Ep. 9.4.1Verērer nē immodicam ōrātiōnem putārēs, quam cum hāc epistulā accipiēs, nisi esset generis eius ut saepe incipere saepe dēsinere videātur.I should fear that you might think the speech which you will receive with this letter excessively long, were it not of such a kind that it seems often to begin and often to end. Ep. 9.4.1nam singulīs crīminibus singulae velut causae continentur.For each separate charge contains, as it were, a separate case. Ep. 9.4.2Poteris ergō, undecumque coeperis ubicumque dēsieris, quae deinceps sequentur et quasi incipientia legere et quasi cohaerentia, mēque in ūniversitāte longissimum, brevissimum in partibus iūdicāre.So wherever you begin and wherever you stop, you will be able to read what follows both as if it were beginning and as if it were connected, and to judge me very long as a whole, very short in my parts. Ep. 9.4.2Valē.Farewell.
Lectitō › Pliny the Younger › Letters, Book 9 › Pliny, Letter 9.4
Pliny · Epistulae IX
Pliny, Letter 9.4
A speech of many parts
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Read in LectitōGrammar in this passage: purpose clauses ×1
Latin vocabulary for this passage (45 words)
| vereor, -ērī, -itus | fear |
| nē, adv. | not; nē ... quidem, not ... even; conj., that not, lest |
| immodicus, -a, -um | excessive, unrestrained |
| ōrātiō, -ōnis, f. | speech; ōrātiōnem habēre, to deliver an oration, speak |
| putō, -āre, -āvī, -ātus | think |
| quī, quae, quod, rel. pron. | who, which |
| cum, prep, with abl. | with |
| hic, haec, hoc, dem. pron. | this; ille ... hīc, that ... this, the former ... the latter |
| epistula, -ae f. | letter |
| accipiō, -cipere, -cēpī, -ceptus | take to oneself, receive, accept; hear; suffer |
| nisi, conj. | if not, unless |
| sum, esse, fuī, futūrus | be |
| genus, generis, n. | kind, nature |
| is, ea, id, dem. pron. | this, that; he, she, it, they |
| ut, conj. | as; when; that; ita ut, as |
| saepe, adv. | often, frequently |
| incipiō, -ere, incēpī, inceptum | begin |
| dēsinō, -sinere, -siī, -situs | stop, cease (+ inf.) |
| videō, vidēre, vīdī, vīsus | see; pass., seem |
| nam, conj. | for |
| singulī, -ae, -a | one at a time, single |
| crīmen, -inis n. | charge, accusation; crime |
| velut | even or just as, as |
| causa, -ae, f. | cause, reason; abl. causā, for the sake of |
| contineō, -tinēre, -tinuī, -tentus | hold together, keep within, shut up in; bound |
| possum, posse, potuī | be able, have power, can |
| ergō (adv.) | therefore, then; quid ergō? what then? |
| undecumque (adv.) | from wherever, from any point whatever |
| coepī, coepisse, coeptus (used in tenses of completed action) | have begun, began |
| ubicumque (adv.) | wherever |
| deinceps (adv.) | one after another, in succession |
| sequor, sequī, secūtus | follow |
| et, conj. | and; et ... et, both ... and |
| quasi, conj. | as if |
| legō, legere, lēgī, lēctus | choose, pick out; read |
| cohaereō, -ēre, -haesī, -haesus | cling together, be connected (with: dat.) |
| ego, meī, pers. pron. | I |
| que, enclitic conj. | and |
| in, prep. with acc. and abl. | with acc.: into, onto, against; with abl.: in, on |
| ūniversitās, -ātis f. | the whole, the entirety |
| longus, -a, -um | long; tedious |
| brevis, -e | short |
| pars, partis, f. | part, side, direction |
| iūdicō, -āre, -āvī, -ātum | judge, decide |
| valeō, -ēre, -uī, -itūrus | be strong or effectual, have effect, prevail |
Pliny, Epistulae IX. 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.