1 (return)
[ A pupil and intimate friend
of Paetus Thrasea, the distinguished Stoic philosopher. Arulenus was put
to death by Domitian for writing a panegyric upon Thrasea.]
2 (return)
[ The impropriety of this
expression, in the original, seems to he in the word stigmosum, which
Regulus, probably either coined through affectation or used through
ignorance. It is a word, at least, which does not occur in any author of
authority: the translator has endeavoured, therefore, to preserve the same
sort of impropriety, by using an expression of like unwarranted stamp in
his own tongue. M.]
3 (return)
[ An allusion to a wound he
had received in the war between Vitellius and Vespasian.]
4 (return)
[ A brother of Piso Galba's
adopted son. He was put to death by Nero.]
5 (return)
[ Sulpicius Camerinus, put to
death by the same emperor, upon some frivolous charge.]
6 (return)
[ A select body of men who
formed a court of judicature, called the centurnviral court. Their
jurisdiction extended chiefly, if not entirely, to questions of wills and
intestate estates. Their number, it would seem, amounted to 100. M.]
7 (return)
[ Junius Mauricus, the
brother of Rusticus Arulenus. Both brothers were sentenced on the same
day, Arulenue to execution and Mauricui to banishment.]
8 (return)
[ There seems to have been a
cast of uncommon blackness in the character of this Regulus; otherwise the
benevolent Pliny would scarcely have singled him out, as he has in this
and some following letters, for the subject of his warmest contempt and
indignation. Yet, infamous as he was, he had his flatterers and admirers;
and a contemporary poet frequently represents him as one of the most
finished characters of the age, both in eloquence and virtue. M.]
9 (return)
[ The Decurii were a sort of
senators in the municipal or corporate cities of Italy. M.]
10 (return)
[ "Euphrates was a native
of Tyre, or, according to others, of Byzantium. He belonged to the Stoic
school of philosophy. In his old age he became tired of life, and asked
and obtained from Hadrian permission to put an end to himself by poison."
Smith's Dict. of Greek and Roman Biog.]
11 (return)
[ A pleader and historian
of some distinction, mentioned by Tacitus, Ann. XIV. 19, and by
Quintilian, X, I, 102.]
12 (return)
[ Padua.]
13 (return)
[ Domitian]
14 (return)
[ Iliad, XII. 243. Pope.]
15 (return)
[ Equal to about $4,000 of
our money. After the reign of Augustus the value of the sesterces.]
16 (return)
[ "The equestrian dignity,
or that order of the Roman people which we commonly call knights, had
nothing in it analogous to any order of modern knighthood, but depended
entirely upon a valuation of their estates; and every citizen, whose
entire fortune amounted to 400,000 sesterces, that is, to about $16000 of
our money, was enrolled, of course, in the list of knights, who were
considered as a middle order between the senators and common people, yet,
without any other distinction than the privilege of wearing a gold ring,
which was the peculiar badge of their order." Life of Cicero, Vol. I. III.
in note. M.]
17 (return)
[ An elegant Attic orator,
remarkable for the grace and lucidity of his style, also for his vivid and
accurate delineations of character.]
18 (return)
[ A graceful and powerful
orator, and friend of Densosthenes.]
19 (return)
[ A Roman orator of the
Augustan age. He was a poet and historian as well, but gained most
distinction as an orator.]
20 (return)
[ A man of considerable
taste, talent, and eloquence, but profligate and extravagant. He was on
terms of some intimacy with Cicero.]
21 (return)
[ The praetor was assisted
by ten assessors, five of whom were senators, and the rest knights. With
these he was obliged to consult before he pronounced sentence. M.]
22 (return)
[ A contemporary and rival
of Aristophanes.]
23 (return)
[ Aristophanes, Ach. 531]
24 (return)
[ Thersites. Iliad, II. V.
212.]
25 (return)
[ Ulysses. Iliad, III. V.
222.]
26 (return)
[ Menelaua. Iliad, III. V.
214.]
27 (return)
[ Great-grandfather of the
Emperor M. Aurelius.]
28 (return)
[ An eminent lawyer of
Trajan's reign.]
29 (return)
[ The philosophers used to
hold their disputations in the gymnasia and porticoes, being places of the
most public resort for walking, &c. M.]
