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LETTER XCIV.

To Genitor.

I AM extremely concerned that you have loft your pupil, a youth, as your letter affures me, of fuch great hopes. Can I want to be informed, that his fickness and death must have interrupted your #tudies, knowing, as I do, with what exactnefs you fill up every duty of life, and how unlimited your affection is to all thofe to whom you give your efteem? As for myfelf, bufinefs purfues me even hither, and I am not out of the reach of people who oblige me to act either as their judge or their arbitrator. To this I must add, not only the continual complaints of the farmers, who claim a fort of prefcription to try my patience as they pleafe; but the neceflity of letting out my farms: an affair which gives me much trouble, as it is exceedingly difficult to find out proper tenants. For thefe reafons I can only ftudy by fnatches; ftill however I ftudy. I fometimes read, and fometimes I compofe; but my reading teaches me, by a very mortifying comparifon, with what ill fuccefs I attempt to be an author myfelf. Though indeed you give me great encouragement, when you compare the piece I wrote in vindication of Helvidius, to the oration of Demofthenes against Midias. I confefs I had that harangue in my view when I compofed mine; not that I pretend to rival it (that would be an abfurd and mad attempt indeed), but I endeavoured, I own, to imitate it, as far as the difference of our fubjects would admit, and as nearly as a genius of the loweft rank can copy one of the higheft. Farewel,

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my together, where he commanded a troop of horfe, and I had an opportunity of taking a nearer view of his character, than merely what his being my fellow officer gave me. I was appointed by the lieutenant-general to examine the accounts of the feveral companies, and as I difcovered many inftances of gross avarice and neglect of duty in fome, fo I found the highest integrity and exacted care in him. He was afterwards promoted to very confiderable employments in the management of the revenue, yet no temptations could turn afide the innate bias of his foul from honefty, no profperity fwell his breast, but he preferved, in all the variety of pofts through which he paffed, an unbroken reputation of humanity; as he fupported the toils of bufinefs with the fame fortitude of mind he now difcovers in his retreat. He once indeed quitted his retirement for a fhort time, with great applaufe, being called by my worthy friend Corellius to his affiftance, in purchafing and dividing out thofe lands which were given by the And liberality of the emperor Nerva *. could there be any thing more to his honour, than to be thus particularly fingled out from fo many others, by a person of fo eminent a character? You may judge how faithfully he reveres the facred ties of friendship, by cafting your eyes upon the lait wills of feveral of his friends, particularly that of Mufonius Baffus, a perfon of diftinguished fenfe. Pollio (as he cultivates eloquence as well as every other valuable endowment) has very gratefully endeavoured to perpetuate and extend the memory of Baffus, by publishing an account of his life; a circumstance too uncommon, as well as too generous, not to be applauded, fince the generality of the world feldom mention the dead, unlefs to revile them. Receive then this worthy man, greatly defirous (believe me) of your friendship, with the embraces of the warmest affection, and even invite

him to accept of it as what you owe him; for he who makes the first amicable advances, cannot fo properly be faid to merit a favour, as a reward. Farewel,

* Nerva restored to the Romans all that Domitian had plundered them of, and gave a very large fum of money to be laid out in the purchase of lands for the fupport of decayed families.

LETTER XCVI.

To Fabatus.

together, and address them with the fame unanimity we executed the office which had been enjoined us, that they would not fuffer Maffa's effects to be diffipated by those who were appointed to preferve I AM extremely glad that the arrival of them. I anfwered, that as we had been my friend Tiro was acceptable to you. counfel in this caufe by order of the feBut above all I rejoice that you made ufe nate, I would recommend it to his confi(as your letter informs me) of the oppor- deration, whether it would be proper for tunity which the prefence of the procon- us, after sentence had paffed, to interful afforded you, of manumizing feveral meddle any farther. "You are at liberof your flaves. For as I wish to see our "ty," faid he, "to prescribe what bounds country improved by every poffible meyou please to yourself, who have no thod, fo particularly by an increase of " particular connections with the procitizens; as that, of all others, is the "vince, except what arife from your Arongest ornament a community can re- "late fervices to them; but it is not fo ceive. I am pleased too (not out of a fpirit" with me, who was born there, and of vanity, however I confefs I am pleafed)" enjoyed the poft of Quaeftor among with what you farther add, that both you and I were highly extolled, in the acknowledgments which were made upon this occafion; for as Xenophon obferves, "the voice of praife is fweet:" efpecially when we think we deferve it. Fare

wel.

LETTER XCVII,

To Tacitus.

