Roman Life in Pliny's Time, Volume 15 |
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Page 270 - I dismiss him, then call him in again, and again dismiss him. About ten or eleven o'clock (for I do not observe one fixed hour), according to the weather, I either walk upon my terrace or in the covered portico, and there I continue to meditate or dictate what remains upon the subject in which I am engaged. This completed, I get into my chariot, where I employ myself as before, when I was walking, or in my study; and find this change of scene refreshes and keeps up my attention. On my return home,...
Page 50 - t so: — 'tis my command, My will ; let that, sir, for a reason stand." Thus the virago triumphs, thus she reigns: Anon she sickens of her first domains, And seeks for new; husband on husband takes, Till of her bridal veil one rent she makes. Again she tires, again for change she burns, And to the bed she lately left returns, While the fresh garlands, and unfaded boughs, Yet deck the portal of her wondering spouse. Thus swells the list; eight husbands in five years: A rare inscription for thejr...
Page 37 - Marcellimis, on the death of an amiable young Woman. I WRITE this under the utmost oppression of. sorrow : the youngest daughter of my friend Fundanus is dead ! Never surely was there a more agreeable, and more amiable young person ; or one who better deserved to have enjoyed a long, I had almost said, an immortal life ! She had all the wisdom of age, and discretion of a matron, joined with youthful sweetness and virgin modesty.
Page 134 - A flattering, cringing, treacherous, artful race, Of torrent tongue, and never-blushing face; A Protean tribe, one knows not what to call, Which shifts to every form, and shines in all: Grammarian, painter, augur, rhetorician, Rope-dancer, conjurer, fiddler, and physician, All trades his own, your hungry Greekling counts; And bid him mount the sky, — the sky he mounts!
Page 27 - I would take upon myself the whole expense, were I not apprehensive that my benefaction might hereafter be abused and perverted to private ends ; as I have observed to be the case in several places where teachers are engaged by the local authorities.
Page 30 - Reading remains to be considered; in which how a boy may know when to take breath, where to divide a verse, where the sense is concluded, where it begins, when the voice is to be raised or lowered, what is to be uttered with any particular inflection of sound, or what is to be pronounced with greater slowness or rapidity, with greater animation or gentleness than other passages, can be taught only in practice.
Page 41 - I may add that his father is very rich. When I contemplate the character of those who require a husband of my choosing, I know it is unnecessary to mention wealth; but when I reflect upon the prevailing manners of the age, and even the laws of Rome, which rank a man according to his possessions, it certainly claims some regard; and, indeed, in establishments of this nature, where children and many other circumstances are to be duly weighed, it is an article that well deserves to be taken into the...
Page 33 - And throw my wandering eyes on every face, When life's perplexing maze before me lay, And error, heedless of the better way, To straggling paths, far from the route of truth...
Page 291 - ... years, he had to manfully bear it, suffering meanwhile the most incredible and undeserved agonies; for the gout was now not only in his feet, but had spread itself over his whole body. I remember, in Domitian's reign, paying him a visit at his villa, near Rome. As soon as I entered his chamber, his servants went out: for it was his rule, never to allow them to be in the room when any intimate friend was with him; nay, even his own wife, though she could have kept any secret, used to go too. Casting...
Page 86 - I have always very readily manumitted my slaves, their death does not seem altogether immature, if they lived long enough to receive their freedom : the other, that I have allowed them to make a kind of will,* which I observe as religiously as if they were legally entitled to that privilege. I receive and obey their last requests...