Pliny, Ghosts (letter 7.27)

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Et mihi discedi et tibi facultatem otium praebet.
Leisure provides both the opportunity of learning for me and the opportunity of teaching for you.
1 of 48
Igitur perquam velim scire, esse phantasmata et habere propiam figuram numenque aliquod putes an inania et vana ex metu nostro imginem accipere.
Therefore, O would very much like to know whether you think ghost exist anf have their own shape and some sort of divine nature or being empty and illusory they take their shape form our fears.
2 of 48
Ego ut ess credam in primis eo ducor, quod audioaccidisse Curtio Rufo.
I am lead to believe that they exist especially by this thing that I heard to have happened to Curtius Rufus.
3 of 48
Tenuis adhuc et obscurus, obtinenti Africam comes haeserat.
Still lowly and unknow he had attached himslef as a companion to the man governing Africa.
4 of 48
Inclinato die spatiabatur in porticu; offertur ei mulieris figura humana grandior pulchriorque.
During the afternoon he was strolling in the colonade; the figure of a woman bigger and more beautiful than a human appeared to him.
5 of 48
Perterrito Africam se futurorum praenuntiam dixit: iturum enim Roman honoresque gesturum, atque etiam cum summo imperio in eandem provinciam reversurum, ibque moritutum.
She said to the terrified Curtius that she was Africa foretelling og future events: that he qould got to Rome and hold high positions of state and that he would even return to the same province with supreme authority and that he would even die there.
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Facta sunt omnia.
All these things happened.
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Praeterea accedenti Carthaginem egredientique nave eadem figura in litore occurisse narratur.
Moreover this smae figure is said to have met hime on the shore approaching Carthage and departing from the ship.
8 of 48
Ipse certe implicitus morbo futura praeteritis, adversa secundis auguratus, spem salutis nullo suorum desperante proiecit.
Certainly he himself having fallen ill having predicted future event from the past and unfavourable things from favourable things, he brushed away any hope of recovery with none of his friends despairing.
9 of 48
Iam illud nonne et magis terribile et non minus mirum est quod exponam ut accepi?
Now this which I shall tell just as I have heard it is it not more terrible and no less extraordinary?
10 of 48
Erat Athenis spatiosa et capax domus sed infamis et pestilens.
There was in Athen a spatious and roomy house but ill-famed and full of disease.
11 of 48
Per silentium noctis sonus ferri, et si attenders acrius, strepitus vinculorum longius primo, deinde e proximo reddebatur:
Through the silence of the night the sound of iron was produced, and if you listened more closely, the noise of chains, at first further away, then nearby:
12 of 48
mox apparebat idolon, senex macie et squalore confectus, promissa barba horrenti capillo; cruribus compedes, manibus catenas gerebat quatiebatque.
soon after the noise a ghost would appear, and old man worn away by skinniness and filth, his hair dishevelled and his beard overgrown; he was bearing shackles on his legs and chains on his feet and was shaking them.
13 of 48
Inde inhabitantibus tristes diraeque noctes per metum vigilabantur; vigiliam morbus et crescente formidine mors sequebatur.
Thence for those dwelling at the house sad and terrible nights were spent awake through fear, death from diseases and increasing terror used to follow this wakefulness.
14 of 48
Nam interdiu quoque, quamquam abscesserat imago, memoria imaginis oculis inerrabat, longiorque causis timoris timor erat.
For also during the daylight, although the ghost had departed the memory of the ghost was recorded in the eyes, the terror was lasting longer than the casues of the terror.
15 of 48
Deserta inde et damnata solitudine domus totaque illi monstro relicta; proscribebatur tamen, seu quis emere seu quis conducere ignarus tanti mali vellet.
From that moment on the house was deserted and condemned to solitude with that monster, nevertheless, it was put up for sale in case anyoned wished to buy it of in case anyone wished to hire the house without knowing about the great evil.
16 of 48
Venit Athenas philosophus Athenodorus, legit titulum auditoque pretio, quia susecta vilitas, percunctatus omnia docetur ac nihilo minus, immo tanto magis, conducit.
The philosopher Athenodorus came to Athens and read the advert and after he had heard the price because its cheapness was suspicious he investigated it and learnt everything, nonetheless, in fact all the more he hired the house.
17 of 48
Ubi coepit advesperascere, iubet sterni sibi in prima domus parte, poscit pugillares stilum lumen, suos omnes in interiora dimittit;
When it began to become evening, he ordered a bed to be made for him in the first part of the house, and asked for a writing tablet, stilus and lamp, he dismissed all his servants into the inner part of the house;
18 of 48
ipse ad scribendum animum oculos manum intendit, ne vacua mens audita simulacra et inanes sibi metus fingeret.
he directed his mind,eyes and hand, in order that his empty mind would not invent ghostly sounds and unsubstantiated fears for itself.
19 of 48
Initio, quale ubique, silentium noctis; dein concuti ferrum, vincula moveri.
In the beginning, the silence of the night was such as it was everywhere, then iron was being clanked and chains were being ratlled.
20 of 48
Ille non tollere oculos, non remittere stilum, sed offirmare animum auribusque praetendere.
He did not raise his eyes or put down his stilus, but focused his mind and blocked out hearing the noise from his ears.
21 of 48
Tum crebrescere fragor, adventare et iam ut in limine, iam ut intra limen audiri.
Then the din increased. one moment it came close as if it was on the threshold, the next moment it was heard within the threshold.
22 of 48
Respicit, videt agnoscitque narratm sibi effigiem.
He looked around, he saw and recognised the ghost he had been told about.
