A love letter to his young wife Calpurnia, expressing concern and longing during her illness.
C. Plīnius Calpurniae suae s. Numquam sum magis dē occupātiōnibus meīs questus, quae mē nōn sunt passae aut proficīscentem tē valētūdinis causā in Campāniam prōsequī aut profectam ē vestīgiō subsequī.
NEVER was business more disagreeable to me than when it prevented me from either attending you in your illness into Campania, or following you immediately after you went.
Nunc enim praecipuē simul esse cupiēbam, ut oculīs meīs crēderem quid vīribus quid corpusculō apparārēs, ecquid dēnique sēcessūs voluptātēs regiōnisque abundantiam inoffēnsa trānsmitterēs.
I could wish to be with you now, that I might see with my own eyes in what condition your strength and constitution are, and whether you pass through the rigours of your retreat with an easy mind.
Equidem etiam fortem tē nōn sine cūrā dēsīderārem; est enim suspēnsum et ānxium dē eō quem ārdentissimē dīligās interdum nihil scīre.
Were you in perfect health, yet I could ill support your absence; for even a moment's separation from the object of one's most passionate love gives rise to an anxiety, a suspense of mind, that is hard to bear.
Nunc vērō mē cum absentiae tum īnfirmitātis tuae ratiō incerta et varia sollicitūdine exterret. Vereor omnia, imāginor omnia, quaeque nātūra metuentium est, ea maximē mihi quae maximē abōminor fingō.
But the consideration of your absence, together with that of your present indisposition, alarms me with various and uncertain fears. I dread everything, fancy everything, and, as is natural to those who fear, conjure up images of all that I most abhor.
Quō impēnsius rogō, ut timōrī meō cottīdiē singulīs vel etiam bīnīs epistulīs cōnsulās. Erō enim sēcūrior dum legō, statimque timēbō cum lēgerō. Valē.
Let me the more earnestly entreat you then to think of my anxiety, and write to me every day, nay, twice a day, to relieve my anxiety. I shall be easier while I am reading your letters, and shall relapse into fear the moment I have read them. Farewell.