avunculus meus- A day in the life of Pliny the Elder paragraph 1

Question 1

ante lucem ibat as Vespasianum imperatorem (nam ille quoque noctibus utebatur), deinde ad officium sibi delegatum.

Answer 1

Before daybreak he used to go to emperor Vespasian (for he too made use of the nights), [and] then assign himself to his official duties.

Question 2

reversus domum reliquum tempus studiis dabat.

Answer 2

Having returned home, he gave the time left over to his sutdies.

Question 3

saepe post cibum (qui veterum more interdiu levis et facilis erat) aestate, si quid otii erat, iacebat in sole, liber legebatur, adnotabat excerpebatuqe.

Answer 3

Often after food (which during the day was, in the custom of our ancestors, light and easily digested), in the summer if there was any [time] for leisure, he used to lie in the sun, he used to read a book, and he used to make notes and take extracts.

Question 4

nihil enim legit quod non excerperet; dicere etiam solebat nullum librum esse tam malum ut nonaliqua parte prodesset.

Answer 4

For he read nothing from which he would not take extracts; also he used to say that no book was so bad that it was not of use in some part.

Question 5

post solem plerumque aqua frgida lavabatur, deinde gustabat dormiebatque minimum; mox quasi alio die studebat in cenae tempus.

Answer 5

After [his rest in] the sun, he usually bathed in cold water, then ate and slept for a very short time; then, as if in another day, he studied up to dinner time.

Question 6

super cenum liber legebatur adnotabatur, et quidem cursim.

Answer 6

Over dinner a book would be read and notes taken from it, and indeed rapidly.