#pliny

[character-of-all-time]

ROUND 1: PLINY THE ELDER (real) VS DWIGHT SCHRUTE (the office)

[latin-literature-tourney]

Welcome to Round 2 of the Latin Literature Tournament!

Selections are based on my university's Latin reading list, with a couple names added to round it out to 32 contestants. So unfortunately, not every author managed to make the cut--I'm sorry to all three of my fellow Silius Italicus fans :(

I'm accepting propaganda for any of the competitors! Drop your arguments, panegyrics, hot takes, and trash talk in an ask!

Polls for Round 2 are up and will be open for a week! All reblogs are greatly appreciated!

[mascula-sappho]

Imagine if we diagnosed people with certain Roman or Greek writers as medicine:

me: depressed and worrying about the future, anxious all the time *diagnosed with a need for Horace*

someone: dealing with internalized homophobia *diagnosed with a need for Sappho*

creationist: *diagnosed with a need for Pliny the Elder*

someone who believes in toxic purity culture: *diagnosed with Ovid in copious amounts*

Etc.

[greekmythcomix]

Pliny the Elder creating his D&D character background:

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Hoc sit negotium tuum hoc otium; hic labor haec quies; in his vigilia, in his etiam somnus reponatur

- Pliny

Let this be your business, let this be your leisure; let this be both your work and your rest.

[candle-1-1-shine]

Quote of the Day

“The great business of man is to improve his mind, and govern his manners; all other projects and pursuit, whether is our power to compass or not, are only amusements”

Pliny

[flum3n]

according to pliny, the first terracotta statue was invented by a greek potter called boutades of sikyon who made a lifesize sculpture of his daughter's boyfriend because she was so upset he had to part from her.

from one perspective, this is an adorable account of innovation inspired by the desire to soothe a loved one's pain.

from another, the first body pillow.

[coolchevistianofficialsite]

StuGo - Titmouse Inc. and Disney Television Animation (2024) Created by Ryan Gillis

[madebypointlesswords]

Rating all the Latin authors I've read in the past two years in honor of my oral Latin exam tomorrow

Caesar (De Bello Gallico)

This is a weird one because while his prose isn't extremely difficult, it was also the first unedited work I read, so for lil 15-year-old me, this was very difficult. But I learned a lot from Caesar (especially that he made it an art to making his sentences as long as possible. We read an entire 200 words, and IT WAS JUST ONE SENTENCE.), and the sense of nostalgia while rereading it is very pleasant, so I will give you a solid 6/10

Pliny the Younger (Epistulae)

Mixed feelings about this one again. This could also be just because I despise prose. I really do not like it at all. Pliny's epistulae were pretty okay. I liked them a little better than Caesar's because of their variety (for those that don't know, epistulae means letters). His letter about the Vesuvius was a lot of fun to translate, even with all the hyperbata, but his letters about or to his third wife were very uncomfortable. Like, I get things were different back then. BUT YOU WERE 45, PLINY. 45. SHE WAS WHAT? 14? 15 TOPS? MY GOD. THAT'S A BIGGER AGE DIFFERENCE THAN I HAVE WITH MY FATHER.

7/10

Ovid (Metamorphoses)

Ovid is life Ovid is love. He was the one who introduced me to Latin poetry, and I will always love him for it. He was an icon and a legend. The poems of his that we read (Daedalus & Icarus, Latona and the Lycian peasants, Diana and Actaeon) were all bangers, and I love them all to death. I never wanted to go back to reading prose after this (but unfortunately, I will have to next year. ew)

11/10 (I love you, Ovid)

Vergil (The Aeneid)

*deep sigh* Listen. I love his complex works, and I have great respect for this poem but by the GODS. Vergil's poetry is the most difficult I've had to translate by a long shot. He made me rethink my entire career in Latin. I have considered quitting so many times because of this man. I felt like a complete idiot most of the time. This is not a guy to fuck with. Luckily I got through it on my finals (barely.) but Christ alive this man made my life difficult.