30 (return)
[ "Verginius Rufus was
governor of Upper Germany at the time of the revolt of Julius Vindex in
Gaul. A.D. 68. The soldiers of Verginius wished to raise him to the
empire, but he refused the honour, and marched against Vindex, who
perished before Vesontio. After the death of Nero, Verginius supported the
claims of Galba, and accompanied him to Rome. Upon Otho's death, the
soldiers again attempted to proclaim Verginius emperor, and in consequence
of his refusal of the honour, he narrowly escaped with his life." (See
Smith's Dict. of Greek and Rom. Biog., &c.)]
31 (return)
[ Nerva.]
32 (return)
[ The historian,]
33 (return)
[ Namely, of augurs. "This
college, as regulated by Sylla, consisted of fifteen, who were all persons
of the first distinction in Rome; it was a priesthood for life, of a
character indelible, which no crime or forfeiture could efface; it was
necessary that every candidate should be nominated to the people by two
augurs, who gave a solemn testimony upon, oath of his dignity and fitness
for that office." Middleton's Life of Cicero, I. 547. M.]
34 (return)
[ The ancient Greeks and
Romans did not sit up at the table as we do, but reclined round it on
couches, three and sometimes even four occupying one conch, at least this
latter was the custom among the Romans. Each guest lay flat upon his chest
while eating, reaching out his hand from time to time to the table, for
what he might require. As soon as he had made a sufficient meal, he turned
over upon his left side, leaning on the elbow.]
35 (return)
[ A people of Germany.]
36 (return)
[ "Any Roman priest devoted
to the service of one particular god was designated Flamen, receiving a
distinguishing epithet from the deity to whom he ministered. The office
was understood to last for life; but a flamen might be compelled to resign
for a breach of duty, or even on account of the occurrence of an
ill-omened accident while discharging his functions." Smith's Dictionary
of Antiquities.]
37 (return)
[ Trajan.]
38 (return)
[ By a law passed A. D.
76, it was enacted that every citizen of Rome who had three children
should be excused from all troublesome offices where he lived. This
privilege the emperors sometimes extended to those who were not legally
entitled to it.]
39 (return)
[ About 54 cents.]
40 (return)
[ Avenue]
41 (return)
[ "Windows made of a
transparent stone called lapis specularis (mica), which was first found in
Hispania Citerior, and afterwards in Cyprus, Cappadocia, Sicily, and
Africa; but the best caine from Spain and Cappadocia. It was easily split
into the thinnest sheets. Windows, made of this stone were called
specularia." Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities.]
42 (return)
[ A feast held in honour of
the god Saturn, which began on the 19th of December, and continued as some
say, for seven days. It was a time of general rejoicing, particularly
among the slaves, who had at this season the privilege of taking great
liberties with their masters. M.]
43 (return)
[ Cicero and Quintilian
have laid down rules how far, and in what instances, this liberty was
allowable, and both agree it ought to be used with great sagacity and
judgment. The latter of these excellent critics mentions a witticism of
Flavius Virginius, who asked one of these orators, "Quot nillia assuum
deciamassett." How many miles he had declaimed. M.]
44 (return)
[ This was an act of great
ceremony; and if Aurelia's dress was of the kind which some of the Roman
ladies used, the legacy must have been considerable which Regulus had the
impudence to ask. M.]
45 (return)
[ $3,350,000.]
46 (return)
[ A poet to whom Quintilian
assigns the highest rank, as a Writer of tragedies, among his
contemporaries (book X. C. I. 98). Tacitus also speaks of him in terms of
high appreciation (Annals, v. 8).]
47 (return)
[ Stepson of Augustus and
brother to Tiberius. An amiable and popular prince. He died at the close
of his third campaign, from a fracture received by falling from his
horse.]
48 (return)
[ A historian under
Augustus and Tiberius. He wrote part of a history of Rome, which was
continued by the elder Pliny; also an account of the German war, to which
Quintilian makes allusion (Inst. X. 103), pronouncing him, as a historian,
"estimable in all respects, yet in some things failing to do himself
justice."]
49 (return)
[ The distribution of time
among the Romans was very different from ours. They divided the night into
four equal parts, which they called watches, each three hours in length;
and part of these they devoted either to the pleasures of the table or to
study. The natural day they divided into twelve hours, the first beginning
with sunrise, and the last ending with sunset; by which means their hours
were of unequal length, varying according to the different seasons of the
year. The time for business began with sunrise, and continued to the fifth
hour, being that of dinner, which with them was only a slight repast. From
thence to the seventh hour was a time of repose; a custom which still
prevails in Italy. The eighth hour was employed in bodily exercises; after
which they constantly bathed, and from thence went to supper. M.]
