Ep. 8.15.1Onerāvī tē tot pariter missīs volūminibus, sed onerāvī prīmum quia exēgerās, deinde quia scrīpserās tam gracilēs istīc vindēmiās esse, ut plānē scīrem tibi vacātūrum, quod vulgō dīcitur, librum legere.I have burdened you by sending so many volumes all at once, but I have burdened you first because you had demanded it, and secondly because you had written that the vintage there was so thin that I knew for certain you would have time, as the common saying goes, to read a book. Ep. 8.15.2Eadem ex meīs agellīs nūntiantur.The same news comes from my own little farms. Ep. 8.15.2Igitur mihi quoque licēbit scrībere quae legās, sit modo unde chartae emī possint;So I too shall be free to write things for you to read, provided only there is money to buy paper; Ep. 8.15.2aut necessāriō quidquid scrīpserimus bonī malīve dēlēbimus.otherwise we shall necessarily rub out whatever we write, good or bad. Ep. 8.15.2Valē.Farewell.
Lectitō › Pliny the Younger › Letters, Book 8 › Pliny, Letter 8.15
Pliny · Epistulae VIII
Pliny, Letter 8.15
A poor vintage and much reading
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Read in LectitōGrammar in this passage: ablative absolute ×1, indirect statement ×1
Latin vocabulary for this passage (47 words)
| onerō, -āre, -āvī, -ātus | load, burden |
| tū, tuī, pers. pron. | thou, you |
| tot (indecl.) | so many |
| pariter (adv.) | equally, alike; at the same time |
| mittō, mittere, mīsī, missus | send |
| volūmen, -inis n. | roll (of writing), book |
| sed, conj. | but |
| prīmum, adv. | first, in the first place |
| quia (conj.) | because |
| exigō, -ere, -ēgī, -āctum | drive out; finish, spend (a season) |
| deinde, adv. | then, next |
| scrībō, scrībere, scrīpsī, scrīptus | write |
| tam, adv. | so |
| gracilis, -e | slender, thin, fine |
| istīc (adv.) | there, where you are |
| vindēmia, -ae f. | grape harvest, vintage; grapes |
| sum, esse, fuī, futūrus | be |
| ut, conj. | as; when; that; ita ut, as |
| plānē (adv.) | clearly, plainly |
| sciō, -īre, -īvī, -ītus | know |
| vacō, -āre, -āvī, -ātum | be empty, be unoccupied |
| quī, quae, quod, rel. pron. | who, which |
| vulgō (adv.) | everywhere, commonly |
| dīcō, dīcere, dīxī, dictus | say, speak; diem dīcere, to appoint or set a day |
| liber, librī m. | book; record |
| legō, legere, lēgī, lēctus | choose, pick out; read |
| īdem, eadem, idem, dem. pron. | the same; sometimes to be translated likewise, also |
| ex, ē (prep. + abl.) | out of, from; of (ē only before consonants) |
| meus, -a, -um | my, mine |
| agellus, -ī m. | small field, little farm |
| nūntiō, -āre, -āvī, -ātus | report, announce |
| igitur, conj. | therefore |
| ego, meī, pers. pron. | I |
| quoque, adv. | also |
| licet, -ēre, -uit or -itum est, impers. | is lawful or permitted |
| modo, adv. | only |
| unde, adv. | whence |
| charta, -ae f. | sheet of papyrus, paper; (pl.) writings, volumes |
| emō, -ere, ēmī, ēmptum | buy |
| possum, posse, potuī | be able, have power, can |
| aut, conj. | or; aut ... aut, either ... or |
| necessāriō (adv.) | of necessity, unavoidably |
| quisquis, quidquid (quicquid) | whoever, whatever |
| bonus, -a, -um | good |
| malus, -a, -um | bad |
| dēleō, -ēre, dēlēvī, dēlētum | destroy, wipe out |
| valeō, -ēre, -uī, -itūrus | be strong or effectual, have effect, prevail |
Pliny, Epistulae VIII. 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.