7.19

Pliny expresses concern about the health of a woman named Fannia.

This is the same Fannia who told Pliny stories about her grandmother Arria. See letter 3.16.

Angit mē: “distresses me," "causes me anguish." valētūdō is the subject, but = “I am very worried about.”

Fanniae: the granddaughter of Arria Maior (whom Pliny praises as a model of Roman virtue in letter 3.16), and the daughter of Arria Minor, whom Pliny praises below. Fannia followed her husband Helvedius Priscus into exile twice, once in the reign of Nero and once in the reign of Vespasian. Then in the reign of Domitian, Fannia herself was exiled for asking Herennius Senecio, another member of the "Stoic opposition," to write a biography of her husband, and was accused of supplying him with her husband’s diaries to help him write.

Her husband was put to death under Vespasian some thirty or more years before the date of this letter (Wescott).

hanc: “this (illness).”

adsidet: the present tense is used with dum even when the leading verb is in the past tense. AG 556.

"was sitting beside," "nursing" (Kingery).

Iuniae: dat., with assidet.

virginī: in apposition with Iuniae. Iunia was a Vestal Virgin. 

prīmum ... deinde: “at first, then.” The ablatives that go with these time markers (sponte, ex auctōritāte) show how Fannia’s motivation for helping Iunia changed over time.

(2) cum ... cōguntur: “whenever they are compelled” + excēdere. The indicative is normal when cum = "whenever." LS cum I.A.1.

vī morbī: “because of the strength of the illness.”

ātriō: ablative of place from which, with ex assumed because of excēdere.

cūrae cūstōdiaeque: dat., with mandantur.

mātrōnārum: "of (prominent) matrons," as opposed to their own families.

Quō mūnere ... sēdulō: connecting relative, “(in) which charitable office.” 

hōc discrīmine implicita est: “she was attacked with this dangerous disorder” (Montague).

(3) Īnsident febrēs: “the fevers have set in.” Present for present perfect tense is normal when expressing action continuing into the present. AG 466.

"the fever-attacks have established themselves," i.e. there is continuous, and not intermittent fever (Merrill).

Tantum: “only” adv. modifies viget. 

Helvidiō marītō, Thraseā patre: abl., with dignissimus.

cōnficiunt: "overwhelm," "prostrate" with worry or grief. OLD conficio 11.

nōn ... tantum, vērum etiam: “not merely … but also.”

(4) Doleō: sets up an indirect statement, “I am sad that.”

oculīs: abl.; ex is assumed because of ēripī.

nesciō an: “I don’t know whether.” 

aliquid simile vīsūrīs: fut. ptc., taking a direct object; “(we) will see anything similar (in the future).” Aliquid simile here obviously means, “anyone like her,” but it is technically neuter. The sentiment is similar to Hamlet's "I shall not look upon his like again." 

nesciō an ... visūrīs: freely, “which will never, perhaps, behold anything like (her)”; literally, “I know not whether destined to behold anything like (her)” (Montague).

illī: dative of possession, supply est, “she has.”

tertiō: “on a third occasion.” i.e. her third exile. This is when she was exiled for having Senecio write a book about her husband. 

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Helvidius was first condemned when a junior senator for his connection with Thrasea and relegated in AD 66 (Tacitus, Annals 16.29.33). He returned after Nero's death, and was praetor in 70 (Tacitus, Histories 4.53). His persistent opposition to the principles of Vespasian's Principate led to his second exile, probably at the time of Vespasian's first expulsion of philosophers, before AD 75. On each occasion the sentence was technically not exile, which means deportatio in insulam with loss of all civic status, but the lesser penalty of relegatio. Pliny uses the incorrect term for stylistic reasons. Helvidius was put to death while out of Italy, apparently against the wishes of Vespasian, possibly through the excessive zeal of Titus, then praetorian prefect (Sherwin-White).

(5) cum Seneciō reus esset:  “when Senecio was accused,” or “when Senecio was a defendant.”

quod ... composuisset: “because he had written.”

in Tacitus, Agricola 2 we are told that Herennius Senecio was put to death by Domitian for having eulogised Helvidius, and that his work was publicly burnt in the forum (Church).

rogātumque sē ā Fanniā in dēfēnsiōne dīxisset: “and he said in his (own) defense that he himself was asked (to do so) by Fannia.”

quaerente mināciter Mettīō Cārō: abl. absol., “upon Mettius Carus asking (her) menacingly.” After questioning Senecio, Mettius Carus turned his attention upon Fannia herself, and asked her about her involvement in his writing a book about her late husband Helvedius. On the notorious informer Mettius Carus see Tacitus, Agricola 45.1.

an rogāsset: indirect question after quaerente, “asking whether she had asked.”

an commentāriōs scrīptūrō dedisset: another indirect question also set up by quaerente. 

commentāriōs “notebooks of her husband” (Wescott).

“the diaries and note-books of Helvidius.” Caesar gave this name of "commentaries" to his works (Prichard).

scrīptūrō: "when he was about to write," “for his writing.”

an sciente mātre: abl. absol., used as an indirect question, literally, “whether (this was done) with her mother knowing,” “whether (this was done) with her mother’s knowledge.” Here Mettius Carus and Pliny bring in Fannia’s famous mother, Arria Minor.

Nesciente: the word matre is implied in her response. 

Fannia did her utmost to shield her mother from the responsibility of what probably was at least known to her. Senecio did not do as much for her. But Arria was exiled nevertheless, being recalled at the same time with her daughter (Merrill).

cēdentem perīculō: "yielding to danger," "through fear of danger" (Radice).