23 of 48
Stabat innuebatque digito similis vocanti.
It was standing and beckoning like a man summoning with its finger.
24 of 48
Hic contra ut paulum exspectaret manu significat rursusque ceris et stilo incumbit.
Athenodorus in reply indicated with his hand to wait for a little while and once more got back to his tablet and stilus.
25 of 48
Illa scribentis capiti catenis insonabat.
The phantom was making noise with its chains at the head of the writing man.
26 of 48
Respicit rursus idem quod prius innuentem, nec moratus tollit lumen et sequitur.
He looked around again and saw the ghost giving the same sign as earlier, without delay he raised the lamp and followed.
27 of 48
Ibat illa lento gradu quasi gravis vinculis.
It was moving with a slow step as if weighed down by heavy chains.
28 of 48
Postquam deflexit in aream domus, repente dilapsa deserit comitem.
After it had diverted into a courtyard of the house, suddenly having slipped away, it abandoned the comrade.
29 of 48
Desertus herbas et folia concerpta signum loco ponit.
The abandoned man put leaves and tron up grass in the place as a sign.
30 of 48
Postero die adit magistratus, monet ut illum locum effodi iubeant.
On the next day he approached the magistrates and advised that they should order that place to be dug up.
31 of 48
Inveniuntur ossa inserta catenis et implicata, quae corpus aevo terraque putrefactum nuda et exesa reilquerat vinculis; collecta publice sepeliuntur.
Bones were found entangled among chains which the body having putrefied by age and the earth had left exposed and worn away by the chains; having been gathered were buried at the public's expense.
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Domus postea rite conditis manibus caruit.
Afterwards the house was free from ghosts now that they had been properly buried.
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Et haec quidem affirmantibus credo; illud affirmare aliis possum.
And certainly I believe the people confirming these things; this next story I myself can confirm to everyone else.
34 of 48
Est libertus mihi non illitteratus.
I have a freedman who is not illiterate.
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Cum hoc minor frater eodem lecto quiescebat.
His younger brother used to sleep in the same bed with this freedman.
36 of 48
Is visus est sibi cernere quendam in toro residentem, admoventemque capiti suo cultros, atque etiam ex ipso vertice amputantem capillos.
That brother imagined that he saw someone settling down on the bed, and moving scissors towards his head and even cutting hair from the crown of his head.
37 of 48
Ubi illuxit, ipse circa verticem tonsus, capilli iacentes reperiuntur.
When it grew light, he was shaven around the crown of his head, hair was found lying around.
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Exiguum temporis medium, et rursus simile aliud priori fidem fecit.
There was only a little bit of time in between and again a similar thing to before added credibility.
39 of 48
Puer in paedagogia mixtus pluribus dormiebat.
A slave boy was sleeping amongst several others at the place where slaves were trained.
40 of 48
Venerunt per fenestras-ita narrat- in tunicis albis duo cubantemque detonderunt et qua venerant recesserunt.
They came throught the window, so he says, two entities in white tunics and they trimmed the sleeping boy closely and vanished from where they had come from.
41 of 48
Hunc quoque tonsum sparsoque circa capillos dies ostendit.
Daylight revealed that this boy was also shaven and his hair scattered around.
42 of 48
Nihil notabile secutum, nisi forte quod non fui reus, futurus, si Domitianus sub quo haec acciderunt diutius vixisset.
Nothing remarkable followed, except perhaps the fact that I was not a defendant in a lawsuit, as I certainly would have been, if Domitianus, under whom these things happened, lived longer.
43 of 48
Nam in scrinio eius datus a Caro de me libellus inventus est; ex quo coniectari potest, quia reis moris est summittere capillum, recisos meorum capillos depulsi quod imminebat periculi signum fuisse.
For in his chest a note about me having been given by Carus was found;from which could be concluded, because for defendants it is a custom to grow their hair, that the cut hair of my slaves was a sign of the repelled danger which used to hang over me
44 of 48
Proinde rogo, eruditionem tuam intendas.
Consequently I ask that you should direct your learning to this.
45 of 48
Digna res est quam diu multumque consideres; ne ego quidem indignus, cui copiam scientiae tuae facias.
This matter is worthy enough that you should consider it carefully and for a long time; in fact I for whom you might provide an abundance of knowledge am not unworthy.
46 of 48
Licet etiam utramque in partem-ut soles-disputes, ex altera tamen fortius, ne me suspensum incertumque dimittas, cum mihi consulendi causa fuerit, ut dubitare desinerem.
It is even possible that you might dispute in each direction as accustomed, however from one side more strongly, lest you send me away hanging and doubtful, since the cause of me consulting you was that I might cease being in doubt.
47 of 48
Vale.
Goodbye.
48 of 48

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Igitur perquam velim scire, esse phantasmata et habere propiam figuram numenque aliquod putes an inania et vana ex metu nostro imginem accipere.

Back

Therefore, O would very much like to know whether you think ghost exist anf have their own shape and some sort of divine nature or being empty and illusory they take their shape form our fears.

Card 3

Front

Ego ut ess credam in primis eo ducor, quod audioaccidisse Curtio Rufo.

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Tenuis adhuc et obscurus, obtinenti Africam comes haeserat.

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Inclinato die spatiabatur in porticu; offertur ei mulieris figura humana grandior pulchriorque.

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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