50 (return)
[ $16,000.]
51 (return)
[ Born about A. D. 25. He
acquired some distinction as an advocate. The only poem of his which has
come down to us is a heavy prosaic performance in seventeen books,
entitled "Tunica," and containing an account of the events of the Second
Punic War, from the capture of Saguntum to the triumph of Scipio
Africanus. See Smith's Dict. of Gr. and Roin. Biog.]
52 (return)
[ Trajan.]
53 (return)
[ Spurinna's wife.]
54 (return)
[ Domitian banished the
philosophers not only from Rome, but Italy, as Suetonius (Dom. C. X.) and
Aulus Gellius (Noct. Att. b. XV. CXI. 3, 4, 5) Inform us among these was
the celebrated Epictetus. M.]
55 (return)
[ The following is the
story, as related by several of the ancient historians. Paetus, having
joined Scribonianus, who was in arms, in Illyria, against Claudius, was
taken after the death of Scribonianus, and condemned to death. Arria
having, in vain, solicited his life, persuaded him to destroy himself,
rather than suffer the ignominy of falling by the executioner's hands;
and, in order to encourage him to an act, to which, it seems, he was not
particularly inclined, she set him the example in the manner Pliny
relates. M.]
56 (return)
[ Trajan.]
57 (return)
[ The Roman, used to employ
their criminals in the lower ones of husbandry, such as ploughing, &c.
Pun. H. N. 1. 18, 3. M.]
58 (return)
[ About $500,000.]
59 (return)
[ About $800,000.]
60 (return)
[ One of the famous seven
hills upon which Rome was situated.]
61 (return)
[ Mart. LX. 19.]
62 (return)
[ Calpurnia, Pliny's wife.]
63 (return)
[ Now Citta di Castello.]
64 (return)
[ The Romans had an
absolute power over their children, of which no age or station of the
latter deprived them.]
65 (return)
[ Their business was to
interpret dreams, oracles, prodigies, &c., and to foretell whether any
action should be fortunate or prejudicial, to particular persons, or to
the whole commonwealth. Upon this account, they very often occasioned the
displacing of magistrates, the deferring of public assemblies, &c.
Kennet's Ron,. Antig. M.]
66 (return)
[ Trajan.]
67 (return)
[ A slave was incapable of
property; and, therefore, whatever he acquired became the right of his
master. M.]
68 (return)
[ "Their office was to
attend upon the rites of Vests, the chief part of which was the
preservation of the holy fire. If this fire happened to go out, it was
considered impiety to light it at any common flame, but they made use of
the pure and unpolluted rays of the sun for that purpose. There were
various other duties besides connected with their office. The chief rules
prescribed them were, to vow the strictest chastity, for the space of
thirty years. After this term was completed, they had liberty to leave the
order. If they broke their vow of virginity, they were buried alive in a
place allotted to that peculiar use." Kennet's Antiq. Their reputation for
sanctity was so high that Livy mentions the fact of two of those virgins
having violated their vows, as a prodigy that, threatened destruction to
the Roman state. Lib. XXII. C. 57. And Suetonius inform, us that Augiastus
had so high an opinion of this religious order, that he consigned the care
of his will to the Vestal Virgins. Suet, in vit. Aug. C. XCI. M.]
69 (return)
[ It was usual with
Domitian to triumph, not only without a victory, but even after a defeat,
M.]
70 (return)
[ Euripides' Hecuba,]
71 (return)
[ The punishment inflicted
upon the violators of Vestal chastity was to be scourged to death. M.]
72 (return)
[ Calpurnia, Pliny's wife.]
73 (return)
[ Gratilla was the wife of
Rusticus: Rusticus was put to death by Domitian, and Gratilla banished. It
was sufficient crime in the reign of that execrable prince to be even a
friend of those who were obnoxious to him. M.]
74 (return)
[ In the original,
scrinium, box for holding MSS.]
75 (return)
[ The hippodromus, in its
proper signification, was a place, among the Grecians, set apart for
horse-racing and other exercises of that kind. But it seems here to be
nothing more than a particular walk, to which Pliny perhaps gave that
name, from its bearing some resemblance in its form to the public places
so called. M.]
76 (return)
[ Now called Frascati,
Tivoli, and Palestrina, all of them situated in the Campagna di Roma, and
at no great distance from Rome. M.]
77 (return)
[ "This is said in allusion
to the idea of Nemesis supposed to threaten excessive prosperity." (Church
and Brodribb.)]
