7.27

Pliny tells a series of ghost stories.

Sūrae: L. Licinius Sura, an influential Roman Senator from Tarraco, Hispania, a close friend of the Emperor Trajan and three times consul, in a period when three consulates were very rare for non-members of the Imperial family.

mihi ... tibi: dat., with praebet.

discendī ... docendī objective genitive gerunds, with facultatem.

velim scīre: “I should like to know”; velim is a polite optative subjunctive. AG 442.b.

esse phantasmata … pūtēs: “whether you think that ghosts exist” (Kingery).

an: supply utrum. 

phantasmata: Greek acc. pl. (Kingery).

nūmenque: “supernatural power” (Westcott).

inānia et vāna: take as adverbial, “foolishly and groundlessly.”

ex metū nostrō imāginem accipere: indirect statement introduced by putes an, supply nos as the subject of accipere.

A material explanation of dreams and visions was given by Democritus of Abdera, who regarded them as physical emanations that penetrated the pores of the dreamer (Sherwin-White).

(2) Ego ut esse crēdam in prīmīs eō dūcor: order: ego dūcor ut crēdam (ea) esse in prīmīs eō. Ego is emphatic, "I, for my part." Dūcor = "am inclined," + ut clause. In prīmīs: "especially."

eō ... quod: “by that (incident) which.”

Curtiō Rūfō: see Tacitus, Annals 11.21 for an account of Rufus and of the occurrence here related (Westcott); possibly the historian of Alexander the Great (Kingery). The best commentary on this letter is provided by the collection of ghost stories in Lucian’s Philopseudes ("Lover of Lies"). 

Tenuis: "humble," “poor” (Westcott).

He made his way at first acri ingenio (by his keen intelligence), then attracted the attention of the Emperor Tiberius, and was given the praetorship by commendation. Later he was a consular legate of Lower Germany, AD 47. But the date of his consulship and proconsulship of Africa are unknown (Sherwin-White).

obtinentī: "holding," i.e. “governing" as proconsul, the normal verb. OLD obtineo 3.

Āfricam: direct object of obtinentī.

I.e. the spirit-embodiment (genius) of Africa, as the woman that appeared to Drusus was of Germany (Suetonius, Claudius 1 species barbarae mulieris, humana amplior, etc. (the image of a barbarian woman, of superhuman size); Dio Cassius 55.1.3 γυνὴ γάρ τις μείζων ἢ κατ᾽ ἀνθρώπου φύσιν ἀπαντήσασα αὐτῷ ἔφη, κ.τ.λ. (he said that a woman of superhuman size met him) (Merrill).

The province of Africa included Carthage with its environs and Numidia and extended from the river Ampsaga (the eastern boundary of Mauretania) on the west to Cyrenaica on the east (Poteat).

comes haeserat: “had attached himself as a companion” (Kingery). Comes is the word denoting regularly a member of the governor's staff. (Merrill).

Inclīnātō diē: “in the afternoon” (Westcott).

The time is just after midday, as Tacitus (Annals 11.21) confirms. A time when the streets were empty and everyone was at siesta. Midday was an apt time for a Mediterranean ghost story. Merrill notes three such mid-afternoon ghost stories in Lucian (Sherwin-White).

in porticū: "in the colonnade of his house" (Radice). This was at Hadrumetum, on the coast S.E. of Carthage (Wescott).

offertur eī: "appeared in his path." Vivid historical present. The passive is normal with this verb. OLD offero 1. Supply figūra hūmāna as the subject.

hūmānā grandior pulchriorque: supply figūrā. 

Compare the description of Creusa's ghost in Vergil, Aeneid 2.773, nōtā maior imāgō (Kingery).

Perterritō: supply eī (Westcott).

Āfricam: personification of the country (Westcott).

sē futūrōrum praenūntiam: “(and) that she herself is the omen of future events.”

itūrum: supply eum; (Westcott).

honōrēsque gestūrum: supply eum, “would hold office,” honōrēs as in cursus honorum (Kingery).

summō imperiō: “as proconsul” (Kingery).

moritūrum: supply eum; he did die as proconsul in Africa (Westcott).

(3) accēdentī ... ēgredientī: dat., with occurrisse; supply ei.

eadem figūra … nārrātur: "the same figure is said…"

implicitus morbō: “when he fell ill.”

futūra praeteritīs, adversa secundīs augurātus: “interpreted his future by the past and misfortune by his previous success” (Radice).

