Romans had another view of suicide than we do: it was
seen as a heroic act in case no other possibility remained. This letter by
Pliny is for two reasons interesting: first he notices that the fame of a deed
depends on the person who commits it. The same deed done by an unknown person will
be unheard of. Secondly, the mentioning of a venereal disease. Given the fact
that prostitution was considered normal and that hardly or no effective
protecting measures were available, venereal diseases must have been quite common.
Syphilis however came probably from pre-Columbian America, so this disease was
something else. The measure the wife took is rather drastic and it again
underlines how much we differ from the Romans, though we tend to think that
they were like us.
I came to this letter by a severely reworked text in a
book for use at schools: no mention of the spot of the disease…
Pliny, Book 6, 24
C. PLINIUS MACRO SUO S.
1 Quam multum
interest quid a quoque fiat! Eadem enim facta claritate vel obscuritate
facientium aut tolluntur altissime aut humillime deprimuntur. 2 Navigabam per
Larium nostrum, cum senior amicus ostendit mihi villam, atque etiam cubiculum
quod in lacum prominet: 'Ex hoc' inquit 'aliquando municeps nostra cum marito
se praecipitavit.' 3 Causam requisivi. Maritus ex diutino morbo circa velanda
corporis ulceribus putrescebat; uxor ut inspiceret exegit; neque enim quemquam
fidelius indicaturum, possetne sanari. 4 Vidit desperavit hortata est ut moreretur, comesque ipsa mortis, dux immo
et exemplum et necessitas fuit; nam se cum marito ligavit abiecitque in lacum.
5 Quod factum ne mihi quidem, qui municeps, nisi proxime auditum est, non quia
minus illo clarissimo Arriae facto, sed quia minor ipsa. Vale.
quam multum
interest: how much it makes a difference
tollo sustuli
sublatum: to lift up, raise
Larius: a lake
in Gallia Cisalpina, on which Comum lay, now Lago di Como. Pliny lived there.
cubiculum:
bedroom
promineo prominui:
to overhang (apparently the bedroom was hanging over a cliff above the lake.)
aliquando:
once
municeps municepis
(m. and f.): citizen
maritus:
husband
praecipito: to
throw down
diutinus: of
long duration
morbus:
disease
circa velanda
corporis: around the private parts (lit. the things to be hidden) of his
body
ulcus ulceris
(n.): sore, ulcer
putresco: tp
putrify, rot
uxor ut inspiceret
exegit = uxor exiget ut inspiceret
exigo exegi
exactum: to ask, demand
neque enim quemquam
fidelius indicaturum, possetne sanari: a verb endorsing her question must
be supplied: (she said) that there was in fact not a person who could more
trustworthy tell (indicarurum, supply
esse), if he could not be cured
vidit desperavit
hortata est: asyndeton to give more effect to the situation
comes, comitis
(m. and f.): companion, partaker
dux, exemplum et
necessitas: referring to the wife
ligo: to bind
ne quidem…nisi: not even...but
proxime: recently
Translation by J.B. Firth (1900)
To Macer.
How much our estimation of any deed depends upon the doer
! For the self-same actions may be lauded to the skies or looked down upon with
contempt according to whether those who perform thorn are famous or obscure. I
was sailing across our Larian Lake, * when
a friend, who is well on in years, pointed out to me a villa, and more
especially a bedchamber which was built out over the lake. "From that
window," he said, "a townswoman of ours some years ago threw herself
into the lake with her husband." I asked the cause. It appears that the
husband had been suffering for a long time from festering ulcers in the private
parts. His wife begged him to let her see the sore, and promised that she would
tell him faithfully whether or not a cure was possible. After an examination
she saw there was no hope, and advised him to die, not only sharing death with
him but taking the lead, inspiring him by her example, and leaving him no
loophole for escape ; for she tied herself to her husband, and then they hurled
themselves into the lake. Yet I never heard of this incident until just
recently, although I was born in the same town; not because her deed was less
heroic than the famous deed of Arria,
but because she herself was a person of less distinction. Farewell.
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