78 (return)
[ About $15,000.]
79 (return)
[ About $42,000.]
80 (return)
[ None had the right of
using family pictures or statues but those whose ancestors or themselves
had borne some of the highest dignities. So that the jus imaginis was much
the same thing among the Romans as the right of bearing a coat of arms
among us. Ken. Antiq. M.]
81 (return)
[ The Roman physicians used
to send their patients in consumptive cases into Egypt, particularly to
Alexandria. M.]
82 (return)
[ Frejus, in Provence, the
southern part of France. M.]
83 (return)
[ A court of justice
erected by Julius Cæsar in the forum, and opposite to the basilica
Aemilia.]
84 (return)
[ The deceniviri seem to
have been magistrates for the administration of justice, subordinate to
the praetors, who (to give the English reader a general notion of their
office) may be termed lords chief justices, as the judges here mentioned
were something in the nature of our juries. M.]
85 (return)
[ About $400.]
86 (return)
[ This silly piece of
superstition seems to have been peculiar to Regulus, and not of any
general practice; at least it is a custom of which we find no other
mention in antiquity. M.]
87 (return)
[ "We gather from Martial
that the wearing of these was not an unusual practice with fops and
dandies." See Epig. II. 29, in which he ridicules a certain Rufus, and
hints that if you were to "strip off the 'splenia (plasters)' from his
face, you would find out that he was a branded runaway slave." (Church and
Brodribb.)]
88 (return)
[ His wife.]
89 (return)
[ Hom. II. lib, I. V. 88.]
90 (return)
[ Now Alzia, not far from
Corno.]
91 (return)
[ Nevertheless, Javolentis
Priscus was one of the most eminent lawyers of his time, and is frequently
quoted in the Digesta of Justinian.]
92 (return)
[ In the Bay of Naples.]
93 (return)
[ The Romans used to lie or
walk naked in the sun, after anointing their bodies with oil, which was
esteemed as greatly contributing to health, and therefore daily practised
by them. This custom, however, of anointing themselves, is inveighed
against by the Satirists as in the number of their luxurious indulgences:
but since we find the elder Pliny here, and the amiable Spurinna in a
former letter, practising this method, we can not suppose the thing itself
was esteemed unmanly, but only when it was attended with some particular
circumstances of an over-refined delicacy. M.]
94 (return)
[ Now called Castelamare,
in the Bay of Naples. M.]
95 (return)
[ The Stoic and Epicurean
philosophers held that the world was to be destroyed by fire, and all
things fall again into original chaos; not excepting even the national
gods themselves from the destruction of this general conflagration. M.]
96 (return)
[ The lake Larius.]
97 (return)
[ Those families were
styled patrician whose ancestors had been members of the senate in the
earliest times of the regal or consular government. M.]
98 (return)
[ Trajan]
99 (return)
[ The consuls, though they
were chosen in August, did not enter upon their office till the first of
January, during which interval they were styled consules designati,
consuls elect. It was usual for them upon that occasion to compliment the
emperor, by whose appointment, after the dissolution of the republican
government, they were chosen. M.]
100 (return)
[ So called, because it
formerly belonged to Camillus. M.]
101 (return)
[ Civita Vecchia.]
102 (return)
[ Trajan.]
103 (return)
[ An officer in the Roman
legions, answering in some sort to a captain In our companies. M.]
104 (return)
[ This law was made by
Augustus Cæsar; but it nowhere clearly appears what was the peculiar
punishment it inflicted. M.]
105 (return)
[ An officer employed by
the emperor to receive and regulate the public revenue in the provinces.
M.]
106 (return)
[ Comprehending
Transylvania, Moldavia, and Walaehia. M.]
107 (return)
[ Polycletus was a
freedman, and great favourite of Nero. M.]
108 (return)
[ Memmius, or Rhemmius
(the critics are not agreed which), was author of a law by which it was
enacted that whosoever was convicted of calumny and false accusation
should be stigmatised with a mark in his forehead; and by the law of the
twelve tables, false accusers were to suffer the same punishment as would
have been inflicted upon the person unjustly accused if the crime had been
proved. M.]
109 (return)
[ Trajan.]
110 (return)
[ Unction was much
esteemed and prescribed by the ancients. Celsus expressly recommends it in
the remission of acute distempers: "ungi leniterque pertractari corpus,
etiam in acutic et recentibus niorbis opartet; us rernissione fumen,"
&c. Celsi Med. ed. Aliucloveen, p. 88. M.]