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"them." If fuch, I told him, was his determined refolution, I was ready to attend him, that whatever refentment fhould be the confequence of this affair, it might not fall fingly upon himself. Accordingly we went to the confuls, where Senecio fpoke what he thought proper upon the occafion, to which I fubjoined a few words on my part. We had scarce ended, when Maffa, complaining that Senecio had not acted against him with the fidelity of an advocate, but the bitterness of an enemy, defired he might be at liberty to profecute him for treafon. The whole affembly was ftruck with the utmost confternation and horror at this motion. I immediately rofe up; " Most

JSTRONGLY prefage (and I am per-
fuaded I fhall not be deceived) that
your hiftories will be immortal. I inge-
nuously own, therefore, I fo much the more
earneftly wish to find a place in them. If
we are generally careful to have our faces
taken by the best artists, ought we not to
defire that our actions may be celebrated"
by an author of your diftinguished cha-
racter? In view to this, I acquaint you"
with the following affair, which though
it cannot have escaped your attention, as
it is mentioned in the journals of the pub-
lic, ftill I acquaint you with it, that you
may be more fenfible how agreeable it
will be to me, that this action, greatly
heightened by the hazard which attended
it, fhould receive an additional luftre from
the teftimony of fo bright a genius. The
fenate appointed Herennius Senecio, and
myself, counsel for the province of Bæti-
ca, in their profecution of Babius Maffa,
He was condemned, and the house or
dered his effects to be feized into the
hands of the public officer. Shortly af-
ter, Senecio having learnt that the con-
fuis intended to fit to hear petitions, came
to me, and propofed that we should go

noble confuls," said I, " I am afraid it "fhould feem that Maffa has tacitly charged me with having favoured him "in this caufe, fince he did not think proper to join me in the defired prose"cution." This short fpeech was extremely well received by those who were prefent; as it foon afterwards got air, and was mentioned by every body with general applaufe. The late emperor Nerva (who though at that time in a private ftation, yet gave attention to every worthy action which paffed in public) wrote a letter to me upon the occafion with great good fenfe, wherein he not only congratulated me, but the age, which had produced an example fo much in the fpirit (as he was pleased to call it) of the ancients. But, whatever it be, it is in your power to heighten and spread the luftre of it: though far am I from defiring you would in the least exceed the bounds of reality. History ought to be

guided by ftrict truth, and worthy actions require nothing more. Farewel,

Ι

LETTER XCVIII.
To Septitius.

HAD a good journey hither, excepting only that fome of my fervants were difordered by the violent heats. Poor Encolpius, my reader, whofe afiflance is of fuch fervice to me in my ftudies and amufements, was fo affected with the duft, that it occafioned his fpitting of blood: an accident which will prove as unfortunate to me, as to himfelf, fhould he be thereby rendered unfit for thofe purpofes of literature in which he fo greatly excels. If that fhould unhappily be the event, where fhall I find one who will read my works with fo much spirit and harmony, or admire them with fo much fondnefs? But the gods feem to favour our better hopes, as his bleeding is topped, and his pain abated. He is himself extremely temperate; as no care or concern is wanting either on our parts or his phy fician's. This, with the wholefomenefs of the air, and the quiet of retirement, gives us reafon to expect, that the country will contribute as much to his health, as to his repofe. Farewel.

LETTER XCIX.

To Caninius.

I GREATLY approve your defign of writing a poem upon the Dacian war +: for where could you have chofen a subject fo new, fo full of events, fo exten

Perfons of rank and literature among the Romans retained in their families a domeftic, whofe fole bufinefs was to read to them.

+ Dacia comprehended part of the prefent kingdom of Hungary, together with part of Tranti vania, Servia, Walachia, and Moldavia. It was firit fubdued and added to the Roman empire by Trajan, in memory of whofe victories over this ration, the famous phar is fuppofed to have Leen erected, called Trajan's pillar, which is ftill to be feen cntire at Rome. It is 128 Italian feet high, to the top of which you afcend by 184 iteps, which wind round the infide. The outfide is carved in ballo elievo, with the repicfertation of the most remarkable circumstances of this expedition. [Eartoli colonna Traj.] After the death of Trajan, his athes were placed, as fome authors fay, in a golden ball on the top of this noble pillar: but Eutropius affirms they were depofited under it. Eutrop. I. S. c. 5.

