Tag: Guilt

Pliny, With an Epistolary Guilt-Trip

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Pliny, Letters 3.17

 “Is the reason your letters have not come for so long because everything is going well? Or, is everything good but you are really busy? Or are you not that busy but just have barely any time for writing?

Please take this worry away from me, I can’t handle it! Do it even if you have to send a courier. I will pay the cost and top him too as long as he tells me what I want.

I am well, if to be well is to live in suspense and worry, expecting all day long and fearing that anything which can hurt a person as happened to my dearest friend.”

Plinius Iulio Serviano Suo S.

1Rectene omnia, quod iam pridem epistulae tuae cessant? an omnia recte, sed occupatus es tu? an tu non occupatus, sed occasio scribendi vel rara vel nulla? Exime hunc mihi scrupulum, cui par esse non possum, exime autem vel data opera tabellario misso. Ego viaticum, ego etiam praemium dabo, nuntiet modo quod opto. Ipse valeo, si valere est suspensum et anxium vivere, exspectantem in horas timentemque pro capite amicissimo, quidquid accidere homini potest. Vale.

Tuscum des Plinius Schninkel AA2.jpg
Pliny’s Villa at Tuscum

Basil Goes Into Deep Guilt Over Late Correspondence

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Basil, Letter 20

 

“For me, the intensity of the business I am now engaged in might give me some reason for a lack of correspondence. In addition, the smell I have contracted from excessive association with the idiotic mob makes me less at ease in addressing you sophisticates who will grow irritable and intolerant if you don’t hear anything worthy of your own wisdom.

 

But you, I guess, since you are readier to speak than all the Greeks I know, are accustomed to making your voice public on any pretext. And I think I know the most famous people in your ranks. There is no reason for your silence. And that is enough about that.”

 

Ἡμῖν μὲν γὰρ τὸ πυκνὸν τῆς ἀσχολίας τοῦτο ἐν ᾧ νῦν ἐσμὲν κἂν παραίτησιν ἐνέγκοι τυχὸν πρὸς τὴν ἔνδειαν τῶν γραμμάτων· καὶ τὸ οἱονεὶ ἐῤῥυπῶσθαι λοιπὸν τῇ κατακορεῖ συνηθείᾳ πρὸς ἰδιωτισμὸν ὄκνον εἰκότως ἐμποιεῖ προσφθέγγεσθαι ὑμᾶς τοὺς σοφιστάς, οἵ, εἰ μή τι ἄξιον τῆς ὑμετέρας αὐτῶν σοφίας ἀκούσεσθε, δυσχερανεῖτε καὶ οὐκ ἀνέξεσθε. σὲ δέ που τὸ ἐναντίον εἰκὸς ἐπὶ πάσης προφάσεως δημοσιεύειν σαυτοῦ τὴν φωνήν, ἐπιτήδειον ὄντα εἰπεῖν ὧν αὐτὸς οἶδα Ἑλλήνων. οἶδα γάρ, ὡς οἶμαι, τοὺς ὀνομαστοτάτους τῶν ἐν ὑμῖν. ὥστε οὐδεμία παραίτησις σιωπῶντι. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τοσοῦτον.

 

Image result for medieval manuscript letter writing
Royal_ms_14_e_iii_f006v_detail

Pliny, With an Epistolary Guilt-Trip

~ sententiaeantiquae ~ 1 Comment

Pliny, Letters 3.17 (Full Latin text on the Scaife Viewer)

 “Is the reason your letters have not come for so long because everything is going well? Or, is everything good but you are really busy? Or are you not that busy but just have barely any time for writing?

Please take this worry away from me, I can’t handle it! Do it even if you have to send a courier. I will pay the cost and top him too as long as he tells me what I want.

I am well, if to be well is to live in suspense and worry, expecting all day long and fearing that anything which can hurt a person as happened to my dearest friend.”

Plinius Iulio Serviano Suo S.

