Ep. 5.15.1Cum versūs tuōs aemulor, tum maximē quam sint bonī experior.When I try to rival your verses, it is then above all that I find out how good they are. Ep. 5.15.1Ut enim pictōrēs pulchram absolūtamque faciem rārō nisi in peius effingunt, ita ego ab hōc archetypō lābor et dēcidō.For just as painters rarely reproduce a beautiful and perfect face except for the worse, so I slip and fall short of this original. Ep. 5.15.2Quō magis hortor, ut quam plūrima prōferās, quae imitārī omnēs concupīscant, nēmō aut paucissimī possint.All the more do I urge you to bring out as many as possible, which all may long to imitate, but none, or very few, can. Ep. 5.15.2Valē.Farewell.
Lectitō › Pliny the Younger › Letters, Book 5 › Pliny, Letter 5.15
Pliny · Epistulae V
Pliny, Letter 5.15
Admiring a friend's verses
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Read in LectitōLatin vocabulary for this passage (44 words)
| cum, conj. | when, while, after; since; although |
| versus, -ūs m. | line (of writing), verse |
| tuus, -a, -um | thy, thine, your |
| aemulor, -ārī, -ātus sum | try to equal, rival, imitate |
| tum, adv. | then, at that time |
| maximē, adv. | very greatly, exceedingly, especially |
| quam, adv. | how? as; than; with superl., as ... as possible |
| sum, esse, fuī, futūrus | be |
| bonus, -a, -um | good |
| experior, -īrī, expertus sum | try, test, experience |
| ut, conj. | as; when; that; ita ut, as |
| enim, conj. | for |
| pictor, -ōris m. | painter |
| pulcher, pulchra, pulchrum | beautiful |
| absolvō, -ere, -solvī, -solūtus | release, set free; acquit (of: gen.) |
| que, enclitic conj. | and |
| faciēs, -ēī f. | face; appearance |
| rārō (adv.) | seldom, rarely |
| nisi, conj. | if not, unless |
| in, prep. with acc. and abl. | with acc.: into, onto, against; with abl.: in, on |
| malus, -a, -um | bad |
| effingō, -ere, -fīnxī, -fictus | form, portray, represent |
| ita, adv. | in this manner, thus, so; ita ut, as |
| ego, meī, pers. pron. | I |
| ā, ab (prep. + abl.) | away from, from; by (ā only before consonants) |
| hic, haec, hoc, dem. pron. | this; ille ... hīc, that ... this, the former ... the latter |
| archetypum, -ī n. | original, model |
| lābor, lābī, lapsus | slip, glide, fall |
| et, conj. | and; et ... et, both ... and |
| dēcidō, -cidere, -cidī | fall down |
| quō, adv. | to what place? whither? to which place, whither; for which reason, wherefore, therefore; quō ūsque, till when? how long? |
| magis, comp. adv. | more, rather |
| hortor, -ārī, -ātus | exhort, encourage, urge |
| multus, -a, -um | much, great; plur., many |
| prōferō, -ferre, -tulī, -lātus | bring forward, bring out |
| quī, quae, quod, rel. pron. | who, which |
| imitor, -ārī, -ātus sum | copy, imitate |
| omnis, -e | all, every |
| concupīscō, -cupīscere, -cupīvī, -cupītus | long for, covet |
| nēmō, nēminis, m. and f. | no one, nobody |
| aut, conj. | or; aut ... aut, either ... or |
| paucī, -ae, -a, plur. adj. | few |
| possum, posse, potuī | be able, have power, can |
| valeō, -ēre, -uī, -itūrus | be strong or effectual, have effect, prevail |
Pliny, Epistulae V. Latin text: the Perseus digital text of Pliny's Letters, public domain; digital text from the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA. Word analysis: drafted by our own tagger (trained on the hand-checked texts on this site), with every doubtful word checked by hand. English translation and section titles: written for this app, each checked against the Latin by a second reader.