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tamine vicerint, ex quo invehi possint. Ego contrascribo 'iselastici nomine' ita ut vehementer addubitem an sit potius 2 id tempus quo elonλaoav intuendum. Iidem obsonia petunt pro eo agone qui a te iselasticus factus est, quamvis vicerint ante quam fieret. Aiunt enim congruens esse, sicut non dentur sibi pro his certaminibus quae esse iselastica postquam vicerunt desierunt, ita pro iis dari quae esse coeperunt.

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Hic

quoque non mediocriter haereo ne cuiusquam retro habeatur ratio; dandaque quae tunc cum vincerent non debebantur.

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established by Antoninus Pius in honour of Hadrian were described as quinquennale certamen sacrum iselasticum.

ex eo die quo sunt coronati. This seems to imply that a daily allowance and not a fixed sum was the reward established by the emperor.

sint patriam invecti = εἰσήλασαν. ego contrascribo 'iselastici nomine.' I am in the habit of countersigning the drafts for payment with the words 'under the head of iselastic money.' This is Orelli's reading and explanation of the passage in Avantius, ego contra scribo Iselastici nomine,' and it seems to me entirely satisfactory. Catanaeus alters it to

Iselasticorum nomine,' and Keil, on Mommsen's suggestion, emends to 'ego contra servo iselastici nomine data.' The drafts for payment of these pensions would be brought by the procurators to be countersigned by the governor of the province in the form 'tot denarii solvuntor huic vel illi athletae iselastici nomine.' The term 'contrascriba' is found in an inscrip., Orell. 3208, and is equivalent to ἀντιγραφεύς.

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Iselasiani, Avant.
iselasian, Ald.

5 fierent, Avant.

6 non dentur, Schaeffer. non datur, Ald. nunc detur, Orell. 9 dandaque quae, Ber. dandamque quod, Avant. dandumque quod, Ald. and B.

expressions in post- Augustan authors signify mere uncertainty or doubt.

quo εἰσήλασαν. This is the emendation of Catanaeus for the unintelligible 'Iselasiani' of Avantius. Cf. Dio Cass. 63, 20.

§ 2. obsonia. The word seems to be used here in its Greek sense of wages, pay, or salary, cf. Polyb. iii 25, 4; St. Luke iii 14, ‘ἀρκεῖσθε τοῖς ὀψωνίοις uv;' though it is quite possible that the rewards may have consisted partly in corn, wine, or oil. Cf. the use of sportula both for food and money.

qui a te iselasticus factus est; see above.

sicut non dentur, etc., that is to say, the pension ceased as soon as the privilege of being 'iselastici' was taken away from these agones. The most reasonable (congruens) thing, according to modern ideas, would be that the victors in 'iselastici ludi' should retain their vested interests; while victors in ludi afterwards made iselastici would be unaffected by the change.

quae esse coeperunt, i.e. postquam vicerunt.

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Rogo ergo ut dubitationem meam regere, id est, beneficia tua interpretari ipse digneris.

This is

beneficia tua, that is, the privileges granted to these victors.

dandaque quae tunc, etc. the reading of Beroaldus for 'dandamque quod' of Avantius.

CXVIIII [CXX]

TRAIANUS PLINIO S.

Iselasticum tunc primum mihi videtur incipere deberi, cum quis in civitatem suam ipse elonλaσev. Obsonia eorum certaminum quae iselastica esse placuit mihi, si ante iselastica non fuerunt, retro non debentur. Nec proficere pro desiderio athle2 εἰσήλασεν, Β. eiselasen, Ald. Iselasen, Avant.

