Pliny - An alarming dream comes true Flashcards
Gaius quidem Fannius id quod accidit multo ante praesensit.
Gaius Fannius in fact foresaw that which happened far before.
visus est sibi per nocturnam quietem iacere in lectulo suo
He seemed to him to be lying on his little couch during the quiet of the night
compositus in habitum studentis, habere ante se scrinium - ita solebat.
arranged in a writing posture, to have infront of him his writing desk - as he usually did.
mox imaginatus est venisse Neronem, in toro resedisse,
Soon he dreamed that Nero came, sat down on the couch,
prompsisse primum librum quem de sceleribus eius ediderat,
he brought out the first book [Gaius Fannius] had produced about his crimes,
eumque ad extremum revolvisse;
and unrolled it to the end;
idem in secundo ac tertio fecisse, tunc abisse.
he did the same with the second and third, then left.
expavit et sic interpretatus est,
He became terrified and interpreted it in this way,
tamquam idem sibi futurus esset scribendi finis qui fuisset illi legendi: et fuit idem.
as though the end of his writing would be the same for himself as it had been of his [Nero’s] reading: and it was the same.
quod me recordantem miseratio subit quantum vigiliarum,
When I think about this, I am filled with pity for how many sleepless nights,
quantum laboris exhauserit frustra.
how much effort he used up in vain.
occursant animo mea mortalitas, mea scripta.
There comes to mind my mortality, my writings.
nec dubito te quoque eadem cogitatione terreri, pro istis quae inter manus habes.
I do not doubt that you’re also terrified by the same thought, for those [projects] which you have in hand.
proinde, dum suppetit vita, enitamur ut mors quam paucissima quae abolere possit inveniat.
Therefore, while life lasts, let us try to ensure that death finds as few [things] to destroy as possible.
