2.6

Pliny writes to his young friend Avitus to tell him about a recent dinner party Pliny attended and to give Avitus advice about how not to behave as a host. This letter pairs well with Juvenal’s fifth Satire.

AVĪTŌ SUŌ: a younger friend of Pliny, probably the Junius Avitus whose death from a sudden illness is mourned in letter 8.23. 

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Like most young men with senatorial aspirations, Avitus served as a military tribune, in his case in 98 CE in Germany, under the command of Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus. He was probably about 20 years old at the time. A few years later, with Pliny's help, he was selected for the office of quaestor and became a member of the Senate. During Avitus’ year in this office, he performed with diligence and modesty, according to Pliny. A year or two later, probably in 107 CE, he campaigned, again with Pliny’s assistance, for the office of aedile. He was selected for this position but died before he could serve his term. Avitus was probably about 27 or 28 years old at the time of his death. Jo-Ann Shelton, The Women of Pliny’s Letters (London: Rutledge, 2012), p. 144.

(1)

altius repetere: “to go into the matter too deeply” (Merrill).

quemadmodum acciderit ut: “how it came about that.”

homō minimē familiāris: homō is in apposition with the subject of cēnārem, “I, a man of no familiar acquaintance (with him) came to be dining.”

sibi ... mihi: both dative with vidēbātur.

lautum et dīligentem: "(both) elegant and economical" (OLD diligens 3). Supply simul, since the clause sordidum simul et sūmptuōsum is its parallel.

sordidum simul et sūmptuōsum: simul emphasizes the paradox. Sordidus can mean both "poor in quality, shabby, coarse" describing a meal or a house, and "lacking refinement, vulgar," of people and their tastes. Pliny plays on both senses. See OLD sordidus 4.

(2) 

sibi et paucīs opīma quaedam: take with pōnēbat, “he put certain excellent dishes (in front of) himself and a few (others).” 

pōnēbat: pōnō = appōnō, "serve up," LS pono I.B.8.

parvolīs lagunculīs: ablative of means.

Note the effect of coupling two diminutives (Kingery).

dīscrīpserat: "had divided," LS describo II.B.2.

nōn ut potestās ēligendī: “not so that they (his guests) might have the power of choosing.”

sed nē iūs esset recūsandī: “but so that they might not have the right of refusing.”

Aliud: dir. obj. of habet, “he has one (type),” i.e., of wine.

gradātim: “in grades” of intimacy (Kingery).

(3) 

quī mihi proximus recumbēbat: “(the man) who was reclining next to me (at dinner),” subject of animadvertit.

an probārem: “whether I approved,” indirect question governed by interrogāvit.

Eadem omnibus pōnō: “I serve the same things to everyone.” Pōnō = appōnō.

nōn ad notam: “not to degradation” (Kingery). The nota was a mark placed by the Roman censors in the citizenship rolls beside the names of citizens they degraded to a lower class of citizenship. By extension it refers to any mark of disgrace. It is contrasted here with ad cēnam.

cūnctīsque rēbus exaequō: “I treat (them) as equals in every respect.”

quōs mēnsā et torō aequāvī: “(those) whom I have brought as equals to the same table." Mēnsā and torō are ablatives of place where, or else means after aequāvī.

(4) 

'Etiamne lībertōs?' 'Etiam': “even freedmen? Yes, even freedmen.” (Kingery).

Magnō tibi cōnstat: “It costs you a good deal,” with implied question. Pliny responds minimē, “not at all.” The ablative of price (magnō) is normal after constat in this sense (LS consto II.B.6).

Quī fierī potest: “how can that be?” (Kingery). Quī = quōmodo is colloquial.

scīlicet: "of course."

idem: supply vīnum.

quod ego: “that I drink,” i.e., the freedmen do not drink the same wine as the host.

idem ego: supply bibo. The verbs are elided.

quod lībertī: “as the freedmen.”

(5) 

sī gulae temperēs: “if you were tempering (your) gluttony.”

quō ūtāris ipse: “(that) which you yourself use.” Quō is ablative with ūtāris, as normal. The antecedent of quō is the implied object of commūnicāre.

reprimenda: supply est and gula, “gluttony,” which is the subject.

quasi in ōrdinem: “in line, as it were." The metaphor is military (LS ordo II.B, "rank of soldiers").

sūmptibus: dative after parcās, as normal.

quibus ... cōnsulās: "which you would look after." Quibus is dative, normal after consulo in this sense (LS consulo I.A.2). The antecedent is sumptibus. Cōnsulās is present subjunctive in the apodosis of a future less vivid condition, with sī sūmptibus parcās as the protasis.

aliquantō rēctius: "somewhat more properly," (LS rectus II.C.2), an example of litotes, or emphasis by understatement.

aliēnā contumēliā: "someone else's insult," i.e., insulting somebody else.

(6) 

Quōrsus haec: “to what end (do I say) this?” i.e., “What’s my point?”

Nē tibi ... impōnat: “so that you will not not deceive yourself," i.e., "will not be taken in by," + abl. luxūriā. OLD impono 16.

optimae indolis: genitive of characteristic or quality (AG 345).

iuvenī: vocative.

quōrundam in mēnsā: "at certain people's tables."

luxuriā speciē frūgālitātis: "excess in the guise of frugality," a neat paradox.

amōrī in tē meō: “my love for you.” Amōrī is a dative after convenit.

quid dēbeās fugere: “what you ought to flee.” Indirect question after praemonēre.

(7) 

mementō nihil magis esse vītandum quam: “remember that there is nothing that you must avoid more than.”

cum sint: cum concessive clause.

turpius iunguntur: "are (even) more disgracefully combined," i.e. more disgraceful when combined.