five, and fo poetical? a fubject, which while it has all the marvellous of fiction, has all the folidity of truth. You will fing of rivers taught to flow in new channels; of bridges thrown over immenie rivers ; of encampments upon the dreadful fteep of craggy mountains; and of a mighty king fuperior to adverúty, though forced to abandon his crown, and even his life §. You will defcribe too, the glorious victor's double triumph, one of which was the firit that was ever gained over that nation, till then unfubdued, as the other will be the lait. There is one difficulty however, and a very confiderable one it is, where to find expreffions equal to the grandeur of the fubject; a difficulty which feems almoft infuperable even to your elevated genius, though capable of rifing to the most fublime fubjects. Something too there will be of labour in reconciling thofe barbarous and uncouth names, efpecially that of the king himself, to the harmony of Grecian number. There is nothing, however, fo hard that art and industry cannot, at leaft, mitigate, if not abfolutely fubdue. If Homer is allowed to contract

It is probable Pliny here alludes to the famous bridge built by Trojan ever the river Danube, in

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the upper Mafia, that laft flight, as Sir William Tempe calls it, of ancient architecture. "It is ftyled by the ancients, the moft stately fabric of "that nature in the univerfe. It was all of fquare "ftone, and contained 20 arches, each of them "120 feet above the foundation, and 60 feet in "breadth, all diftin&t from each other 170 feet. "It was built where the river was narrowest, and "confequently where the stream was strongest and "most rapid; which renders the fabric ftil more "ftupendous, on account of the almost infor"mountable difficulties they must have met with "in laying fo large a foundation. The architect "employed upon this occafion, was one Apollo.

dorus of Daraicus, who, it feems, left a de"fcription of this great work. We are told that "fome remains are still to be feen of it near Ze"veria, in Lower Hungary.-Adrian, fearing the "Barbarians might make ufe of it to invade the "Roman territories, broke down the arches; "but the piers were fill ftanding in Dion Caf"fius's time, that is, 120 years after, though "they ferved only to fhew, fays the writer, the ❝ utmost extent of human power. This ftupen"dous fabric was begun and ended in a fummer." Univerf. Hift. v. 6. p. 14.

Decebalus, king of the Dacians, who, rather than fall into the hands of the conqueror, or live in dependence, put an end to his own life.

From hence Catanaus conjectures, upon the credit of Orofius, that the true name of the king was Diurpaneus, which was afterwards changed by the Greek and Latin writers, to Decebalus.

or

or lengthen, or change even Grecian names, which are nothing harsh to the ear, in order to make them run more fmoothly in his verse; why fhould the fame liberty be refufed to you, fpecially fince it is neceffity and not affectation that pleads for that induigence? Come on then, my friend, and after having, as poets are wont, invoked the gods, and among the reft that divine hero whofe mighty deeds and deep counfels you are going to celebrate, loofen all your cordage, fpread every fail, and then, if ever, launch forth with the full flow of your unbounded genius; for you must allow me to be poctical, when I am a talking to a poet. And now I infift that you fend me every part, as foon as it has received your last finishing touches; and even before, while it is only a rude fetch, and yet in embryo. You will tell me, that a detached piece cannot pleafe, like one entire defign, nor an unfinithed plan be as agreeable as a complete performance. I am very fenfible it cannot, and therefore fhall confider it only as a work in its first rudiments, as a feparate and disjoined member; and fhall faithfully lay it up in my fcrutore to wait your last hand. Indulge me then with this inftance, above others, of your affection, that you fuffer me to be privy to what you would chufe to conceal even from every body. In a word, though the more time and caution you take in communicating your works, the more poffibly it may heighten my efteem and pprobation of the poet, yet the lefs you ufe of either upon this occafion, the more I fhall certainly love and applaud the friend. Farewel.

LETTER C.
To Geminius.

OUR friend Macrinus is pierced with

the feverest affliction. He has loft his wife a lady whofe uncommon virtues would have rendered her an ornament even to ancient times. He lived with her thirty-nine years in the most uninterrupted harmony. How respectful was her behaviour to him! and how did The herself deferve the highest veneration, as the blended and united in her charac

• Trajan.

ter all thofe amiable virtues that adorn and diftinguish the different periods of female life! It fhould, methinks, afford great confolation to Macrinus, that he has thus long enjoyed fo exquifite a bleffing; but that reflection feems only fo much the more to imbitter his lofs; as indeed the pain of parting with our happinefs ftill rifes in proportion to the length of its continuance. I cannot therefore but be greatly anxious for fo valuable a friend, till this wound to his peace fhall be in a condition to admit of proper applications. Time, however, together with the neceffity of the thing, and even a fatiety of grief itself, will best effect his cure. Farewel.

LETTER CI.
To Tacitus.

