charming picture of domestic happiness 

 is a pleasant corrective to Juvenal's savage onslaught 

 on the monstrous "regiment of women " in his sixth 

 satire. Nor was Pliny's case a unique phenomenon in 

 Roman society. His friend Macrinus and his wife had 

 " lived together for thirty-nine years with never a 

 quarrel or disagreement " before death separated them. 



Pliny had clearly a genius for friendship. He has a 

 genuine affection for his friends, and his sympathy 

 in their joys and sorrows is patently sincere. He is 

 always ready to do anything for them, and will not 

 spare himself in their service, whether it be the exercise 

 of political or professional influence in their favour or 

 the selection of a tutor or a husband for their children. 

 He tends to see the best of people ; his appreciations are 

 warm, his testimonials glowng. 



He shows, too, a nice feeUng. He is particularly fond 

 of helping and encouraging the younger men in his own 

 profession. With money he is extremely generous, 

 and what is more, shows a delicacy in the manner of his 

 giving. The daughter of his old teacher, Quintilian, was 

 being married to a manof some position, and her dowxy, 

 so Pliny tells her father, should be sufficient to enable 

 her to maintain her rank. " Now, as I am sensible 

 3'our material wealth is not equal to the riches of your 

 mind, I claim to myself a part of j'our expense and, 

 like another father, endow our young lad}'' with 50,000 

 sesterces. My contribution should be larger but that 

 I am well persuaded the smallness of the gift is the only 

 inducement that will prevail with j'Our modesty not to 

 refuse it." To a lady who had discovered and offered 

 to rectify a generous deceit by which Pliny had charged 

 her 700.000 sesterces for a property assessed for 

 revenue at 900,000, he replies. " I must desire and insist 

 in my turn that you will consider not only what befits 

 your character, but also what befits mine and will suffer 

 me to oppose 3'our inclination in this single instance with 

 the same warmth that I obey it in all others." 



If his purse was alwa\"s open to relieve the wants of a 

 friend or dependent, Pliny was no less generous in 

 public benefaction. His native place was very near 

 his heart, and though Como was not the sole recipient 

 of buildings at his expense, it is to his birthplace that 

 his most interesting gifts were made — the creation of a 

 librar}' and the endowment of a fund for its upkeep, 

 the provision of a fund for the education of poor children 



