Letters, Volume II: Books 8-10. Panegyricus (Loeb Classical Library 59)

Product Information

Sed magis praedicanda moderatio tua, quod innutritus bellicis laudibus pacem amas: nec quia vel pater tibi triumphalis, vel adoptionis tuae die dicata Capitolino Iovi laurus, idcirco ex occasione omni quaeris triumphos. Non times bella, nec provocas. Magnum est, Imperator Auguste, magnum est stare in Danubii ripa, si transeas, certum triumphi; nec decertare cupere cum recusantibus: quorum alterum fortitudine, alterum moderatione efficitur. Nam ut ipse nolis pugnare, moderatio; fortitudo tua praestat, ut neque hostes tui velint. Accipiet ergo aliquando Capitolium non mimicos currus, nec falsae simulacra victoriae; sed imperatorem veram ac solidam gloriam reportantem, pacem, tranquillitatem, et tam confessa hostium obsequia, ut vincendus nemo fuerit. Pulchrius hoc omnibus triumphis. Neque enim unquam, nisi ex contemptu imperii nostri factum est, ut vinceremus. Quod si quis barbarus rex eo insolentiae furorisque processerit, ut iram tuam indignationemque mereatur: nae ille, sive interfuso mari, seu fluminibus immensis, seu praecipiti monte defenditur, omnia haec tam prona, tamque cedentia virtutibus tuis sentiet, ut subsedisse montes, flumina exaruisse, interceptum mare, illatasque non classes nostras, sed terras ipsas arbitretur. The surviving evidence (which might be prejudiced by Ausonius' Professors of Bordeaux) points to a shift from Autun and Trier as centers of the art in the Tetrarchic and Constantinian period, moving to Bordeaux later in the 4th century. [8] Igitur quod temperamentum omnes in illo subito pietatis calore servavimus, hoc singuli quoque meditatique teneamus; sciamusque, nullum esse neque sincerius, neque acceptius genus gratiarum, quam quod illas acclamationes aemuletur, quae fingendi non habent tempus. Quantum ad me attinet, laborabo, ut orationem meam ad modestiam Principis moderationemque submittam, nec minus considerabo, quid aures eius pati possint, quam quid virtutibus debeatur. Magna et inusitata Principis gloria, cui gratias acturus, non tam vereor, ne me in laudibus suis parcum, quam ne nimium putet. Haec me cura, haec difficultas sola circumstat: nam merenti gratias agere facile est, Patres Conscripti. Non enim periculum est, ne, quum loquar de humanitate, exprobrari sibi superbiam credat; quum de frugalitate, luxuriam; quum de clementia, crudelitatem; quum de liberalitate, avaritiam; quum de benignitate, livorem; quum de continentia, libidinem; quum de labore, inertiam; quum de fortitudine, timorem. Ac ne illud quidem vereor, ne gratus ingratusve videar, prout satis aut parum dixero. Animadverto enim, etiam deos ipsos non tam accuratis adorantium precibus, quam innocentia et sanctitate, laetari; gratioremque existimari, qui delubris eorum puram castamquem mentem, quam qui meditatum carmen intulerit. Pliny wrote his first work, a tragedy in Greek, at age 14. [15] Additionally, in the course of his life, he wrote numerous poems, most of which are lost. He was also known as a notable orator; though he professed himself a follower of Cicero, Pliny's prose was more magniloquent and less direct than Cicero's.