111 (return)
[ His wife.]
112 (return)
[ See book V. letter XX.]
113 (return)
[ Trajan.]
114 (return)
[ One of the Bithynians
employed to manage the trial. M.]
115 (return)
[ About $28,000.]
116 (return)
[ About $26,000.]
117 (return)
[ There is a kind of
witticism in this expression, which will be lost to the mere English
reader unless he be informed that the Romans had a privilege, confirmed to
them by several laws which passed in the earlier ages of the republic, of
appealing from the decisions of the magistrates to the general assembly of
the people: and they did so in the form of words which Pomponius here
applies to a different purpose. M.]
118 (return)
[ The priests, as well as
other magistrates, exhibited public games to the people when they entered
upon their office. M.]
119 (return)
[ A famous lawyer who
flourished in the reign of the emperor Claudius: those who followed his
opinions were said to be Cassians, or of the school of Cassius. M.]
120 (return)
[ A Stoic philosopher and
native of Tarsus. He was tutor for some time to Octavius, afterwards
Augustus, Cæsar.]
121 (return)
[ Balzac very prettily
observes: "Il y a des riviere: qui ne font jamais tact de bien que quand
elles se dibordent; de eneme, l'amitie n'a mealleur quo l'exces." M.]
122 (return)
[ Persons of rank and
literature among the Romans retained in their families a domestic whose
sole business was to read to them. M.]
123 (return)
[ It was a doctrine
maintained by the Stoics that all crimes are equal M.]
124 (return)
[ About $400.]
125 (return)
[ About $600.]
126 (return)
[ About $93.]
127 (return)
[ Hom. II. lib. IX. V.
319.]
128 (return)
[ Those of Nero and
Domitian. M.]
129 (return)
[ When Nerva and Trajan
received the empire. M.]
130 (return)
[ A slave could acquire
no property, and consequently was incapable bylaw of making a will. M.]
131 (return)
[ Now called Amelia, a
town in Ombria. M.]
132 (return)
[ Now Laghetto di
Bassano. M.]
133 (return)
[ A province in Anatolia,
or Asia Minor. M.]
134 (return)
[ The performers at these
games were divided into companies, distinguished by the particular colour
of their habits; the principal of which were the white, the red, the blue,
and the green. Accordingly the spectators favoured one or the other
colour, as humour and caprice inclined them. In the reign of Justinian a
tumult arose in Constantinople, occasioned merely by a contention among
the partisans of these several colours, wherein no less than 30,000 men
lost their lives. M.]
135 (return)
[ Now called Castello di
Baia, in Terra di Lavoro. It was the place the Romans chose for their
winter retreat; and which they frequented upon account of its warm baths.
Some few ruins of the beautiful villas that once covered this delightful
coast still remain; and nothing can give one a higher idea of the
prodigious expense and magnificence of the Romans in their private
buildings than the manner in which some of these were situated. It appears
from this letter, as well as from several other passages in the classic
writers, that they actually projected into the sea, being erected upon
vast piles, sunk for that purpose.]
136 (return)
[ The buskin was a kind
of high shoe worn upon the stage by the actors of tragedy, in order to
give them a more heroical elevation of stature; as the sock was something
between a shoe and stocking, it was appropriated to the comic players. M.]
137 (return)
[ Lyons.]
138 (return)
[ He was accused of
treason, under pretence that in a dramatic piece which he composed he had,
in the characters of Paris and Oenone, reflected upon Domitian for
divorcing his wife Domitia. Suet, in Vit. Domit. C. 10. M.]
139 (return)
[ Helvidius.]
140 (return)
[ Upon the accession of
Nerva to the empire, after the death of Domitian. M.]
142 (return)
[ Our authors first wife;
of whom we have no particular account. After her death, he married his
favourite Calpurnia. M.]
143 (return)
[ It is very remarkable
that, when any senator was asked his opinion in the house, he had the
privilege of speaking as long as he pleased upon any other affair before
he came to the point in question. Aul. Gell. IV. C. 10. M.]
144 (return)
[ Aeneid, LIB. VI. V.
105.]
145 (return)
[ Arria and Fannia.]
146 (return)
[ The appellation by
which the senate was addressed. M.]
147 (return)
[ The tribunes were
magistrates chosen at first out of the body of the commons, for the
defence of their liberties, and to interpose in all grievances offered by
their superiors. Their authority extended even to the deliberations of the
senate. M.]