The privileges you speak of ought, in my opinion, only to begin after the triumphal entry has taken place, nor are the prizes for the contests which I have made iselastic due to any victors prior to that date. The fact that the victors no longer receive the pension for the contests from which I have taken away the iselastic privileges since their victories, does not assist their claim, for though the conditions of the contests, are changed, the payments made to them are not reclaimed.

iselasticum=the money or food given to the victors. Cf. 'iselastici nomine.'

incipere. This word, like the 'ex eo die' of the previous letter, implies a continuous or periodical payment.

eionλaσev. Iselasen, Avantius; eiselasen, Ald. ed.

quae iselastica esse placuit mihi; cf. 'qui a te iselasticus factus est.'

retro non debentur; an answer to the question, haereo ne cuiusquam retro habeatur ratio.'

nec proficere pro desiderio, etc. The passage is handed down in a corrupt form. Avantius has 'potest quid eorum quae postea iselastica non lege constitui quam qui ierant accipere desierunt,' which Döring fancies can be made satisfactory by a simple change of non into 'nova. He, however, has to take (1) 'quid eorum quae postea constitui,' any of my subsequent regulations, as subject of 'potest;' (2) he apparently takes iselastica as abl. agreeing with nova lege;' (3) he refers 'quam' to a 'nec magis,' which, as he naïvely observes, Pliny had better have

put in; and (4) he takes 'qui ierant' as those who have made their triumphal entry. If all these four points were as admissible as they are the opposite, I still fail to see how the sentence could be translated. Catanaeus, with no better success, reads 'potest: tam eorum: quae postea Iselastica lege constitui: quam cum vincerent esse desierunt.' 'Lege' must evidently be wrong; and 'qui ierant' is unmeaning. Schaeffer's change of 'non lege' into 'non esse,' and quam qui ierant' into 'quam vicerunt,' renders the passage perfectly intelligible, and is, I have no doubt, right. Nor does it help their case that they have ceased to receive the stipend for those contests which since their victories I have determined are not to be iselastic. For,' etc. This, of course, refers to Pliny's words, sicut non dentur sibi pro his certaminibus quae esse iselastica postquam vicerunt desierunt.'

nihilo minus quae ante perceperant, etc. The argument of the athletes is that it is not consistent for them to lose the future emoluments of contests since made non-iselastic, and not to gain those of contests made iselastic since their victory. Yes-Trajan answersit is perfectly consistent, neither action is retrospective in the one case their retrospective claims are not allowed; in the other the emoluments already received are not taken away. Trajan must have been a little ironical in this latter statement, and one cannot but feel that the athletes have some cause to complain of the imperial logic. Avantius reads 'quae

tarum potest quod eorum quae postea iselastica non esse constitui quam vicerunt accipere desierant. Mutata enim conditione certaminum nihilo minus quae ante perceperant

non revocantur.

I quid eorum quae postea Iselastica non lege constitui, Avant. and Ald.

tam eorum quae postea Iselastica lege constitui quam cum vincerent esse desierunt. Cat.

ante peregerant.' Beroaldus, whom Orelli follows, prefers 'peregerat,' making conditio the subject. I have restored

per

Schaeffer conj. 'non esse' for 'non lege.'

2 quam qui ierant, Avant and Ald. cum vincerent, Cat.

3 peregerant, Avant.

perceperant, B. and Ald.

ceperant' on the authority of the Bodleian copy.

I

CXX [CXXI]

De Diplomatibus

C. PLINIUS TRAIANO IMPERATORI

Usque in hoc tempus, domine, neque cuiquam diplomata commodavi neque in rem ullam nisi tuam misi. Quam perpe2 tuam servationem meam quaedam necessitas rupit. Uxori enim meae audita morte avi volenti ad amitam suam excurrere usum eorum negare durum putavi, cum talis officii gratia in celeri3 servationem, Avant. and Ald.

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§ 1. Hitherto, sire, I have never granted diplomata' to any one except on your service. Now, however, I have been, as it were, compelled to break this rule. § 2. My wife, hearing of her grandfather's death, wished to visit her aunt, and I thought it hard to refuse her a diploma, as the grace of such a visit depends on its promptitude, and I knew that you would approve of a journey grounded on filial duty. I write this, because I thought it ungrateful not to confess that among the benefits I owe to your indulgence I ought to reckon this, that, in reliance upon it, I have ventured, without consulting you, to do what, if I had waited to consult you, would have been done too late.

