Page 132 - Manual of Roman Everyday Writing Volume 2: Writing Equipment

132| MANUAL OF ROMAN EVERYDAY WRITING
offence? Only when great and repeated wrong-doing has
overcome his patience, only when what he fears outweighs what
he reprimands, does he resort to the decisive pen.
(Transl. J. W. Basore, Loeb)
Seneca, De brevitate vitae 13.4:
Hoc quoque quaerentibus remittamus, quis Romanis primus persuaserit
navem conscendere. Claudius is fuit, Caudex ob hoc ipsum appellatus,
quia plurium tabularum contextus caudex apud antiquos vocatur, unde
publicae tabulae codices dicuntur et naves nunc quoque ex antiqua
consuetudine, quae commeatus per Tiberim subvehunt, codicariae
vocantur.
We may excuse also those who inquire into this—who first
induced the Romans to go on board ship. It was Claudius, and
this was the very reason he was surnamed Caudex, because
among the ancients a structure formed by joining together
several boards was called a caudex, whence also the Tables of the
Law are called codices, and, in the ancient fashion, boats that
carry provisions up the Tiber are even to-day called codicariae.
(Transl. J. W. Basore, Loeb)
Servius, Aeneid 8.361 (quoting Ennius):
‘Nec me decet hanc carinantibus edere chartis’.
‘Nor does it befit me to publish this on foul-mouthed pages’.
(Transl. E. H. Warmington, Loeb)
Suetonius, Augustus 85.2
Nam tragoediam magno impetu exorsus, non succedenti stilo, abolevit
quaerentibusque amicis, quidnam Aiax ageret, respondit Aiacem suum
in spongiam incubuisse.
Though he began a tragedy with much enthusiasm, he destroyed
it because his style did not satisfy him, and when some of his
friends asked him what in the world had become of Ajax, he
answered that “his Ajax had fallen on his sponge.”
(Transl. J. C. Rolfe, Loeb)
Suetonius, Caligula 49.3:
Quod ne cui dubium videatur, in secretis eius reperti sunt duo libelli
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diverso titulo, alteri “Gladius,” alteri “Pugio” index erat; ambo nomina
et notas continebant morti destinatorum.
That no one may doubt this, let me say that among his private
papers two notebooks were found with different titles, one called
“The Sword” and the other “The Dagger,” and both containing
the names and marks of identification of those whom he had
doomed to death.
(Transl. J. C. Rolfe, Loeb)
Suetonius, Claudius 35:
Sero enim ac vix remisit, ne feminae praetextatique pueri et puellae
contrectarentur et ne cuius comiti aut librario calamariae et
graphiariae thecae adimerentur.
Indeed, it was not until late, and then reluctantly, that he gave
up having women and young boys and girls grossly mishandled,
and the cases for pens and styles taken from every man’s
attendant or scribe.
(Transl. J. C. Rolfe, Loeb)
Suetonius, Julius Caesar 83:
In ima cera Gaium Octavium etiam in familiam nomenque adoptavit.
At the end of the will, too, he adopted Gaius Octavius into his
family and gave him his name.
(Transl. J. C. Rolfe, Loeb)
Suetonius, Vitellius 2:
Publius, Germanici comes, Cn. Pisonem inimicum et interfectorem eius
accusavit condemnavitque, ac post praeturae honorem inter Seiani
conscios arreptus et in custodiam fratri datus scalpro librario venas sibi
incidit, nec tam mortis paenitentia quam suorum obtestatione obligari
curarique se passus in eadem custodia morbo periit.
Publius, a member of Germanicus’ staff, arraigned Gnaeus Piso,
the enemy and murderer of his commander, and secured his
condemnation. Arrested among the accomplices of Sejanus, after
holding the praetorship, and handed over to his own brother to
be kept in confinement, he opened his veins with a penknife, but
allowed himself to be bandaged and restored, not so much from