Zitate von Plinius d.J.
Plinius d.J.
Geburtstag: 61 n.Chr.
Todesdatum: 113
Andere Namen: Plinio il Giovane
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, auch Plinius der Jüngere, lateinisch Plinius minor , war Anwalt und Senator in der römischen Kaiserzeit unter den Herrschern Domitian, Nerva und Trajan. Wie sein Onkel, der Naturforscher Plinius der Ältere, ist er für die Nachwelt vor allem wegen seines teilweise überlieferten schriftstellerischen Werkes, hauptsächlich der Plinius-Briefe, bedeutsam geblieben.
Die von Plinius dem Jüngeren zu Lebzeiten herausgegebenen Briefe stellen ein wichtiges Zeugnis dar für das Leben und Denken in führenden Kreisen Roms während dieser Phase des Prinzipats. Größere Bekanntheit erlangte neben seiner Schilderung des Vesuvausbruchs im Jahr 79 auch sein postum erschienener Briefwechsel als Statthalter der Provinz Bithynien-Pontus mit Kaiser Trajan. Diese Korrespondenz ist eine erstrangige historische Quelle zu Aspekten der damaligen römischen Provinzverwaltung. Wikipedia
Zitate Plinius d.J.
„Ruhm nämlich muss folgen, er darf nicht erstrebt werden.“
Epistulae 1, 8, 14
Original lat.: "Sequi enim gloria, non appeti debet."
„It is in the body politic, as in the natural, those disorders are most dangerous that flow from the head.“
Letter 22, 7.
Letters, Book IV
Original: (la) Utque in corporibus sic in imperio gravissimus est morbus, qui a capite diffunditur.
„Objects which are usually the motives of our travels by land and by sea are often overlooked and neglected if they lie under our eye.“
Letter 20, 1.
Letters, Book VIII
Original: (la) Ad quae noscenda iter ingredi, transmittere mare solemus, ea sub oculis posita neglegimu. ... Differimus tamquam saepe visuri, quod datur videre quotiens velis cernere.
Kontext: Objects which are usually the motives of our travels by land and by sea are often overlooked and neglected if they lie under our eye.... We put off from time to time going and seeing what we know we have an opportunity of seeing when we please.
„This expression of ours, "Father of a family."“
Letter 19, 2.
Letters, Book V
„His only fault is that he has no fault.“
Letter 26, 1.
Letters, Book IX
Original: (la) Nihil peccat, nisi quod nihil peccat.
„It is the usual though inequitable method of the world, to pronounce an action to be either right or wrong, as it is attended with good or ill success.“
Letter 9, 7.
Letters, Book V
Original: (la) Est omnino iniquum, sed usu receptum, quod honesta consilia vel turpia, prout male aut prospere cedunt, ita vel probantur vel reprehenduntur.
„Such are the vicissitudes of our mortal lot: misfortune is born of prosperity, and good fortune of ill-luck.“
V.
Panegyricus
Original: (la) Habet has vices conditio mortalium, ut adversa ex secundis, ex adversis secunda nascantur.
„We should read much, we should not read many books.“
Letter 9, 15.
Letters, Book VII
Original: (la) Multum legendum esse, non multa.
„Experience, that excellent master.“
Letter 20, 12.
Letters, Book I
Original: (la) Usus, magister egregius.
„A man must rate public and permanent, above private and fleeting advantages and study how to render his benefaction most useful, rather than how he may bestow it with least expense.“
Letter 18, 5.
Letters, Book VII
Original: (la) Oportet privatis utilitatibus publicas, mortalibus aeternas anteferre, multoque diligentius muneri suo consulere quam facultatibus.
„They will by this means receive their education where they receive their birth, and be accustomed from their infancy to inhabit and affect their native soil.“
Letter 13, 9.
Letters, Book IV
Original: (la) Educentur hic qui hic nascuntur, statimque ab infantia natale solum amare frequentare consuescant.
„The truth is, the generality of mankind stand in awe of public opinion, while conscience is feared only by the few.“
Letter 20, 9.
Letters, Book III
Original: (la) Multi famam, conscientiam pauci verentur.
„I contemplate the sort of friend, the sort of man I am now without. He completed his sixty-seventh year, a reasonable age for the sturdiest of us; I acknowledge that. He escaped from an interminable illness; I acknowledge that. He died with his dear ones surviving him, and at a time of prosperity for the state, which was dearer to him than all else; that too I acknowledge. Yet I lament his death as though he were young and in glowing health. I lament it—you can consider me a weakling in this—on my own account, for I have lost the witness, guardian and teacher of my life.“
Letter 12, 11–13; on the death of his friend Cornelius Rufus.
Letters, Book I
„A certain large collective wisdom resides in a crowd, as such; and men whose individual judgement is defective are excellent judges when grouped together.“
Letter 17, 10.
Letters, Book VII
Original: (la) In numero ipso est quoddam magnum collatumque consilium, quibusque singulis iudicii parum, omnibus plurimum.
„For History ought not to depart from the truth, and the truth is all the praise that virtuous actions need.“
Nam nec historia debet egredi veritatem, et honeste factis veritas sufficit.
Letter 33, 10.
Letters, Book VII
„There is certainly no truth in the popular belief, that a man's will is the mirror of his character.“
Letter 18, 1.
Letters, Book VIII
Original: (la) Falsum est nimirum quod creditur vulgo, testamenta hominum speculum esse morum.
