Letters

...discharged every duty with piety and exactness. He was an affectionate, endearing husband, an unalterable and courageous friend; to his servants, a tender and careful master; to his associates, an easy and often a facetious companion. Grave without severity, witty without ill nature, open without imprudence; he was, my CHARLES, what I wish you may be: a splendid original, whom few can copy, but whom all ought to imitate.

And if, on the other hand, we examine him in his public character, as a statesman and as first minister to TRAJAN Emperor of Rome, 98–117 AD, he will be acknowledged as one of those rare spirits who seem allotted by heaven as blessings upon earth. The due course and impartial administration of the law, the glory of the commonwealth, the interest and prosperity of the emperor were the moving springs to all his actions and the sole end of his most secret designs. His views neither centered in himself nor in his own family; they were dilated universally and took in the whole. He was equally the faithful servant of the empire, of the people, and of the prince. He was indefatigable in business and immovable in patriotism; threats could not alarm him, and bribes could not allure him. Thus, above fear and above temptation, he became a shield to his fellow citizens, an ornament to the republic, and a support to the emperor.

He was an elegant scholar, an excellent philosopher, and a powerful orator—the patron and example of those arts and sciences which he cultivated and admired. His abilities were only to be exceeded by his candor and integrity; so that, among the most celebrated names of antiquity, scarce any character will be found adequate to PLINY. He was not absolutely void of resentment, which perhaps he has carried too far in the case of MARCUS AQUILIUS REGULUS, for whose misfortune, in the death of an only son, he seems to have less pity than he discovers upon any other occasion.