1Rectene omnia, quod iam pridem epistulae tuae cessant? an omnia recte, sed occupatus es tu? an tu non occupatus, sed occasio scribendi vel rara vel nulla? Exime hunc mihi scrupulum, cui par esse non possum, exime autem vel data opera tabellario misso. Ego viaticum, ego etiam praemium dabo, nuntiet modo quod opto. Ipse valeo, si valere est suspensum et anxium vivere, exspectantem in horas timentemque pro capite amicissimo, quidquid accidere homini potest. Vale.

Tuscum des Plinius Schninkel AA2.jpg
Pliny’s Villa at Tuscum

Pliny, With an Epistolary Guilt-Trip

~ sententiaeantiquae ~ Leave a comment

Pliny, Letters 3.17

 “Is the reason your letters have not come for so long because everything is going well? Or, is everything good but you are really busy? Or are you not that busy but just have barely any time for writing?

Please take this worry away from me, I can’t handle it! Do it even if you have to send a courier. I will pay the cost and top him too as long as he tells me what I want.

I am well, if to be well is to live in suspense and worry, expecting all day long and fearing that anything which can hurt a person as happened to my dearest friend.”

Plinius Iulio Serviano Suo S.

1Rectene omnia, quod iam pridem epistulae tuae cessant? an omnia recte, sed occupatus es tu? an tu non occupatus, sed occasio scribendi vel rara vel nulla? Exime hunc mihi scrupulum, cui par esse non possum, exime autem vel data opera tabellario misso. Ego viaticum, ego etiam praemium dabo, nuntiet modo quod opto. Ipse valeo, si valere est suspensum et anxium vivere, exspectantem in horas timentemque pro capite amicissimo, quidquid accidere homini potest. Vale.

Tuscum des Plinius Schninkel AA2.jpg
Pliny’s Villa at Tuscum

Basil Goes Into Deep Guilt Over Late Correspondence

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Basil, Letter 20

 

“For me, the intensity of the business I am now engaged in might give me some reason for a lack of correspondence. In addition, the smell I have contracted from excessive association with the idiotic mob makes me less at ease in addressing you sophisticates who will grow irritable and intolerant if you don’t hear anything worthy of your own wisdom.

 

But you, I guess, since you are readier to speak than all the Greeks I know, are accustomed to making your voice public on any pretext. And I think I know the most famous people in your ranks. There is no reason for your silence. And that is enough about that.”

 

Ἡμῖν μὲν γὰρ τὸ πυκνὸν τῆς ἀσχολίας τοῦτο ἐν ᾧ νῦν ἐσμὲν κἂν παραίτησιν ἐνέγκοι τυχὸν πρὸς τὴν ἔνδειαν τῶν γραμμάτων· καὶ τὸ οἱονεὶ ἐῤῥυπῶσθαι λοιπὸν τῇ κατακορεῖ συνηθείᾳ πρὸς ἰδιωτισμὸν ὄκνον εἰκότως ἐμποιεῖ προσφθέγγεσθαι ὑμᾶς τοὺς σοφιστάς, οἵ, εἰ μή τι ἄξιον τῆς ὑμετέρας αὐτῶν σοφίας ἀκούσεσθε, δυσχερανεῖτε καὶ οὐκ ἀνέξεσθε. σὲ δέ που τὸ ἐναντίον εἰκὸς ἐπὶ πάσης προφάσεως δημοσιεύειν σαυτοῦ τὴν φωνήν, ἐπιτήδειον ὄντα εἰπεῖν ὧν αὐτὸς οἶδα Ἑλλήνων. οἶδα γάρ, ὡς οἶμαι, τοὺς ὀνομαστοτάτους τῶν ἐν ὑμῖν. ὥστε οὐδεμία παραίτησις σιωπῶντι. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τοσοῦτον.

 

Image result for medieval manuscript letter writing
Royal_ms_14_e_iii_f006v_detail