There was some revival in the city in the late 3rd century, but after the establishment of Trier as an imperial capital in the 280s, the orators began feeling jealousy for the imperial patronage enjoyed by the citizens of Trier. [6] Despite the political and economic hegemony of the city, however, Trier failed to make any significant mark on the rhetoric of the period. [7] Rees, Roger. Layers of Loyalty in Latin Panegyric: AD 289–307. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-19-924918-0 Talem esse oportuit, quem non bella civilia nec armis oppressa respublica, sed pax, et adoptio, et tandem exorata terris numina, dedissent. An fas erat, nihil differre inter imperatorem, quem homines, et quem dii fecissent? quorum quidem in te, Caesar Auguste, iudicium et favor, tunc statim, quum ad exercitum proficiscereris, et quidem inusitato indicio enituit. Nam ceteros principes aut largus cruor hostiarum, aut sinister volatus avium consulentibus nuntiavit: tibi ascendenti de more Capitolium, quamquam non id agentium civium clamor, ut iam principi, occurrit. Siquidem omnis turba, quae limen insederat, ad ingressum tuum foribus reclusis, illa quidem ut tunc arbitrabatur, deum, ceterum, ut docuit eventus, te consalutavit imperatorem. Nec aliter a cunctis omne acceptum est. Nam ipse intelligere nolebas: recusabas enim imperare, recusabas; quod bene erat imperaturi. Igitur cogendus fuisti. Cogi porro non poteras, nisi periculo patriae, et nutatione reipublicae. Obstinatum enim tibi non suscipere imperium, nisi servandum fuisset. Quare ego illum ipsum furorem motumque castrensem reor exstitisse, quia magna vi magnoque terrore modestia tua vincenda erat. Ac sicut maris coelique temperiem turbines tempestatesque commendant; ita ad augendam pacis tuae gratiam illum tumultum praecessisse crediderim. Habet has vices conditio mortalium, ut adversa ex secundis, ex adversis secunda nascantur. Occultat utrorumque semina deus, et plerumque bonorum malorumque caussae sub diversa specie latent. Sherwin-White, A.N. (1966). The Letters of Pliny: A Social and Historical Commentary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-814435-0. Wilken, Robert L. (1984). "Pliny: A Roman Gentleman" in The Christians as the Romans saw Them. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Article contents

The contributions are generally of high quality, and together they give a good sense of the range of issues upon which the Panegyricus can be brought to bear. By the end, however, a sense of claustrophobia begins to settle over the reader. The world beyond the speech is by no means absent from these discussions, but apart from Roger Rees’ concluding discussion of the speech’s Nachleben, there is a tendency to turn inward and focus on the text itself, rather than to open up the discussion and use Pliny’s work as a window on the world in which he lived.

Imperial Epistles: Emperor Trajan And Pliny The Younger The Younger Pliny Reproved by Thomas Burke , 1794, via Princeton University Art Museum Domitian, Nerva And The Appointment Of Trajan Portrait Bust of Domitian, 90 CE, via the Toledo Museum of Art Thus on p. 60 and ff. Cf. L. Sasso D’Elia, s.v. “Domus Augustana, Augustiana” LTUR II (1995) 40-45. More care should likewise attend Roche’s use of the neologism “Aula Regia” (p. 61). from the year 289 (and therefore the earliest of the late antique speeches of the collection), at Trier in honour of Maximian at the occasion of the founding day of the city of Rome. According to a disputed manuscript tradition, the author was a certain Mamertinus, who is identified with the author of the next speech.

The Search For Stability: Senate And Empire The Justice of Trajan by Eugène Delacroix , 1840, via Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen by an anonymous (yet different) author, also delivered at the court in Trier in 310, at the occasion of Constantine's quinquennalia (fifth anniversary of accession) and the founding day of the city of Trier. It contains the description of an appearance of the sun god Apollo to Constantine, which has often been regarded as a model of Constantine's later Christian vision. Also, the speech promulgates the legend that the emperor Claudius II was Constantine's ancestor.

Another independent tradition branches off of M: H (at the British Library: Harleianus 2480), N (at Cluj, Romania: Napocensis), and A (at the Uppsala University Library). [47] H and N are both 15th-century manuscripts, transcribed in a German hand. H shows corrections from a near-contemporary, h. N was copied at some time between 1455 and 1460 by the German theologian Johannes Hergot. [48] Detailed investigation of the manuscripts by D. Lassandro has revealed that A derives from N and N derives from H. [49] H is usually considered the best surviving manuscript. [47] The Aeduan orators, who refer to Julius Caesar in the context of Gaul and Britain, are either directly familiar with his prose or know of his figure through intermediaries like Florus, the historian. [24] Panegyric 12, meanwhile, contains a direct allusion to Caesar's Bellum civile. [25] de la Ruffinière Du Prey, Pierre (1994). The villas of Pliny from antiquity to posterity (illustrateded.). University of Chicago Press. p.5. ISBN 978-0-226-17300-9.XII Panegyrici Latini or Twelve Latin Panegyrics is the conventional title of a collection of twelve ancient Roman and late antique prose panegyric orations written in Latin. The letters of Pliny the Younger ( Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus ) are presented here in the English translation by J.B.Firth (1900); a few words and phrases have been modified. The comments at the bottom of the letters have been added from various sources. The Latin text is the edition by R.A.B.Mynors (1963), in the Bibliotheca Augustana.