As her prophecies of good had been fulfilled, he believed the final one of death would prove equally true (Kingery).

nūllō … dēspērante: “even though none of his friends had lost hope” (Kingery).

(4) illud: referring to the next story (Poteat).

Iam illud nōnne et magis terribile et nōn minus mīrum est quod expōnam ut accēpī? nōnne iam expōnam illud quod est et magis terribile et nōn minus mīrum ut accēpī (illud)? Accēpī = audīvī. LS accipio II.A.1.

nōn minus mīrum: “no less miraculous."

(5) Athēnīs: “in Athens.”

pestilēns: “unwholesome,” fright caused illness and death (Wescott).

sī attenderēs ācrius: “if you were listening more closely.”

strepitus vinculōrum: the true ghost story aroma at last: '"the sound of rattling chains"! (Poteat).

longius prīmō, deinde ē proximō: “further off at first, then closer.”

īdōlōn: “apparition” (Kingery). This word, occurring in Cicero, is written as Greek. Pliny Latinizes many Greek terms (Wescott).

maciē et squālōre: ablatives of means with cōnfectus.

quatiēbatque: “kept shaking the chains” (Kingery).

(6) inhabitantibus: another instance of the dative of agent with an uncompounded tense of the passive. The word is a neologism for incolis or habitantibus (Wescott).

per metum: “in constant fear.”

vigilābantur: “were spent in sleeplessness” (Kingery).

crēscente formīdine: ablative of cause with mors, “death caused by increasing fear.”

oculīs inerrābat: “kept flitting before the (mind’s) eyes” (Kingery); inerrābat, both the word and its construction with the dative, are characteristic of Pliny and of Silver Latinity (Wescott).

longiorque: in point of time longior = diuturnior (Wescott). Longus gets this meaning apparently from being first used to qualify words of time like vita, aetas, etc. (Wescott).

causīs timōris: ablative of comparison with longior.

timōris timor: intentional repetition of the word in different forms, a not infrequent stylistic trick of Pliny (Wescott).

solitūdine: ablative with damnāta instead of genitive; we also find de with ablative, and in and ad with accusative (Wescott). Ablative of penalty with damnāta (Kingery).

illī mōnstrō: the ghost.

relicta: “abandoned to” (Kingery), + dat.

tantī malī: genitive with ignārus.

prōscrībēbātur: “was advertised for sale,” “had a notice put on it” (Wescott).

condūcere: “rented” (Kingery).

seu…seu: “whether…or…”

quis: = aliquis. 

Athēnodōrus: two Stoic philosophers of this name are known. The one was from Tarsus, and was surnamed Cordylion. He came to Rome in 70 B.C., when already old, at the invitation of Cato, and lived with him from that time till his own death. The other was the son of Sandon, and himself came from the neighborhood of Tarsus. He lived long in Rome as the teacher and friend of Augustus, but finally returned to his own country, where he died at the age of 82. The two men are sometimes confused. Which one is referred to by Pliny cannot be determined (Merrill).

titulum: “placard” put up on the house front (Kingery).

audītōque pretiō: abl. absol.

quia suspecta vīlitās: “since the cheapness (i.e., of the house) made it suspicious.”

(7) percūnctātus: supply est.

omnia doceātur: “was informed of all the facts” (Kingery).

ac nihilō minus, immō tantō magis: “and not less but rather more (eager),” i.e., to rent it; adverbial and modifies condūcit.

sternī sibi: supply lectum, “a bed to be made up for him.” LS sterno II.A.1.

prīmā … parte: in the atrium, or rather, as this is a Greek house, in the peristyle, near the outer entrance; prīmā is “front” (Wescott). The preposition in is omitted here as with loco (Wescott). “Front part,” where the ghost was wont to appear (Kingery).

animum oculōs manum: direct objects of intendit, “he directed his mind, eyes and hand towards.” LS intendo II.B.

audīta simulācra: “the apparitions which had been reported” (Wescott). “Heard of” in the stories of the haunted house (Kingery).

(8) concutī: numerous historical infinitives in this passage of lively descriptive narrative (Wescott).

tollere: one in a series of historical infinitives.

auribusque praetendere: animum is object of this verb also; he closed his ears by fixing his attention upon his work (Wescott).

iam … iam: = modo … modo (Wescott).

intrā līmen: "inside the room" (Radice).

(9) Stābat: supply effigiēs; the imperfect beginning of a sentence is particularly graphic; it paints a situation with one stroke (Wescott).

similis vocantī: “like a person summoning you” (Kingery).

