1.6

Pliny writes to Cornelius Tacitus and tells him about how he went boar hunting. 

Cornēliō Tacitō: Tacitus, the able and brilliant historian (ca. 55-118 AD), was a close friend of Pliny's. Their letters show that the two men were not only linked by strong ties of personal affection; certainly each respected the other's literary gifts and sought the other's criticism (Poteat).

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licet rīdeās: “it is allowed that you laugh.” Licet can be used with the infinitive or with the subjunctive (with or without ut).

Ego, ille: note the double pronoun, proper where ille is used with the first or second person (Westcott). “I, the one.”

nōstī: syncopated form of (cog)nōvistī.

apros: the largest and fiercest game animal of ancient Italy. A common (and safe) method of hunting it was to place strong nets across its runways and then have it driven by dogs or human beaters into this snare, near which the hunter sat at his ease. This was Pliny's method (ad retia sedebam; cf. Horace, Epodes 2.31-33) (Kingery).

et quidem pulcherrimōs: quidem here intensifies the sense of pulcherrimos “and very attractive (ones) indeed.” 

Cowan remarks upon the frequent omission of the pronoun before quidem in Pliny and also in Cicero; here we might expect et eos or et illos quidem. There are several instances in Tacitus of this usage, but there is said to be only one in Quintilian (Westcott). 

'Ipse?' ... Ipse: emphatic here, and changes person depending on who is talking. Pliny is imagining that his friend will be incredulous when he hears that he has actually caught not only one boar but three boars. “‘You yourself?’”...”Me myself.”

nōn tamen ut omnīnō … discēderem: "but (I did this, i.e. captured the boars) not (in such a way) that I entirely departed….” Omnino modifies discederem. Supply a verb, like cēpī, in the clause that governs the ut and sets up the imperfect tense of the subjunctive in a clause of result (AG 537).

inertiā: inertia = otium, which does not necessarily mean idleness, but often the quiet pursuit of literature or science. The Romans did not consider literary labor as work, but only a dignified form of idleness (Westcott).

rētia: "nets," surrounding a part of the wood into which the game was driven by beaters (Westcott). 

sedēbam: our Pliny was not designed by nature to be a big-game hunter. Even as a fisherman he had his limitations: in Letter 9.7 he remarks that one of his villas is so close to the lake that "you can cast your line into the water from the bedchamber - and almost from the bed" (Poteat).

in proximō: "close by." Proximum governed by various prepositions is frequent in Pliny to express proximity (Prichard).

venabulum, lancea: the former was the usual hunting-spear for thrusting, with a long and broad blade; the latter was used for throwing, especially with the help of an amentum (Merrill).

stilus: a stick, made usually of ivory or bone, sometimes of iron or bronze, with one end sharpened for writing and the other flat or knobbed for purposes of erasure (Poteat).

pugillārēs: supply tabulae, the word pugillares, a name frequently given to tablets covered with wax, is derived from pugillus (handful), because they were small enough to be held in the hand (Prichard).

meditābar aliquid:  “I was meditating (on) something,” “I was pondering something.”

ēnotābamque: “writing down my thoughts.” 

ēnotāre = "noting down thoughts of my own," while adnotare, often used in the letters, means "make notes upon" (Kingery).

manūs vacuās: “empty hands," i.e. empty-handed. Supply reportārem. 

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Nōn est quod contemnās: “There is no reason why you should condemn.” “There is no reason for you to condemn.” LS sum I.B.5.δ.

hoc studendī genus: direct object of contemnās.

mīrum est: introduces a noun clause, “it is amazing that….”

mirum est ... excitetur: a rather remarkable statement in view of ad retia sedebam, above; one wonders just what Pliny considered vigorous bodily activity; hunting of so sedentary a sort would scarcely stir up body or mind (Poteat).

agitātiōne mōtūque corporis: a hendiadys—"active movement." To a modern athlete there would not seem to be much activity in sitting beside a net with notebook in hand; but Pliny was not an athlete (Kingery).

undique silvae: “woods all around,” “woods on all sides.”

ipsumque illud: Both words modify silentium, “that silence itself.”

The order is the reverse of the normal one (Westcott). 

silentium: Lord Orrery contrasts this silent method of hunting with ours, and says, "The sages of antiquity were rather poachers than sportsmen; they had no kind of delicacy in the music of the hounds or the composition of the pack. They had no ear; deepness, loudness, or sweetness of cry were undistinguished, and disregarded by the Greeks and Romans. Their dependance was upon their nets, more than upon their dogs" (Cowan).

vēnātiōnī datur: "is typical of hunting." See OLD do 20.b, "to give over (for a stated purpose)."

magna cōgitātiōnis incitāmenta: “great aids to reflection.”

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vēnābere: alternative form of 2nd singular vēnāberis.

licēbit ... ferās: "you ought to take with you" (Cowan).

auctōre mē: ablative absolute, "with me as (your) advisor," "taking me as an example."

“upon the strength of my example” (Westcott).

ut pānārium et lagunculam sīc etiam pugillārēs: Ut and sīc are correlatives, “not only…but also.”

“not only a lunch-basket and wine-sack but also writing tablets.” (Kingery) 

experiēris: "you see in practice"; introduces indirect statement. Nicely echoes the 2nd person singular future in vēnābere.

Diānam ... Minervam: the hunt traditionally belongs to Diana, but Pliny’s academic pursuits are also geared towards the domain of Minerva. Thus Minerva wanders in the woods as much as Diana.

The woods and mountainsides were the natural haunts of Diana, but only a student like Pliny would expect to meet there the goddess of wisdom and patron of literature (Kingery).

nōn … magis … quam: “not more than.”

montibus: ablative of place where with in understood. Others see it as dative after inerrare.