Going Back to School: Roman Masculinity and Fatherhood, Pliny the Younger, Ep. 2.18

Name: Pliny the Younger Date:  61 – 113 CE Region:   Como / Rome [modern Italy] Citation:  Letters 2.18

 Roman men could form loving, parental bonds with their friends' children.

To: Mauricus

From: Pliny

What can be a more fun favor for me to do for you, than to find a tutor for your brother’s kids? For now, thanks to you, I can go back to school & return to the best days of my life: I get to sit in on classes with the youngins, as I used to, and I get to experience their respect for me in their studies. (2) Recently, I entered the noisy classroom where they were all chatting amongst each other with their peers, and as soon as I entered the room, they quieted down. I’m only mentioning this to show off their good behavior, not my own, and because I don’t want to you worry about your brother’s kids not getting a good education. (3) I’ll observe the teachers and I’ll tell you what I think about them in a letter that is so detailed that you’ll think you’ve heard them teaching yourself. (4) I’m going to do this with concern and care, because I owe this to you and to the memory of your brother. For what’s more important for these kids—I would say *your* kids, because I know how much you love them as your own—than that they get the education that is worthy of their father, and worthy of you, their uncle? And I’ll do this for you, even if you haven’t asked me to. (5) I know that when I find the perfect tutor for these kids, I’ll make whoever isn’t chosen angry, but I don’t care. Let them be mad. This is for your brother’s kids, and I’ll deal with it calmly as if they were my own.

C. PLINIUS MAURICO SUO S.

1 Quid a te mihi iucundius potuit iniungi, quam ut praeceptorem fratris tui liberis quaererem? Nam beneficio tuo in scholam redeo, et illam dulcissimam aetatem quasi resumo: sedeo inter iuvenes ut solebam, atque etiam experior quantum apud illos auctoritatis ex studiis habeam. 2 Nam proxime frequenti auditorio inter se coram multis ordinis nostri clare iocabantur; intravi, conticuerunt; quod non referrem, nisi ad illorum magis laudem quam ad meam pertineret, ac nisi sperare te vellem posse fratris tui filios probe discere. 3 Quod superest, cum omnes qui profitentur audiero, quid de quoque sentiam scribam, efficiamque quantum tamen epistula consequi potero, ut ipse omnes audisse videaris. 4 Debeo enim tibi, debeo memoriae fratris tui hanc fidem hoc studium, praesertim super tanta re. Nam quid magis interest vestra, quam ut liberi - dicerem tui, nisi nunc illos magis amares - digni illo patre, te patruo reperiantur? quam curam mihi etiam si non mandasses vindicassem. 5 Nec ignoro suscipiendas offensas in eligendo praeceptore, sed oportet me non modo offensas, verum etiam simultates pro fratris tui filiis tam aequo animo subire quam parentes pro suis. Vale.

--Pliny the Younger, Ep. 2.18

Pliny the Younger was an Italian born noble and nephew of the famous natural historian Pliny the Elder. He is best known for publishing his private correspondence, in which he flouts his connections with other illustrious Romans (including the Emperor Trajan and the author Tacitus). Two of the most famous examples of these are his “eyewitness” account of the explosion of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 CE and his letter to the emperor Trajan regarding the treatment of Christians.

 

Solve for X: Greek Anthology, XIV.1

Polycrates:

Blessed Pythagoras, protégé of the Heliconian Muses,

Tell me: how many students

Are striving for excellence

Within your household?

Pythagoras:

Polycrates, I’ll tell you:

half of them are studying literature;

a fourth of them are studying immortal nature;

a seventh part of them are silent in meditation.

Three of them are women; Theano is the best of them.

That is the number of interpreters of the Muses that I teach.

POLYCRATES:

Fortunate Pythagora, Musarum Heliconius surculus,

dic mihi interroganti, quot sapientiae in certamen

tuae domi sint, inter-se-contendentes optime.

PYTHAGORAS:

Ego igitur dixerim, Polycrates: dimidia-pars quidem

circa pulchras dant-operam doctrinas; quarta pars rursos

immortali naturae laborem-adhibent: sed septimae-parti

silentium penitus curae-est, et aeterni intus sermones.

Tres vero mulieres sunt, Theano autem supereminet

Tot Pieridum interpretes ego duco.

Πολυκράτης

 Όλβιε Πυθαγόρη Μουσέων Ελικώνιον έρνος

είπέ μοι ειρομένω οπόσοι σοφίης κατ αγώνα

σοισι δόμοισιν έασιν άεθλεύοντες άριστα

Πυθαγόρας 

Τοιγάρ έγών είπoιμι Πολύκρατες ημίσεες μεν

αμφί καλά σπεύδουσι μαθήματα τετρατοι αύτε

 αθανάτου φύσεως πεπονήαται εβδομάτοις δε

 σιγή πάσα μέμηλε και άφθιτοι ένδοθι μύθοι

 τρείς δε γυναίκες έασι Θεανώ δ εξοχος άλλων

 Τόσσους Πιερίδων υποφήτορας αυτός αγινώ.

--Socrates, Greek Anthology XIV.1, Translated into Latin by Fred. Duebner

 The Greek Anthology is a modern collection of Greek lyric poetry compiled from various sources over the course of Greco-Roman literature. The current collection was created from two major sources, one from the 10^th century CE and one from the 14^th century CE. The anthology contains authors spanning the entirety of Greek literature, from archaic poets to Byzantine Christian poets.