Hic: Athenodorus (Wescott).

contrā ut paulum exspectāret manū significat: “on the other hand indicated with a gesture that it (i.e., the ghost) should wait a little” (Kingery). Hand outstretched and turned up from the wrist with palm outward, as if repelling (Merrill).

Illa: effigiēs (Wescott).

capitī … īnsonābat: “kept clanking the chains over his head” (Wescott).

Respicit: “looked up and saw” (Kingery).

idem … innuentem: “beckoning as before,” (Wescott); “making the same signal as before” (Kingery).

(10) āream: “courtyard,” probably behind the house (Wescott). “Yard” or “court” (Kingery). Probably the inner court, or garden, reached through the μέταυλος (Merrill).

dīlāpsa: “vanishing into thin air” (Kingery); “disappearing.”

Dēsertus … pōnit: “ he (i.e., Athenodorus), left alone, plucked grass and leaves and laid them as a mark for the spot.” He marked the spot so that he could find it in the morning.

signum locō: “to mark the spot.”

locō: dat., depending directly on signum, not on pōnit (Wescott).

(11) corpus: “flesh” (Kingery).

vinculīs: with exēsa, “corroded by the chains.”

pūblicē: “at the expense of the city” (Wescott).

conditīs manibus caruit: “after the performance of funeral rites, was free from ghosts” (Wescott). A harsh use of the ablative absolute; lit., “when the ghost had been laid,” “when the ghost was free” (Wescott). Collignon cites the ghost story of Tranio in Plautus’s Mostellaria as very similar to this one (Wescott).

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condere is strictly a ritual word, as applied to burial; see Lucan, Bellum Civile 9.151 inhumatos condere manes (to lay to rest the unburied ghost); Orelli, Inscr. 2482 FVLGVR CONDITVM. DE CAELO TACTVM ET CONDITVM (Lighting bolt laid to rest. [The spot] was struck by lightning and laid to rest). The souls of the dead whose bodies were not buried with due rites not only were condemned to wander this side of the Styx in the lower world, but might return to upper earth and haunt and harm the living. This was especially the case with those who had met violent deaths (Merrill).

(12) haec quidem: the previous stories, which are reported on the authority of others (adfirmantibus), as opposed to the one he is about to relate. Quidem sets up an antithesis, = "at any rate." OLD quidem 3.

crēdō: when crēdō = "accept (a thing) as true" it takes the accusative (haec); when it means "trust" (a person) it takes the dative (adfirmantibus). Pliny seems to mix both constructions here.

mihi: dative of possession.

nōn inlitterātus: i.e. intelligent, and not likely to report wrongly to Pliny the aspect of things at daybreak (Merrill).

cultrōs: “shears.”

(13) Exiguum . . . medium: supply erat; “there was a short interval.”

Puer: another slave boy, not the same (Merrill).

paedagōgiō: the quarters of the slave-boys who were being trained up in the master's house (vernae) (Merrill).

albīs: the conventional color of ghosts.

Hunc quoque: like the freedman.

(14) nihil notabile secutum: except doubtless that this boy, like the former, enjoyed being a nine-days'-wonder. Pliny's credulity is remarkable, but he always takes very seriously himself and all things that touch his own dignity (Merrill).

reus: “accused” of maiestas or treason against the emperor.

futūrus: “as I should have been.”

sī … vīxisset: past contrary to fact condition; this statement places the incident in the year 96 AD.

Carō: Mettius Carus, the notorious informer. See 7.19.5.

libellus: a document containing the accusation.

mōris est: “it is customary for” + dat. (reīs) + infin. (summittere), a common idiom. LS mos II.A.

summittere: “let grow,” as a sign of grief and despair.

recīsōs ... capillōs … signum fuisse: the shearing of his servants’ hair was a sign that the threat was averted (depellī), since it was customary for accused people to let their hair grow.

It is difficult to see why the omen should have been sent to his slave rather than to himself, or, indeed, why the simplest interpretation was not that by contraries, the cutting of the hair indicating that the throat was not to be cut (Merrill).

(15) intendās: “bring to bear on this subject” (Wescott). Substantive clause, in which the ut is dropped after the rogo.

cōpiam: “the benefit of” (Wescott).

(16) utramque in partem: “on both sides” of the question esse phantasmata … putes.

ex alterā: “on one side or the other.”

Supply disputā (Wescott).

fortius: “more strongly.”