WHEN you fent me your treatise, it

was not (as you were pleafed to fay yourself) as one mafter or disciple would communicate his works to another, but with the condefcenfion of a preceptor to his fcholar; for in that relation I must confider myfelf to you. Accordingly you fummon me to my ftudies, whilst I am playing the truant and prolonging the Saturnalian holidays. Tell me now, could I have made you a more stiff and awkward compliment, or given a stronger proof, that I am fo far from deferving to be your inftructor, that I am not even worthy to be your pupil? However, I will take upon myfelf the character you have invefted me with, and exert the authority you have given me over your book; and with fo much the more freedom, as I have nothing to fend you of my own in return, upon which you may take your revenge. Farewel.

LETTER CII.
To Romanus.

HAVE you ever feen the fource of the river Clitumnus ? as I never heard

+ No called Clitumno: it rifes a little below bitants near this river ftill retain a notion that its the village of Campello in Ombria. The inhawaters are attended with a fupernatural property, imagining it makes the cattle white that drink of it; a quality for which it is likewife celebrated by many of the Latin Poets. See Addison's Travels.

you

you mention it, I imagine not; let me therefore advise you to do fo immediately. It is but lately indeed I had that pleasure, and I condemn myself for not having feen it fooner. At the foot of a little hill, covered with venerable and shady cyprefs trees, a fpring iffues out, which guthing in different and unequal ftreams, forms itself, after feveral windings, into a spacious bafon, fo extremely clear that you may fee the pebbles and the little pieces of money which are thrown into it *, as they lie at the bottom. From thence it is carried off not fo much by the declivity of the ground, as by its own ftrength and fulness. It is navigable almoft as foon as it has quitted its fource, and wide enough to admit a free paffage for veffels to pafs by each other, as they fail with or against the ftream. The current runs fo strong, though the ground is level, that the large barges which go down the river have no occafion to make ufe of their oars; while thofe which afcend find it difficult to advance, even with the affiftance of oars and poles; and this viciffitude of labour and eafe is exceedingly amufing when one fails up and down merely for pleasure. The banks on each fide are shaded with the verdure of great numbers of ath and poplar trees, as clearly and diftinctly seen in the ftream, as if they were actually funk in it. The water is cold as fnow, and as white too. Near it flands an ancient and venerable temple, wherein is placed the river god Clitumnus, clothed in a robe, whofe immediate prefence the prophetic oracles here delivered fufficiently teftify. Several little chapels are fcattered round, dedicated to particular gods diftinguished by different names, and fome of them too prefiding over different fountains. For, befides the principal one, which is as it were the parent of all the reft, there are feveral other

The heads of confiderable rivers, hot fprings, large bodies of standing water, &c. were esteemed holy among the Romans, and cultivated with religious ceremonies. Magnorum fluminum (lays Seneca) capita reveremur; fubita et ex abdito vafti amnis eruptio aras babet, coluntur aquarum calentium fontes, et ftagna quædam, vel opacitas, vel immenja altitudo fueravit. Ep. 41. It was customary to throw little pieces of money into those fountains, lakes, &c. which had the reputation of being facred, as a mark of veneration for thofe places, and to render the prefiding deities propitious. Suetonius mentions this practice in the annual vow. which he fays the Roman people made for the health of Augustus. Suct. in Vit. Ang.

leffer ftreams, which, taking their rife from various fources, lofe themfelves in the river; over which a bridge is built, that feparates the facred part from that which lies open to common ufe. Veffels are allowed to come above this bridge, but no perfon is permitted to fwim except below it . The Hifpellates 1, to whom Auguftus gave this place, furnish a pub lic bath, and likewife entertain all ftrangers at their own expence. Several villas, attracted by the beauty of this river, are fituated upon its borders. In short, every object that prefents itself will afford you entertainment. You may also amufe yourfelf with numberlefs infcriptions, that are fixed upon the pillars and walls by different perfons, celebrating the virtues of the fountain, and the divinity that prefides over it. There are many of them you will greatly admire, as there are some that will make you laugh; but I muit correct myself when I fay fo; you are too humane, I know, to laugh upon fuch an occafion. Farewel.

LETTER CIII.
To Urfus.

IT is long fince I have taken either a book or a pen in my hand. It is long fince I have known the fweets of leifure and repofe; fince I have known, in short, that indolent but agreeable fituation of doing nothing, and being nothing; fo much have the affairs of my friends en joying the pleafures of retirement and gaged me, and prevented me from en contemplation. There is no sort of studies, however, of confequence enough to fuperfede the duty of friendship: on the contrary, it is a facred tie which they themselves teach us most religiously to preferve. Farewel.

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