5/10

Horatius (Satires and Odes)

Horatius will always have a special place in my heart. We read his poetry right after Vergil's, and it almost completely restored my faith in my abilities. He's just my little guy and I have fond memories of translating his works. We still know many Latin phrases that he wrote (Carpe Diem being the most famous. Hello, DPS fandom). Also, he and Vergil were most definitely in love. I don't make the rules. I have evidence if you want me to elaborate.

9/10

Catullus (love poems)

Ah, Catullus. Horny poet of the year. Had a wild affair with an older married woman. Nepotism baby. Sappho stan. Didn't know how to budget, but we aren't holding that against him. Just wanted to write poetry and dance (who doesn't, honestly). Gave fuck-all about education. Wrote nearly all of his poetry about the older woman he had an affair with. Might I add that this woman was married to one of his father's bestest buddies? Yeah. Icon. Here's a kid's choice award.

8/10

Martialis (Epigrams)

This dude had ZERO chill. Roasted everyone in the city. Literally, no one is safe. Wasn't afraid to call people out by their real names. Some people allegedly committed suicide after being roasted by this guy. Translating his epigrams gave me more joy than hearing we had seen the end of Vergil. His humour may be a little silly now, but I will not accept any Martialis slander on my blog.

10/10

And that is all folks

[duxfemina]

"why, this is violence!"

Is the most understated response to your homies stabbing you at a meeting of the Senate

[bull-believer]

obsessed with Pliny discussing fish gossip in Natural History (9.88)

[latin-literature-tourney]

Latin Literature Tournament - Round 1

Propaganda under the cut!

Pliny Propaganda:

His description of Vesuvius is so fucking cool and important, you guys. It's so cool that "Plinian eruptions" are a thing in volcanology

He writes some neat descriptions of gardens and private horticulture, so he's an important source on Roman aesthetics of domestic design

His letters really are bangers. I love his friendship with Tacitus, and the ghost stories are so fucking fun

Juvenal Propaganda:

I love reading and fighting Juvenal. He is such an asshole and so full of shit (and his poems really are a blast)

That said the man sure can turn a phrase. Bread and circuses, anyone?

Is that a farrago in your libellus or are you just happy to see me

[wisdomfish]

Encouraging and frightening

In sum, the stories of Pliny and Nero are both encouraging and frightening. They are frightening because they sound eerily similar to the kind of language and accusations being used today against Christians. But instead of Christians being asked to pay homage to the Roman gods to prove their acceptability, they are now being asked to pay homage to the gods of our current culture.

At the same time, these stories are encouraging. They remind us that this sort of persecution isn’t new. Indeed, this persecution was not the end of Christianity but the beginning. In the midst of it, the church thrived and expanded.

~ Michael J. Kruger

[greekmythcomix]

Watch as a video instead: Greek Myth Comix tells an Ancient Ghost Story feat. Pliny The Younger

https://youtu.be/mLLo8Y5ZZyM

Teachers: get this as a poster or PDF for class: https://greekmythcomixshop.wordpress.com/2020/11/06/an-ancient-ghost-story-comic-pdf-or-poster/

[drustanus]

Here is the bit in question, out of the 28th chapter of the 29th book of Pliny's Natural History (in the Teubner edition of 1906 at least; my dictionaries give the 4th chapter instead).

tertium genus est eodem phalangi nomine araneus lanuginosus, grandissimo capite, quo dissecto inveniri intus dicuntur vermiculi duo adalligatique mulieribus pelle cervina ante solis ortum praestare, ne concipiant, ut caecilius in commentariis reliquit. vis ea annua est. quam solam ex omni atocio dixisse fas sit, quoniam aliquarum fecunditas plena liberis tali venia indiget.

And here is a translation by me.

A third kind [of creepy crawly] also by the name phalangium is a downy spider with a very grand head, inside which, when dissected, two worms are said to be found and, being attached to women before dawn using a deer skin, to make it so that they don't conceive, as Caecilius has attested in his commentaries. This power lasts a year. It is this alone which out of all the contraceptives it is good to have mentioned, because the fecundity of some women, abounding with children, wants such an indulgence.

[crowcaws]

Two questions: specify which fucking Pliny you're talking about, and two: is Pliny a Tumblr sexyman? Discusss