PLINY - an alarming dream comes true

Question 1

Who is Gaius Fannius?

Answer 1

a writer who composed three books of a work detailing the men executed or banished by the emperor Nero. He died before finishing it

In this letter Pliny is writing to his friend Novius Maximus about how Gaius died with his work unfinished and urges him to leave none of hs writings unfinished

Question 2

visus est

Line 2: visus est sibi per nocturnam quietem iacere in lectulo suo

Answer 2

this tells us that we have entered the decription of his vision

Question 3

nocturnam quietem

Line 2: visus est sibi per nocturnam quietem iacere in lectulo suo

Answer 3

night is a recurring theme as a time suitable for magical events

Question 4

venisse… resedisse, prompsisse… revolvissee… fecisse… absisse

Lines 4-7

Answer 4

• whole vision is told in indirect statement (accusative and infinitive construction).
• the repetition of the perfect infinitives with very little embellishment and few conjunctions creates a fast and factual tone
• The name Neronem is held back until after verb to create a little suspense, then the whole dream is told chronologically
• Plosive alliteration of prompsisse primum adds to dramatic brevity of the retelling

Question 5

expavit

Line 7: expavit et sic interpretatus est

Answer 5

• Gaius’ reaction is sudden, the verb emphatically placed at the very start of the sentence to highlight this
• The use of the prefix ex- on the verb also stresses that he was terrified ‘from his core’

Question 6

quantum… quantum

Lines 10-11

Answer 6

the anaphora of quantum stresses Pliny’s despair at the events, emphasised by frustra delayed until the end of the sentence

Question 7

exhauserit

Line 11: quantum laboris exhauserit frustra

Answer 7

The verb exhauserit is a vivid choice to imply the hard work which has ultimately, in Pliny’s eyes, been squandered

Question 8

occursant animo

Line 11: occursant animo mea mortalitis, mea scripta

Answer 8

the inversion of word order, with the verb coming first, shows the thought leaping into the sentence and also into Pliny’s mind

Question 9

mea… mea

Line 11: occursant animo mea mortalitis, mea scripta

Answer 9

• the anaphora of mea puts the focus back onto Pliny himself, the repetition adding an air of urgency
• also represents desperation to hold on - possessive (personal pronoun)

at the time of this letter Pliny was about 43 years old

Question 10

Who is Novius Maximus?

Answer 10

A friend of Pliny’s who is also a writer

Pliny is writing to Novius Maximus in this letter

Question 11

dum vita suppetit

Line 14: dum suppetit vita, enitamur ut mors quam paucissima quae
ab

Answer 11

for ancient writers, their immortality was linked to the survival of their work.
The emphatic superlative quam paucissima shows the strength of feeling which Pliny has on this