§ 1. diplomata, see note on Ep. 45. neque in rem ullam nisi tuam. Cf. Ep. 64, 'festinationem tabellarii quem ad te cum epistulis misit diplomate adiuvi.'

servationem. A very rare word, which Catanaeus emends by 'observa

observationem, Cat.

tionem.' Perhaps, as Keil suggests, ' rationem' should be read.

§ 2. Uxori. This was Pliny's third wife Calpurnia, whom he had recently married, when the fourth book was published, i.e. about 105. See iv written to Fabatus, cupis post longum tempus neptem tuam meque una videre, and iv 19, written to Calpurnia Hispulla. She had lost both father and mother, whose places were taken by her grandfather, Calpurnius Fabatus, and her aunt, Calpurnia Hispulla, iv 19, 5; v II, 2; vi 12, 3. Cf. also iv 13, 5, 'nondum liberos habeo.' Her miscarriage is mentioned, viii 10 and 11, in letters to her grandfather and aunt. Pliny writes to her, vi 4 and 7, and vii 5. She probably outlived her husband.

audita morte avi. This was L. Calpurnius L.f. Fabatus, to whom Pliny writes iv I; v II; vi 12 and 30; vii II, 16, and 23; viii 10. Cf. v 14, 8, eram cum prosocero meo.' He dedicated a

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tate consisteret sciremque te rationem itineris probaturum, cuius causa erat pietas. Haec tibi scripsi, quia mihi parum gratus fore videbar, si dissimulassem inter alia beneficia hoc novum quoque me debere indulgentiae tuae, quod fiducia eius quamquam inconsulto te non dubitavi facere quod, si consuluissem, scilicet sero fecissem.

I te, om. Avant.

3 hoc uno quod, Avant.
hoc unum quod, Ald.
hoc novum quoque, Orell.
hoc quoque me, Gesner.
5 qua inconsulto te, Avant.

quasi consulto te, B. and Ald.

porticus at Comum, v II, of which he was evidently a native, vii 32, I. He was accused under Nero of complicity in a case of incest, but escaped, Tac. Ann. xvi 8. In an inscr. found at Comum, C. I. L. v 5267, Herm. iii p. 114, he is mentioned as 'iiii vir i(uri) (icundo) praef. fabr. tribunus mil. leg. xxi Rapacis praef. cohort. vii Lusitanorum : et nationum Gaetulicorum sex quae sunt in Numidia.' He is an old man, vii 23 and viii 10, 2.

:

ad amitam suam. Calpurnia Hispulla, see iv 1, 7, and v 14, 8. Pliny writes to her, iv 19 and viii 11.

excurrere, cf. Ep. 8, 3.

sciremque te rati. itin. probat. 'Te' is omitted in Avantius, but I have restored it from Aldus.

si dissimulassem.

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indulgen

quamvis inconsulto te, Orell.
facere, om. Avant.

add. B. and Ald.

quem si consuluissem sic sero, Avant. and Cat.

quod, B. quae, Keil.

tiae tuae.

Avantius reads 'si dissimul. inter alia beneficia hoc uno quod me debere;' Beroaldus 'hoc uno quoque me debere;' Catanaeus 'hoc unum quoque me deb.;' Gesner conjectures 'hoc quoque me debere;' and Orelli hoc novum quoque me deb.,' which I have adopted as involving least departure from Avantius.

quamquam inconsulto te. Avantius has 'qua inconsulto te;' Aldus 'quasi consulto te.'

non dubitavi facere. Avantius omits facere; Catanaeus reads 'praeripere non dubitavi;' Aldus first inserts 'facere.'

quod si consuluissem; quem is the reading of Avantius, Catanaeus, and Aldus, but I have followed the Bodleian copy: 'quod;' Keil reads 'quae.'

CXXI [CXXII]

TRAIANUS PLINIO S.

Merito habuisti, Secunde carissime, fiduciam animi mei, quae dubitanda fuisset, si expectasses, donec me consuleres

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an iter uxoris tuae diplomatibus, quae officio tuo dedi, adiuvandum esset, cum apud amitam suam uxor tua deberet etiam celeritate gratiam adventus sui augere.

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