148 (return)
[ Diomed's speech to
Nestor, advising him to retire from the field of battle. Iliad, VIII. 302.
Pope. M.]
149 (return)
[ Nerva.]
150 (return)
[ Domitian; by whom he
had been appointed consul elect, though he had not yet entered upon that
office. M.]
151 (return)
[ These persons were
introduced at most of the tables of the great, for the purposes of mirth
and gaiety, and constituted an essential part in all polite entertainments
among the Romans. It is surprising how soon this great people fell off
from their original severity of manners, and were tainted with the stale
refinements of foreign luxury. Livy dates the rise of this and other
unmanly delicacies from the conquest of Scipio Asiaticus over Antiochus;
that is when the Roman name had scarce subsisted above a hundred and
threescore years. "Luxuriae peregrinae origio," says he, "exercitu
Asiatico in urbem invecta est." This triumphant army caught, it seems, the
contagious softness of the people it subdued; and, on its return to Rome,
spread an infection among their countrymen, which worked by slow degrees,
till it effected their total destruction. Thus did Eastern luxury revenge
itself on Roman arms. It may be wondered that Pliny should keep his own
temper, and check the indignation of his friends at a scene which was fit
only for the dissolute revels of the infamous Trimalchio. But it will not,
perhaps, be doing justice to our author to take an estimate of his real
sentiments upon this point from the letter before us. Genitor, it seems,
was a man of strict, but rather of too austere morals for the free turn of
the age: "emendatus et gravis: paulo etiam horridior et durior ut in hac
licentia teniporuni" (Ep. III. 1. 3). But as there is a certain seasonable
accommodation to the manners of the times, not only extremely Consistent
with, but highly conducive to, the interests of virtue, Pliny, probably,
may affect a greater latitude than he in general approved, in order to
draw off his friend from that stiffness and unyielding disposition which
might prejudice those of a gayer turn against him, and consequently lessen
the beneficial influence of his virtues upon the world. M.]
152 (return)
[ See letter CIII.]
153 (return)
[ Iliad, XXI. 387. Pope.
M.]
154 (return)
[ Iliad, V. 356, speaking
of Mars. M.; Iliad, IV. 452. Pope.]
155 (return)
[ The design of Pliny in
this letter is to justify the figurative expressions he had employed,
probably, in same oration, by instances of the same warmth of colouring
from those great masters of eloquence, Demosthenes and his rival
Aesehines. But the force of the passages which he produces from those
orators must necessarily be greatly weakened to a mere modern reader, some
of them being only hinted at, as generally well known; and the metaphors
in several of the others have either lost much of their original spirit
and boldness, by being introduced and received in Common language, or
cannot, perhaps, he preserved in an English translation. M.]
156 (return)
[ See 1st Philippic.]
157 (return)
[ See Demosthenes' speech
in defence of Cteisphon.]
158 (return)
[ See end Olynthiac.]
159 (return)
[ See Aesehines' speech
against Ctesiphon.]
160 (return)
[ It was a religious
ceremony practised by the ancients to pour precious ointments upon the
statues of their gods: Avitus, it is probable, imagined this dolphin was
some sea-divinity, and therefore expressed his veneration of him by the
solemnity of a sacred unction. M.]
161 (return)
[ The overflowing
humanity of Pliny's temper breaks out upon all occasions, but he discovers
it in nothing more strongly than by the impression which this little story
appears to have made upon him. True benevolence, indeed, extends itself
through the whole compass of existence, and sympathises with the distress
of every creature of sensation. Little minds may be apt to consider a
compassion of this inferior kind as an instance of weakness; but it is
undoubtedly the evidence of a noble nature. Homer thought it not
unbecoming the character even of a hero to melt into tears at a distress
of this sort, and has given us a most amiable and affecting picture of
Ulysses weeping over his faithful dog Argus, when he expires at his feet:
"Soft pity touch'd the mighty master's soul;
Adown his cheek the tear unbidden stole,
Stole unperceived; he turn'd his head and dry'd
The drop humane.".
(Odyss. XVII. Pope.) M.]
162 (return)
[ By the regimen which
Pliny here follows, one would imagine, if he had not told us who were his
physicians, that the celebrated Celsus was in the number. That author
expressly recommends reading aloud, and afterwards walking, as beneficial
in disorders of the stomach: "Si quis stomacho laborat, leqere clare
debet; post lectionem ambulare," &c. Celsi Medic. 1. I. C. 8. M.]
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