(6) illōs ipsōs librōs: direct object of servāvit habuit, tulitque. 

metū temporum: “though fear of the times," i.e., given the climate of fear prevalent at the time. 

Did Pliny have a hand in the execution? He was in office at the time (3.11.2-3). And Tacitus (Agricola 45) admits, nostrae duxere Helvidium in carcerem manus (our hands led Helvidius to prison), where nostrae means senatorial. The books were burned by the tresviri capitales (Sherwin-White).

Pliny himself was a member of the senate at the time and even praetor (3.11.2), and few of the senators but cut a sorry figure in that year of terror. Pliny's apology is worse than the confession and shame of Tacitus (Agricola 45 nostrae duxere Helvidium in carcerem manus; nos Maurici Rusticique visus, nos innocenti sanguine Senecio perfudit, etc.) (Merrill).

quamquam ... abolitōs: “although (the books were) destroyed.” 

There was a special measure ordering the destruction of the books, as in the case of Cremutius Cordus (Tacitus, Annals 4.35) in addition to that proposing the capital penalty and consequent publicatio bonorum (confiscation of assets) for Senecio himself (Sherwin-White).

senātūs cōnsultō: “by a decree of the senate,” abl. of cause with abolitōs. 

pūblicātīs bonīs: concessive, “although her property was confiscated.” 

servāvit habuit: take librōs as the direct object, “she had (a copy) and saved it.” The implication is that even though the senate demanded that the books be destroyed, Fannia kept at least one copy with her personal effects and saved it. 

tulitque in exsilium, exsilī causam: note the polyptoton. "Took them with her into the exile they had caused" (Radice).

(7) Eadem: Fannia.  

quod paucīs datum est: supply feminīs “(a thing) which has been granted to few (women).”

nōn minus amābilis quam veneranda: “no less loveable than worthy of admiration.” LS veneror II A.

Eritne quam: “will there be (anyone) whom...?”

uxōribus nostrīs ostentāre: “show (as an example) to our wives.”

Erit ā quā: “who will there be (anyone) from whom ...?”

virī quoque ... sūmāmus: “we men may also take up.”

quam ... mīrēmur: relative clause of characteristic.

sīc ... ut: "just like."

illās quae leguntur: such women of old as Veturia or Cornelia (Kingery).

The meaning is, we admire Fannia while she is yet alive as much as we admire those whom we have never seen but only read about (Church).

(8) mihi: dative of reference, “to me,” “in my opinion.”

domus ipsa: the house itself (i. e. the family of Fannia) (Montague). 

sēdibus: "foundations" (Kingery).

nūtāre: take with vidētur, “seems to topple.” DMLBS nutare 2.c. 

ruitūra suprā vidētur: “it seems that it (i.e., the house) is about to collapse on top of itself.”

licet adhūc posterōs habeat: “despite the fact that it still has descendants.” LS licet II.

assequentur: "succeed in bringing it about," followed by a result clause. OLD assequor 4.a.

ut haec nōn novissima occiderit: "that this woman has not perished (as) the last." LS occido2 II.

I.e., to what a height of virtue they must rise to prevent the impression that she was the last of her house! (Wescott).

"the last of her kind" (Merrill).

"the last (of Roman women)" (Church, Montague).

“that the last of her line has not perished with her” (Radice). 

(9) Mē quidem illud etiam afflīgit et torquet: “indeed that (thought) also afflicts and tortures me,” i.e. “I am also afflicted and tortured by the thought that," returning to the opening thought of the letter.

mātrem eius ... rūrsus videor āmittere: "I seem to be losing her mother all over again."

The date of the death of Arria is uncertain. She was alive in 97 when she returned with Fannia from exile (9.13.5) (Sherwin-White).

illam ... matrem: Arria Minor, Fannia’s mother.

nihil possum illūstrius dīcere:  “I can say nothing more remarkable (about her) than this.”

quam haec, ut reddit ac refert nōbīs, sīc auferet sēcum: “whom she (Fannia), just as she recalls and brings back (Arria) to us, so she will take (Arria) away with her (when she, Fannia) dies.” Fannia will soon die like her mother before her, and just as she brought her mother back to life for Pliny, her death will take them both away from him again. 

mēque et novō pariter et rescissō vulnere afficiet: “(this fact) will affect me equally with a new wound and also with an old wound reopened.” Afficiō can take an acc. + abl. and means, “to affect (a person) with (something).” LS afficio B 2.

(10) utram magis: “which (I love) more.”

discernī: “a distinction to be made.”

Habuērunt officia mea: “they had my services.” The subjects of habuērunt are Fannia and her mother.

Pliny owed a Roman debt of gratitude to the family group. Aurulenus Rusticus had encouraged him as a young man (Sherwin-White).

in secundīs: “in times of prosperity.” Contrasted with in adversīs in the next clause.

sōlācium relēgātārum: supply fuī, “a comfort to them when they had been exiled.” 

ultor reversārum: supply fuī, "an avenger of them when they had returned," "their champion after their return" (Radice).

nōn fēcī tamen paria: “I however have not made equal things,” "I have (not yet) repaid my debt."

eō magis: “even more,” “all the more.”

hanc ... servārī: indirect statement governed by cupiō, “I desire that she (Fannia) be spared.”

ut mihi ... tempora supersint: purpose clause, “to give me time."

solvendī: “for repaying" my debt of gratitude. LS solvo II.B.3.a.

(11) quās: the antecedent is cūrīs. Pliny would like to have his anxiety transformed to gaudium.

metū: "my present fears" (Radice).